I bagsy that! (Dibs) (Shotgun)
We’re in Barney. (Barney Rubble=Trouble)
Please include rhyming slang and regional vernacular as well. Especially Zomerzet.
ToeAnglophile
pissed (drunk)
paracetamol (acetaminophen - both from “para-acetyl-aminophenol”)
fag (cigarette)
wank (jack off)
the dog’s bollocks (the bee’s knees)
gormless (socially inept)
dodgy (sketchy)
Gormless is a Britism? One of my favourite adjectives while wandering HK.
Some of my favourite rhyming slang, although to be fair ome of these are I suspect Australian:
Trouble and strife - wife
Bobby Moore - whore
Bag o’ fruit - suit
Captain Cook or butcher’s hook - look
Dog & bone - phone
Dead horse - sauce
Pat Malone - alone
Noah’s ark - shark.
HG
Bugger Me!
From a nation of bottom bashers and spankophiles.
knackered, ruined, f***ed, broken
Allan Border = out of order
“she’s bang Allan mate!”
Toe Save
Cockney rhyming slang on Wiki:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockney_rh … n_examples
A few of my faves:
China = China plate = mate
Going for a Donald = Donald Trump = dump
Merchant Banker = wanker
Septic Tank = Yank
Porkies = pork pies = lies
James Blunt = cunt
innit= isn’t it
izzit
Not one pom, and most of that rhyming slang is from Oz. And fer chrissake, Toe, it’s bags, not baggsy.
HG
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Not one pom, and most of that rhyming slang is from Oz. And fer chrissake, Toe, it’s bags, not baggsy.
HG[/quote]
You’re shitting me?!
Antipodes?
HG
The crucial Somerset phrase that all should know is “zoider I up, lan-lord!” said on first entering an agreeable public house. Westcountry dialects all retain some of the case structure of olden-days English; I believe in this sentence the “I” is in the nominative case, rather than “me” (objective case?) as standard English would have it today. “Zoider” is the Somerset pronunciation of cider - so “cider me up, landlord” - a standard salutation. The equivalent from those up-country would be “a pint of cider please, landlord”.
Another characteristic of Somerset/Bristol dialect is the addition of an “l” or “w”-like sound on the end of words finishing with “a” - area > areal, idea > ideaw, America > Americaw.
We (Westcountry in general, not just Somerset) also refer to objects using gender pronouns, like German or French. “Ee’s a gurt big tree, innum?” (He’s a great big tree, isn’t he?).
One word you have to be on the lookout for when visiting my home county of Devon is the derogatory “grockle” - applied to tourists. I’m not sure of the origin, but I’ve been told it’s cognate with “ant” - i.e. they’re red (from the sunburn) and the little buggers get everywhere.
Thanks all, especially Taffy. That’s some awesome in-depth info. I think you guys think I am doing this for a class. Not at all. Just for shits and giggles.
Taffy, is the west country also the lake district? I read Adams’ The Plague Dogs a few years back. Ever fall in love with a place from a book? I am hoping to visit mighty blighty next CNY (are you listening TomHill?), so I would defintely be including a walk about in the LD.
HGC, in Operation Certain Death, a chilling account of the kidnapping and rescue of 12 Brit soldiers in Sierra Leone, a character sez, “I bagsy that.” So it must be a variant, ya?
In the interest of getting this thread hopping, let’s include Scottish and Irish isms, mmmmk?
Slainge!
The West Country is the south west; Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Bristol and that general area. The Lake District is in the North West, in Cumbria. About 300 miles or 5 hours’ drive (a long way in English terms)
The Westcountry is essentially the south-west of England, whereas the Lake District is in the north-west. Different dialects, but both have some stunning scenery. Both well worth visiting, especially if you’re a sucker for gorgeous sweeping landscapes (like me).
The location below (currently also my avatar) is in south Devon, in the Westcountry, and was a favourite haunt of mine during weekends and long summer holidays during the early nineties.
If there were any jobs there besides keeping sheep or working in the tourist industry, I’d be back tomorrow. I luvz it there, I duz.
How about “Brilliant”. The Brit version of the American “Awesome”