Multicultural Slang (in English) and Meanings

[Kumquatqueen]

Yes, it's still common to ask someone to knock you up in the morning. On election days there are the knocker-uppers for each party, whose job it is to 'knock up the voters', ie knock on the door of all potential voters and if they haven't yet voted, offer them a lift to the polling station or just try to persuade them to vote.

You can get knocked up (pregnant), but it's not used much in the active voice.

 

[MadeleineSinha]

I can also out my location by talking about bread rolls as 'batches' (which the city 30 miles down the road wouldn't understand),

The name for a bread roll can lead to a serious argument.
Barm Cakes, Tea Cakes, Baps, Cob, Bun, Breadcake, Scuffler just off the top of my head, all pretty much the same thing.
Another good source of disagreement is, Breakfast Lunch Dinner or Breakfast Dinner Tea.

 

[oggbashan]

Same for a foot path. In North America I would think of a well-worn path, maybe out in the countryside. I discovered it was what we would call in North America, a sidewalk.

Footpath is a usual UK term for a sidewalk. But according to the Highway Code and laws for roads it is called 'the footway' or 'the pavement' although that could refer to a road's surface. 'Mounting the pavement' is driving your car onto the (sidewalk) footpath.

But there are other complications too:

A Public Footpath is a regulated right of way often in the country. There are groups who campaign to keep such routes open and every district council has an officer who is responsible for making sure that public footpaths are not obstructed illegally, and if a diversion is requested, that the new route is as good as or better than the old one. Having public footpath running through your land can be an inconvenience because you have to ensure it is maintained and marked correctly.

A 'Long distance footpath' usually named like 'The Pennine Way' is a route sometimes running for hundreds of miles along public footpaths.

A 'Permissive footpath' is one provided by the landowner while preserving his rights. It could be used as a link in a Long Distance footpath when no 'Public Footpath' exists. The landowner preserves his rights but shutting the permissive footpath on at least one day a year - usually Christmas Day, just to prove that the public has no official right of way, only by his consent.

 

[BritStories]

Are you from Coventry?

Spot on! (In terms of growing up - I now live in the surrounding countryside)

 

[Whanmore]

In a story I read on here about college students in the UK they stated something like "After 5 or six drinks, she was really pissed." I thought like why is she mad that she drank alot ? until it was used in a similar fashion later and I realized it was slang for intoxicated. Is this a common term in your experiences ....my UK readers

 

[BritStories]

The name for a bread roll can lead to a serious argument.
Barm Cakes, Tea Cakes, Baps, Cob, Bun, Breadcake, Scuffler just off the top of my head, all pretty much the same thing.
Another good source of disagreement is, Breakfast Lunch Dinner or Breakfast Dinner Tea.

We have lots of discussions around names for bread rolls as we have Scots, northerners, midlanders and southerners within the family. It's a constant source of amusement to everyone.
As a midlander, I mix my lunch/dinner/tea terms all the time...which again confuses the southerner husband.

 

[BritStories]

In a story I read on here about college students in the UK they stated something like "After 5 or six drinks, she was really pissed." I thought like why is she mad that she drank alot ? until it was used in a similar fashion later and I realized it was slang for intoxicated. Is this a common term in your experiences ....my UK readers

Definitely - pissed for drunk and pissed off for angry...although I think pissed for angry is also starting creep in.
My dad (now in his late 70s) always used stoned for drunk which amused us kids no end growing up.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Spot on! (In terms of growing up - I now live in the surrounding countryside)

Must be an improvement. I got the general area from 'batch' and being 30 miles from the city known for saying 'island' which is Brum.

The story I posted last week actually references Cov, though not very flatteringly because I've never had good experiences there.

"What's Coventry like, anyway?"
"Boring. Has a stupid ring-road round the middle."

 

[Smuttyandfun]

Pissed or shit faced both work for being drunk, though there's loads of others, too. Like: blotto, hammered, wasted, two sheets to the wind, plastered, wrecked, smashed, trashed, feeling no pain, out of it, etc. Probably lots more terms in other cultures, too.

 

[BritStories]

Must be an improvement. I got the general area from 'batch' and being 30 miles from the city known for saying 'island' which is Brum.

The story I posted last week actually references Cov, though not very flatteringly because I've never had good experiences there.

"What's Coventry like, anyway?"
"Boring. Has a stupid ring-road round the middle."

It can't possibly be boring, it's the City of Culture 2021 .
I love the ring road for its very nuanced rules of who has right of way - weeds out all the non-locals who get confused. Designed to be future-proof so that if we ever swapped to driving on the other side of the road, they could just flip the road signs...I'll shut up now

 

[Whanmore]

Pissed or shit faced both work for being drunk, though there's loads of others, too. Like: blotto, hammered, wasted, two sheets to the wind, plastered, wrecked, smashed, trashed, feeling no pain, out of it, etc. Probably lots more terms in other cultures, too.

Do people in the UK use the word "Smashed" in reference to sex. Like "I smashed her" or "She let me smash" basically a stand in for "Fucked"

 

[Winter_Fare]

Do people in the UK use the word "Smashed" in reference to sex. Like "I smashed her" or "She let me smash" basically a stand in for "Fucked"

If you smash it, you eat it all, or you succeed beyond expectations. Never heard it in reference to sex (UK Midlands)

 

[Smuttyandfun]

There are so many ways to describe the 'act'. Fuck, of course, and bang, slam, tap that ass, roger, boink, plow, shag, hook up, bump uglies, get laid, screw, hide the salami, get it on, quickie, bone, knock boots, and of course -- make love! There are probably lots of other slang expressions from other cultures, too.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

There are so many ways to describe the 'act'. Fuck, of course, and bang, slam, tap that ass, roger, boink, plow, shag, hook up, bump uglies, get laid, screw, hide the salami, get it on, quickie, bone, knock boots, and of course -- make love! There are probably lots of other slang expressions from other cultures, too.

It's a standing joke that pretty much any word plus -ed in British can mean drunk, or to having had sex. Or both.

"Fuck, I was so totally badgered last night, but then I got home and the missus was still up and said she'd forgive me if I badgered her silly, so I did..."

(I have made up badgered, but it's a fine tradition dating back to Wodehouse and long beyond.)

'Bonking' and 'rogering' are two words which were very popular in the 80s and still used, possibly a bit ironically. Those huge novels like Jackie Collins or Shirley Conran were known as bonkbusters (blockbusters with lots of sex)

 

[Smuttyandfun]

We were at a friends and they put on an Austin Powers movie. It was hilarious listening to all different names he came up with to describe a penis. Wedding tackle, twigs and berries, bit and pieces, and lots more. There are so many slang expressions for getting drunk and sex and for everything else. Like breasts: Hooters, honkers, headlights, globes, boobs, knockers, rack, tits, jugs, and I'm sure there's more in other parts of the world.

 

[stickygirl]

Double bagger - someone so ugly you put a bag on your own head in case their's splits
We hate panties in the UK, we call them knickers
There's a wealth of expressions for surprise in the UK - 'I'll go to the foot of our stairs, shut the fridge door, hit me backspace, pop-up tent' but they depend on context and how they're spoken.
Death and dying is a popular source of platitude - carped it, pegged it, turned up his toes, kicked the bucket, snuffed it, checked out ( though that's also a drug-related one ).
I've heard 'smashed' for sex but it sounds horrible - same as 'I slayed her' or come to that 'I fucked her brains out' that would be suitable for a zombie film I suppose.

 

[XerXesXu]

As a midlander, I mix my lunch/dinner/tea terms all the time...which again confuses the southerner husband.

In early afternoon, I answered the phone of my roommate, his son was calling from his public school. I told him his father had gone to dinner. He corrected me, “You mean luncheon.”

 

[Smuttyandfun]

Yeah, 'Tits up,' is another charming way to say that someone's passed on.

 

[BritStories]

In early afternoon, I answered the phone of my roommate, his son was calling from his public school. I told him his father had gone to dinner. He corrected me, “You mean luncheon.”

I'd just like to confirm that I have never used the term luncheon.

 

[BritStories]

Yeah, 'Tits up,' is another charming way to say that someone's passed on.

I'd use 'tits up' for something going wrong ('it's all gone tits up'), but not for someone dying - maybe there's a regional difference there?

 

[Voboy]

I'd use 'tits up' for something going wrong ('it's all gone tits up'), but not for someone dying - maybe there's a regional difference there?

Tits-up, I think, referred to fish originally. It's the same as "belly-up." It's also a common expression in the US Army, or at least it was back in The Day. It meant "extremely problematic," for which the Army also liked to use "ate up." These have spawned many sub-idioms, as well:

"Thirteen up, five down: what's that equal, private?"
"Eight up, sergeant."
"Yep. That's what you are, you fucking idiot."

or

Use of the phonetic alphabet to sub for many expressions. So "Tango-uniform" came to mean "irrevocably flawed," because that means "T.U." which is the abbreviation for "tits-up."

"How's the arms-room inspection going, sergeant?"
"Aw man, sir. I don't even know where to fucking start. The inventory printout is totally tango-uniform."
"Oh. Shit. That's ate-up."
[gloomily] "Hooah, sir."

 

[Voboy]

As a midlander, I mix my lunch/dinner/tea terms all the time...which again confuses the southerner husband.

Americans do this, too. Some New Englanders (including many of my in-laws) eat breakfast, then dinner, then supper. No lunch.

 

[MadeleineSinha]

I'd just like to confirm that I have never used the term luncheon.

I have, but only when followed immediately by 'meat'

 

[Smuttyandfun]

First time I visited with my father's family on my own, every place I went invited me to stay for tea. I just thought it meant a cup of tea and maybe a cookie. I didn't realize that it meant a meal. Finally, I had to hurt a few of his old aunties feelings and start turning them down because I couldn't eat any more.

 

[HectorBidon]

In most of the Spanish speaking world, the verb "coger" (pronounced "co-HAIR") is the commonly used word for "get." But in Argentina, it has acquired the meaning "fuck" and is considered quite obscene. A visitor to Buenos Aires from Spain or Mexico will ask a passer-by "How does one get a taxi around here?" The passer-by will consider the question and respond "In the tail pipe, I suppose."