Line #32 UsefulNotes/BritishEnglish


1	British slang terms and other relevant terms for non-British media consumers. See also: UsefulNotes/BritishAccents for the multitude of ways you'll hear them spoken, [[http://www.effingpot.com/ this site]] for an utterly exhaustive list of words, phrases, definitions, examples and etymologies, and UsefulNotes/BritishWeather, a common topic of conversation.
2
3	The sister tropes to this are, of course, UsefulNotes/AmericanEnglish, Canadian English, and UsefulNotes/AustralianSlang. Italicised words are also heard in Australian English. For tropes encompassing all branches of English, see SeparatedByACommonLanguage.
4
5	----
6	!!A quick note on Grammar (and Miscellaneous...
7	[[AC: NOTE: These generally overlap with Australian, Irish and New Zealand terminology and syntax rules]]
8	* In writing, quotation marks include the exact phrase they are quoting, and don't include extraneous punctuation. Some examples can be seen on this page, where the full stop (period) is not included in the quotation: the line below is a good one, where the final ''full stop'' appears after the closing quotation mark and bracket (parenthesis).
9	* A few past tenses tend to use -t rather than -ed, and the two forms are interchangeable in modern British usage; for example '''spelt''' (spelled), '''burnt''' and '''leant''' (a homophone with "Lent").
10	* Nouns that refer to groups always use third-person singular verb forms in America, but tend toward third-person plural forms in Britain. Happens invariably with sports teams, such as "England are winning this game" (not "England is winning this game"), but also in other phrases like "The staff are all busy" or "The band are awful"/"this band rock".
11	* '''Dates''' are either "'''the''' fifteenth '''of''' May" or "May '''the''' fifteenth", unlike in America where one can drop the "the". It can be particularly jarring hearing it without "the" on trailers and suchlike. And of course, the dates are numerically Day/Month/Year, not Month/Day/Year – so 7/8/2010 is August the seventh, not July the eighth.
12	* When referring to numbers above 100, either verbally or written out in words, Brits will always include the word "and" after "hundred", which is often omitted by Americans. For example, the maximum score in a round of darts is always "one hundred ''and'' eighty", never "one hundred eighty" as many Americans would say. Similarly years like 2001 will be referred to as "two thousand ''and'' one", not "two thousand one".
13	* Similar to the above, British English nearly always uses the article when using proper nouns; for instance, someone saying "in Commons" (as opposed to "in the Commons" or "in the House of Commons") would sound weird.
14	* "Only..." is sometimes used after a question to mean "The reason I ask, is..." (In UsefulNotes/AmericanEnglish, "Because..." would more likely be used for this.)
15	--> '''WesternAnimation/{{Wallace\|AndGromit}}''': Have you been peckish during the night? Only someone's been at me cheese...
16	* British dictionaries and other references tend to be (viewed as) ''descriptive'', rather than ''prescriptive'': it's the dictionary's job to usefully explain what words you encounter were intended to mean by the author, not necessarily to tell you the "correct" way to use it yourself. While neither British nor American English has an official definition from a language academy (unlike French), these are the respective positions of the two most popular dictionaries in each country, ''Oxford'' and ''Webster's''. (However, other dictionaries do exist with varying points of view.) This means that the "rules" of British spelling and grammar are, for practical purposes, much more flexible.
17	* While in America talking about condiments and the like uses "with [X] on it", British English often drops the "it". So, a hotdog with ketchup and mustard on.
18	* In Britain and most of UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealthOfNations[[note]]with the exception of Canada, which follows American usage[[/note]], the metallic element 13 is ''a-lyoo-MIN-i-um'' or ''a-lyoo-MIN-yum'' instead of the American ''a-LOO-min-um''. Note that the International Union on Pure and Applied Chemistry (the global authority on all things elemental) agrees with the British usage; that said, IUPAC uses the American 'sulfur' and derived usages for element 16, not the British 'sulphur'. (They're back to British for 'caesium' ... Americans traditionally spelled it 'cesium' ... but that's rare enough that unless you're a chemist yourself it will probably never come up.)
19	* Americans bias towards "I haven't", "You don't have a chance", etc. The British bias towards "I've not", "You've no chance", etc.
20	* It's a fairly common error (see, for instance, the language policy of the [[http://harrypotter.wikia.com Harry Potter Wiki]]) to believe that British English only allows "artefact" but not "artifact", and the "-ise" ending to words but not the "-ize" ending; this is probably because American English is the other way around. The reality is that in both cases, both forms are acceptable in Britain. Indeed, there is some evidence that the "-ize" ending is older, and used to be used even in words which are now spelled "-ise" on both sides of the pond (for instance, "advertize", which was standard in the 18th century but is now used nowhere). Famously, [[UsefulNotes/{{Oxbridge}} Oxford]] uses "-ize" in the same words American usage does; thus adherence to "-ize" in an otherwise British work is called "Oxford usage" and is characteristic of works published by the Oxford University Press (including the Oxford English Dictionary) and diehard Oxonians (like Creator/JRRTolkien and Series/InspectorMorse - to the extent it becomes a plot point).
21	* Some words are the same in both British and American English but are pronounced differently. For example, in British English, the emphasis in the word "adult" is on the first syllable. "Again" rhymes with "pain".
22
23	----
24	!!Ones with their own pages
25	[[index]]
26	* [[BritishEnglish/EnglishSlangAToF A to F]]
27	* [[BritishEnglish/EnglishSlangGToL G to L]]
28	* [[BritishEnglish/EnglishSlangMToR M to R]]
29	* [[BritishEnglish/EnglishSlangSToZ S to Z]]
30	* BritishEnglish/CockneyRhymingSlang
31	[[/index]]
32	----
33	[[foldercontrol]]
34
35	[[folder:Terms for Police Officers]]
36	The '''[[UsefulNotes/BritishCoppers Police]]''' have ''many'' nicknames. Some are geographical, others affectionate, others downright offensive, some used by the police themselves.
37	* '''''ACAB''''' A term formerly referring to a now-defunct government agency set up to mediate industrial disputes. These days it's an acronym for '''''All Coppers Are Bastards'''''. Often associated with the punk movement, although its sometimes said to have been created separately and adopted.
38	* '''''Bacon/Jam Sandwich''''': A fast response car, so called because of their old colour scheme - white, with an orange or red strip down the side, now replaced with a chequerboard pattern commonly nicknamed '''''Battenberg''''' for its likeness to the chequered cake.
39	** Or perhaps because a bacon sandwich contains pig products...
40	* '''''Bait''''': Either the police themselves or something that will attract their attention. Largely confined to England.
41	* '''''Battle Taxi''''': Liverpool slang for heavy police vans or minibuses, due to their similarity with pensioner minibuses.
42	* '''''Batty Squad''''': London slang for police motorcyclists.
43	* '''''Bizzies''''': Liverpool slang. So named because the police are either too "busy" to help or because they are "busy"bodies.
44	* '''''Black Maria''''': these days, often used without the colour commentary; heavy police vans, as per Battle Taxi above. The police themselves use this version from time to time, and can be heard from Inspector Lestrade in Creator/GuyRitchie's ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009''. When a Maria is summoned, it is because a large number of arrests are expected to follow in short order. Equivalent to what Americans call a paddy wagon.
45	* '''''Blue berets''''': Police slang for officers of the Specialist Crime and Operations Specialist Firearms Command ([=SCO19=]), the Met's equivalent of a S.W.A.T team.
46	* '''''Bluebottles''''': Uniformed police, probably cross-referencing their navy-blue uniforms with the type of fly. OlderThanRadio, thus not a reference to the character from ''Radio/TheGoonShow''. Now somewhat quaint.
47	* '''''Blue Meanies''''': Coined by hippies in TheSixties, popularized by Music/TheBeatles in ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'' – or was it the other way around?
48	* '''''Bobbies''''': Refers to the founder of the modern police (and later Prime Minister), Sir Robert "Bobby" Peel, who established the Metropolitan Police Force while Home Secretary in 1829.
49	* '''''Boys In Blue''''': Duh.
50	* '''''C.H.I.M.P.S''''': Police Community Support Officers, [=PCSOs=], who were introduced by David Blunkett as a way to cut the police but keep numbers up. Stands for "Completely Hopeless In Most Policing Situations."
51	** A PCSO is also commonly called a "Happy Shopper Copper" after the low-rent discount chainstore.
52	* '''''Cocos''''': Scottish rhyming slang (coco-pops/cops).
53	* '''''Copper''''': Same as cop. The shortened version is rarely used to denote a policeman, instead meaning to confess, as in: "I brought the suspect in, had a word, but no deal, so I had [[PoliceBrutality Danny and the boys give him a do-over. He copped to the murder in no time."]]
54	* '''''Cuntstubble''''': Deliberate mispronunciation of "Constable". Some people try to use it on the fly to actual officers. This is a silly thing to do.
55	** "No cunts here, drugstable!", a delightful {{Spoonerism}} reflecting this deliberate mispronunciation, is sometimes used by those detained on suspicion of possession of drugs. As with the primary above, this is a silly thing to do.
56	* '''''Dibbles''''': Used in and around Manchester, from Officer Dibble in WesternAnimation/TopCat.
57	* '''''Feds''''': EaglelandOsmosis means that people will know what you are talking about. However, since there is no federalism in Britain (much as the [[UsefulNotes/BritishPoliticalSystem Lib Dems]] wish there were) this term just means all police.
58	* '''''Filth''''': The nastiest non-swearword name used. Denotes the police in general, as in "leg it lads, its the filth". Never used by police officers themselves. Using it in "polite" society will generally get you disapproving looks and perhaps a sermon on how wonderful the police are from some righteous soul. Using it ''to'' the police themselves will likely get you a threat, a bollocking, or a truncheon/CS gas spray in the face.
59	* '''''The Flying Squad''''' is a special division of the London Metropolitan Police that served as a kind of quick-reaction force, responding quickly and often violently to armed robbery. Some of the most famous British crimes have been busted by or connected to the Flying Squad - the Millennium Dome robbery, the arrest of [[LondonGangster the Kray Twins]] and the investigation of the Great Train Robbery. Because of the glamorous nature of this high-risk policing, they are often featured on film and TV, with the most famous example being ''Series/TheSweeney'' (see below).
60	* '''''The Fuzz''''': Corruption of "the Force". Hence the [[BritPop Supergrass]][[note]]see ''Grass'', for the origin of the band name[[/note]] album ''Caught By The Fuzz'' and the Creator/EdgarWright / Creator/SimonPegg film ''Film/HotFuzz''.
61	* '''''Garda/Guards''''': The Irish police, from Garda Síochána na hÉireann. It's one ''garda'', many ''gardaí'' (''gardee'').
62	* '''''Grass''''': An informant. To grass someone up is to betray them. When a high-level or well-connected crook turns informant, they are sometimes referred to by the press as being a "Supergrass". Cockney rhyming slang; "grasshopper"="shopper" (traitor).
63	* '''''The Hedd''''' pronounced "Heth". Shortened version of ''Heddlu'', the Welsh world for "Police", used only west of Chester.
64	* '''''The Heavies''''': Cockney slang for the Flying Squad, the roving band of policemen who respond quickly to bank robberies and heists.
65	* '''''Jacks''''': Declining slang for policemen in general. Sometimes called '''''Jacques''''' for the French police.
66	* '''''Johnny Hopper''''': Cockney rhyming slang for Copper.
67	* '''''Labdick''''': An officer of the Lothian and Borders Police, as in L.A.Bdick.
68	* '''''Meat Wagon''''': A police van.
69	* '''''[[GodwinsLaw Nazi Stormtrooper]]''''': Violent policeman.
70	* '''''Night Jack''''': Police slang for a detective working night shift.
71	* '''''Old Bill''''': One of the oldest and most common slang terms for the police, sometimes shortened to Series/TheBill. Used by the police themselves. Origin obscure.
72	* '''''Panda Car''''': A police car. Refers to the old colour scheme.
73	* '''''Peeler''''': Another play on the name of Sir Robert Peel (see Bobbies, above). Once ubiquitous across the UK, it is now confined to period dramas and Northern Ireland.
74	* '''''Pigs''''': Nearly as offensive as The Filth. Neil from ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' called the Police this even after joining the force himself. Well known in North America and may have originated there.
75	** One adaptation of ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' to modern times had the prediction be that Macbeth would be killed "when pigs fly". Sure enough, the finale included a visit from the Police Helicopter Squad.
76	* '''''Plastic Police''''': Police Community Support Officers, ridiculing their general uselessness.
77	* '''''(P.C.) Plod''''': The name of the policeman in popular children's book ''[[WesternAnimation/NoddysToylandAdventures Noddy]]'' ([[BeamMeUpScotty actually]] ''Mr.'' Plod). The female version, generally used only by the police, is '''''Plonk'''''.
78	* '''''Polis''''': Scottish slang term for the police, generally ubiquitous north of the border. Pronounced "Poe-liss", and used as both a singular and plural form, as in "[[Series/StillGame Here comes Shug...and two polis.]]"
79	* '''''Rashers''''': Reference to bacon rashers, deriving from the reference to the police as '''''Pigs''''', which is used on both sides of the pond.
80	* '''''Rozzers''''': Another reference to Robert Peel. Adopted by Creator/AnthonyBurgess as a [[Literature/AClockworkOrange Nadsat]] term.
81	* '''''Screw''''': A prison guard.
82	* '''''Scotland Yard''''': A term which refers to the London Metropolitan Police as a collective, as in "Last night, Scotland Yard warned the public that escaped murderer Adolf [=McMachete=] is not to be approached under any circumstances." Due to the [[BritainIsOnlyLondon "we all live in London"]] mentality of the [[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers British press]], it is sometimes used to refer to UK police forces as a whole. It comes from the location of the public entrance to the Met's old headquarters, which opened on Great Scotland Yard (a street in St. James's, Westminster, which was apparently so-called because the London diplomatic offices of the Kingdom of Scotland had been there before the Union). When the Metropolitan police moved to a new and deeply ugly building in Victoria, it was dubbed "New Scotland Yard". In old dramas, famous detectives will sometimes be referred to as [[SmithOfTheYard X of the Yard.]]
83	* '''''Scuffers''''' or '''''Scuppers''''': An old Liverpool term, popularized by ''Series/ZCars'', a classic British PoliceProcedural. Starred '''Creator/BrianBlessed''' as "Fancy Smith". The second form may be connected to the verb "to be scuppered".
84	* '''''Squealer''''': A grass.
85	* '''''Stench''''': Similar to filth.
86	* '''''The Sweeney''''': Cockney rhyming slang: ''Theatre/SweeneyTodd''/Flying Squad. Hence the name of the cop show ''Series/TheSweeney''.
87	* '''''The Thin Blue Line''''': Presumably a reference to "the thin ''red'' line", an Imperial-era name for the British army. Nothing like the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Blue_Line_(emblem) American Thin Blue Line]], which is the "brotherhood of the police" and often ends up being more like "police joining together to hide other officers' sketchy conduct."
88	* '''''Tit-heads''''': Derogatory and rare term referring to the characteristic traditional shape of a policeman's helmet.
89	* '''''Untouchables''''': Scottish term, deriving from the [[Series/TheUntouchables US TV Series of the same name]], for a squad of police officers.
90	* '''''Woodentops/Woolly-backs''''': Terms used by plainclothes offices to refer to the uniformed branch. Derisory. Also used by generations of British servicemen in UsefulNotes/StrokeCountry to denote the Royal Ulster Constabulary/PSNI.
91	* '''''Wasps''''': Given the recent adoption of Safety Yellow hi-vis jackets for many police officers, some have mockingly been called this.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Northern Terms]]
95	This covers anything in the vague geographical area OopNorth, which covers everything from Cheshire to Northumberland. Therefore a lot of these expressions are region-specific and may not be known elsewhere.
96	* '''Aye''': Yes.
97	* '''Bairn''': Child (also used in Scotland).
98	** Heard a ''lot'' in ''Series/WhenTheBoatComesIn''. Should not feature in a drinking game involving that show.
99	** This is what Scotty meant in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode when the warp engines got pushed too hard and broke down, and he said "My poor, poor bairns!" He thought of the engines as his children.
100	* '''Beggar''': Local and euphemistic pronunciation of ''bugger'', used informally in the same context, i.e. a person ("that silly beggar!")
101	* '''Besom''': Originally a rough broom made by tying twigs to a pole, the classic witch's broomstick. By extention a witch, or a feasome old woman of the [[Series/LastOfTheSummerWine Norah Batty]] persuasion, see ApronMatron.
102	* '''Bob''': Unrelated to the meaning on the main list. A floater, presumably because that's what it does, and by extension an adjective meaning "crap".
103	* '''Canny''': Stemming from [[OopNorth North-East England]], it can mean one of two things:
104	** As an adjective, it means "rather good"; saying someone is canny means you think they're friendly and/or nice in a non-specific way, whilst saying some''thing'' is canny means it's pretty good (again in a general sense).
105	** As an adverb, it means "rather"; finding something to be "canny bad" is like saying it's "rather/pretty bad".
106	** Elsewhere it means something more like "cunning", which usually isn't meant as a compliment.
107	** Not to be confused with Scots "cannae" (can't); see below, though this word is also used in the North (this isn't the only instance of crossover language with the neighbours up top).
108	* '''Charver''': The northern version of '''chav'''.
109	* '''Dee-dar''': Native of Sheffield, so called because they supposedly pronounce 'th' as 'd'.
110	* '''Divvent''': Do not. The equivalent word for 'do' is '''dee''', not 'div'. Not to be confused with:
111	* '''Divvy''': Informally, 'idiot'. Occasionally shortened to '''div''' or pronounced '''divot'''.
112	** ''Divvy up'' can also mean ''divide''.
113	* '''Duck''': As an informal honorific used mostly by mature women. Comes from the same root as the title 'Duke'
114	* '''Eejit''': Idiot, often said as yeejit (you're an idiot) and not meant to be mean.
115	* '''Gannin''': Going.
116	* '''Ginnel'''/'''Snicket'''/'''Entry'''/'''Back Entry''': Dialect words for a narrow alleyway, especially a shortcut in suburbia or rural areas as opposed to town centres. The often cobbled alleyway running behind lines of terraced houses.
117	* '''Gaumless''': Stupid. Outside the North East, it's typically spelt '''Gormless'''.
118	* '''Gradely!''' An expression of emphatic approval. From the [[Creator/FredDibnah Bolton]]/Rochdale/Oldham fringes of Manchester and South Lancashire.
119	* '''Jessie''': Derogatory term for a somewhat fey male, ie ''Canal Street's full of jessies''.
120	* '''Lather''': not so much working up a soapy foam, as a dire threat, often directed at whinging children; ''If you don't shut your mithering, I'm really going to lather you!''. Derives from British India; the ''lathi'' is a short vicious whip used by Indian police for crowd-control or general chastisement.
121	* '''Marra''': A Cumbrian word for a trusted friend.
122	* '''Mash''': Whilst across Britain 'mash potatoes' (not mashed) is often shortened to simply 'mash', in the North to mash also means to make -- almost exclusively with a cup of tea (i.e. "What're'ya doin'?" "mashin' a cuppa, want 'un?"[[note]]"What are you doing?" "Making a cup of tea, would you like one?"[[/note]])
123	* '''Midden''': Dungheap, refuse dump, by extension a slovenly house or unkempt ill-groomed person.
124	* '''Mither''' - a verb drawn from Scandinavian languages. To plead, whimper, whinge, be annoying, as of children demanding treats the adult is not inclined to provide.
125	* '''Nettie''': 'Toilet.' Often used as a shorthand way of identifying a character as northern. Also '''lav''', '''lavvy''', '''privy''', '''bog''', '''khazi'''.
126	* '''Nowt''': Nothing, from ''nought'' (the negative counterpart of ''owt'').
127	* '''Owt''': Anything, from the archaic ''aught'' (the positive counterpart, obviously, of ''nowt'').
128	** This and nowt lead to the northen phrase: "Whatda we know? Owt or nowt?" which can be used as a greeting.
129	*** Or the other one: "You can't get owt for nowt." No such thing as a free lunch, in other words.
130	* '''Pillock''': Fool, idiot, unworthy person.
131	* '''Skelf''': Splinter or fragment. (Cumbria, Northumberland)
132	* '''Skrike''' - to cry or whinge in a self-pitying way. See "mither" above, with "a lathering" as the dark threat of consequences due to a child who will not stop skriking. Directly lifted from Norwegian/Sweidsh and a survival of Viking days.
133	* '''t'''': In many Northern dialects, particularly Yorkshire, the definite article ''the'' is reduced to this – which is either a glottal stop, or nothing. Most commonly happens after a preposition, such as ''in t' kitchen'' or ''to t' pub''.
134	** A common mistake is for non-northerners, upon seeing this written down, to pronounce for example ''down t'pit'' as "down tuh pit" - it's actually more like "downt pit", with a glottal T-sound added to the end of the preceding word.
135	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzAD2GLfaNU We're big fans of t'Lion, t'Witch an' t'Wardrobe.]]
136	* '''Thee/Tha''': Yorkshire is the only major English dialect to preserve the T/V distinction common in European languages (French tu/vous etc), with ''thee/tha'' being the modern evolutions of ''thee/thou'', used instead of ''you'' but only in informal situations between social equals. ''Thouself'' has become ''Thissen'', ''myself'' becomes ''missen''.
137	** That basically tells you that Tykes (people from Yorkshire because Yorkshireans is annoying, or little kids) still use 'thee' and 'tha[=/=]thou', which art informal 'you's, like most European languages have. There is also 'ye' for plural you, and "ya'll" (i.e. you all).
138	** ''Tha knows'' is a quintessentially Yorkshire phrase, tacked on at the end of the sentence and equivalent to a smug 'you know'.
139	* '''The Toon''': Newcastle-upon-Tyne, local pronunciation of ''town''.
140	* '''Twisted''': Messed/screwed up. Common to Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool, usually phrased as 'That's so fucking twisted'.
141	* '''Us''': Me. "Give us a minute". Also said '''Is''' (pron. "iss" not "iz"). And thus the phrase "give me it" is in fact simply "giss".
142	** also used as a possessive pronoun replacing "our", as in '' We got us kit" , for "we have our equipment".
143	** "we", similarly, is also used singularly.
144	[[/folder]]
145
146	[[folder:Polari]]
147	'''Polari''': Slang used by homosexuals to avoid detection when sodomy was illegal.
148	Polari, previous a secret language, was outed by Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick in 'Julian and Sandy' radio sketches in the BBC's 'Round the Horne' in the 1960s. Many terms have since entered into daily vocabulary.
149	* '''Barney''': A fight. Possibly from "barney rubble", which was Cockney rhyming slang for "trouble" long before the Flintstones.
150	* '''Basket''': The bulge of male genitalia through clothes.
151	* '''Butch''': Masculine lesbian.
152	* '''Bona''': Good
153	* '''To cottage''': To have sex in public lavatories.
154	* '''Ecaf''': Face (back-slang), abbreviated to 'eek'.
155	* '''Lallies''': Legs.
156	* '''Lily Law''': The police. Synonyms included '''Betty Bracelets''' and '''Jennifer Justice'''.
157	* '''Mince''': Walk with affectation.
158	* '''Naff''': Not attractive.
159	* '''Rough trade''': Working-class or potentially aggressive sexual partner.
160	* '''Vada''': See.
161	* '''Zhoosh''': To make something/someone more attractive (maybe from 'bijou', jewel in French, or 'zhouzho', clean, neat in Romany).
162	[[/folder]]
163
164	[[folder:(almost finally) Scottish]]
165	* '''Aye''': Yes.
166	* '''Back of''': A time reference, the back of twelve is anything from 12:01 to 12:59. Very hard to organize things when people are listing their plans in this kind of time frame.
167	* '''Bairn''': Child (also used OopNorth).
168	* '''Baltic''': Cold. Also used to refer to the sea between Denmark, Poland, Sweden, and Russia, which is very cold, hence the idiom.
169	* '''Boaby/The Boab''': Penis
170	* '''Bonnie''': Good, nice. [[spoiler:[[GoodIsNotNice Not that they're the same thing]].]]
171	** Often (but not always) implies good-looking.
172	* '''Buckie''': Short for Buckfast, a cheap tonic wine full of chemicals which is infamous for being involved in antisocial behaviour offences. Other names are '''Commotion Lotion''', '''Wreck the Hoose Juice''', '''Coatbridge Table Wine''', '''Sauce''', '''Mrs. Broon''', and '''Buckie Baracas'''.
173	* '''Cannae''', '''Dinnae''': Can't, don't. There are a few more equivalents like this for the other ''n't'' contractions.
174	* '''Crivens''': General exclamation
175	** The full expression is "Jings, Crivens, Help Ma Boab!"
176	*** Meaning 'Jesus, Christ, so help me God!'
177	* '''Dobber''': Glaswegian slang denoting either a certain part of the male anatomy or a stupid/unpleasant/both person e.g "Don't have another bottle of buckie, ya dobber." Generally considered highly offensive unless among the most informal company.
178	* '''Drink/Bevvy''': Alcoholic beverage.
179	* '''Firth''': Estuary or fjord. Edinburgh is built on the shores of the Firth of Forth, while Glasgow is near the Firth of Clyde, and that big triangular indentation in the north of Scotland is the Moray Firth.
180	* '''Glaikit''': Vacantly stupid.
181	-->'''Exasperated Clyde Foreman''': Oi! Lennon! Stop being such a glaikit wee bastard and get aff yer arse and dae some welding!
182	* '''Guts of''': Most of, or the main part of. As in:
183	-->'''Judgemental Scot''': How long were you in the pub?
184	-->'''Alcoholic Scot''': From about ten till five.
185	-->'''Judgemental Scot''': Jesus! That's the guts of a day!
186	* '''Hen''': Slang for a woman; compare ''bird'' and ''hen night'' from the main list. Often used in the same way that one would refer to a guy as "mate".
187	* '''Highlander''': [[Series/GarthMarenghisDarkplace A Scotch person]].
188	** Specifically, someone from the highlands (i.e. north) of Scotland. Someone from southern Scotland is a "lowlander", natch.
189	** Also known as the more pejorative "Teuchter" from "Teutonic".
190	* '''''Hole''''': Intercourse. As in "Where's Billy?" "Och, he's away getting his hole." Also sometimes referred to in rhyming slang as '''''Nat King''''': "Fancy yer Nat King the night, honey?".
191	* '''''Jag''''': A jab, or injection.
192	* '''''Jobby''''': A turd. As in: "I'm off for a jobby." Definitely ranks among the InherentlyFunnyWords. Can also be used to denote something rubbish, as in "that film wis pure jobby," or as an insult: "Alright ya fucking jobbystain."
193	* '''Juice''': Any non-alcoholic beverage.
194	* '''Patter''': A word for Glaswegian vernacular. Expect heavy use of rhyming slang and glottal stops when conversing with someone talking "the patter". NewerThanTheyThink, since it was heavily influenced by Cockney rhyming slang depicted on popular soap operas. It can also mean someone's chat in general - a boring or self-absorbed person might be said to have "shite patter".
195	* '''Poof Juice''': A politically incorrect but very common term referring to alcoholic drinks that do not taste like such, for example, [=WKD=] or Bacardi Breezer. Lassies may drink such things, but men should not (although mixeds are acceptable amongst younger people).
196	*** It's acceptable to drink Whisky and Coke as it's a well known rock star drink.
197	* '''''Puggled''''': Tired
198	* '''''Pure''''': A superlative, usually meaning very. As in: "That's pure mental", meaning "very mental".
199	* '''Ken''': Know.
200	* '''Lassie''': Woman, usually young. Also used in Northern England, although usually as "lass".
201	** "Och, aye ye ken, she's a bonnie wee lassie": you can figure the subject of the discussion has a nice figure.
202	** [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfStuart James V of Scotland]] famously remarked "[The Crown] came with a lass, and it shall pass with a lass," referring to how his family had taken the crown by inheriting in the female line, and how, as he had only one child, [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland a daughter]], it would pass from the House of Stuart in the same way. Technically this ended up being true, but not because of his daughter (who married a distant Stuart cousin and kept the crown in the family for another hundred years).
203	* '''Loch''': As in Loch Ness, means lake. Or sea inlet, or fjord, sometimes. There are only a handful of lakes that are actually known by the term "Lake" in Scotland. Oh yeah, and "loch" does not sound the same as "lock": the ch is pronounced as in Bach, i.e. the composer or the Welsh word for 'small', or as in the Hebrew toast "l'chaim".
204	* '''Munter''': An ugly and/or promiscuous woman.
205	* '''Ned''': The northerly Chav. "Chav" is also used in Scotland, and much like with "Geek" and "Nerd", people come up with their own personal definition. The acronym "Non Educated Delinquent" is often trotted out; it's almost certainly a backronym, however. Ne'er-do-well is another explanation.
206	* '''Noo, The Noo''': Now. "The Noo" or, more often "the now" is often used to mean "just now", as in shortly or presently.
207	* '''Nyaff''': Unworthy or insignificant person. May now be archaic.
208	* '''Och''' or '''Ach''': Often used in place of 'Oh', and it is also the Gaelic form of 'Alas'.
209	* '''Piece''': A penis, or a euphemism for sex: You piece people using your piece. "For piecing."
210	** It also is used traditionally to mean sandwich, or packed lunch.
211	* '''Sassanach''': An English person, usually one who is clueless to Scottish culture; from '[[UsefulNotes/AngloSaxons Saxon]]'. Originates from when the English tried to invade Scotland. Offensive, but when said it is usually in a jokey way.
212	* '''Shilpit''': Scruffy or dirty or disreputably slovenly. As in "ye shilpit wee nyaff, ye".
213	* '''Sleekit'''': Untrustworthy, cunning, especially in relation to women.
214	-->'''Gosspiy Scot''': D'ye hear aboot auld Wullie [=McManus=]? He's bin' shaggin' his secretarie whilst his wifie's doon the hospital!
215	-->'''Judgemental Scot''': Sleekit auld bastard.
216	* '''Walloper''': A penis, or sometimes a stupid person: "Do ye no have tae have a big walloper to be in thae internet movies? Bobby's only got a daft wee 'ane."
217	* '''Wean''': Another word for child, possibly deriving from ''wee one''.
218	* '''Wee''': Little.
219	* '''Weegie''': A Glaswegian person. Not to be confused with [[Memes/SuperMarioBros Weegee]].
220	* '''Winch/Winching''': Similar to England's pull/pulling. Example: ''winching up a close'' = sexual contact in a dark alley.
221	* '''Yin''': One. Used as part of a name rather than a number. Say two men with the same name or brothers can be referred to as Big Yin and Small Yin. This was the case with Creator/BillyConnolly who was Small Yin until he got bigger than his dad and became Big Yin
222	[[/folder]]
223
224	[[folder:(penultimately) Yiddish and slang words derived from the Jewish community]]
225	* '''Klutz''' - possibly the origin of "clot" (above) and cognate.
226	* '''Kosher''': Real, legitimate (''they really did fall off the back of a lorry. They're kosher!'')
227	** As noted above, religious Jews dissociate themselves from the profane English meaning attached to the word by using Hebrew "kashrut".
228	* '''Ology''': Any form of intellectual higher learning, university degree. Derived from the 1980's BT advert, in which Creator/MaureenLipman played Beattie, a JewishMother determined to stay in touch with her family by phone, whether they wanted it or not. In one well-remembered advert, she is talking to her recently university-graduated grandson:
229	--> So you've got an ology. Ology, schmology. Just so long as you ring up your old grandmother for a talk.
230	* '''Schmatter''': Cloth, material, tailoring in general.
231	[[/folder]]
232
233	[[folder:(and now finally) Welsh]]
234	Dialect English as spoken in Wales – and there are strong regional variations – has been called "Wenglish", although "Wenglish" traditionally refers to the dialects found in the South Wales valleys.
235	* '''Ach-y-fi!''' (''ak-uy-vee'') or '''Ych-y-fi''': An expression of surprise, exclamation of alarm, or irritation, or disgust.
236	* '''Boyo''': A male person, typicaly younger than or of an age with the speaker. Occasionaly seen as offensive if used by non-welsh people.
237	* '''Butty''': Friend, companion. Adopted into other dialects as "buddy".
238	* '''By''': A peculiarity of Wenglish grammar is use of ''by'' when giving directions, i.e. '''down by there, over by there, it's by here''' and so on.
239	* '''Clecs''': Lies, or 'tall tales'. To carry clecs is the same as to tell tales (in the sense of making things up, not as in being a ''tell-tale''.) and if you have a reputation for carrying clecs, you'll be called a cleckerbox!
240	* '''Cwat''': To crouch down or squat (used the same way as ''twti-down'' (see below).
241	* '''Cwm''': Valley. The Welsh use is for any valley. It's made its way into English as 'combe' (steep, narrow valleys with no waterways) and as the word 'cwm' to describe a cirque (a rounded glacial valley that the Scots call a 'corrie').
242	* '''Cwtch''' (''cootch'', ''cutch''): In Welsh, a hug, kiss or embrace; comes into American English as ''cootchie-coo'', a twee lover's expression. Can relate to anything across the non-romantic and romantic spectrum in Wenglish from a chaste embrace to rampant uninhibited intercourse. Often used as a catch-all expression describing the search for a suitably understanding romantic partner, as in ''He's on the cwtch tonight''. In pre-pubescent deep suspicion and horror of intimacy with the germ-laden and filthy opposite gender, this might well be the origin of American English ''cooties'', as in those unspecified germs obtained by kissing a girl/boy. It's also very common to see it used by adults towards comforting children or upset fellow adults, as in "come here and let me give you a cwtch" or "fancy a cwtch?".
243	* '''Cyff''': Poorly, not very well. "She won't be in work today -- woke up a bit cyff, she did".
244	* '''Daps''': Plimsolls, especially if used for P.E. and gym. They're kept in a dapper-bag, which is traditionally a cloth drawstring bag, but these days can be any bag you keep your gym kit in.
245	* '''Dacu''' (''da-key''): Grandfather. Also "grancha/gransha", "grampi", or "Taid" in North Wales.
246	* '''Duw''' or '''Duw Duw''' (''Dew''): Mostly used by the older generations now, it literally means "God". While it can be used that way (for example, "Duw, I'm wanged out!" [[note]] translation: "God, I'm exhausted!"[[/note]]), it's often used in a way that might be slightly akin to "Good grief!", "Good Lord!", "Oh, boy!", "Oh, great!", "My, my!", "Tut tut", "Oh, man..." etc. For example, "Duw, Duw, look at the state of him!". It can used where interjecting a sigh might be appropriate: "Duw..."
247	* '''Eisht''': "Hush!"
248	* '''Gweddol''': Fair, as in how you feel in answer to the question "how are you today?".
249	* '''Heth''': Police(man) singular or plural. From Welsh ''heddlu'' (''heth-lee'', with a hard 'th' as in "them"). American English ''heat'' may be derived.
250	* '''Kokum''': Sly, crafty, manipulative. "He's right kokum, he is. Better keep an eye on him!"
251	* '''Loshins''': Sweets ('candies' to Americans).
252	* '''Mamgu''' (''mam-gee'', hard 'g' as in "good"): Grandmother (South Walian, it's "Nain" in North Wales).
253	* '''Mitching''': Playing truant.
254	* '''Mochyn''': Pig. Often used by adults (especially more elderly adults) towards little rascals, especially little rascals that have come home covered in mud. It can also be used more angrily towards a child who's giving an adult lip, especially if they're using tawdry language. "Dirty little mochyn", "mochyn brwnt" and "mochyn bach" are variants (where "brwnt" means "dirty" and "bach" means "little"). It can be used affectionately, rudely or offensively but isn't considered polite language even if used affectionately.
255	* '''Off''' - from, out of, comes from. A local usage in North-East Wales: ''he's off Flint'', ie, "he comes from Flint"
256	* '''Pwdied''': Sulked. As in "He pwdied when I didn't let him have the sweets". May be related to "have a paddy", i.e. have a sulk.
257	* '''Rhonc''' or '''Ronk''': Arrogant, insufferable. People who are rhonc cannot be reasoned with.
258	* '''Sglods''': One of few Welsh words to make it into English, from ''sglodion'' meaning potato chips (french fries, or in this case Flintshire fries).
259	* '''Tamping''': Furiously angry, as in "When he found out she broke the window, he was tamping, he was!"
260	* '''Tidy''': A useful little slang word that can be used for many things, such as "Fine! Excellent! Great!" or a long period of time/large number/long distance, a decent person, or the absolute classic "talk tidy!" ("speak properly!").
261	* '''Twp''': Daft. Dopey. If someone comes up with a harebrained scheme, they might be accused of being "Twp in the head!", if you're NotAMorningPerson you might be described as a bit "twp" or "twpsyn" (that's slow and befuddled).
262	* '''Twt''' or '''Dwt''': Small or tiny. Unexpectedly pervasive: even non-Welsh-born adults who have lived in Wales for only a year or two make remarks like 'Elsie's a bit twt' or 'didn't like the house, too twt for me'. The word can also be used as 'twtty/dwtty' as in 'that's a bit dwtty for me'.
263	* '''Twti-down''': To crouch down or squat. Used the same way as ''cwat'' (see above).
264	* '''Wareteg''': Fair play. It comes from the Welsh "chwarae-teg". Pronounced wa-ruh-teg: the 'a' as in "rabbit" and the last 'e' as in the 'ai' of "air".
265	[[/folder]]
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Context UsefulNotes / BritishEnglish