Out of the Mouths of Brits, Volume II

 Alright, a lot of people really liked my English Slang post from last week, so I spent a few days compiling more sayings and phrases and words to share with you! Here goes.

Knob- a slang word for male genitalia, often used for an insult. "Don't be such a knob!" It's not as offensive as it seems. 

Stroppy- this is used when someone is being very moody. Sometimes when I'm being bratty and throw a sassy line at Mick he looks at me all exasperated and says in a high-pitched voice, "Alright, stroppy!"


Got a cob on- A way of saying you're in a bad mood or sulking. Again, Mick has asked me "why have you got a cob on?" I'm not entirely sure where it comes from. And for the record, I'm not always in a bad mood!


Thick- Stupid, unintelligent.

Innit- A chavy way of saying "isn't it." Example, "that car is well fast, innit?!"

Trolly- grocery cart

Lorry- Large truck, like an eighteen wheeler.

Pikey- common, low class, trailer trash. Can describe a thing, area or a person. "This place is full of pikeys." or "This neighborhood is so pikey!" It's kind of how they describe gypsies and pikey comes from the term "turnpike" which is the side of the road and where lots of gypsies would camp out.

Chav- This one took me ages to understand. I still find it difficult to explain, so read here.

Holiday- what they call vacation. "Oh, I'd love a holiday on the beach!"

Cheers- Thanks.

Plonker- comes from Only Fools and Horses. Stupid, idiot. Del Boy always told his brother Rodney "don' be a plonka awl ya life!"

Tart- promiscuous woman or slutty dressers

Biscuit/Cookie- Okay, this is a huge debate between Americans and Brits. In America, we have cookies. It's a pretty broad range of tasty snacks. In England, it's broken down into two categories- cookies and biscuits. In England, this is a cookie, just like it is in America:

image from cookiedelivery.com

And in England these would be considered biscuits, even though in America they'd just be more cookies:

image from buchnknight.blogspot.com

Bobby- from kaboodle.com

So, all very cookie type things. The best way I can think to describe the difference is that fluffy more home-made type things are considered to be cookies, while harder, more compressed baked goods are considered biscuits.

Copper- A police officer. Not to be mistaken for a bobby.

Bobby- A certain type of police officer that wears a helmet.

Ickle- small, tiny. On at least one occasion Mick has called me "ickle sleepy head."

Petal- An affectionate nickname, generally for a woman. If I'm lucky I get called this.

Plank- a stupid person.

Ponce- Someone who dresses and acts fancier than they probably are.

Posh-  Classy and sophisticated

Sod- Meaning sodomite, but that is in the old fashioned context. More commonly used as a gentle form of fool, bastard, or idiot. "You cheeky sod!"

Blow off- To break wind

Bog roll- Toilet paper. The restroom here is sometimes called the bog.

Chuffed- Pleased, stoked, proud. "I was really chuffed that everyone liked the cookies I made!"

Toilet- The restroom. You don't really ever hear someone say "I need to use the restroom" over here. It's generally "I need the toilet," which kind of grosses me out, because it makes me think of the actual bowl and it's just yucky.

Fit- sexy, attractive

Fiver/tenner- Five or ten pound note (money).

Frog- What the English people call the French. The French and the English don't like each other much, but then again, who really likes the french?

Gogglebox- This one I haven't heard too often, but it means television. "Turn on the old gogglebox, will you?"

Kip- Sleep. "I'm going to try to catch some kip."

Taking the piss- Messing with someone, joking around. A less offensive way of saying it is "taking the mickey." I got Mick his favorite television series on DVD for Christmas and he looked up at me shocked and said "are you taking the piss?!" In this case he pretty much meant "are you serious?!"

Skint- broke, no money. "I'd love to go, but I'm skint."


That's probably all I'll do for a while, because for now that's all I know! But if I learn more I will post them.

Mick and I have been talking and we (I) really want to get a rabbit. We both want a pet- I haven't had one since my childhood dog, Bailey, passed away a few years ago and Mick misses his rats. Where we live we can't really have a dog or a cat and they're a bit more of a financial obligation than we're looking for, so we decided a rabbit would be nice. It seems to be alright with Mick's mum and step-dad. I've fallen in love with a little guy an hour away who looks something like this:

image from petrabbitworld.com

He's a Dwarf Lop baby and I have to have him so I can schnoz all over his little face.We're going to go see him later in the week and put down a deposit.

Other than that, I've been just doing odds and ends. I had my first adventure in drying clothes on the line

 

And bonding with the dog 

Last week was nice. Mick and I were able have a belated anniversary celebration. I took him out for an English Fry Up, his favorite thing about being English.

My first English fry up at the Hobgoblin Pub in Canterbury last summer. I've had a few more since then...

And he made a really nice pasta dinner and we exchanged cards. Nothing big this year because we've spent a lot of money on flights and rings for the wedding and stuff.
And oh yeah, news on the wedding. I've gone back and forth a bit but we've decided to just do one wedding rather than a legal one and then a big fancy one. I really want all my family to be able to be there, but I kind of feel like having the two weddings, they end up stealing thunder from each other. The first isn't fancy, but it's the real deal. And the second one would be pretty and formal and a big party, but we'd already be married. So we're just going to do a small but elegant wedding in September. I'm waiting to hear back from the place, but I think it will be September 2nd. Which will make a very busy three weeks for me and Mick! My birthday is August 23, our anniversary will be September 2, and his birthday is September 12!
We spent the weekend in Kent and got to go to a friend's housewarming party. It was a very cute older house and made me really look forward to a time when Mick and I will be able to do the same thing. Now we are back in Bognor for a couple of weeks. I have to say I'm glad to not be back and forth for a bit. I keep forgetting things at one house or the other, this week I forgot my razor!

A very Happy 4th of July to all my friends and family back in America. I always feel like such a traitor when I'm here on this particular holiday. Inside I'm waving a little flag. I'm going to miss the hotdogs and fireworks, though. Perhaps I can stream a live firework display or something.

That's all for now. Hope everyone had a great weekend and a not too miserable Monday. :)