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Original poster

...to think that this expresson is dying out?

441 replies

WalkDontWalk · 05/10/2025 14:25

On another thread someone used the expression 'taking the mick'. And I thought, 'I used to hear that all the time when I was a kid. But I rarely do now.'

So I started to think of others that my dad used but my kids don't.

'Having a kip' or 'I was akip'.

'Yikes' (My daughter says I'm the only non-cartoon that says 'yikes'.)

'Swinging the lead'

'Bunking off'. (Daughter: 'Never heard that. Sounds rude')

'Going Dutch' (Daughter. 'Nope. No idea. Is that rude too?')

'Haven't the foggiest.'

These were all in use in London fifty years ago. Maybe they were always regional.

OP posts:
Bellavida99 · 05/10/2025 18:18

Stupid cow is one my kids say I’m the only person who says that 🤣

Heggettypeg · 05/10/2025 18:18

Spend a penny (= to go to the toilet, from when public loos cost an old penny to use)
You're going the right way ( said to a child who was being naughty; "for a thick ear" was implied)
Deuce as a euphemism for devil, e.g. "what the deuce is that?"
I remember being told to "frame", it meant stop messing about, co-operate, get on with it etc. It might be a Yorkshire thing.
"Cloth-ears" as an insult.

Callipygion · 05/10/2025 18:17

UnctuousUnicorns · 05/10/2025 16:44

We said "rough as a badger's arse" here!

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I used that just the other day! I was telling someone that I have had a cold and felt rough as a badger’s arse haha

EllatrixB · 05/10/2025 18:16

@theDudesmummy for some reason I have a feeling it's from a film? It makes me thing of some kind of cinematic or maybe literary reference and I don't know why!

Arrrrrrragghhh · 05/10/2025 18:16

UnctuousUnicorns · 05/10/2025 18:01

A bunk up to me meant giving someone a leg up over a wall or fence that they were too small to climb over themselves, and probably shouldn't have been trying to get over in the first place!

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Yes. “Bunk up” means to give a push up or have quick sex in the same way a “leg over” means both help over something and a quick shag.
No idea why . Maybe both are a bit naughty?

theDudesmummy · 05/10/2025 18:16

AngelicKaty · 05/10/2025 16:42

@WalkDontWalk YANBU OP, but I'm doing my best to keep "Crikey" alive! 😂
To add a couple my dad used to use in the 60's when describing people of dubious character:
"They're as rough as a bear's tail-end", and
"They're as rough as grade A sandpaper".
I love them both, but who knew bears have rough bottoms? 😂

My (South African) DH will tell you he is "as rough as a bear's arse" when he has a hangover.

Abhannmor · 05/10/2025 18:14

James Gordon Bennett was a wealthy newspaper proprietor and business man. He had a strange habit of pulling table cloths from their tables in restaurants and hotels. Presumably to the astonishment of other diners. His son and namesake started motor racing and rallying before it was a thing apparently. He seems like the origin of this saying?

EllatrixB · 05/10/2025 18:14

ThatGlimmeringSea · 05/10/2025 17:02

Chinny reckon

Anyone mentioned Piffy yet?

I say "I'm standing here like Piffy on a rock bun" to my kids ALL THE TIME, as my mother repeatedly said it to me, and her mother to her!

MaurineWayBack · 05/10/2025 18:13

I’m really surprised those expressions aren’t used anymore.
English isn’t my first language and I know more or less all of those, which means I’ve heard them used or I’ve read them not that long ago.

Having said that my young adults dcs have made similar comments about my use of expressions (assuming I am the one making a mistake and not speaking English properly 😂😂😂)

Thefastandthecurious5 · 05/10/2025 18:12

I’ve never heard ‘I was skip’ or ‘swinging the lead’.

Edit: just looked up ‘swinging the lead’.

NeedAnyHelpWithThatPaperBag · 05/10/2025 18:10

I remember telling my young nephew on a train that he could nod off, and him looking at me like I'd insulted him, lol.

theDudesmummy · 05/10/2025 18:09

EllatrixB · 05/10/2025 18:07

This is pretty common in the north-west.

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That's interesting as my granny was South African and although she did live for some time in the UK it was only ever in London! Her mother never set foot in the UK, but her father was Scottish, maybe that's where it came from!

EllatrixB · 05/10/2025 18:07

theDudesmummy · 05/10/2025 18:07

Something I have never heard anyone other than my granny say: "nice weather for ducks" when it was raining all day.

This is pretty common in the north-west.

theDudesmummy · 05/10/2025 18:07

Something I have never heard anyone other than my granny say: "nice weather for ducks" when it was raining all day.

PeaceReacher · 05/10/2025 18:06

theDudesmummy · 05/10/2025 18:04

We said bunked more than bunked off, for skipping lessons.

We wagged lessons or if someone was absent, they were wagging it.

UnctuousUnicorns · 05/10/2025 18:05

@Crazycatladywithnocats "My nan used to say “I couldn’t fancy him if his arse was covered in diamonds”

"I wouldn't touch him/it etc. with a bargepole" is the expression I'm familiar with.

oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends · 05/10/2025 18:04

UnctuousUnicorns · 05/10/2025 18:01

A bunk up to me meant giving someone a leg up over a wall or fence that they were too small to climb over themselves, and probably shouldn't have been trying to get over in the first place!

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I wouldn't ask for a bunk up in London from a fellow Londoner !

theDudesmummy · 05/10/2025 18:04

We said bunked more than bunked off, for skipping lessons.

Crazycatladywithnocats · 05/10/2025 18:02

My mum used to get herself in a “2 and 8”, rhyming slang for state.

My dad used to “see a man about a dog” ,

My nan used to say “I couldn’t fancy him if his arse was covered in diamonds”,

theDudesmummy · 05/10/2025 18:01

On very specific language usage, I live in Ireland now and something i have learned here which I love is the use of "yoke". It seems to mean literally anything.
Pass me that yoke won't you?
He's got a brand new yoke.
The place is full of broken yokes.
They've invented a new type of yoke.
I borrowed her yoke to mend the wall.
He came over with a yoke.
....and so on

UnctuousUnicorns · 05/10/2025 18:01

Arrrrrrragghhh · 05/10/2025 17:56

There’s always been a big difference between bunking off and bunk
up 😂
Like pissed and pissed off. America has a lot to answer for.

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A bunk up to me meant giving someone a leg up over a wall or fence that they were too small to climb over themselves, and probably shouldn't have been trying to get over in the first place!

PeaceReacher · 05/10/2025 18:00

lifeonmars100 · 05/10/2025 17:15

"This won't get the baby a new bonnet", I mutter that to myself to try and make myself get on with stuff at home. Never heard anyone else say it that I can recall so I don't know where I got it from.

Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water - I say this when someone needs work but not starting afresh. As in, there’s some good material in the essay, refine it, don’t delete it and start again.

louba85 · 05/10/2025 17:59

Definitely used all those growing up in south London in the 90s.
My 100% South London granny used to say "Ark at that" as in "listen".
She also used to say "Tada" for goodbye. I have never heard these since!

oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends · 05/10/2025 17:58

louba85 · 05/10/2025 17:56

No way, south Londoner here. Bunking off means skipping lessons.

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Over the water.
Bunk up, not off.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 05/10/2025 17:58

Terrribletwos · 05/10/2025 17:43

Ah, I still say breeks but this was for trousers, not underpants, where I come from. And hoor was used a lot as in hoor of a shame or hoor of a weather we're having. I am not sure if it was derogatory and actually meant whore?

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Donald where's yer troosers (Andy Stewart song Grin)

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