British slang

Chin Wag - This is another word for a Chat.

Arse about face - This means you are doing something back to front.

Bees Knees - This is the polite version of the dog's bollocks.

Starkers - Avoid being seen starkers when visiting England.

Sweet fanny adams - This means nothing or sod all.

Skive - To skive is to evade something.

Shufti - Pronounced shooftee, this means to take a look at something, to take a butchers!

This is a cockney rhyming slang word that has become common.

Bees Knees - This is the polite version of the dog's bollocks.

Nookie - Nookie is the same as hanky panky.

Skew-whiff - This is what you would call crooked.

Hash - The thing you call a pound sign!

Tosser - This is another word for wanker and has exactly the same meaning and shares the same hand signal.

Bugger all - If something costs bugger all, it means that it costs nothing.

You may also hear someone shout "blast it", or even "bugger and blast"!

Pissed perhaps.

Knackered - The morning after twenty pints and the curry, you'd probably feel knackered.

Chat up - To chat someone up is to try and pick them up.

You might also bum around, if you are doing nothing in particular, just hanging out.

Cheesed off - This is a polite way of saying you are pissed off with something.

In fact, this one is a bit ruder than pillock so you probably wouldn't say it in front of Grandma.

Strop - If someone is sulking or being particularly miserable you would say they are being stroppy or that they have a strop on.

Doddle - Something that is a doddle is a cinch, it's easy.

Twat - Another word used to insult someone who has upset you.

Dog's dinner - If you make a real mess of something it might be described as a real dog's dinner.

Gormless - A gormless person is someone who has absolutely no clue.

Nark - If someone is in a nark, it means they are in a bad mood, or being grumpy.

Love bite - You call them hickies - the things you do to yourself as a youngster with the vacuum cleaner attachment to make it look like someone fancies you!

Aggro - Short for aggravation, it's the sort of thing you might expect at a football match.

Smarmy - Another word for a smoothy, someone who has a way with the ladies for example.

Always gets a smile from Brits in American hair dressers when they are asked about their bangs.

Bodge - We bodge things all the time here.

Pissed perhaps.

Swotting - Swotting means to study hard, the same as cram does.

Arse - This is a word that doesn't seem to exist in America.

The truth of course is that our news reports last 60-120 seconds and the weather man is not hyped up to be some kind of superstar as he is on the TV in the US.

Snog - If you are out on the pull you will know you are succeeding if you end up snogging someone of the opposite sex (or same sex for that matter!).

It can also be used to tell someone to get lost (bugger off), or to admit defeat (we're buggered) or if you were tired or exhausted you would be buggered.

For example a coppers nark is someone who is a police informant - which you might call a stoolie or stool-pigeon.

They would probably be classed as professional wafflers!

Tosser - This is another word for wanker and has exactly the same meaning and shares the same hand signal.

Bonk - Same meaning as shag.

Slapper - A slapper is a female who is a bit loose.

Bogey - Booger.

Dim - A dim person is stupid or thick or a dimwit.

Cock up - A cock up means you have made a mistake.

Dekko - To have a look at something.

Chuffed - You would be chuffed to bits if you were really pleased about something.

Wobbler - To "throw a wobbly" or to "throw a wobbler" means to have a tantrum.

Shirty - "Don't get shirty with me young man" was what my Dad used to tell me when I was little.

Scouser – Someone from Liverpool
30.

Wonky - If something is shaky or unstable you might say it is wonky.

Hanky panky - Hanky panky - or "slap and tickle" as some older folks call it - would be making out in America.

Drop a clanger - When I asked a large lady on the tube if she would like my seat since she was so obviously pregnant, she took the seat then told me she was fat, not pregnant!

Spend a penny - To spend a penny is to go to the bathroom.

This is Cockney rhyming slang for piddle!

Luckily bender doesn't only mean a gay man, it also means a pub crawl or a heavy drinking session.

Knob Head – Idiot/Dickhead
91.

PTO - This is an abbreviation for "please turn over".

If you were going to suss out something it would mean the same thing.

Dishy - If someone is a bit of a dish or a bit dishy it means they are attractive or good looking.

You certainly don't have a fanny pack, or smack people on their fannys - you would get arrested for that!

Snog - If you are out on the pull you will know you are succeeding if you end up snogging someone of the opposite sex (or same sex for that matter!).

Belt up - For some reason I heard this quite a lot as a kid.

For example if you are telling someone how to make that fabulous banoffee pie you just served them, you would tell them to boil the condensed milk for three hours, spread it onto a basic cheesecake base, slice bananas on top, add some whipped double cream, another layer of banana and Bob's your uncle!

Chuffed - You would be chuffed to bits if you were really pleased about something.

Barmy - If someone tells you that you're barmy they mean you have gone mad or crazy.

I loved watching Brits being interviewed on US chat shows and embarrassing the interviewer when they said something was "total crap".

Cheesed off - This is a polite way of saying you are pissed off with something.

So if you ever visit The Shambles in York, then the name does not refer to the somewhat shambolic nature of the buildings; it's a reference to the site it's built on - an old slaughterhouse!

Bonk - Same meaning as shag.

Nesh - My Dad used to call me a nesh wimp when I was a kid and I wanted him to take me places in his car because it was too cold to go on my bike.

Cheerio - Not a breakfast cereal.

Arsehole - Asshole to you.

Keep your pecker up - This is one way of saying keep your chin up.

Mutt's nuts - If something is described as being "the Mutt's" then you'll know it is fantastic or excellent.

Another way to describe it is to say you feel shagged.

Knock up - This means to wake someone up.

Nitwit - See twit.

Parky - Either short for Michael Parkinson, a famous chat show host, or more likely a word to describe the weather as being rather cold!

Squiffy - This means you are feeling a little drunk.

Hanky panky - Hanky panky - or "slap and tickle" as some older folks call it - would be making out in America.

Bung - To bung something means to throw it.

Cilla Black, a scouse TV presenter has probably done most to promote the use of this word as she says it all the time on her programmes.

Shite - This is just another way of saying shit.

A five pound note is called a fiver and a ten pound note is called a tenner.

When we were in restaurants with friends, they would say to the waiter something like "Can I get a refill".

Blinding - If something is a blinding success - it does not mean that any eyes were poked out with sharp sticks - it means it was awesome.

Potty - This isn't just the thing you sit a toddler on - if you are potty it means you are a little crazy, a bit of a looney, one card short of a full deck.

It means you are talking out of your butt and has nothing to do with any kind of dessert!

Some places in America they said takes the cake.

Your gob is your mouth and if you smack your gob, it would be out of amazement.

Rat arsed - Yet another term for drunk, sloshed or plastered.

Fagged - If you are too lazy or tired to do something you could say "I can't be fagged".

Strop - If someone is sulking or being particularly miserable you would say they are being stroppy or that they have a strop on.

Short for "porky pies", meaning "pork pies".

Mufti - An old army term for your "civvies".

Looking at the burger you might say "blimey what a stonker".

In other words you have had rather too much to drink down your local.

Rugger - This is short for "rugby".

Cobblers - I have heard people say "what a load of cobblers" more than once.

Pants – Panties
46.

Kip - A short sleep, forty winks, or a snooze.

Pissing around - Fooling about, in the sense of messing around or making fun or just being silly.

Diddle - To rip someone off or to con someone is to diddle them.

Honking - Honking is being sick or throwing up.

The sort of old fashioned saying dragged up by Austin Powers.

Fruity - If someone is feeling fruity then they are feeling frisky.

Other expressions used to describe this bodily function include; siphon the python, shake the snake, wee, pee, piss, piddle and having a jimmy.

Cock-up – Screw up
3.

Blow off - Who blew off?

To a Brit, the pound sign is the wiggly thing we use to denote the UK pound (or quid), in the same way you have a dollar sign.

Leg it - This is a way of saying run or run for it.

Kip - A short sleep, forty winks, or a snooze.

Rather worryingly smeg is also the name of a company that makes ovens!!!

Pukka - This term has been revived recently by one of our popular young TV chefs.

Crap - The same word in both countries - but less rude here.

Peanuts - I hated one of my summer jobs as a kid because it paid peanuts.

Off your trolley - If someone tells you that you're off your trolley, it means you have gone raving bonkers, crazy, mad!

Prat - Yet another mildly insulting name for someone.

We would generally use it to mean that everything is cool and groovy, on plan, no worries and generally going well.

Basically worn out, good for nothing, tired out, knackered.

Jammy - If you are really lucky or flukey, you are also very jammy.

Bangers – Sausage
75.

Sometimes we would get caught and some old bloke would come out and shout "oi clear off you lot".

Kip - A short sleep, forty winks, or a snooze.

It means fooling around or horseplay.

Before you ask, yes it is also something you smoke - see wacky backy.

Meat and Two Veg – Genitalia
90.

It is also used to emphasise almost anything, "you're bloody mad", "not bloody likely" and can also be used in the middle of other words to emphasise them.

Duffer - Any person that is duff could be referred to as a duffer.

Peanuts - I hated one of my summer jobs as a kid because it paid peanuts.

Slag - To slag someone off, is to bad mouth them in a nasty way.

You have a kip in front of the telly on a Sunday afternoon.

Fagged - If you are too lazy or tired to do something you could say "I can't be fagged".

Keep your pecker up - This is one way of saying keep your chin up.

Sixes and sevens - If something is all at sixes and sevens then it is in a mess, topsy turvy or somewhat haywire!

Sorted - When you have fixed a problem and someone asks how it is going you might say "sorted".

Bender - I used to go out on a bender quite frequently when I was at university.

Chips – French Fries
76.

Duff - Anything that is duff is useless, junk, trash.

Momentarily - As you come into land at an American airport and the announcement says that you will be landing momentarily, look around to see if anyone is sniggering.

For example a computer program might be bespoken for a client, or you may order a bespoke holiday, where the travel agent creates an itinerary around your exact requirements.

Plastered - Another word for loaded.

Clear off!

Don’t Get Your Knickers in a Twist – Don’t Get worked up
73.

Gallivanting - The dictionary says "to gad about", which probably doesn't help much!

Blighty – Britain
100.

I just learnt that in the USA you dicker over a price, particularly for used cars!

Round - When you hear the words "your round" in the pub, it means it is your turn to buy the drinks for everyone in the group - nothing to do with the size of your tummy!

Bum - This is the part of your body you sit on.

Kids thought all cool stuff was ace, or brill.

A five pound note is called a fiver and a ten pound note is called a tenner.

Tidy - Apart from the obvious meaning of neat, tidy also means that a woman is a looker, attractive or sexy.

Baccy - Tobacco.

Tickety-boo - If something is going well with no problems we would say it is tickety-boo.

Ponce – Poser
72.

Toff – Upper Class Person
28.

Hump - If you have got the hump it means you are in a mood.

Pip pip - Another out-dated expression meaning goodbye.

Pussy - This is what we call our cat, as in "pussy cat", or in the fairytale, Puss in Boots.

Hard lines - This is another way of saying hard luck or bad luck.

To a Brit, the pound sign is the wiggly thing we use to denote the UK pound (or quid), in the same way you have a dollar sign.

Put a sock in it - This is one way of telling someone to shut up.

Punter – Customer/Prostitute’s Client
29.

Arse over tit - Another version of arse over elbow, but a bit more graphic!

He knew where everyone lived and tapped on the bedroom windows with a long stick, and was known as a "knocker up".

Two finger salute - When you see a Brit stick up two fingers at you in a V shape, he may be ordering two of something (if his palms are toward you).

It means super or smashing, which of course is how he describes all his food.

Mug - If someone is a bit of a mug, it means they are gullible.

Dodgy goods may have been nicked.

Faff - To faff is to dither or to fanny around.