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..

I use grim for when the weather is grim - like now!

Years ago I worked with a New Zealander who fell foul of the expression "flag it". In the UK you "flag" something when you highlight it - eg in the context of a lawyer you'd flag a dubious clause in a contract and ask if your colleagues/the client want to accept it.

But apparently in New Zealand (so she told me) it means "forget it". So when she was told to flag something, she didn't mention it in a meeting. Ended up being a tad awkward.

I'd not heard of Christmas Eve boxes until MN.

I have a mooncup ( actually a Dutchess Cup) and have persuaded my sister to get one. I also discussed it with a colleague at work recently in my not very liberal office. I did have to google ModiBodi though so I’m clearly not a full paid up member of the Woke Club.

My dad's a scouser and my family are from the Wirral and pant definitely means trousers. Maybe it's a bit more area specific than I thought

My mum is a Liverpudlian and "pants" are knickers.

Maybe it's a southern Liverpool thing, as she is from the north of the city?

I think cockwomble and wank badger are English - but heavily used on mumsnet

I actually didn't learn the expression cockwomble on MN but in the Run Mummy Run Facebook group in about 2014! Abbreviated to CW so that nobody is offended. And every time someone new joins the group and sees someone talking about their CW husband (doesn't support their running) or non-CW husband (supports their running) they have to ask what it means!

I have used a mooncup for many many years but I have never discussed sanitary protection with anyone in my life. I have no idea if my sisters or friends use one or not, I'd sooner pull my finger nails out than start a conversation about it.

What in the name of all that is good and holy is a North Pole breakfast ?

Omg I assumed a North Pole breakfast (which I had never heard of before) was an alternative to ‘morning glory’. Looked it up and checked urbanslang and discovered it’s an actual thing and no connotations seemingly. How embarrassing !

Conflate is a word fairly widely used in real life.

Sooverthemill Tue 10-Dec-19 13:59:32
HRTWT but has anyone mentioned Penis beaker ?
....
I don't know what a penis beaker is, it sounds ..... weird.

I worked for an Australian bank in London, we were all a bit when a memo went out telling us that thongs weren’t allowed in the summer!!

If you googled these expressions op you'd realise how few are mn expressions. Naice is about the only one and even that you'd find the history behind

"Naice is about the only one and even that you'd find the history behind"

You mean the history of how it became popular on MN

'Rivals' - where Jilly Cooper used it - was published in 1988, and I think it was also in' Class' (1979).

The obsession with pregnancy testing, especially early testing, sometimes before you've even had a shag it seems. Every time I see a picture of multiple tests on here it makes me weep for the planet (and our sanity).

Sorry it's not a funny one.

@WarmSausageTea bobbins means “rubbish/no good” I think because it’s shortened from waitin for’t bobbins, which means bored waiting/pointless/nothing to do. Bobbins are useful, you can’t do much without them!

I googled 'penis beaker' and it is a word coined on mumsnet. There are quite a few links. Here's one:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/10/penis-beaker-mumsnet

Yeuch

Now I will delete my history.

I love the Scottish word "outwith"- I think it's genuinely useful.

I use outwith a lot. Dont know how people get by without it!

msmith501

I lived in Lancashire from age 11 to mid 20s. Pants were trousers.

If we are doing regional words / phrases I give you the Yorkshire phrase, "bethought mesen", it a bit like changing your mind but with a reason, so you might agree to do something and then "bethought mesen" and realised why it isn't a good idea.

I see the phrase 'lions share' used on mumsnet several times a day. I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone use it in real life. It doesn't even make a lot of sense in the context as lions mostly sit around doing bugger all 😆. (I know the origins of the saying but the context is different)

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.

Actually it's 'bawbag'

Actually it's 'bawbag'

Who could forget Hurricane Bawbag

Who could forget Hurricane Bawbag 

His wee brother came to town yesterday. It's like a wheelie bin battlefield out there today 😆

Thanks, @LetsBeSensible, that makes sense. The only thing I found online was rhyming slang, bobbins of cotton = rotten, which struck me as, well, bobbins, as I’ve never heard or heard of rhyming slang anywhere other than East London.

"Naicedoes 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."
Naice wasnt created on Mumsnet. It's been used for years out in the real world.