Category: Local Language

A quiet word to an employee or aquaintance, suggesting that they’d best proceed with caution in respect of their current conduct or attitude, or they may be in for an unpleasant surprise. The details of which aren’t actually set out by the giver of the warning, who may or may not have control over their…

adjective Trustworthy, genuine.

noun Teacher’s pet, brown-noser.

noun. A baby garment commonly called a ‘sleeper’ in the US, usually with long sleeves and footed.

1 noun. Gas. (Hard boiled eggs give me wind. Really, everything gives me wind; trapped wind is really uncomfortable. There’s more room out than in!) 2 verb. To burp [a baby]. (After each feed you should wind your baby.)

Slang, noun. Baby. (See also Bub.)

slang. Baby.

A person (idiot) who knows very little and talks a lot.

pop-uh-tee-peeng (Welsh) microwave, i.e. the oven that goes ‘ping’!

Avoiding doing something. (Thanks to Graham Lehr for the clarification.)

Avoiding being somewhere. (Thanks to Graham Lehr for the clarification.)

Coloring.  (Usually with crayons…  In a coloring book…)

Already invested money in [something]. You might as well go all the way, you’re quids in now.

Noun. Hand soap. Soap purposed to wash hands.

Noun. These are the details of your work before the answer is deduced. On the math test, don’t just write the answer, please show your working outs. In other words, ‘working outs’ can used interchangeably with the word ‘life’.

Ambulatory & Emergency. Equivalent to the US Emergency Room.

A Stollen is a traditional German loaf-shaped cake containing dried fruit, and covered with sugar, powdered sugar or icing.

To ‘skive off’ is to avoid some duty or obligation. Skiving off is similar to bunking off; I’ll let you know if I ever figure out the exact difference.

To ‘bunk off’ is to skip an obligation, especially school or work. e.g. Let’s bunk off today–we can just not come back to work after lunch! -OR- We are bunking off, let’s not get caught by our boss in the Tesco by the office!

Someone who is nosy. (Some say this phrase originated when an Archbishop of Canterbury named Parker (1559-1575) ordered some unpopular inquiries…)

A dessert with pieces of crunchy meringue, cream, and berries. Eton Mess is a type of mess made with strawberries. (It ain’t the ‘mess’ of the South.)

adjective. see also Pox. 1)horrible, dumb, stupid, time-wasting, unpleasant, wrong, backwards, otherwise bad 2)f*&!king

noun 1) Syphilis 2) crap, pants, Highlander II 3) a curse or hex

Hot, sunny weather in August (which you must leave London to see I am told).

Driving me crazy, figuratively of course. (That screaming kid is doing my head in.)

Not recurring, outside occurrence.

Crazy, nutters, insane. (That humming noise is driving me mental!)

A really long time, can be utilised interchangeably with ages, years, eras, etc. (I have had these shoes for yonks.)

If someone tells you that they like pepperoni on their banana split (or anything else stupid or outrageous), feel free to reply rhetorically, “What are you like?!”

verb, run. To ladder one’s tights is to somehow cause a run in those tights.

Organised, as in ‘arranged’. (i.e. The tour was laid on by the hotel.)

Pool float, not to be confused with a pool floater. That would be something else entirely.

Erotically stimulating. (Incorrect use of the word ‘fruity’ can cause embarassment.)

Doing nothing productive.

Football. Soccer. As in The World Cup.

This is the kind of courage someone gets after a frosty beverage. And by ‘frosty beverage’ I definitely mean alcohol. Dutch courage is commonly drawn upon on first dates and before singing Karaoke.

Caught on, got the meaning. i.e. I hadn’t cottoned on to the fact that everyone was laughing because I had toilet paper on my shoe.

An exclamation of energetic pleasure or the like. For example “I got a raise at work, Get In!” Origins are with football. When a ball is kicked at a goal and it just barely makes it in the net, one would also yell “Get in!”

Moonshine. Yes, Moonshine.

Go on and do that, looking like a fool… (because it is entertaining to the rest of us)

Counterclockwise.

Washcloth.

Want to know more?

A room or cupboard where laundry is aired due to its being the warmest/driest place in the house. Usually its warm because there’s a water heater or heating element in the room/cupboard.

(Noun.) Sleeping in on purpose or in a relaxed state – otherwise it is still oversleeping.

Movie. (i.e. Anyone for a film this weekend?)

Moveable personal property other than land – like dishes, appliances, and such.

Informal living room.

Lease for long term tenancy at a rented property.

Living room, sometimes shortened just to “reception”.