Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Words and phrases that you like and wish you'd hear more often (light hearted)

167 replies

ShockingBritain · 05/05/2026 09:42

Any phrases people would like hear more often?

After reading thread about phrases that give people 'rage'.

OP posts:
Jo1667 · 09/05/2026 16:41

ThatGladTiger · 06/05/2026 20:36

George (can’t remember the surname) the house renovation guy on channel 4 always says crikey. I have made it my goal to use crikey in a sentence. Always think after … oh I should have said it…. One day!

My mam says this but pronounces it as "ker-rikey!" - which sounds even better 😃

PistachioTiramisu · 09/05/2026 16:28

Gordon Bennett (who was he?)
My father used to say he 'had a bone in his leg' when he didn't want to do something!
Love the word parsimonious (mean).
Two shakes of a lamb's tail is rather sweet, meaning in a couple of minues.

dailyconniptions · 09/05/2026 16:16

How do you do? Also,
she showed him a clean pair of heels..!

PurpleDisco · 09/05/2026 16:01

‘All the better for seeing you’… said by elderly Grandad every time when opening the front door and asking how he was …

trainedopossum · 09/05/2026 13:43

MatildaTheCat · 05/05/2026 09:52

I love the old fashioned phrases that were commonly used years ago. A bit of how’s your father etc. I make a point of using some of them and am certain that the younger demographic have no idea what I’m on about.

I saw an exchange on Facebook where someone said they were going away for the weekend and a friend replied “Ooh a bit of how’s your father?” First person replied “He’s doing well, thanks for asking.”

alexdgr8 · 08/05/2026 20:55

Not sure if this one counts and it's a bit rude

Rumpey pumpey

Horselover90 · 07/05/2026 12:05

Gormless

IamEarthymama · 07/05/2026 11:58

Sorry not read the thread...
I was out for coffee with a friend and we were discussing how people shape their homes, the choices they make.

I have seen houses with no artwork, no plants, no books, no decorative items at all. Lovely homes with beautiful furniture but I could not read anything about them.

My house is the complete opposite and I know that some people will find that overwhelming. I said, "Oh when visitors walk in for the first time, they can't take their eyes off all the tranklements, whether in horror or admiration!" 👀😳😂

My pal had never heard that word but said he is definitely going to use it!

I've lived in Wales and on Merseyside and honestly can't remember where I first heard it.
I'll search it later.
I use it to encompass all the items my wife and I have acquired over the years. Each one has a story, holds a memory and brings us joy!

SnorthSnarf · 07/05/2026 10:03

IsItWickedNotToCare · 07/05/2026 06:48

My grandma used to say 'she's no better than she ought to be'; and 'it's getting dark over our Bill's '. Also 'Oh my giddy aunt' was a favourite. I do miss her!

Is your grandmother a Midlander?

My grandad used to say "It's getting black over Bill's mother's house" meaning its going to rain - that black clouds are gathering in the distance, the distance being over Bill's mother's house, Bill referring to Shakespeare.

SnorthSnarf · 07/05/2026 10:00

igelkott2026 · 05/05/2026 17:05

Also "plonker".

Show quote history

Yes! I didn't put "plonker" because its actually in pretty common usage here - in my family and among my neighbours.

There's a bloke on my street who smokes a pipe. On the women's street WhatsApp group he's known as "Pipe Plonker" 😂

SerendipityCat · 07/05/2026 09:21

MaySheWillStay · 06/05/2026 21:24

Do you have West Riding connections, @SerendipityCat?

Combining two similar phrases from upthread, I know “Well, I’ll go to the foot of our stairs.”

I’m from near Barnsley and Lancashire, and a friend is from Bradford, although we have both lived down south for about fifty years.
We occasionally use phrases from our childhood just to amuse each other.

Edited
Show quote history

I do indeed, I'm from a small mill town north-west of Leeds. There were plenty of dialect speakers when I was growing up in the 60s (including my grandma), but they're all gone now. I try to keep the expressions alive as much as I can.

IsItWickedNotToCare · 07/05/2026 06:48

My grandma used to say 'she's no better than she ought to be'; and 'it's getting dark over our Bill's '. Also 'Oh my giddy aunt' was a favourite. I do miss her!

MysticChevron · 07/05/2026 06:16

My grandparents were always full of classics:

“As useful as a hip pocket in a singlet”

”Acting like the Queen of Sheba”

”A face like a hatful of chewed up string”

“He’d whinge if his bum was on fire”

I’m grateful to still have both them and their expressions around 🙂

SergeantAngua2016 · 07/05/2026 05:36

I used to work with a lady who had a couple of amazing phrases.

She would say she would have to walk away as 'a slap in the face often offends' when someone was annoying her.

My favourite was on the Christmas do she told me she was wearing her 'harvest festival' knickers. I looked confused and she explained, 'all is safely gathered in'.

Delivered in a Welsh accent somehow made it funnier.

VoltaireMittyDream · 07/05/2026 03:47

Jiggery pokery

canuckup · 07/05/2026 02:29

Fiddlesticks

Smashing

BrickBiscuit · 07/05/2026 01:16

That one's got a face you'd never tire of slapping

BrickBiscuit · 07/05/2026 01:15

Don't just stand there like Piffy on a rock

SheSaidHummingbird · 07/05/2026 01:15

Just a 'thank you' would be wonderful.

Ohpleeeease · 07/05/2026 01:05

A West Country one for you, “back along” to refer to something that happened in the past.

BeaLola · 07/05/2026 00:47

Frock

Spiffy

Numpty bullocks or just numpty

Kerfuffle

InterestedDad37 · 07/05/2026 00:41

Dontlletmedownbruce · 06/05/2026 23:23

I heard 'Janey Mac' recently but I can't remember who said it. I don't know if it's an Irish thing but it was definitely used a lot in my Irish Catholic childhood.

My MIL recently called someone on TV a 'hunk'. Hadn't heard that in a while.

Janey Mac - quite a Dublin thing 👍
My siblings and I use it too, and nobody else knows why we say it 🤣

Lavenderandbrown · 07/05/2026 00:28

Well asked how my day is I like to say…
FAIR TO MIDDLING.

Only my elder patients seem to enjoy it

footballfan1963 · 07/05/2026 00:20

Heavens to Mergatroid

VivienneDelacroix · 07/05/2026 00:18

AnticsNShenanigans · 06/05/2026 23:20

Blimey! My husband is the only person I know who still uses it.

I like posh, old school insults
Cad
Bounder
Ruffian
Rapscallion
😆

Blimey is another one I use daily. Mostly in emails.

Swipe left for the next trending thread