Spiffing
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Spiffing – This is old British slang for splendid or wonderful. It’s not used much nowadays but one of readers suggested it for this online dictionary. And who are we not to oblige?
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Posted by Hyacinth B Date: Friday, November 6, 2009
Categories: S
Tags: British Sayings, spiffing
British Sayings – British Slang – British Words
- Chockers: Chockers - Another lovely British Slang word that simply means full to the brim or to bursting point.
- Dodgy: Dodgy - Not To Be Trusted. Used Car or Second Hand Car Sales Men, to us Brits are "Dodgy". Kebabs from your Local Chippy (Fish and Chips Shop) on a Friday Night after a Good Booze Up can be Dodgy as well as Curry from your Indian.
- Dog's Bollocks: Dog's Bollocks - Such Words Conjure Up a Configuration of Eloquence That Just Flows Off the Tongue with Elegant Ease. You're Just Super, You Are! You Just Can't Fault Us Brits for Tongue In Cheek Humour. One of our favorite funny British Sayings.
- Two Finger Salute: Two Finger Salute - Insult Along The Lines Of The One Finger Salute. This hand Gesture Dates Back to 15th Century When English Bowmen in the Hundred Years War with the French. The French Threatened to Cut off the Two Arrow Shooting Fingers of the Long Bowmen After the Battle at Agincourt. However the English Won and Came Out Showing off their Two Fingers Intact to the Losing French.
- Bovvered - Catherine Tate - Am I Bovvered: A question made famous by UK comedienne Catherine Tate. Americans might say, “I could care less”, but literally it means, “Am I Bothered?” and is posed as a rhetorical question. The word “bovvered” enjoyed such resurgence in the UK, that it was voted Word of the year in 2006 – in part due to its popularity on the aforementioned show. Growing up in the UK, it was phrase that us kids used in irreverent defiance to our teachers and Head Masters – but usually behind their backs. To do so otherwise would definitely lead to a clip around the ears or in
- Sweet Fanny Adams: Sweet Fanny Adams - Absolutely Nowt - Nothing! This is an Unusual British Saying that Has an Intriguing and Macabre Origin. In 1867 an Young Lady was Killed and Her Corpse Butchered by a Man Named Frederick Baker. A Couple of Years Later, British Seamen Were Given Tinned Mutton as Rations. They Decided that it Tasted so Bad it Must be the Remains of Fanny Adams. From that Point on, "Fanny Adams" became Slang for Mutton or Stew and Later on Anything Worthless.
- What Are You Like?: What Are You Like? - This recent British Saying is used when you see someone do something rather silly or outrageous. Similar to the rhetorical, "What are you doing?"
- Spiffing: Spiffing - This is old British slang for splendid or wonderful. It's not used much nowadays but one of readers suggested it for this online dictionary. And who are we not to oblige?
- Gert Macky: Gert Macky - Gi-normous, Huge, Out of This World! This is a Bristolian specific expression that many other Brits would have never ever heard of.
- Sod's Law!: Sod's Law! - If Something Can Go Wrong, It Will! A British Twist on that Old Chestnut Known More Commonly as "Murphy's Law"
- Get Knotted!: Get Knotted! - A Not So Polite Way to Tell Someone Who's Being a Bit of a Nuisance to Get Stuffed.
- Chip Butty: Chip Butty - This unusual British Slang word is actually a food group unto itself in the UK. It is beyond fattening in its construction. Made from a bread roll, spread lovingly with lashings of butter and stuffed to the rafters with chips, it is guaranteed to clog up those arteries in a hurry. Dieters be for warned!
- Zed: Zed - the letter Zee to the Americans. It's the last letter in the alphabet but probably the most popular. And even in the ABC children's' ditty we Brits rhyme Zed with Cee at the end. Works for me!
- Cheeky Bugger: Cheeky Bugger! - Naughty. Someone Comments That You've Got A Nice Pair (Rack, To The Americans), Call Them This!
- Mad as a Hatter: Mad as a Hatter - This wonderful British saying means completely crazy and is rather macabre in its origin. Hat makers (hatters) would commonly use mercury in the making of hats. The prolonged excessive exposure to this toxic chemical damaged the nervous system and caused them to shake uncontrollably. Thus making them appear to be completely insane or bonkers as we Brits would say.
