English Phrases & Words.

Hello, hi and welcome! I thought I'd write a post that I've had in mind for a little while but haven't gotten round to it, but finally it's here!

The past two years I've lived abroad in Switzerland and now in Berlin. Whilst living abroad I've met people from all over the world from Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Scotland, South Africa and many other places. 

Whilst making friends with people all over the world it has made me realise how many phrases and words us Brits use that sound crazy to anyone not British/English. 

So I thought I'd share with you some English words and phrases that I've had to explain to people over the past two years. 

Dodgy -

Meaning: not trustworthy, suspicious.

Example: "I heard he sells out of date food, he's quite dodgy."

Gutted -

Meaning: disappointed, unhappy, let down.

Example: "I wanted front row tickets to Beyonce, but I got row G, I was so gutted."

Knock off -

Meaning: not exactly like the original, similar but not exact. 

Example: "I bought some knock off adidas trainers at the market."

Chuffed -

Meaning: happy, proud. some may also say "chuffed to bits".

Example: "I'm so chuffed you came first in your race."

Lost the plot -

Meaning: going crazy, not acting normal.

Example: "she had one red bull and lost the plot."

Fortnight -

Meaning: two weeks, 14 days. 

Example: "I get paid every fortnight."

(This is only used in England apparently).

Hoover -

Meaning: vacuum cleaner.

Example: "I'm going to hoover up all the crumbs from my sandwich."

One off -

Meaning: one time event, once in a life time opportunity. 

Example: "I was once in a production for Romeo & Juliet, it was a one off."

Arse-over-tit -

Meaning: fall over, flip over.

Example: "I fell off my bike and went completely arse over tit."

Telly -

Meaning: television, tv.

Example: "put the telly on, I'll go find my slippers."

Knobhead -

Meaning: idiot, not nice person.

Example: "she was being a knobhead so I stopped talking to her."

Chock-a-block -

Meaning: busy, full, gridlock.

Other words we use are: rammed, packed. 

Example: "traffic was chock a block for miles, took me hours to get home."

Knackered -

Meaning: tired, exhausted.

Example: "I wanted to go to the gym tonight but I'm knackered."

Take the piss -

Meaning: make fun of OR mess around.

This can be said in two contexts.

Example 1: "don't take the piss out of my  new hair, I know it's a horrible colour."

Example 2: "don't take the piss, hurry up and choose a pizza you want to order."

Aggro -

Meaning: short for aggravated, trouble. 

Example: "she was giving me so much aggro because I forgot to give her £20 back."

Barmy -

Meaning: another word for crazy, weird, strange. 

Example: "she likes to put cheese in soup, she's a bit barmy."

Barney -

Meaning: no, not like the giant purple dinosaur.. It means to get annoyed or angry at someone. The English dictionary says it means to have a loud argument but it's used in different contexts.

Example: "I dropped her phone in the bath and she had a right barney at me."

Blatant/Blatantly -

Meaning: obvious, clear to see. some even shorten this to 'blaits'.

Example: "she kept flirting with him even though his girlfriend was blatantly standing right beside him."

Come off it -

Meaning: stop messing around, don't joke around, stop lying.

Example: "oh come off it, those boobs are not real."

En-i? - 

Meaning: (say it really fast) this is more of a southerner phrase but I say it(I'm from the midlands so I say a mixture of north and south sayings). It just means 'aren't I?' It doesn't really make much sense nor is it grammatically correct.

Example: "I've done too much exercsie today, en-i?"

Int-it? -

Meaning: isn't it? A lazy midland/northern phrase.

Example: "cold outside, int-it?"

Ta-rar -

Meaning: (tah-rah) goodbye, see you later. (Midland/northern saying).

Example: "I'm going to the shop, ta-rar."

Smashing -

Meaning: good, great.

Example: "you've done a smashing job with that painting."

Mardy -

Meaning: miserable, unhappy, moaning. This was originally a midland only saying but it's slowly filtered around England, but it's mainly said in the Midlands. You can have a mardy OR be mardy. 

Example 1: "she's not coming out tonight she's lost her favourite shoes and now she's being mardy."

Example 2: "Don't have a mardy because I'm not buying you those sweets."

Code - 

Meaning: this is Nottingham(where I'm from) slang for cold. 

Example: "put your coat and scarf on its code outside." 

Daft -

Meaning: silly, stupid, shy. This can be said in two contexts.

Example 1: "don't be daft, she's way too old for him."

Example 2: "She was fine until she saw the camera then she turned daft."

Ayup -

Meaning: hi, hello.(midland/northern phrase).

Example: "ayup, how are you?"

Twitchell/Jyitteh -

Meaning: (Nottingham word). Cut-through, alleyway, short cut.

Example: "to get to my house just go down the twitchell."

Gob -

Meaning: (midland/northern word). Mouth.

Example: "close your gob when you're eating."

Gizz -

Meaning: give.

Example: "gizz the ketchup."

Us -

Meaning: me, myself.

Example: "come help us with the shopping."

Got-ooh -

Meaning: got to.(lazy midland phrase).

Example: "I can't, got-ooh go doctors tomorrow morning."

Poorly -

Meaning: (midland/northern word). Sick, unwell.

Example: "I can't go to town, I'm too poorly."

Manky -

Meaning: (Nottingham word) unclean, dirty, scruffy.

Example: "you need to throw that out its gone all manky."

Ta -

Meaning: (midland/northern word) thank you.

Example: "ta for letting me use your straighteners."

Note -

Meaning: (Nottingham word). nothing.

Example: "I can't give you any money I've got note on me."

Summet -

Meaning: (Nottingham word). Something.

Example: "come here a second I've got summet to show you."

Tint -

Meaning: (Nottingham word). Isn't, it is not.

Example: "tint too big for my car, it's a good size."

Ode -

Meaning: (Nottingham word). Old.

Example: "she's far too ode to have more kids."

That's all I've got so far! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. 

Until next time..

Natalie xx