CRR´S STRICTLY BRITISH TERMS NEVER USED IN U.S.A.
A
abseil
rappel (to descend on a rope)
anti-clockwise
counter-clockwise (counter-clockwise is sometimes used in Britain)
approved school
school for juvenile delinquents; reform school
arse
ass* (buttocks)
[to fall] arse over elbow
(alternatively arse over tit/tip) [to fall] head over heels (physically, not metaphorically)
aubergine
eggplant (can also refer to an eggplant-like colour in British English)
B
balls-up*
error, mistake, snafu (this is commonly misinterpreted as referring to the testicles, however, it is in fact an old horseman's term referring to when the hooves get packed with snow)
banger
sausage, old car
bap
soft bread roll or a sandwich made from it, in plural also used as slang for breasts.
beck
small watercourse; stream; creek. Used especially in the Lake District
bedsitter (or bedsit)
studio apartment, one-room apartment that serves as a bedroom and a living room
Belisha beacon
orange ball containing a flashing light mounted on a post at each end of a zebra crossing
to bimble
to wander aimlessly
Birmingham spanner (slang)
a hammer (Note: this is insulting to inhabitants of Birmingham)
black pudding
blood sausage
[to] blag
to obtain or achieve by deception, to bluff, to scrounge, to rob, robbery, tall story, bluff, deception
bloke
guy
boffin
scientist or engineer, geek, nerd
bog roll
(roll of) toilet paper
bog standard
plain vanilla, completely average, no distinguishing features
bollard
a pole in the road to stop traffic
bollocks* (originally ballocks)
balls* (testicles); verbal garbage (as in "you're talking bollocks")
brass monkeys ("cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey")
very cold weather
bristols* (Cockney rhyming slang)
boobs (breasts; from (soccer team) Bristol City = titty)
bubble and squeak
dish of cooked cabbage fried with cooked potatoes
[to] bugger off*
[to] go away
building society
savings and loan association
to bull (boots, esp. military)
to polish to a high shine
bum bag
fanny pack
bodge
a poor job that just about works
to bunk off
to truant
to burgle
to burglarize
the business (from "bees knees")
very good; top quality
to busk
to beg for money by entertaining the public (American English doesn't have an exact equivalent for the verb, but busker might be "street musician" or "street performer".)
butty
(North England colloqualism) sandwich : (Northern and Central England) a workmate, and thus an unpowered barge towed by a powered one
C
candy floss
cotton candy
car park
parking lot
cat's eye (road)
raised pavement marker
chancer
shark (opportunist)
chuffed
proud, satisfied, pleased
clanger (to drop a clanger)
a big mistake, blunder, or faux pas
cock-up, cockup (mildly vulgar)
error, mistake, snafu
cooker
stove, range
to cop off with
to successfully engage the company of someone, usually of the opposite sex, for a period of time.
counterpane
bedspread
courgette
zucchini
coving
crown molding
current account
checking account
D
dene
valley or seaside dune
the dog's bollocks*
the bee's knees (something excellent or top quality)
dosh
money
"double X"
(where X is a number or letter) "XX", as in a phone number.
draper
cloth or clothing and dry goods seller
draughts
checkers
drawing pin
thumb tack
duff
a type of steamed pudding e.g plum-duff; or adjective describing something that isn't working properly or a poor choice e.g. "Don't use that bike, one of the pedals is duff.". Used as a phrasal verb: "up the duff" means to be pregnant.
dustbin
trash can, wastebasket
E
engaged tone
busy signal
ex-directory
unlisted (phone number)
F
fairing
a gift, particularly one given or bought at a fair (obsolete); type of cookie (biscuit) made in Cornwall
fairy cake
cupcake
feck
expletive employed as an attenuated alternative to fuck (including fecker, fecking, etc.)
fell
mountain or high rocky outcrop (originally an upland area designated for sheep-grazing). Used especially in the Lake District
fettle
vb. to sort out, fix eg: "that's fettled it"
fixture (sports)
game or match (as on a schedule)
fizzy drink
soda or pop
flat
apartment
fortnight
a period of 14 days (and nights) or two weeks
fourpenn'orth (old-fashioned)
four cents worth (fourpenn'orth is literally "four pennies worth")
fuckwit
idiot
full stop
period
funfair
travelling fair primarily comprised of amusement rides
G
gaff
cheap music hall or theater (obsolete); home
gaol (older spelling but not yet archaic; jail is more common)
jail
gen
(short for "intelligence") information
ginger (pronounced with hard g's and rhyming with "ringer")
person with red hair
ginger group
a group that serves as an galvanizing force within a larger body
git (mildly derogatory)
scumbag, idiot
go (noun)
try (e.g. "let me have a go"), turn in a game (e.g. "whose go is it?")
to go pear-shaped
to go South; i.e, for a process to suddenly go wrong
[to] gob
mouth, [to] spit
gogglebox
television set
green fingers
green thumb
H
half
a half pint of beer, lager or cider
hash (#)
pound sign (#) (Note: confusion is possible, as "pound" or "pound sign" refers to the £ sign in Britain; the telephone button is usually the "hash key")
haunted fishtank
telly
helter-skelter
a helical slide found in fairgrounds
high street
main street
higgledy-piggledy
in disarray
hols
days taken off for vacation (from holiday)
holiday
vacation e.g.: "I'm off on holiday" (Am.Eng = I'm going on vacation)
[to] hoover
vacuum [cleaner], to vacuum (In the US, Hoover is a brand name only.)
hosepipe
garden hose
I
inverted commas
quotation marks (Although the punctuation is different, the concept of quotation is analogous, especially since British English speakers sometimes refer to things formally (or ironically) by using the phrase "in inverted commas" in conversation.)
invigilator
proctor
J
jam sandwich
police cruiser. So called as most UK police vehicles were once white with a horizontal yellow-edged red fluorescent stripe along the entire length of their sides, giving a certain resemblance to a white bread sandwich with a coloured jam filling.
jammy
lucky
K
[to] kip
[to] sleep
knackered
exhausted
L
launderette
laundromat
lav
lavatory, toilet
layabout
a worthless lazy person
let-out (n.)
means to evade or avoid something
lift
elevator
loo
toilet
lorry
truck
loudhailer
bullhorn
M
mackintosh (mac)
raincoat
mains power, the mains
house electrical AC current
[to] mangle
[to] twist up, destroy, clothes wringer
marrow (vegetable)
squash
(the) match (football)
(the) game (soccer)
maths
math
MD (managing director)
CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
merrythought
wishbone (also the commoner term in the UK)
minder
personal bodyguard (as of 2004 this has gained some usage in the US media)
minge*
female genitals or pubic hair
minger
slob, someone who is unattractive
motorway
freeway
mong
Lazy, idle, useless
N
naff
lame
[to] naff off (obscure slang Polari made popular by prison sitcom Porridge)
[to] shove it
[to] nark
[to] irritate, (police) informer
nesh
(Northern and Central England) delicate, sensitive, cowardly (usually derogative)
nonce
paedophile, child molester, idiot
O
off
vb. to go
off-licence
liquor store (a shop is licenced to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption off the premises)
(oilseed) rape
canola
on the piss*
drinking heavily; going out for the purpose of drinking heavily
to orientate
to orient (most often seen in its noun form, "orientation"; While an American in a new city would try to "orient" himself, a British English speaker would need to "orientate" himself.)
P
panda car
police cruiser (analogous to US term "black & white")
parkie
park-keeper
parky
cold
pelican crossing (PEdestrian LIght-CoNtrolled)
pedestrian crossing with traffic lights operated by pedestrians
petrol (petroleum)
gasoline
pictures
the cinema
pillock (very mildly derogatory)
foolish person
piss-up
drinking party or occasion (as in "he couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery")
piss off*
emphatic term meaning "go away"
pissing it down [with rain]*
raining very hard
plonker
fool
[to] ponce
[to] pimp, fop, fruit, someone with airs and graces
to ponce about/around
to act like a fop, to wander about aimlessly without achieving anything
to ponce off
to mooch, to hit up
poof/poofter (derogatory)
fag/faggot (derogatory)
postal order
money order
postcode
ZIP code
[potato] crisps
[potato] chips
pram (perambulator)
baby-carriage
prat (very mildly derogatory)
foolish person
pud
short for pudding, which may mean dessert or occasionally a savoury item such as yorkshire pudding or black pudding Can also be used to indicate a fool, although this is usually an informal term used between family members. (Usually good-naturedly)
pukka
legitimate, the real thing, of good quality
punchup
fistfight
pushchair
stroller
Q
queue
line (for waiting in). Sometimes also used in US.
R
randy
(also horny) horny
ranker
an enlisted soldier or airman or (more rarely) a commissioned officer who has been promoted from enlisted status ("the ranks")
remit (to have a remit)
to be assigned a task, to be responsible for
to reverse [the] charge[s]
to call collect
to ring someone (also to call someone)
to call someone (on the phone)
rota
A roll call or roster of names or round or rotation of duties.
roundabout (fairground ride)
carousel, merry-go-round
roundabout (in the road)
traffic circle, rotary (roundabout is used in some parts of the US, including on signs.)
S
sarky
sarcastic
sarnie, sarny
sandwich
scrumpy
cloudy cider, often high in alcoholic content
scrumping
action of stealing apples from an orchard
Sellotape
Scotch tape
serviette
napkin
settee
couch, sofa
shillelagh (Irish)[pronounced "shil-lay-lee"]
club, cudgel
shindig, shindy
party (shindig is used in American English and would be recognised to mean party by most Americans but it is usually used ironically as of late)
skew-whiff
skewed, uneven, not straight
skint
out of money
skip
dumpster
to skive [off]
to sneak off, avoid work
to slag off
to diss, to badmouth
slaphead
bald man
slapper (possibly from flapper)
bitch, skank
to snog
to make out, to kiss
sod off*
offensive term meaning "go away"
spanner
wrench, idiot (colloquialism)
spiv
an unemployed person who lives by their wits; someone who shirks work or responsibility; a slacker, a dealer in black market goods (during World War II).
spod
someone who spends too much time in internet chat rooms and discussion forum
spud
potato
squiffy
intoxicated
[sticking] plaster, Elastoplast
bandage (adhesive only), Band-Aid
strop
bad mood or temper
stroppy, to have a strop on
recalcitrant, in a bad mood or temper
to suss [out]
to figure out
swede
rutabaga, head
sweets
candy (In American English sweets is often used for almost the same meaning, though it is a bit more inclusive than candy, as candy tends to be a sugar based confection whereas sweets can be chocolates or even pastries)
sweetshop
candy store
T
ta
thanks; TA also standing for thanks awfully (rare)
ta-ta
goodbye
table (sports)
standings
takeaway
a fast food shop
take out (food)
(food) to go
tannoy
loudspeaker (a proprietary brand name), PA system
tarn
small mountain lake. Used especially in the Lake District
telly, tele
TV
[to] throw a wobbly
[to] lose one's temper, throw a tantrum
tie (sports)
matchup, fixture, game (especially in knock-out "cup" competitions - no good analog)
titfer
(from tit-for-tat)
toad-in-the-hole
batter-baked sausages
to-do
a fuss "what a to-do"
toff
(slang) member of the upper classes
to toss [off]*
to jerk off*
tosser*
jerk
tram
streetcar, trolley-car, trolley
turf accountant
bookmaker for horse races
twat
(vulgar) n. a vagina; idiot or nasty person; vb. to hit "I twatted him on the head"
twee
excessively precious, cute, or quaint
twopenn'orth/tuppenn'orth/tup'en'oth
two cents worth (tuppenn'orth is literally "two pennies worth" (or "two pence worth", depending on usage))
U
V
verger
someone who carries the verge or other emblem of authority before a scholastic, legal, or religious dignitary in a procession; someone who takes care of the interior of a church and acts as an attendant during ceremonies
W
waistcoat
vest
wally
buffoon, fool -milder form of idiot. 1980s slang that may now bestow more ridicule on the user than the accused
wank, wanker*
to masturbate; one who masturbates, timewaster, now generic insult
whatsit (occasionally "whajummercallit", "wossname", or "thungumibob")
name used absent-mindedly for something whose real appellation you momentarily can't remember
whilst (somewhat archaic)
while
whinge
whine
whirligig
rotary clothes line
X
Y
yob
lout (boy spelt backwards)
your man/woman (Irish)
whatshis/hername
Z
zebra crossing
pedestrian street crossing marked with broad white stripes
Britishisms are expressions peculiar to British English. The word Britishism is an Americanism, of course.
"[It's] all gone Pete Tong"
all gone wrong
As much use as a
chocolate fireguard (or teapot, or mantlepiece)
teats (or tits) on a bull
wet fart in a thunderstorm
useless.
As rare as
Hens teeth
Rocking-horse shit Military term
Non existent, hard to come by, (note: RHS on it's own also means a lie (also used in the east end of London))
Away with the faeries
Not concentrating, distracted, daydreaming.
Barking (mad)
Insane, idiotic.
BBC English
the version of Received Pronunciation once considered typical of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Today regional dialects are frequently heard on the BBC.
Birmingham (or Irish) screwdriver, Birmingham spanner
A hammer
Bent as a nine-bob note
crooked, or
homosexual (insulting)
in both case refering to pre-decimal UK currency, a 10 bob (10/-) note being perfectly ordinary (see below for similar use).
"Devils on horseback", also known as pigs in blankets
sausages covered in bacon
Dog's breakfast, as in "It's a complete dog's breakfast"
A mess, chaotic.
Egg-cosy or -cozy
meal-time egg warmer, usually knitted.
[it's a] game of two halves
literally, a football match in which the two halves had very different characters; metaphorically, roughly equivalent to "It ain't over 'til it's over"
Gardening leave
enforced leave after an employee has resigned, preventing them either from working a notice period or starting with a new employer. Intended to protect commercial confidentiality, the subject is assumed to have little to do but tend the garden
Gilding the lily
Adding extraneous decoration, doing more work than necessary.
Go pear-shaped, as in "It all went pear-shaped."
go wrong
Gone for a Burton.
Dead/ beyond repair/ no longer viable.
Gone up the spout
gone wrong (usually when something carefully pre-planned has not gone as expected)
He couldn't find his arse with both hands.
Incapable.
He couldn't find his own way out of a paper bag.
He's unable to navigate, incapable, easily gets lost.
He couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery.
He can't organise even the simplest thing.
He doesn't know his arse from his elbow
is clueless
He's got more front that Selfridges/ than Brighton
is completely brazen/ full of self-confidence (reference to Oxford St department store or a famous seaside resort)
He ploughs his own furrow.
He works on his own without reference to others.
He's tuppence short of a shilling.
He's a bit simple, not all there.
He's two sandwiches short of a picnic.
He's a bit simple, not all there.
Hit for six
to hit mightily, to trounce (to hit a cricket ball off the field without a bounce, scoring 6 runs)
Industrial action
strike or work-to-rule by employees
Lovely jubbly
great outcome, popularised by a catchphrase in a BBC TV programme Only Fools and Horses.
Made redundant
laid off, downsized
Not cricket
not fair
Not much cop
Of no consequence.
Not the sharpest knife in the box.
Not intellectually adept.
Nowt so queer as folk
people are unpredictable (uses the Northern English "nowt" meaning "nothing").
On the lash/ on the piss.
Out, drinking heavily with friends.
Over-egging the pudding
Making something more luxurious than it need be.
Pissing in the wind
Futile
Pissing up the wall
Wasting
Pukka
good, an expression from the days of the British Empire in India (pakka = ripe in Hindi).
Queer as a nine-bob note (archaic)
Very strange, not normal
Shanks' pony
On foot, walking.
Six of one, half a dozen of the other (or six and two threes)
A choice in which the outcome is likely to be of equal value either way
Swinging the lead
Appearing to work, without actually making any real effort.
Swings and roundabouts
gains in one area will equal losses in another (short for "what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts")
Two stops beyond Barking. (Becontree)
Extremely mad/insane/idiotic. Becontree station is two stops beyond Barking station on the District Line of the Underground going out of London. If you call somebody 'completely Becontree', you'd normally have to explain what you mean to others, but the allusion is usually appreciated, except by the victim.
Up the duff.
Pregnant
A
abseil
rappel (to descend on a rope)
anti-clockwise
counter-clockwise (counter-clockwise is sometimes used in Britain)
approved school
school for juvenile delinquents; reform school
arse
ass* (buttocks)
[to fall] arse over elbow
(alternatively arse over tit/tip) [to fall] head over heels (physically, not metaphorically)
aubergine
eggplant (can also refer to an eggplant-like colour in British English)
B
balls-up*
error, mistake, snafu (this is commonly misinterpreted as referring to the testicles, however, it is in fact an old horseman's term referring to when the hooves get packed with snow)
banger
sausage, old car
bap
soft bread roll or a sandwich made from it, in plural also used as slang for breasts.
beck
small watercourse; stream; creek. Used especially in the Lake District
bedsitter (or bedsit)
studio apartment, one-room apartment that serves as a bedroom and a living room
Belisha beacon
orange ball containing a flashing light mounted on a post at each end of a zebra crossing
to bimble
to wander aimlessly
Birmingham spanner (slang)
a hammer (Note: this is insulting to inhabitants of Birmingham)
black pudding
blood sausage
[to] blag
to obtain or achieve by deception, to bluff, to scrounge, to rob, robbery, tall story, bluff, deception
bloke
guy
boffin
scientist or engineer, geek, nerd
bog roll
(roll of) toilet paper
bog standard
plain vanilla, completely average, no distinguishing features
bollard
a pole in the road to stop traffic
bollocks* (originally ballocks)
balls* (testicles); verbal garbage (as in "you're talking bollocks")
brass monkeys ("cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey")
very cold weather
bristols* (Cockney rhyming slang)
boobs (breasts; from (soccer team) Bristol City = titty)
bubble and squeak
dish of cooked cabbage fried with cooked potatoes
[to] bugger off*
[to] go away
building society
savings and loan association
to bull (boots, esp. military)
to polish to a high shine
bum bag
fanny pack
bodge
a poor job that just about works
to bunk off
to truant
to burgle
to burglarize
the business (from "bees knees")
very good; top quality
to busk
to beg for money by entertaining the public (American English doesn't have an exact equivalent for the verb, but busker might be "street musician" or "street performer".)
butty
(North England colloqualism) sandwich : (Northern and Central England) a workmate, and thus an unpowered barge towed by a powered one
C
candy floss
cotton candy
car park
parking lot
cat's eye (road)
raised pavement marker
chancer
shark (opportunist)
chuffed
proud, satisfied, pleased
clanger (to drop a clanger)
a big mistake, blunder, or faux pas
cock-up, cockup (mildly vulgar)
error, mistake, snafu
cooker
stove, range
to cop off with
to successfully engage the company of someone, usually of the opposite sex, for a period of time.
counterpane
bedspread
courgette
zucchini
coving
crown molding
current account
checking account
D
dene
valley or seaside dune
the dog's bollocks*
the bee's knees (something excellent or top quality)
dosh
money
"double X"
(where X is a number or letter) "XX", as in a phone number.
draper
cloth or clothing and dry goods seller
draughts
checkers
drawing pin
thumb tack
duff
a type of steamed pudding e.g plum-duff; or adjective describing something that isn't working properly or a poor choice e.g. "Don't use that bike, one of the pedals is duff.". Used as a phrasal verb: "up the duff" means to be pregnant.
dustbin
trash can, wastebasket
E
engaged tone
busy signal
ex-directory
unlisted (phone number)
F
fairing
a gift, particularly one given or bought at a fair (obsolete); type of cookie (biscuit) made in Cornwall
fairy cake
cupcake
feck
expletive employed as an attenuated alternative to fuck (including fecker, fecking, etc.)
fell
mountain or high rocky outcrop (originally an upland area designated for sheep-grazing). Used especially in the Lake District
fettle
vb. to sort out, fix eg: "that's fettled it"
fixture (sports)
game or match (as on a schedule)
fizzy drink
soda or pop
flat
apartment
fortnight
a period of 14 days (and nights) or two weeks
fourpenn'orth (old-fashioned)
four cents worth (fourpenn'orth is literally "four pennies worth")
fuckwit
idiot
full stop
period
funfair
travelling fair primarily comprised of amusement rides
G
gaff
cheap music hall or theater (obsolete); home
gaol (older spelling but not yet archaic; jail is more common)
jail
gen
(short for "intelligence") information
ginger (pronounced with hard g's and rhyming with "ringer")
person with red hair
ginger group
a group that serves as an galvanizing force within a larger body
git (mildly derogatory)
scumbag, idiot
go (noun)
try (e.g. "let me have a go"), turn in a game (e.g. "whose go is it?")
to go pear-shaped
to go South; i.e, for a process to suddenly go wrong
[to] gob
mouth, [to] spit
gogglebox
television set
green fingers
green thumb
H
half
a half pint of beer, lager or cider
hash (#)
pound sign (#) (Note: confusion is possible, as "pound" or "pound sign" refers to the £ sign in Britain; the telephone button is usually the "hash key")
haunted fishtank
telly
helter-skelter
a helical slide found in fairgrounds
high street
main street
higgledy-piggledy
in disarray
hols
days taken off for vacation (from holiday)
holiday
vacation e.g.: "I'm off on holiday" (Am.Eng = I'm going on vacation)
[to] hoover
vacuum [cleaner], to vacuum (In the US, Hoover is a brand name only.)
hosepipe
garden hose
I
inverted commas
quotation marks (Although the punctuation is different, the concept of quotation is analogous, especially since British English speakers sometimes refer to things formally (or ironically) by using the phrase "in inverted commas" in conversation.)
invigilator
proctor
J
jam sandwich
police cruiser. So called as most UK police vehicles were once white with a horizontal yellow-edged red fluorescent stripe along the entire length of their sides, giving a certain resemblance to a white bread sandwich with a coloured jam filling.
jammy
lucky
K
[to] kip
[to] sleep
knackered
exhausted
L
launderette
laundromat
lav
lavatory, toilet
layabout
a worthless lazy person
let-out (n.)
means to evade or avoid something
lift
elevator
loo
toilet
lorry
truck
loudhailer
bullhorn
M
mackintosh (mac)
raincoat
mains power, the mains
house electrical AC current
[to] mangle
[to] twist up, destroy, clothes wringer
marrow (vegetable)
squash
(the) match (football)
(the) game (soccer)
maths
math
MD (managing director)
CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
merrythought
wishbone (also the commoner term in the UK)
minder
personal bodyguard (as of 2004 this has gained some usage in the US media)
minge*
female genitals or pubic hair
minger
slob, someone who is unattractive
motorway
freeway
mong
Lazy, idle, useless
N
naff
lame
[to] naff off (obscure slang Polari made popular by prison sitcom Porridge)
[to] shove it
[to] nark
[to] irritate, (police) informer
nesh
(Northern and Central England) delicate, sensitive, cowardly (usually derogative)
nonce
paedophile, child molester, idiot
O
off
vb. to go
off-licence
liquor store (a shop is licenced to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption off the premises)
(oilseed) rape
canola
on the piss*
drinking heavily; going out for the purpose of drinking heavily
to orientate
to orient (most often seen in its noun form, "orientation"; While an American in a new city would try to "orient" himself, a British English speaker would need to "orientate" himself.)
P
panda car
police cruiser (analogous to US term "black & white")
parkie
park-keeper
parky
cold
pelican crossing (PEdestrian LIght-CoNtrolled)
pedestrian crossing with traffic lights operated by pedestrians
petrol (petroleum)
gasoline
pictures
the cinema
pillock (very mildly derogatory)
foolish person
piss-up
drinking party or occasion (as in "he couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery")
piss off*
emphatic term meaning "go away"
pissing it down [with rain]*
raining very hard
plonker
fool
[to] ponce
[to] pimp, fop, fruit, someone with airs and graces
to ponce about/around
to act like a fop, to wander about aimlessly without achieving anything
to ponce off
to mooch, to hit up
poof/poofter (derogatory)
fag/faggot (derogatory)
postal order
money order
postcode
ZIP code
[potato] crisps
[potato] chips
pram (perambulator)
baby-carriage
prat (very mildly derogatory)
foolish person
pud
short for pudding, which may mean dessert or occasionally a savoury item such as yorkshire pudding or black pudding Can also be used to indicate a fool, although this is usually an informal term used between family members. (Usually good-naturedly)
pukka
legitimate, the real thing, of good quality
punchup
fistfight
pushchair
stroller
Q
queue
line (for waiting in). Sometimes also used in US.
R
randy
(also horny) horny
ranker
an enlisted soldier or airman or (more rarely) a commissioned officer who has been promoted from enlisted status ("the ranks")
remit (to have a remit)
to be assigned a task, to be responsible for
to reverse [the] charge[s]
to call collect
to ring someone (also to call someone)
to call someone (on the phone)
rota
A roll call or roster of names or round or rotation of duties.
roundabout (fairground ride)
carousel, merry-go-round
roundabout (in the road)
traffic circle, rotary (roundabout is used in some parts of the US, including on signs.)
S
sarky
sarcastic
sarnie, sarny
sandwich
scrumpy
cloudy cider, often high in alcoholic content
scrumping
action of stealing apples from an orchard
Sellotape
Scotch tape
serviette
napkin
settee
couch, sofa
shillelagh (Irish)[pronounced "shil-lay-lee"]
club, cudgel
shindig, shindy
party (shindig is used in American English and would be recognised to mean party by most Americans but it is usually used ironically as of late)
skew-whiff
skewed, uneven, not straight
skint
out of money
skip
dumpster
to skive [off]
to sneak off, avoid work
to slag off
to diss, to badmouth
slaphead
bald man
slapper (possibly from flapper)
bitch, skank
to snog
to make out, to kiss
sod off*
offensive term meaning "go away"
spanner
wrench, idiot (colloquialism)
spiv
an unemployed person who lives by their wits; someone who shirks work or responsibility; a slacker, a dealer in black market goods (during World War II).
spod
someone who spends too much time in internet chat rooms and discussion forum
spud
potato
squiffy
intoxicated
[sticking] plaster, Elastoplast
bandage (adhesive only), Band-Aid
strop
bad mood or temper
stroppy, to have a strop on
recalcitrant, in a bad mood or temper
to suss [out]
to figure out
swede
rutabaga, head
sweets
candy (In American English sweets is often used for almost the same meaning, though it is a bit more inclusive than candy, as candy tends to be a sugar based confection whereas sweets can be chocolates or even pastries)
sweetshop
candy store
T
ta
thanks; TA also standing for thanks awfully (rare)
ta-ta
goodbye
table (sports)
standings
takeaway
a fast food shop
take out (food)
(food) to go
tannoy
loudspeaker (a proprietary brand name), PA system
tarn
small mountain lake. Used especially in the Lake District
telly, tele
TV
[to] throw a wobbly
[to] lose one's temper, throw a tantrum
tie (sports)
matchup, fixture, game (especially in knock-out "cup" competitions - no good analog)
titfer
(from tit-for-tat)
toad-in-the-hole
batter-baked sausages
to-do
a fuss "what a to-do"
toff
(slang) member of the upper classes
to toss [off]*
to jerk off*
tosser*
jerk
tram
streetcar, trolley-car, trolley
turf accountant
bookmaker for horse races
twat
(vulgar) n. a vagina; idiot or nasty person; vb. to hit "I twatted him on the head"
twee
excessively precious, cute, or quaint
twopenn'orth/tuppenn'orth/tup'en'oth
two cents worth (tuppenn'orth is literally "two pennies worth" (or "two pence worth", depending on usage))
U
V
verger
someone who carries the verge or other emblem of authority before a scholastic, legal, or religious dignitary in a procession; someone who takes care of the interior of a church and acts as an attendant during ceremonies
W
waistcoat
vest
wally
buffoon, fool -milder form of idiot. 1980s slang that may now bestow more ridicule on the user than the accused
wank, wanker*
to masturbate; one who masturbates, timewaster, now generic insult
whatsit (occasionally "whajummercallit", "wossname", or "thungumibob")
name used absent-mindedly for something whose real appellation you momentarily can't remember
whilst (somewhat archaic)
while
whinge
whine
whirligig
rotary clothes line
X
Y
yob
lout (boy spelt backwards)
your man/woman (Irish)
whatshis/hername
Z
zebra crossing
pedestrian street crossing marked with broad white stripes
Britishisms are expressions peculiar to British English. The word Britishism is an Americanism, of course.
"[It's] all gone Pete Tong"
all gone wrong
As much use as a
chocolate fireguard (or teapot, or mantlepiece)
teats (or tits) on a bull
wet fart in a thunderstorm
useless.
As rare as
Hens teeth
Rocking-horse shit Military term
Non existent, hard to come by, (note: RHS on it's own also means a lie (also used in the east end of London))
Away with the faeries
Not concentrating, distracted, daydreaming.
Barking (mad)
Insane, idiotic.
BBC English
the version of Received Pronunciation once considered typical of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Today regional dialects are frequently heard on the BBC.
Birmingham (or Irish) screwdriver, Birmingham spanner
A hammer
Bent as a nine-bob note
crooked, or
homosexual (insulting)
in both case refering to pre-decimal UK currency, a 10 bob (10/-) note being perfectly ordinary (see below for similar use).
"Devils on horseback", also known as pigs in blankets
sausages covered in bacon
Dog's breakfast, as in "It's a complete dog's breakfast"
A mess, chaotic.
Egg-cosy or -cozy
meal-time egg warmer, usually knitted.
[it's a] game of two halves
literally, a football match in which the two halves had very different characters; metaphorically, roughly equivalent to "It ain't over 'til it's over"
Gardening leave
enforced leave after an employee has resigned, preventing them either from working a notice period or starting with a new employer. Intended to protect commercial confidentiality, the subject is assumed to have little to do but tend the garden
Gilding the lily
Adding extraneous decoration, doing more work than necessary.
Go pear-shaped, as in "It all went pear-shaped."
go wrong
Gone for a Burton.
Dead/ beyond repair/ no longer viable.
Gone up the spout
gone wrong (usually when something carefully pre-planned has not gone as expected)
He couldn't find his arse with both hands.
Incapable.
He couldn't find his own way out of a paper bag.
He's unable to navigate, incapable, easily gets lost.
He couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery.
He can't organise even the simplest thing.
He doesn't know his arse from his elbow
is clueless
He's got more front that Selfridges/ than Brighton
is completely brazen/ full of self-confidence (reference to Oxford St department store or a famous seaside resort)
He ploughs his own furrow.
He works on his own without reference to others.
He's tuppence short of a shilling.
He's a bit simple, not all there.
He's two sandwiches short of a picnic.
He's a bit simple, not all there.
Hit for six
to hit mightily, to trounce (to hit a cricket ball off the field without a bounce, scoring 6 runs)
Industrial action
strike or work-to-rule by employees
Lovely jubbly
great outcome, popularised by a catchphrase in a BBC TV programme Only Fools and Horses.
Made redundant
laid off, downsized
Not cricket
not fair
Not much cop
Of no consequence.
Not the sharpest knife in the box.
Not intellectually adept.
Nowt so queer as folk
people are unpredictable (uses the Northern English "nowt" meaning "nothing").
On the lash/ on the piss.
Out, drinking heavily with friends.
Over-egging the pudding
Making something more luxurious than it need be.
Pissing in the wind
Futile
Pissing up the wall
Wasting
Pukka
good, an expression from the days of the British Empire in India (pakka = ripe in Hindi).
Queer as a nine-bob note (archaic)
Very strange, not normal
Shanks' pony
On foot, walking.
Six of one, half a dozen of the other (or six and two threes)
A choice in which the outcome is likely to be of equal value either way
Swinging the lead
Appearing to work, without actually making any real effort.
Swings and roundabouts
gains in one area will equal losses in another (short for "what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts")
Two stops beyond Barking. (Becontree)
Extremely mad/insane/idiotic. Becontree station is two stops beyond Barking station on the District Line of the Underground going out of London. If you call somebody 'completely Becontree', you'd normally have to explain what you mean to others, but the allusion is usually appreciated, except by the victim.
Up the duff.
Pregnant
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