# Britishisms I've adopted **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2015, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626 "2015-07-19T18:20:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/121 "2015-07-27T20:25:17Z")
> [@MmeRose](#): > > “Knackered” - I know it means exhausted, but what is the literal meaning? I always feel like it is a little off color (off colour?), “something dirty” as we said when we were children. Is it? > > Isn’t a Knacker’s Yard a slaughterhouse? In my (British) understanding, a knacker is a slaughterer, especially of old and worn-out beasts: “knackered” comes from that – feeling as exhausted as an aged worn-out horse, no longer good for anything but to be put down, and boiled down for glue or whatever – in the yard of said practitioner. [K]Nackers is a fairly obscure and not very often used, British slang synonym for testicles; but in the main, AFAIK “knackered” for exhausted, is “clean” slang. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/122 "2015-07-27T20:26:29Z")
Ninja’d by **Mangetout**. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/123 "2015-07-27T20:29:28Z")
I like to refer to the hood of a car as a bonnet, just to see the reaction from some redneck. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/124 "2015-07-27T20:46:02Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > You could get away with it. It’s in the [**Urban Dictionary**](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Scarper). As I understand it, it’s rhyming slang in origin: “Scapa Flow” - “go”. Like most rhyming slang, the second word (that actually makes the rhyme) is dropped. And, as mentioned, although literally “go” the sense is more “get out of here before we’re caught”. Scapa Flow is an obscure piece of maritime real estate in the Orkney Islands, but it entered the public consciousness twice: once when the German Grand Fleet was scuttled there in 1919, and again twenty years later when the battleship _Royal Oak_ was sunk by a U-boat. But the use of the word “scarper” is older. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/125 "2015-07-31T08:17:22Z")
I worked widdershins in conversation about a week ago. As in turn the handle widdershins. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/126 "2015-07-31T11:21:53Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > However, if you pronounce “schedule” as “shedule” instead of “skedule”, I think you’re full of **skit**. Which, here in Sweden, is the actually spelling of the word for “shit”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/127 "2015-07-31T11:38:18Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > And “boffin.” I don’t get chances to use it very often, but it is SO much fun to say. Boffin. Boffin! BOFFIN!!! I came in to say this. I had the urge to use the phrase “the boffins from Treasury” in talking about economists in a corporate management forum. I explained that I had only said it because I really wanted to say “boffin” while giving a formal presentation. Later I regretted not having a white lab coat on. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/128 "2015-08-01T10:21:07Z")
I’ll use “smashing” sometimes – “That’s a smashing idea!,” say. Also, “are you _mad_?” – meaning “crazy,” which is by far only a secondary meaning in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/129 "2015-08-01T14:01:29Z")
“You Mancunian wanker!” – Red Wiggler during many a Premier League match. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/130 "2015-08-01T17:36:46Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Dropping the T (or double T) in the middle of such words is common in many British dialects - it’s sometimes sort-of-replaced by an unstressed stop. > > [T-glottalization - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-glottalization) A glottal stop before a vowel is usually considered downmarket and “common”, and it certainly breaks the euphonious flow of a word; but before another consonant (as in football) it’s usual - the oddity would be to make the t a precisely articulated sound in such a situation. But then again, I used to suppose that a very aspirated t in the middle of a word was an over-compensating way of making sure you weren’t using a glottal stop, but after our recent exposure to a number of Danish TV series, it’s obvious they regularly pronounce t in that way, so maybe it’s a feature of speech that’s come down in English from the days of the Jutes and the Danelaw. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/131 "2016-11-01T18:24:23Z")
Bumped. I just finished Rick Jolly’s _The Red and Green Life Machine_. Jolly was the top Royal Marine surgeon at the biggest field hospital of the Falklands War. At one point he writes of visiting a British infantry unit on the front lines with a fellow doctor, at which point a soldier “invites us to investigate sex and travel as he thinks they are being mortared.” Is that a delicate way of saying “Go fuck yourself,” “Fuck off,” or something else? And was “investigate sex and travel” a common euphemism in 1982? Is it today? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/132 "2016-11-01T18:34:40Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > [li]Pronouncing a building where cars are parked a GAR-age.[/li] > [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > It’s supposed to be a Cah Pahrk. Yup. You may have to re-think this, **Lumpy**. In general a GAR-age (or, if you want to be a bit edgy, a ga-ridge with a short a) is usually only the small building attached to your home where you park your car; or the place you take your car to be repaired. The large public thing is a multi-storey car park. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/133 "2016-11-01T18:39:47Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I occasionally invade small previously uncontacted countries, set up an imperial ruling class, strip the place of natural resources, then pull out and feel very very guilty about the resulting chaos. You and your cohort are obviously in the midst of one of these operations. When are you planning to pull out of the U.S.? ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/134 "2016-11-01T19:35:04Z")
If you’re on Twitter this is sometimes amusing - Very British Problems: [https://twitter.com/SoVeryBritish](https://twitter.com/SoVeryBritish) ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/135 "2016-11-01T19:39:45Z")
I think I’ve always pronounced, “isn’t it,” more like, “innit,” with perhaps a bit of a “d” sound in the middle. I’m going to chalk that up to my lower-class New Jersey upbringing (near “Tren’n”). I sometimes use “wanker” and “bloody” in conversation. Lately I’ve been using “holiday,” instead of “vacation,” mostly because we have a number of friends from overseas and that seems to be the preferred word, even among non-UK English-speakers. Plus, I’ve entered the travel business, and it seems most acceptable world-wide. I say, “KILL-a-meter” instead of “ki-LOHM-e-ter” mostly because of my high school physics teacher. He went on a rant one day about how we don’t say, “ki-LAH-gram”(kilogram), why would we say “ki-LOHM-e-ter?” It just stuck with me. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/136 "2016-11-01T19:57:59Z")
I use “spiffing” quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/137 "2016-11-01T21:34:56Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I wasn’t aware that “dodgy” was a Britishism. I use it a lot, to describe something that is suspect or possibly unsafe. > > I like the Britishism “bint”, as I don’t think there’s an American equivalent word. “Bitch” is meant for a mean, nasty woman, but I apply the word “bint” to a female lunkhead. Like the ones who walk oafishly out into traffic mid-block while staring at their cellphones. I agree with dodgy. I don’t think of it as a britishism. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/138 "2016-11-01T21:55:07Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > I agree with dodgy. I don’t think of it as a britishism. If you want to avoid all doubt about your pretensions to Britishness, try “well dodgy”. But don’t say that to the Queen, she won’t have a clue what you mean. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/139 "2016-11-02T04:23:40Z")
Please see post 131. It’s why I bumped this thread. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626/140 "2016-11-02T09:24:25Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Bumped. > > I just finished Rick Jolly’s _The Red and Green Life Machine_. Jolly was the top Royal Marine surgeon at the biggest field hospital of the Falklands War. At one point he writes of visiting a British infantry unit on the front lines with a fellow doctor, at which point a soldier “invites us to investigate sex and travel as he thinks they are being mortared.” > > Is that a delicate way of saying “Go fuck yourself,” “Fuck off,” or something else? > > And was “investigate sex and travel” a common euphemism in 1982? Is it today? “Fuck off” or “fuck off out of it” would be what was meant. I don’t know if I would say “sex and travel” had ever been\* common\*, but variations on the theme were around at the time (and since). I seem to remember it featuring in a popular (at that time) stand-up comic’s routine. > [@Pai325](#): > > I agree with dodgy. I don’t think of it as a britishism. [It seems like it’s been around in the US for a while, now.](https://britishisms.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/dodgy/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britishisms-ive-adopted/725626.md?page=8)