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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

"All fur coat no knickers" - where in UK or further afield?

252 replies

redwinetalking · 20/09/2023 23:37

I have to admit I love this phrase and can think of several towns, areas and localities where "IMHO" it may have applied.

Obviously not travelled everywhere but what are you "FCNK" places?

OP posts:
GnomeDePlume · 21/09/2023 06:51

St Tropez - very pleased with itself. Its sole purpose seemed to be to give space to people to say they were in St Tropez.

Brighton - in the sunshine it's like a peacock. In the rain it just looks sad and bedraggled.

Perhaps seaside towns are the epitome of FCNK

FarEast · 21/09/2023 06:52

Yup, as PPs have said , it’s a phrase usually used to describe a person. I’ve always understood it as describing someone who puts on a show but never washes - fancy fingernails with dirt underneath them. etc etc. But if you wanted a place, Liverpool.

FarEast · 21/09/2023 06:52

Yup, as PPs have said , it’s a phrase usually used to describe a person. I’ve always understood it as describing someone who puts on a show but never washes - fancy fingernails with dirt underneath them. etc etc. But if you wanted a place, Liverpool.

tinytemper66 · 21/09/2023 06:53

I say it in south Wales but it refers to a person not a place.

tinytemper66 · 21/09/2023 06:55

redwinetalking · 21/09/2023 00:03

To add I do think it's a northern phrase that may lose meaning to anyone who is not from "oop" here

I am from South Wales and use it. So definitely not reserved for those north of... (North to me is anything from Leicester up!)

Unwisebutnotillegal · 21/09/2023 06:57

York! I live here, it’s a dirty shithole on the outskirts. The council have focused on the centre for the Tourism but left the residents to starve.

Alwaysanotherwine · 21/09/2023 06:59

Defo Harrogate

op you mentioned southport? It’s always been shit hole as I live not far. Some nice residential areas but centre is awful

most Lake District towns

Alwaysanotherwine · 21/09/2023 07:00

Why are people still harping on about the phrase?! You know what OP means so answer the thread and move on!

Wishthiswasntthecase · 21/09/2023 07:01

Round here it meant Formby or Blundellsands

thevegetablesoup · 21/09/2023 07:03

I thought it originated as a description of Edinburgh during the Burke and Hare era?? As in having a veneer of gentility but sordid and corrupt underneath.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 21/09/2023 07:03

The first time I ever heard the expression "All fur coat and no knickers" it was about Harrogate.

UndercoverCop · 21/09/2023 07:06

Tynemouth doesn't even have a fur coat! A friend went on an archaeological dig there when we were students and every morning they had to check for needles before starting

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 21/09/2023 07:07

I interpret FCNK and NITWNOTT as both meaning "looks finished on the outside, but doesn't cover the basics".

FrodisCapering · 21/09/2023 07:07

Lytham St. Annes. Classic fcank territory.

Sleepo · 21/09/2023 07:08

Dubai

babyproblems · 21/09/2023 07:15

Johnnylewis · 20/09/2023 23:44

Do you mean places which are perceived as affluent, but have poverty and social problems bubbling beneath the surface?

That’s not at all what this means

Tessisme · 21/09/2023 07:18

I always hated the expression because of the image it conjures up in my head. I have only really heard it on TV and associate it with something like Coronation Street. I have never heard anyone use it where I'm from (NI) but maybe I just don't know enough people😆 Anyway, this thread has been very informative and has given me a better understanding of what the saying means.

Corporatepreggolady · 21/09/2023 07:18

I definitely use this phrase the same way as the OP. I'd say Alderley Edge in Cheshire - super cars and designer handbags everywhere, but unpleasant people.

lavender2023 · 21/09/2023 07:30

swimsong · 21/09/2023 01:10

I live in Scarborough and it's pretty much all knickers and no fur coat.

Show quote history

Really? I have just holidayed in Scarborough and my impression is that it was extremely beautiful, quaint, relatively uncommercialized, trapped in time but also deprived like many seaside towns. Not that it was outwardly wealthy.

thinkfast · 21/09/2023 07:42

I've never heard the phrase used to describe a place, but it appears from the thread that it gets used that way. However, I still firmly believe it's a sexist expression - it's drawing a comparison with a woman's appearance and sexual behaviour.

Lou670 · 21/09/2023 07:42

I hear it a lot. It means living a lifestyle outside of your means. All top show as in spending more than you have. Another phrase for this is 'living a champagne lifestyle on beer money'.

ChampagneLassie · 21/09/2023 07:43

Abetterplaice · 20/09/2023 23:53

I've always taken it to mean all show and no substance so it could equally be applied to people and places.

I can’t imagine describing a person like this, sounds very bitchy . I use the phrase quite frequently to describe things like restaurants. Places…notice someone said Brighton 🤣as a former resident I totally understand where that’s coming from but I think it has a more subtle appeal to residents that visitors don’t really see.

dikwad · 21/09/2023 07:44

We say it in Barnsley to describe a person who is cash poor 'stuff' rich, we also say '3 cars on the drive, no food on the table'.

Fingeronthebutton · 21/09/2023 07:44

If it was a place I would nominate Leigh on Sea. They also know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Brunointhemiddle · 21/09/2023 07:45

Cheltenham !