this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2025
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My most beloved British slang is Knackered. Fucking knackered! It means very tired, exhausted. But those terms are sterlized of feeling, of life. You know that feeling after you finish moving? That total fucking exhaustion, you're knackered my friend. I can't think of a word that feels more accurate to the state of reality it describes. Knackered is a fucking gift.

Chuffed. If youre chuffed i believe that means your excited. I hate it but not for real good reasons. It sounds like a bad thing. Like i don't want to be chuffed from the sound of it. It sounds like i chafed my lungs from sighing too much cuz I'm miserable.

Ok now for the linguistic crime known as snog or snogging. It means to make out or tongue kiss someone. But it sounds like a fucking sex act involving noses. And not a normal sex act. A fucking depraved dirty sex act, you'd feel shame even googling, but again it involves noses. And honestly it sounds like snot is likely involved with this sex act. Do better Britain stop saying fucking snogged you dirty bastards.

What is your most beloved and hated British slang?

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[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 days ago

I like a good "ooer" now and then.

[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 35 points 1 week ago (4 children)

i'm convinced that rhyming slang is just 19th century coal mine brainrot. you cannot change my mind

[–] lena@gregtech.eu 8 points 1 week ago

Couldn't've said it better

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[–] fubo@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago (1 children)

England has a surfeit of terms for obnoxious people.

  • Jobsworth (obstructive clerk or bureaucrat)
  • God-botherer (religious fanatic)
  • Cockwomble
  • Minging cockwomble
  • Tremulous bollock-for-lobsters cockwomble
  • Sir Æthelbert Plonker Cockwomble of the Drubbing-over-Head Cockwombles

I may have made those last two up.

[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 9 points 1 week ago (7 children)

God-botherer is fantastic, clearly god has better things to do than to keep hearing their complaints.

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[–] Pumafred9@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Chuffed for me is more to do with being pleased with something you have accomplished.

[–] Nekobambam@lemm.ee 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I like how “chuffed” sounds/feels like someone being all pleased with themselves but without the smugness of “smug”.

[–] skulblaka@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago

This meme pretty much defined "chuffed" for me and I think about it every time I hear the word

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[–] QualifiedKitten@discuss.online 17 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Probably not technically slang, and maybe not even technically British, but I hate the all variations of "whinge". I know it's a real word, but it always feels like someone misspelling "whine". I was well into adulthood when I finally learned that though, so those feelings are just so ingrained in me at this point.

Thanks for listening to me whine.

[–] nylo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

your whining made me whinge

I sure asked for that, huh? Lol.

[–] Balthazar@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

How do you know that the plane that just landed is from England? Even when the engines have been shut down, you can still hear the whining.

[–] spittingimage@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Followed by "but I don't like to complain".

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[–] spykee@lemm.ee 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

War-Chest-Hair Sauce ... Werk-hamster-shire Sauce ... Wash-your-sister Sauce ... What's-this-here Sauce ... Wister-Sheer Sauce ... ... ...

Yeah. Fucking nailed it!

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 days ago

Wu. Stir. Shear. Sauce.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 week ago (2 children)
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[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I like the phrase "tell a lie" used right after you misspeak or remember something to the contrary of what you just said.

I hate clunge and minge. I'm not generally opposed to vulgarity but these are just taking the piss. On a similar note, the cockney rhyme for Eartha Kitt is just distasteful.

[–] garbagebagel@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

"Gutted" gets every single time, but for the most unfunny and fucked up reason.

I was at a bar and a guy was describing how his pet got hit by a car and he found it kind of split down the belly, then he said "I was gutted", describing his reaction. But his pet was also quite literally gutted. I didn't laugh or anything but it was just such a dark thing to say it was almost funny.

[–] Zos_Kia@lemmynsfw.com 9 points 1 week ago (4 children)

snogging

In French the slang term for that is "rouler des pelles" , which means literally "to roll shovels" and... I mean what the fuck is up with that?

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[–] Pumafred9@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (3 children)

When it's raining, and someone inevitably tells me it's raining, I like to say 'perfect weather for ducks, innit'

I also like 'Kuch' which is Welsh slang for 'cuddle'

[–] Noel_Skum@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Cwtch - I do like your English spelling though.

[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 14 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Ah, the timeless war of the Welsh against vowels.

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

We've got more vowels than you 😋

[–] SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net 11 points 1 week ago

Do you use them or are they collectors items?

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[–] cyphear@lemm.ee 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I like rhyming slang. Mostly for torturing my fellow Americans. I also enjoy clunge, jobbie, and being "sick to bastard death" about things.

The Australians have my heartstrings though, when it comes to inventive slang. They're not here to fuck spiders, tell you that much for free.

[–] LockheedTheDragon@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Bloody, but just because when I had a period I would say things like "I'm on my bloody period!"

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[–] SouthEndSunset@lemm.ee 6 points 1 week ago

There’s too many people mixing England and Great Britain up in here.

[–] TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 5 points 1 week ago

Gash / Axe Wound

[–] cm0002@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

"Wanker" is what I remember most of the time, ya f'in wanker lol

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[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Most hated is “boffin” for scientist—“boff” is American slang for sex, so it sounds like calling them “fuckers” (which generally doesn’t seem to be the intended connotation).

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago (5 children)

“boff” is American slang for sex

I have never heard this term in my entire life so I looked it up and rest easy, it was a slang term for sex....in the 1920s.

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[–] ThirdConsul@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Is calling someone Petal a slang or a regionalism? I, 30-something male, love doing that, petal.

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[–] Object@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago

I use "proper" a lot, so that one is inevitably favourite, unless it's not an exclusive UK slang

[–] Stimpy@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Cock Womble

[–] WhiteRabbit@lemmy.today 4 points 1 week ago

American’s Guide to speaking British

https://www.effingpot.com/

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