Things that are 'boffy'

[RosaLuxembunting]

According to DD1 (about to start secondary school)
Wearing your rucksack with the shoulder straps tight is 'boffy'
Socks with skirts are 'boffy'
Ditto skirts that are too long
Or too short
Trousers are not boffy as long as they are skinny.

What else is going to be boffy in secondary school, please? Just so I can prepare myself.

I'm sure I was completely boffy when I started secondary school...shall watch this thread with interest as ds1 starts in September, perhaps I can help him not to be as boffy as his Mum was

It's an appealing expression isn't it? I like it much better than the one ds1 used the other day - apparently his new trainers are "well mint"

ahem, is 'boffy' derived from 'boffin'?

just curious and out of touch with teen slang!

Yes, a boff is apparently what we used to call a geek. Someone who cares about their schoolwork in an uncool way. Must be short for boffin, I should think.
DD1 is by way of being a boff herself, so I find this mildly amusing.

would guess that shoes are a 'boffy' minefield, Rosa...

I remember disgusting court shoes being de riguer about that age, preferably bought from Freeman Hardy Willis and with the heels as scuffed and worn down as you could manage.

"Well mint" indeed, was this verdict delivered in a piping treble voice?

Oh, my, the duffed up FHW plastic shoes. I can remember my mother gnashing her teeth about these. And Bata was for best

Oh god, shoes. It will be hell, I tell you, hell. Her feet are such a funny shape we have to travel to a town an hour away to get shoes that fit anyway, and that's without taking fashion into account.

so what are non-boffy shoes that are acceptable for school Rosa? Poor you...

I don't know Harpo. DD1 will tell me. In a loud cross voice. In the shoe shop. After she has tried on fourteen pairs. The day before term starts.

oh harpomarx, how the memories came flooding back re FHW cheapo plastic court shoes! I nearly ruined my feet because they were size 7 and FHW only went up to size 6 1/2 in the trendy shoes. Of course, Mum was always trying to get me into Clarks Sensibles (definitely boffy!) so I ended up wearing trainers for the best part of 2 years at senior school (against school rools )

if they were grey or burgundy, thumbwitch, then we are the same age!

I remember having grey ones as well as black but not burgundy - was very anti-any-colour-remotely-girly and burgundy was to me, then, a darker shade of pink. Have since developed a bit of sense.

wearing your tie pulled up to your collar- I spend my life dealing with fat lazy ties!

Haha, shoes and teenage girls! I have an ongoing discussion with dd1 involving the relative merits of a pair of sensible but quite funky Rhinos vs a pair of cheap and too-tight ballerinas which she bought from Shoezone for a tenner (and I must say they look every penny of it).

Rosa, I think you'll find, come the winter, that coats are also boffy. Turning a weird shade of lilac and shivering in a thin jumper and scarf as you battle through the snow is much more desirable.

and conversely not wearing your jumper in the height of summer (even though draconian uniform rules have been relaxed) is so Not The Done Thing. Scarves fortunately are optional between May and September (after much maternal screeching "FGS take some of those layers off before you melt!" at 4.15)

Coats are definitely boffy (I have gleaned this myself from the kids walking past my house). Clearly it is well mint to be shivering and soaked in your nasty polyester blazer. School jumpers seem to be boffy too.

My Mum got me a pair of knee high, zip-up boots for school - they were fur lined, granny boots and they were an invitation to bullying in the form of sensible footwear. I used to take my nasty, man-made uppers, C&A court shoes in my school bag and change as soon as I got round the corner.

Marina - his voice seems to be getting deeper, actually (eek) - he went on a PGL holiday last week and came home talking of girls and needing aftershave. Nonononono

Thanks for the warning.

DS due to start in September and he's die rather than be 'boffy'. I'll make sure he doesn't wear his skirts too short.

Yes, and he mustn't wear them with socks either, OrmIrian

OK....

Not heard the expression boffy from my DDs and can't even think what their equivalent insult is but I can confirm that coats are most certainly boffy - even if it is snowing. Scarves are good, but school have banned them , so they need to be removed when the bus arrives at school. Trousers are OK, but they have to be very low slung around the hips and it is compulsory for them to be too long. Shirts cannot - repeat cannot be tucked in. School rules say they must be tucked in so blazers need to be kept buttoned so that the teachers can't see.

Chopchop - maybe its a regional thing! Interesting about shirts - at DD's new school girls shirts have to be worn UNtucked apparently which I find strange although boys must tuck.
Trousers must trail, oh yes.

They have to make sure the top button of the shirt is undone as well.

By the way in Croydon the expression would be either geeky or nerdy for someone who looked smart in their school uniform.

At my dd's school, a boffin and a geek are two completely different things! Can't quite work it out but letting your shirt collar show over your sweatshirt is geeky. So are long socks with skirts. And my dd is a boffin because she got a prize for getting 1s for effort in all her subjects. She would have been a geek if she had got 1s for achievement.