Stuff I’d never heard before I joined mumsnet.

[TotalRecall]

Disclaimer: I’m not from the UK!

“Grim” - I’ve heard of the word obviously but I’ve never ever heard anyone actually say it to describe anything. It’s a favourite here!

“Naice” - I’m still scratching my head over this one. What does it mean?

“Pants” - I’m going to assume these are undies/knickers? Otherwise some conversations I’ve read really don’t make sense

Also, what is half term please? I’m gathering it’s some sort of holiday half way through the school term, how long do your terms go for? Ours are only 8-10 weeks (4 terms per year) so obviously don’t need holidays in the middle..

Teach me all the UK things!!

I had a whole list, I’ll be back when I remember the rest..

Naice is only on mumsnet - it’s from the Naice ham thread. Not sure it it’s a classic. But might be 5-10 years ago.

I think cockwomble and wank badger are English - but heavily used on mumsnet
Also fanny gallops that’s got to be my fave mumsnet expression of all time!!!

So many acronyms on mumsnet took me ages.

English expressions
Bellend
Numpty
Wally
Dogs dinner
Face like a slapped arse
Wankstain

So so many and different regions are so rich

Scotland has some of the most beautiful dialects and slang words. I mean shite, boak, hairy ballbag, I wish I knew more. It’s whenever I work with Scottish people realise how rich the vocabulary is.

I’m south east and the estuary dialects slang are fantastical rich too. (May not be exclusively estuary) things like
Arse ache
Cunt can be used in so many inventive ways

• have this in common with the Scottish dialects

Having a mare Dropping your yoghurt Work one out

So so many wish I could recall more!!!

London has its own dialect which does seep out to the rest of the country over the decades. The below are 90s / 00s really I haven’t lived in London for a while.
Rinse
Chief
Allow
Long
Peng

“Give your head a wobble”.

^ yes!!!

What does it mean to 'give your head a wobble'? Drives me crazy that one

We moved to Lancashire when I was 10, at the time their school holidays were the same as Scotland, so the year started in August. It actually makes more sense because you are then used to taking end of year exams in May/June like you do for GCSE and A Levels.

We then got a week off in September and half term at the end of October. As I was in an RC school we got odd holidays off so our half term was only 2 or 3 days, in one memorable year we were off Monday and Tuesday for half term, back in school Wednesday, off for a holy day Thursday and then back to school Friday.

Lots of businesses had one or two days September holidays including the NHS hospital I worked at.

OP

If you are even in the UK and you want to order something that is meat between two slices of bread (or in a single roll like a burger) depending on where you are it could be any of:

sandwich
piece
butty
bait (that's usually a meal as is 'packing up')
batch
bread roll
bread cake
tea cake
barm / barm cake
muffin - only ever found in McDonalds

To add to the confusion a 'tea cake' in some parts of the UK is just bread, in others it contains currents.

What does it mean to 'give your head a wobble'? Drives me crazy that one

I imagine it’s on par with “get your head out of your arse”

I’m absolutely desperate to visit the UK now! DH will be over in July, lucky bastard!

"When I went back to England in the summer my thong/flipflop broke as I walked into a cafe and I said as walking through the door "bummer, I've just had a blow out in my thong". In Aus it means the thong broke, in England it means I've had explosive diarrhea in my underwear."

Thanks so much for the laugh!!!

Oh, I’ve just remembered something that made me laugh more than any ‘classic’ post on MN and if the person who posted it is reading I hope you don’t mind me repeating it (though it was on a thread of mispronounced words so I don’t think they will): When they read the phrase ‘it was such a ballache’ and thought it was pronounced ‘ballash’ 😂😂

When we lived in the US there were quite a few different terms to get used to.

This was just before smart phones so 'cell phone' for 'mobile phone' was one I remember.

Another was 'jump rope' for 'skipping rope'

I learnt never to use 'rubber' when I meant 'eraser' blush

'Eggplant' for 'aubergine' and 'zuchini' for 'Courgette', 'pants' for 'trousers' - all these same in Australia/NZ?? For some reason my mental image when someone says 'pant suit' conjors up a track suit not a trouser suit.

Eggplant and Zucchini here

Grim is a very good word.

Much better than 'vile' which is overused on here.

The mention of oval made me think of Kennington Oval which is now called KIA www.kiaoval.com/

Maybe not just an Aussie word for a field?

A muffin is also a large fairy cake/cupcake type of thing, in addition to being a kind of bread roll/bun, (not only in McDonalds as a pp said) it is quite an old fashioned thing which people had toasted for tea, kind of powdery on top, and not like a crumpet.

Just to confuse things. If you're from North West pants means trousers, like in the US. I live down south though so assume when people say pants here they are referring to underwear.

Naice does mean nice. It comes from a thread where a poster found a shopping list in a trolley and one of the items on the list was ‘naice ham’, so it’s now used as a bit of a joke to describe something a bit posh.

I used to write naice ham on a shopping list when I wanted ham for ham salad instead of just for sandwiches. I often wonder if it was one of my shopping lists that started it all off.....

I used to teach in an International school.

rubbers= erasers in UK and condoms in US
felt pens = UK, markers= US, but I can't remember what the Aussie name was??

texters! (not sure how you spell it) but texters for felt tip pens.

We say undies/knickers/underwear. Pants are trousers/jeans/leggings/clothing you put on the bottom half of your body

Same here in Ireland, pants as underwear seems to be a very British thing only

Getting your knickers in a twist.
Grim.

The idea that your toilet should be available to any stranger that knocks on your door and asks if they can use it.

Same here in Ireland, pants as underwear seems to be a very British thing only

It is regional. Pants are trousers in the north (of England).

Dry Boak is sick noise
Boak is sick and noise

Geez me the boak , means makes me feel sick .

Maybe not just an Aussie word for a field?

In my experience, an oval is specifically a cricket pitch both in Oz and the UK.

'Naice' was a new one on me and to be frank, it looks and sounds silly.

'Grim' I've always heard and used. It means something unpleasant or sinister. www.google.com/search?q=grim+meaning+in+english&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB717GB727&oq=grim+meaning&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.5887j1j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

'Judgy', instead of judgemental.

'Entitled' when should be 'Entitled to something' or 'sense of entitlement'.

'Baby' rather than 'my/our/the baby'.

'Gifting' 'Gifted' are very commonly used here, and though not strictly incorrect, in real life people generally say, 'giving, given or gave'.

Then of course there's the 'wouldn't of, shouldn't of, bored of', which drives many of us to distraction.

Starting a thread or sentence with 'so'. It's is (so) lazy.

Hot boak is very evocative.

A new one for me was ‘mince’ as rubbish - I think it’s mainly used in Scotland and confuses me a bit, because I quite like mince. I’d never heard it as an expression before I joined MN.

Oh, and bobbins also meaning rubbish; I think that’s mainly a NW England thing - is it something to do with the weaving/textiles industries? Again it confuses me, because presumably bobbins are/were useful.

I bloody love language and it’s rich variations.