Living in England comes with an entirely different set of customs (the Brits love to queue), business decorum (it is rude if you do not start a meeting with at least five minutes of “chat”), and a whole host of new phrases. After two months of living in London I did a round up of the terms I picked up and since that post in June 2018 I have shared some of the fun words I have picked up on Instagram but it felt like I was due for a new list. This latest is full of words and phrases that mainly have come up in conversations like, “are you feeling any better?” and someone responds with “still a bit ropey 😢”. The meaning is inferred but still, odd. And without further ado, my list of new British vocabulary and the “Amreican” translation:
Bulldog Clip – Binder Clip
Canoodling – Making Out
Chockablock – Very Full / Busy
Fancy Dress – Costumes (think Halloween)
Gaffa tape – Duct Tape
Grotty – Dirty / Unpleasant / Unwell
Hundreds and Thousands – Sprinkles
Juggernaut – 18-Wheeler
Lose Sight of the Wood for the Trees – Too Involved in the Details
Manky – Grubby
Naughts and Crosses – Tic-Tac-Toe
Paracetamol – Tylenol
Pinch – Steal / Borrow
Poorly – Sick
Reverse Charge – Collect Call
Ropey – Ill/ Unwell
Snap – Go Fish
Sledging – Sledding
Polyfilla – Spackle
Spanner – Wrench
Spud Me – Fist Bump
Tippex – White Out
In addition to all of these new phrases that I have learned I have also found there are a variety of words that I use that the Brits do not understand. I am not talking about things like when I say “highway” and they know I mean “motorway”, I am saying direct blank stares of absolutely zero comprehension. Sadly I have not written them all down but two of the biggest ones are Peeps (for Easter) and Poison Ivy – who knew? And then there is the overabundance of American things we just call by their brand names even though we mean anything that will do that job; Bandaid, Kleenex, Tylonol, and Windex. I do not think I will ever stop picking up new phrases!
Which of these British vocabulary words did you not know?
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Lucy says
There are so many fun new words you have learned – the sprinkles one is the weirdest!
Tori says
I am moving to London shortly and these are going to be really helpful. I also enjoyed your post with the first set interesting English words.
This will save me a lot of embarrassment between making faux pause and not getting inside jokes.
Lonnie says
One would never know that you were speaking the same language.
I would have to be constantly asking for the definitions.
Fran says
There sure are a lot of funny ones. How do you keep them all straight?