60 sayings only REAL Brits would know? Let's see about that

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Vlog channel / evanedinger
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If you're new to my channel and videos, hi! I'm Evan Edinger, and I make weekly "comedy" videos every Sunday evening. As an American living in London I love noticing the funny differences between the cultures and one of my most popular video series is my British VS American one. I'm also known for making terrible puns so sorry in advance. Hope to see you around, and I'll see you next Sunday! :)
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[@KevKevAllen]

“Peeping Tom” isn’t being a “nosey neighbor” it’s looking in on someone hoping to see them in the nude. 😂

[@bareakon]

Yep. Tom was the guy who peeped on Lady Godiva riding in the nude. In Coventry near the Godiva statue, there's an alcove in one of the buildings with a smaller statue of Peeping Tom. Just a fun fact there.

[@ColinRichardson]

@@bareakon If you happen to be at the Godiva Statue near "the hour", you hear the bell chime and see a horse circling the base of the clock and a shutter will open and Peeping Tom will pop his head out and uncover his eyes to spy on Godiva

[@Libertaro-i2u]

Peeping Tom is the extreme version of nosy neighbor.

[@ConstantSorrow]

"Spend a Penny" comes from the days when the public conviences used coin operated locks, so you had to spend litterally spend a penny to use the facilities.

[@maykstuff]

Here I sit broken hearted Paid a penny and only farted

[@EmpireSB]

Some places still do 😢

[@hesky10]

I find its mostly those born before boomers that use the phrase as I think the price increased by the time boomers used them

[@RaefonB]

Am shocked he's never heard it even once - guess Evan's hanging out mostly with people younger than 35 and maybe more middle-class? *shrug* I know it's less common but I I hear people say it frequently.

[@RaefonB]

My bad - it could be a regional thing as well (I'm based in the Midlands).

[@potterlover96]

Lived in the UK all my life and I have never heard someone use "par" in that way 😂 Only hear it used like "yeah that's on par for him" meaning it's something they always do or it's something you would expect them to do

[@p0etrygh0st]

yes! on par or sub par!

[@Relyx]

It's very specific to roadman speak which predominantly came from young North Londoners. Very tied to the grime scene in my mind. So dench is the same, and words/phrases like 'low it, peng etc.

[@Rissen_]

@@Relyx it is not "very specific" to roadmen. On par, subpar, par for the course, etc has been used for hundreds of years. Par means equal to(like PARity). The use of par to mean insult IS very specific to roadman tho

[@Relyx]

@@Rissen_ That's the usage I was referring to yes.

[@Brookdale731]

Never heard par either

[@JoeBleasdaleReal]

Evan just confidently shouting “MINGEING!” has made my day 😂😂😂😂😂

[@ryanodriscoll]

I had to pause the video 😂😂

[@sezcam79]

wonder if he knows what a minge is

[@jdb47games]

@@sezcam79 Of course he does. It's an insect that bites you.😉

[@sezcam79]

@@jdb47games uhhh. Midgies have other names?

[@jdb47games]

@@sezcam79 Whoosh!

[@bullzdawguk]

Not long after moving to the UK, I went out with my cousin for New Years Eve. During the night, we got talking to a group of girls. At one point I was talking to one of them, with a bubbly, outgoing personality. I innocently told her that she came across as having a lot of spunk in her. She took offence and said as much. Luckily, she gave me a chance to explain it was meant as a compliment, and I elaborated my point further. When she realised I meant no offence, she told me what spunk means in the UK. Spunk = Cum, semen. 🤣

[@harriet2114]

I am British and I have heard my mum talk about someone having a lot of spunk and I am glad I have never embarrassed myself by using it at school... I think it picked up the sexual meaning of semen later..

[@bullzdawguk]

@@harriet2114 I think the American meaning is used more in the UK nowadays, in comparison to when I first moved here in the early 80's. When I first moved here, Britain had only 4 channels on TV to choose from and they weren't on 24/7. Exposure to these things was limited. Since the advent of Sky TV in the UK, more people understand the meaning of the US version. That said, I don't think Americans generally use or understand the UK version. That's probably due to the fact American media use their version more than the British media use theirs.

[@shonunezekiel]

@@bullzdawguk that's hilarious - I have always wanted to hear that someone said that, and what the reaction was! How did the rest of the evening go after that? 😜 Personally, I don't think the term would be used by a Brit, but it is less likely to be misunderstood in the same way (unfortunately😆) due to exposure to the US term.

[@julesdingle]

Spunk actually means courage .. it slang term comes from the US meaning balls.. so a lot of courage, a lot of balls a lot of spunk

[@MonstehDinosawr]

​@@julesdingle and what is in balls. spunk.

[@dominictemple]

Tipple does mean alcohol, but it’s generally referring more to harder spirits that older people drink like brandy or port while anorak was more about someone who was a train or bird spotter who spent hours outside wearing big duffel coats that held their spotting book, sandwiches and drink thermos.

[@pattheplanter]

The anorak was more waterproof than a duffel, hence the choice of trainspotters, but otherwise spot on.

[@tobynorris]

@@pattheplanter I've always thought an anorak is that type of, often see-through, raincoat people buy at theme parks.

[@dominictemple]

​@@pattheplanter Right, the waterproof feature would make sense, cheers.

[@pattheplanter]

@@tobynorris That would be a mac. An anorak is like a parka.

[@HaurakiVet]

Chock a block comes from the use of block and tackle used in lifting heavy loads. When it meant that the rope got jammed in the block.

[@elliotstedman1591]

I'm a Brit and I knew all of them with the exception of Dench. There were a couple I didn't realise until the answer was said but then I remembered them (like the tinkle on the blower one, I realised I'd heard it after) but otherwise I've used or heard all of this in everyday speech

[@wobaguk]

Ive seen this same list covered by an english teacher who also had never heard of dench. Pretty niche saying I think.

[@theseventhnight]

I have never heard anyone use dench unironically except from teenagers who think they're "gangster"

[@eleanorlyndon865]

Yeah I have never heard of Dench, but I think its slang for kids nowadays.

[@drakas110]

Dench is a common thing in gaming meaning to throw away, trash or deconstruct

[@suzannax]

I've never heard of Dench, Par or Mortal ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[@hughtube5154]

What's weird about chocablock is that I've only ever heard it used to describe traffic (meaning bumper-to-bumper, gridlocked traffic) but UK cities aren't laid out in blocks. And I've heard "full of beans" is related to the similar phrase about having the wind in your sails, the link being that eating beans gives you wind which acts as a form of propulsion...

[@matthewryan4844]

I always thought it referred to jumping beans which have a lot of energy

[@vickymc9695]

Seconding the jumping beans

[@samanthab1923]

My Pop pop would say that guys Full of Beans, meaning BS

[@billspencer9430]

Chockablock is a naval term when the block (and tackle ) is jammed.

[@pauldobson2529]

Chock-a-block in Australia just means completely, utterly full, or jammed.

[@daniwalmsley611]

As a life long brit, this is really hard, so much of our language is context dependent. Some of this was also very regional/dialect dependant. Very well done evan!

[@mikekelly5869]

I'd hate to be a life long Brit. Couldn't you have taken a break and become Croatian or something, fo a while?

[@Caiyde]

I like how this list makes it sound like we're all only ever drunk, tired, or feeling intruded upon xD

[@Ylyrra]

Seems accurate.

[@Milamberinx]

Yup, that's correct.

[@BarenakedFi]

Pretty much sums us up!

[@redstretchy4061]

Yep, sums us up pretty well

[@IanNoble-qb7mb]

Welcome to Britain, folks.

[@mytube001]

The "half" when referring to time is interesting. In Sweden and the other Scandinavian countries, and likely Germany as well as you mentioned it, "half seven" would mean six thirty, i.e. half of the hour leading up to seven has passed. In the UK and in Ireland, "half seven" is a shortened form of "half past seven", meaning seven thirty. That can be confusing when moving between the two areas.

[@zak3744]

Yeah, it's not really a special phrase, it's just a shortening of "half past". In English the traditional way of telling the time is very strictly that you say "X past Y" up to and including thirty minutes past the hour, and then "X to Y" from thirty minutes past until the next hour. I think my recollection is that German at least tends to be a bit more liberal in allowing use of "vor" and "nach" at all places around the clockface, and having some different options for describing the same time? So in English every time phrase comes as part of a pair distinguished only by "past" and "to" e.g. "quarter to five" and "quarter past five". The only one that has no pair is "half past". So we can be lazy and drop the "past" only with "half", but if we dropped it with any other time, it would be ambiguous which one of the pair we had shortened! Interestingly, you can see this is just lazy practicality by looking at "half past" just on its own without the hour. We also in English sometimes don't say the hour if we assume everyone knows roughly what time it is. So we might say "it's ten past" instead of "it's ten past five". But while we might say "it's half five" instead of "it's half past five" in the full form, if we say it without the hour, we'd still say "it's half past" and never "it's half". Because then it would be ambiguous that you were talking about the time, without the "past" or "to" in the phrase. So basically, it's just a case of being as lazy as it's possible wherever we can be lazy without losing some information in the phrase. And "half past five" -> "half five" is the only one where being lazy doesn't lose some information, so that's the only one we do it with. I'm sure we'd do it with the others too if we could! 😄

[@katjasarup2859]

As a Dane dating a brit it has caused a bit of trouble

[@wessexdruid7598]

@@katjasarup2859 As bad as a Brit and American agreeing to meet on the first floor?

[@Yotanido]

To make matters worse, "half seven" actually used to mean 6:30 in the UK, as well. Eventually, "half past" became more common and people started confusing them, which then led to "half seven" meaning 7:30 instead. I believe it was in the 17th century when this change occurred. So... quite a while ago.

[@nekotranslates]

@@wessexdruid7598 Like usually we have G,1,2,3 etc but U.S would be 1,2,3,4 instead.

[@WhichDoctor1]

As a Brit there were only two of those I’d never heard of, Drench and Par. But maybe those are more recent like southern English slang and since I live in the Midlands they haven’t percolated up here yet. Pretty impressive on behalf of the list maker though. Normally these lists of “thing’s British people say” are 50% things I’ve never heard in my life, or things most Americans say too

[@Phiyedough]

Something substandard is often described as "below par". I had also never heard the dench one.

[@libbybaker86]

I didn't get par as a verb. Never heard it used that way before. Also the only time I have heard Dench was from a 13 year old so I think it is not really a traditional idiom, more of a hip slang word with the young crowd

[@niggleniggle27]

​@@Phiyedough it means insult/diss

[@Caiyde]

Dench and par both showed up when I was doing my GCSEs in 2012/13/14, but I haven't heard anyone use them since.

[@pauldobson2529]

Par was one of those I'd never heard, along with dench. Two others I don't recall. Par in Australia only means average, or expected.

[@EmmaCruises]

Yesss!! This is so useful. I include 'british-isms' in my KZbin videos each week as most my audience are American. This will keep me going for ages. Thanks!! 😂😂😂

[@michaelfireslider269]

Blower is old navy slang for a speaking tube. Each end was stoppered with a whistle so, to attract the attention of the person you wanted to talk to you unstopped your end and blew down the tube to make the other end whistle.

[@hublanderuk]

I like that idea but I go for the Give me a tinkle on the blower comes from the old candlestick telephones. The tinkle is the ringing of the phone. The blower is the phone and the old telephones had horns to speak in so like the navy blowers.

[@nekotranslates]

A blower is also used on really old cars from the 30s like the Bentley 12-liter

[@gaelsomerville5163]

I grew up with most of those. But all folk from overseas seem to think that 'full of beans' refers to our like of baked beans - I believe it refers to jumping beans which were popular when I was a kid. As a kid we couldn't understand how the jumping beans were hopping around but as you can see, that makes the phrase much more understandable as a way of referring to folk who are full of energy.

[@Vennnaya]

I dont know about you, but i've always used "full of beans" as a polite way of saying someone is....flatulent

[@eleanorsmith4783]

I personally knew all of these and would use most of them. Some of them I was shocked that you didn't know - I forget how British some of these expressions are!

[@EmmaCruises]

Evans going to throw a wobbly when he finds out what throwing a wobbly is. 😂😂

[@markscouler2534]

Or a peeping Tom lol

[@melbapeach162]

It's funny how many of these I didn't realise were exclusively a UK thing, no wonder I'm always getting misunderstood online 😅

[@ginny93en]

A lot of the them aren’t…

[@thelorax9622]

I only missed one or two - dench is one I'd never heard either. Being Australian, I guess it's because of our links with Britain and the fact that growing up we got a lot of UK TV and movies in the 1970's and 80's. I thought you did very well, Evan. You are paying more attention than you thought, perhaps.

[@jdude99lolz]

I'm Canadian and knew a lot of these too. I think some of these just really weren't British exclusive.

[@TheEulerID]

Almost nobody has heard of dench. All the others I knew.

[@julesdingle]

the strange British to Aussie to British word is shrapnel ..which returned in the UK for loose change with Neighbours

[@narellejames6096]

Another Aussie here. I knew most of these from my childhood but had never heard of dench.

[@speleokeir]

Dench and Par are both 'Gansta'. Both made up by rappers. You might hear a teenager from a dodgy London council estate use them, but nobody else. I had heard of Dench though I've never heard anyone use it, I had to look up 'par' and it was only on Urban dictionary, not on any proper ones.

[@lin90210]

Idioms can vary depending on which region you are from also! hehe I learnt that by moving a few times in my childhood. P.S. I tell you what. A good example of someone who waffles isn't you. It's Boris Johnson. He takes waffling on like an extreme sport.

[@julesdingle]

he mentioned Wiff waff when the Olympics went from China to London- the return of ping pong

[@speleokeir]

Yep, Boris has built a career on waffling, talking bollocks, bullshitting and generally talking out of his arse.

[@emilythrelfall7181]

I love the made up meanings for the ones he doesn't know 😅 He said them so convincingly 🤣

[@fimbulsummer]

Chockablock - Australians use this regularly and shorten it to chockas. Tinkle on the blower - I’ve never once thought of lewd connotation for this and I am sorely disappointed in myself. Evan’s reaction though was PRICELESS! I grew up with all of these terms (except Dench, mad props to Judy though, she deserves to be a superlative) on a steady diet of British tv through the ABC, which at one stage of my life was the only tv station we could get. So many of these I was actually surprised were on the list, because I didn’t even realise they weren’t universal! I’d love to find a similar list for US slang and test myself there too.

[@leea8706]

We shorten it in the UK too, at least in NE England ‘chocka’ is a word we use alll the time!

[@andyjdhurley]

I beleive 'blower' is derived from rhyming slang 'trombone' meaning phone and tinkle comes from the sound it makes.

[@helenl3193]

Dench was kid/teen slang for a while but never really took off as common parlance. I mostly hear chocka (rather than the full chockablock) these days too. - in East London, . It's a shame the list makers didn't include info on the applicable regions/demographics, because some of these if never come across (the use of Par and mortal that were given) and others are archaic (blower, car bonnet) I wonder if those are still used in other regions

[@seeyouanon2931]

@andy Cockney rhyming slang for phone, is "dog and bone."(dog) "Blower" or more specifically " give me a tinkle on the blower " was a mechanical precursor to the telephone, "the tube" and each end of the tube was stoppered, if you wanted to speak to someone downstairs for example, you would take out the stopper your end, then you would "blow " down the tube which would then make a whistle "tinkle " the other end so they would answer. But with a lot of slang, things get shortened like in cockney rhyming slang, so some may just say "give me a tinkle " or "get on the blower "

[@bethsmith3421]

American here. Some of these are also used here in the US. The bees knees was used here in the 1920s and 1930. Bender, galivanting, pear shaped, and botch job are also used here, same meanings. Yes, I would say 20 past 11:00.

[@adlad75]

Yes, likely a generational thing... Ask three different generations to define 'out of pocket' and you're likely to hear three different definitions! 😲

[@miniveedub]

As an Australian some of those we have used here, some I know from watching UK tv and some were a complete mystery. “Give you a tinkle on the blower” I knew as soon as I saw it on the thumbnail, my Dad used it, but I doubt many young people would know it, Dad would be 98 if he was still with us.

[@NikolaHoward]

Give me a Tinkle is really rather old now - its from when housephones/landlines actually had a bell, and so made a Tinkle sound. Blower for phone - I think that was from ships, you'd blow on the voice tube mouthpiece to make the other way whilstle and the other end would know to pick up.

[@stephenlee5929]

Yep I think you are right about voice tubes. I would say Gi'ss rather than Give me, since it would be short for Give us, which would be the cockney way.

[@HeatherLoiisXo]

You gave yourself way more points than you deserved here 😂💜

[@Miss_Lexisaurus]

I'm a Brit and I knew all of them but never heard anyone use "mortal" or "par." And I actually do use a lot of them still, although some are definitely used mostly by older folks now.

[@speleokeir]

Mortal is used a lot in Scotland. I'd never heard of par though and had to look it up. Even then it's only on Urban dictionary. Apparently it's gansta and was made up by a rapper , much like 'dench'. Unless you're a teenager living on a dodgy south London council estate I doubt you'll ever hear anyone say either.

[@hblock8361]

Used alot in the north east of England at least

[@oturukira3182]

@@speleokeir I feel attacked xd par was said all the time when I was at school, usually saying someone got "parred" or "thats proper par." Never heard Mortal before in my life though. Was in South East of London tho so you definitely on to something there.

[@blackgirlmagicc]

My knowledge of the term mortal mainly comes from being obsessed with Geordie Shore as a teen I’ve heard it used a few times in person but it’s not too common outside that Sid did the country

[@watchingaccount]

swot is sorta common in schools. basically it mostly describes teacher's pets who grass on people and would ask for homework.

[@debbiehenri345]

It's changed its meaning a bit then. It used to mean someone who would study hard and got good marks when I was at school. It never applied to a 'snitch' (that was the word used for a grass). Teacher's pet was just called teacher's pet. And what human being has ever 'asked' for homework? I've never, ever heard of a kid doing something like that.

[@watchingaccount]

​@@debbiehenri345 i must say that the usage of slang is usually much vaguer than other words, and that the uk can be very regional when it comes to colloquial words. where i am from, we call buns 'teacakes'

[@RushfanUK]

@@debbiehenri345 Same

[@shinyshinythings]

I don’t think “grass” was in this list! It should have been.

[@Xyrockis]

For us swot was just the smart kids. Literally anyone who was in top set that was not a 'cool' kid was a swot.

[@NA-pc6ii]

Really interesting that so few people have heard of 'Dench'. It's definitely a generational and probably regional thing because I found that one easy but didn't know several others. To try and explain - 'dench' was one of those words that was really popular in the playground in the early 2010s but only for about 1 or 2 years before it completely died. In my school it was mostly used as a direct substitute for 'hench' but depending on who you asked it also got used as another word for 'nice/good/sick' or sometimes was just said for seemingly no reason at all. I don't think anyone ever really knew what it was supposed to mean so that quote from the rapper is actually pretty accurate.

[@louisekullar6629]

Never heard 'par' ... must be a southern thing!

[@bridgyc9311]

For us at school, Dench was a bit derogatory. If someone thought a lot of themselves, particularly if they thought of themselves as hard, or a bit of a bully, we used to say he thought of himself as Dench

[@madmike1708]

I heard Dench before but only in the same context as "sweeeet". But only people who are into grime music. I heard 'banging' more than Dench tbf.

[@BarenakedFi]

I've only recently heard "dench" - never heard "par" in the context described here (only as "standard" or "average") - but then I'm not "down with the kids" LOL. I agree that "Dench" might also be regional, as my step-son was 17 in 2010, so if it was universal at that time for teenagers, I think I'd have heard (and hated) him saying it then! I've heard him using "sick" (for good!).

[@LulfsBloodbag]

We used it in our school to describe people who thought they were hard, but weren't, so in a mostly ironic way

[@chrisball3778]

'Bender' is also an old-fashioned homophobic slur, so you should probably be careful about the context you use it in.

[@sophieirwin3497]

After finding out what ‘tinkle on the blower’ and storming out, I just imagine Evan shouting ‘HEATHER?! SERIOUSLY?! IT MEANS GIVE ME A CALL?!’

[@evan]

This is what happened

[@JoyandSerenity.]

The way Evan says some of these kinda sounds like an old man trying to be hip with the kids haha. Also yeh fuck dench what even is that?!

[@lindyashford7744]

After my house being broken into and being assaulted in my home by a complete stranger the police who were called in said ‘give us a tinkle if it happens again’. True story.

[@Liberperlo]

🤣

[@kingofblox2976]

How have u never heard of choc-a-block? Maybe its a regional thing but I feel like its quite commonly used where I'm from (the Midlands). Its usually used to mean there's a lot of traffic

[@Boogledigs]

I'm from the Midlands too. Yes - we say the traffic is choc - a - block, meaning traffic jams but I've used it to mean full to the top.

[@WouterWeggelaar]

I know this one, and I am in the Netherlands. Definitely fairly common!

[@stephenlee5929]

In London/southeast it means full. So yes the road can be Choc-a. as can the Pub, Club, shop... I don't think this is regional, though I never heard it in Scotland

[@hughtube5154]

Evan lives in London so probably uses the Tube to get around rather than driving. So it's not that surprising if you rarely experience the roads.

[@phoenix-xu9xj]

I don’t know how you haven’t heard chocka. We have to keep all these alive. I only didn’t know par. I’m 69.

[@JustTheJames]

I've never heard "wangled" used in that way. From my experience it's more commonly used to refer to fitting an object into a tight space "I was packing for my holiday and had to wangle the suitcase into my car"

[@katysexton2668]

When it means trying to fit something in somewhere it’s spelt and pronounced “wrangle”. When you achieve something in an unlikely way that’s “wangle”

[@JoeChristian02]

I’ve always used it for achieving something I shouldn’t really have “wangled a lift off my mate” or “wangled a discount”

[@JustTheJames]

@@katysexton2668 I would say the two words are different - to wrangle is more to get control of something large or unwieldy, like you would wrangle a horse or a big bundle of balloons but you would wangle a screwdriver into that tight corner to stop the radiator leaking

[@timflatus]

I use "wangle" to be synonymous with "blag" as in "I wangled the day off"

[@suzannax]

​@@katysexton2668😅 I use wrangle for both, thanks for explaining

[@kaleeyed]

As a Brit, I've actually heard most of these used, some of the older ones and rhyming slang are used only in a joking way for comic effect. Now you're aware of them Evan, you'll be horrified how any people you hear saying them! We have a friend from the midlands who when saying he'd give us a call said "I'll give you a tinkle ducky!", which is one of the most charming phrases I've ever heard. Surprised 'gander' or 'ganzie', meaning 'look' was not in the list. I'm more likely to say that than 'butchers'

[@ArcanisUrriah]

Ye, butchers is London, but gander is more widespread, but thanks (not) to Easties, we all know butchers now....

[@spunkternal]

Hermione is a swot

[@salhooper]

I’m a Brit and I didn’t get a few of these! I think everyone has a different definition of bog standard depending on their own personal standards, and some of these definitely depend on region/upbringing. I love how English you sound when you say ‘What?!!’ at @8:03 😂😂😂

[@Carty239]

Interesting fact, the origin of was from Meccano, a kids' construction toy. When first released, you could get the Box - Standard (the basic set) and the Box - Deluxe (the luxury set). These got corrupted into 'bog standard' for no frills and 'dog's bollocks' for 'the best'!

[@homiepr8]

Mate you have a very good grasp (mostly) of British slang. It's great to see... and anything you didn't know is an education for people who don't know too. Great video

[@Blanny1974]

Well done, you did really well. Your next challenge is to do the same video with Glaswegian sayings. Good luck :)

[@markscouler2534]

Or a geordie lol

[@zoeadams2635]

We used to call my dad's friend Anorak coz he was into trainspotting 😅

[@AthynVixen]

I'm considerably older than you Evan and lived in the UK most of my life and I assure you Dench is not a word even people who are real Brits would know unless you are a fan of said unknown rapper. Don't beat yourself up for not knowing that one.

[@scifirocks]

I used to work with a lot of teenagers, Dench isn't a rapper. They started off saying hench for strong/ripped etc, which evolved into Dench (from Judy Dench)

[@hughtube5154]

I only know it because Graham Norton explained it to Judy Dench and then Mila Kunis then used it.

[@passionpourelegance]

As a European growing up with British accents & slang, you pronouncing it in an American accent, made the British slang a lot harder to understand even when Iv heard of it at some point in time.🤭

[@wessexdruid7598]

Especially when he tries to imitate a British accent, either accidentally or deliberately...

[@JoshKit]

Hearing you say 'On it like a bonnet' instead of 'On it like a *car* bonnet' physically hurt me.

[@kats3351]

i’ve never heard anyone call anyone or anything an anorak other than a rain coat 🤣

[@forbezr3581]

Anorak definitely died out in the 90s lol

[@JudgeGeneHunt]

I use it all the time, I still hear it often. But maybe it's the circles I live in. Someone else mentioned trainspotters and that's kind of the point, an anorak is someone who knows so much about that thing they're so good at and is so obsessed with it that you would probably see them outside in all weather's in the worst possible places so that they can indulge their hobby. So you'd likely see them out in groups in their anoraks when same people would be at home staying warm and dry

[@JudgeGeneHunt]

​@@forbezr3581it didnt

[@jameslewis2635]

Probably because you are not old enough. This is slang that I heard as a child but is not used very often these days. Nowerdays most people would probably use 'nerd' instead. While the meanings of these two words are similar, 'anorak' can have a different meaning referring to a 'dirty anorak' which is a kind of pervert.

[@JudgeGeneHunt]

@@jameslewis2635 an 'anorak' would be more single minded and obsessive than a nerd

[@SpiritmanProductions]

OMG, you gave yourself sooo many undeserved points!! 🤦‍♂

[@evan]

Nope all deserved

[@kjohnsto1]

As a brit there were two that I hadn't heard - par and dench. The others I had either heard or read somewhere but they are not really expressions I would use commonly.

[@alexcooper6953]

I have heard sub par bit never par on its own as a fellow Brit.

[@paulcartlidge]

I forgot about the other meaning of bender and wasn’t sure you could still stay that.

[@alfiestewart6312]

most of these are like cockney grandad phrases SWOT is used quite commonly for when you're jealous that someone's got something right - mainly used at school for tests and that (e.g., he got full marks on his spelling test (no one else did) - what a SWOT!)

[@MadSpacePig]

It would have been nice if the quiz included the regional origin of some of these, because I've never heard of a good number of them.

[@shonunezekiel]

I know and have used almost all of them - am from South (or "Sarf") London - how about you? 🙂

[@BertieBooBoo]

Guessing from your comment you’re British…

[@janebaker966]

At least half of these came out in the 1980s and I'm pretty sure originated in tv shows and I'd never come across some. I'm pretty sure the more obscure ones stayed in London,probably Sarf London.

[@andyjdhurley]

@@janebaker966 well a lot of them were based on rhyming slang so that is fair. Dench seemed to be a youth thing and that language never hangs around for long, once the parents know what it means it's no longer cool. Excuse me but it's time to go up the apples and pairs to the land of nod.

[@laurensutcliffe9081]

It would be nice for some midlands ones Like we say snapping for having a small snack

[@NikolaHoward]

Spend a penny - Public toilets used to have a slot on the lock, that you put in a penny to unlock toe door to go pee. Old Pennies were bigger than our current tuppence! So, they had the weight to trip the lock.

[@weetyskemian44]

There's a pub in my town where they kept the original lock mechanism where you have to put the old penny in to open it. They kept a big jar of them behind the bar. They said it stops people from using their loos without buying anything.

[@BOABModels]

People do say 'Anorak' - I always assumed it was from the hobby of trainspotting where the enthusiasts would have to spend time outside in all weather. Therefore they would wear anoraks.

[@breakfreak3181]

Yeah, that's the origin I know. Infact 'trainspotter' was also a synonym for 'anorak'! I was a teenager in the 90s, and both were commonly used then. Don't know if they are now!

[@monkeysausageclub]

There are a few of those that are very regional. I'm 100% British and I haven't heard of some of them.

[@darriendastar3941]

The only two I'd never come across were 'par' and 'on it like a bonnet'. As such, I refuse to believe they're saying and someone was extracting the michael.

[@keithbromley6070]

On it like a bonnet is pretty common. Never heard of par though.

[@sheenamaclean8324]

You definitely marked yourself generously, some of you answers were nothing like the correct answer.

[@mcculloch29]

The only word I wasn't aware of was "par". I remember reading the Guardian article about "dench". Most of the others are words and phrases I actually use or used myself. Neither of my parents were native English speakers, either.

[@ethelmini]

Be interesting to see if dench lasts the test of time. Never heard par used like that either

[@mbncd]

As a born and bred Aussie, I honestly thought a lot of these terms were Australian. I've used a lot of them for my whole life and I'm in my late 30's.

[@animatechap5176]

That's pretty interesting, we're certainly more similar than to Americans I think

[@Bertie22222]

@@mbncd Really?

[@phoenix-xu9xj]

Well that’s not surprising is it given your/our history. I love listening to Australian stories on Audible because it reminds me of words we used to use decades ago and I forgot them. I like that you don’t say mom too.

[@mbncd]

@@phoenix-xu9xj Once upon a time the European heritage was strong with us. Nowadays, I wonder if not so much. I'm pretty house bound but on the few occasions I do go out, I see a LOT of Asian stores (not just food but clothing, furniture, etc) and I hear a lot of people speaking a lot of different languages. We are (or at least seem) more of a melting pot than ever before. I wonder if these days, kids say things from those other places as easily as we said things from England and think they're Australian in origin too. Just to clarify, I'm not saying that's a bad thing, just a potentially interesting change since 30 years ago.

[@Quince828]

Most of these terms are also used in Canada

[@dannymarie]

Do an american slang video! Im sure there will be some you dont know, and the brits might find them interesting too ;)

[@claire2088]

Blinder to me always included something you didn't see coming as part of the description (as well as faultlessly skillfully)

[@thescrewfly]

I always thought of it as another way of saying 'dazzling'.

[@nancyrafnson4780]

I’m Canadian and we use some of these expressions here. Maybe because of our ties to Britain and the Commonwealth. My sister particularly uses “Bob’s your uncle “. 😂😂

[@keithbarlow8415]

People often counter it with "... and Fanny's your aunt".

[@SWalkerTTU]

​@@keithbarlow8415 Better that than "And your aunt's Fanny".

[@lucie4185]

I have never heard of "par" sounds made up.

[@debbiehenri345]

Even though we have a set of words peculiar to the British version of the English language, it seems there are regional variations as well... - Never heard the word 'Dench' used in any way. Sounds to me like someone in the media was trying to start a trend. - I've always heard and used the word 'blinder' to mean a stunning beauty - as in 'Wow. She/ He/It's an absolute blinder'. (The word 'absolute' always precedes the word 'blinder' and this description can apply to a person or their car). - I've only ever heard and used the word 'Gaff' to mean 'made a mess' (as in 'S/he's made a right gaff of parking that car);' Or to describe an embarrassing facepalm moment in speech, the type of speech that unintentionally came out as rude, insulting, stupid, shocking, or it revealed a secret by accident. (E.g. after the unintentionally inappropriate words are spoken: the piano stops, whole room goes quiet, everyone stares at the speaker, tumbleweed rolls through the scene, and then you would lean close to your friend's ear and whisper: 'She made a right gaff there'). Never heard of Gaff used to describe a home. - I say 'faux pas,' never heard of 'par' or 'parred.' The second definition of 'gaff' could be said to be an alternative to 'faux pas.'

[@lindyashford7744]

That is gaffe not gaff. Gaff is usually the place you call home, especially when inviting someone over. Or someone else’s home as in their gaff.

[@stevehaddon151]

Gaff is a house

[@douglasdeans2839]

Dog's dinner is bad not to be confused with the Dog's bollocks! which means great.

[@clsisman]

As a native Brit I got 56/60 of these. A lot of them are something my grandma would say but I don’t really (I’m 30). Like most things in The Independent I think it’s pretty skewed towards white, middle-aged, south-English people.

[@Ylyrra]

The list author could have done with stepping outside london for a year or two. (Going to Oxford for uni doesn't count.)

[@Baconkiin]

Grown up in the UK and I haven't heard half of these. Some might depend on the area you live or the generation you were born in

[@cjlister8508]

I know them all. I'm 37 and live in the south east.

[@Baconkiin]

@@cjlister8508 I didn't know 16 of them. I'm 23 and live in the East Midlands

[@cjlister8508]

@@Baconkiin yeah it probably varied alot based on age and location. There's a lot of very regional slang in the UK. I'm sure if he did a video based on more northern sayings I'd probably not know loads either.

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

@@cjlister8508 I've lived & worked in London, Kent and Herts (nearer London than out in the country), and I recognised many from their usage in that area. But only about ½-⅔ were ones I've actually used at some point or another. I'm Welsh, but I've lived in Suffolk for 30 years, so my relatively short time in the SE didn't really stick lol. Even Hubby (from just outside the M25 in Herts - hence more N London than posh) wouldn't know some of them.

[@womenwotreads]

This was so much fun ! You're right dench is not real, no such thing as par either. You did amazingly well

[@Bertie22222]

Par is one of the mostly used words on that list, another word for equal or standard.

[@JustSomeBloke1]

After 60 years of living in the UK as a native, I have never heard of "par" used in that fashion. I work in Technical Theatre where we have a type of light called a Par Can which is possibly called that because it uses a parabolic reflector. We also have a smaller version of the same light called a Birdie because it is one below par (true story!).

[@Bertie22222]

I have used 'Par' thousands of times. A very common saying 'par for course', or to compare something with another item is to say 'it's on par with......

[@petermichaelgreen]

@@Bertie22222 As a brit, I've heard both par in the sense of parabolic alumiunium reflector and par in the sense of par for the course, but I don't think I've ever heard the meaning of par given in this video.

[@UltraHylia]

I grew up in the UK all my life, and I've never heard some of these before

[@sroberts605]

Must be an age thing then - I knew them all and I'm pretty old!!

[@auroranueva]

Could be where you live. I know 99% of them.

[@aurora6920]

its your age... i knew nearly all of these, i'm millennial

[@wisecoconut5]

My favorite expression of all time is "tickety boo". It's very hard to work into a regular American conversation but I will keep trying!

[@serinadelmar6012]

I love Tickety boo!

[@kwkw5711]

Thats tickety boo.

[@chinablueliberty2822]

It's easy to include it. Everytime someone asks you how you are, you respond that you're tickety-boo. It can be used to say that everything is alright 😊

[@serinadelmar6012]

@@chinablueliberty2822 exactly, you can just say, “I’m Tickety boo” or “everything is Tickety boo.” if it is ticketyboo, of course. 🥰 ha ha ha ha

[@markscouler2534]

Mine is bloody wanker

[@brinnshea]

I first learned of butchers meaning look from an Evan Edinger video about cockney rhyming slang. It's understandable that he'd forget after all these years, but it still made me laugh. Apples and pears meaning stairs is the other one I still remember, and what Evan came up with when he was asked to use all the slang he'd learned was hilarious

[@clairec1267]

Par and dench I didn't have a clue about

[@debman142]

I've grown up with most of them in Australia. A couple, such as anorak and the made up one stumped me though. However in Australia, we've taken a number of them to even further obscurity or to more base level.

[@clsisman]

I love Australian slang, especially the shortening of words. And how slang is polite there, because being informal is polite. 10/10.

[@samanthab1923]

I knew anorak was a jacket. Heard it described in shows as what the bank robber was wearing with his balaclava 😊

[@pauldobson2529]

I think the anorak coat, we used to call a parka. But I have frequently heard the 'nerd' version, and been called it frequently by an Irish friend.

[@rripley86]

Dench and Par definitely new ones to me, but there are several in there that I know, but no one I know would use

[@selenamartinez2017]

I’m American, but I got at least half of them from reading the Confessions of Georgia Nicholson as a kid (swot, tickety-boo, lurgy, etc.). Instant nostalgia

[@phantasmagoria217]

I was wondering why I knew so many of them but you answered my question. Those books are the best

[@lordylou1]

I was amused by how the time is spoken. My old mum would have said 'five and twenty past' rather than twenty five past or [something] twenty five.

[@mrslacco1601]

Most of these were only used in the first half of the last century. Evan, you did great, I'm a Brit and I haven't heard a lot of these since my nan died

[@TheFrogfather1]

Yeah most of these sounded a bit dated

[@Dippa666]

Definitely regional. I hear/use almost all of these regularly other than dench, which although I've never actually heard someone say I still know the meaning from music.

[@serinadelmar6012]

Where do you live? As definitely hear tons of these often

[@michaelmarkham658]

I hear chokablock a lot when someone is trying to fit an appointment into a diary. They say something like I'm chockablock until Friday.

[@lesavageplum]

i use cheeky all the time, but to mean something i wouldn't usually do or have - so if you're having food just after a meal, you would be having a cheeky little snack. the people you get saying this the most are 50 something women taking glasses of alcohol or sweet things during lent (my mum).

[@katewalsh4224]

I know all of these apart from 'dench' - maybe I'm too old!!

[@stephenlee5929]

Same here

[@stanleydodds9]

I think I'm familiar with the vast majority of these (although there are some I've never heard anyone actually use like "dench"). At the same time, there are a lot that I wouldn't personally have ever used, like cockney rhyming slang and other regional terms, plus the sort of slang that would be weird to use as an adult (and you would only hear in school around certain types of people).

[@johnhockenhull2819]

UK born and bred and about half dozen of these I’ve never heard of, especially Dench. But it’s always worth saying “The US and The UK separated by a common language”. Personally i blame Webster.

[@bermudagirl50]

I haven't heard of a number of these - maybe they are used more in London or England? (I have always lived in Scotland.) What about "numpty"?

[@Aldol1994]

I'm Scottish. Live in the central belt area and thought the same. Also felt a couple needed the full saying for me to recoginse it, like just putting 'blinder' instead of 'pull a blinder'. Also I doubt every person in the UK knows Cockney rhyming slang and there was three (I think) in this list. I got more than expected but still not a lot.

[@MrBizteck]

Now *THIS* is the stuff that should be on the citizens test ...not some stupid stuff about the War of the Roses

[@gabrielarrhenius6252]

So Sod's Law is the british version of Murphy's Law

[@stephenlee5929]

I think its Murphy's Law with a pessimistic attitude.

[@markthomas2577]

Don't agree with their definition of 'blinder' ...... the thing itself is the blinder. So a great goal could be a blinder ........... Did you see the goal that Harry Kane scored ? ..... Yes, it was blinder.. Never heard of 'pulling a blinder'

[@stephenlee5929]

I've heard it used both ways. Sorry have I just made a Bishop, Actress par?

[@ciara1045]

I love that you love the word init and thinks it sounds nice - as a midlander living in the south I get teased constantly for using it because its such a working class rough sounding word lol

[@K99349]

British.. got them all apart from Dench! My first thought was Judy as well! 😜

[@thescrewfly]

I first heard 'lurgy' on the Goon Show (yes, I am that old) so either Spike Milligan actually invented it or it may have been older Irish slang. It was a sketch about an unspecified rapidly-spreading disease.

[@GuanoLad]

He did invent it. Probably a deliberate mispronunciation of Allergy.

[@Salix631]

Often has 'dreaded' attached to it - 'I've got the dreaded lurgy'

[@terrytheoldgoat]

As I understand it one or more of the Goons were travelling in the Midlands and passed the Coleshill LURGI gas plant where coal gas was extracted. The word was 'appropriated' and used in Goon skits to describe terrible diseases.

[@jojoh8067]

Dench is totally fetch. It’s just not happening....ever All the others were commonly used sayings.

[@Toastie]

Bender 100% also means something else in the UK than what you stated. It's not a very nice term though. ( edited the comment because people like to jump down people's throats in the comments.)

[@alexferguson5346]

I mean how you say it is pretty important. "He's going on a bender" is wildly different to "He's a bender". I hear the former significantly more than the latter nowadays.

[@crptpyr]

They're both used, it's contextual

[@NikolaHoward]

Yes, that's thankfully fallen out of use though. Comes from "As Bent as a Nine Bob note" - could be either it's something that rather suspect or someone who you are accusing of being gay. (Pre-decimalisaion, the note was a 10 Shilling note. Bob was the slang for Shilling, just as Quid is still the slang for a Pound in money (not a pound in weight though!)

[@bruhngl]

You're confusing being a bender with having a bender 😂

[@stephenlee5929]

@@bruhngl Not necessarily. Having has another meaning too.

[@Dan-B]

Literally never heard “Bliddy” or “Par” a day in my life 😆

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

There are so many versions of the "few sandwiches short of a picnic". There's one can short of a six pack, right through to my favourite, one peck short of a bushel. I haven't heard "pull a blinder", more like "play a blinder". (Fyi, I'm a 57 year-old Brit. A number of these are found more in some regions than others.) I've never heard "mortal" in that way. And "par" in that sense is nonsense. Definitely use faux pas. There are others I've never heard of. Cockney Rhyming slang changes over time, but the principle is that a pair of words or a short phrase, with the last word rhyming with the word you want to replace. Then you say the first, un-rhyming word. E.g. "Hello me old china!" = "Hello mate" (china plate). You did really well with most of these. Be proud of yourself! Some of these are really old-fashioned and aren't in use anymore. Nobody says "give me a tinkle on the blower" - it harkens back to rotary phones. "Blower" might be in use, but I haven't heard it in ages. Same with over-egging the pudding, it's not used much anymore. "Shirty" isn't too common either, but it's definitely understood. "Init" is no different from the American "Ima" - they're just words that have grown together. Spend a penny comes from when public toilets had a lock on outside of the door (it couldn't be opened if someone was in there!) that you had to put a penny in (an old penny, pre-decimal). I think the money went towards the pay of the cleaner.

[@lindyashford7744]

No one uses the ‘on the blower’ bit anyway, that was slang for a type of handset that has not been used for around a century…

[@pv-mm2or]

A blinder refers to being blinded by a burst, a flash of brilliance in expertise of thought or action, amazing others with your skill, to be dazzled and surprised with your skill.

[@andyjdhurley]

Init has come to mean something rather different from the orginal contraction of 'isn't it', these days, those who use it put it at the end of every sentence as a way of encouraging agreement as in 'I'm going down the pub init'.

[@maryandrews4097]

A British friend of mine who lived in the US, described someone intellectually challenged as having a low marble count. I have no idea where this phrase came from ?? USA or UK.

[@lindyashford7744]

@@maryandrews4097 probably relates to the phrase ‘lost his/her marbles’ meaning pretty much losing touch with reality, in U.K. parlance. This is a contraction or ironic use of a very common phrase, the mutability of such phrases is almost always a good natured take on someone who has ‘lost it’…… Probably another marble!

[@CullenPC]

Spend a penny is really old school. Born and raised in East London, only heard 2 people use it in my 32 years. Both were in their 70s/80s 😂 A couple of them I have never heard used.

[@davidhyams2769]

"Mint" might mean new, or in good condition, as in a coin from the mint that has not been in circulation and is therefore not worn or scuffed. But "minted" means rich. Gaff is an interesting one. In the days of travelling players or similar, a gaff was the equivalent of what today might be called a gig. Gaff later came to mean the cheap accommodation they would have used rather than the location they were working at. Even later, it came to mean a home, but usually only if it was cheap, small or temporary, but could be used ironically by someone who was minted and living in a large, expensive house. But a "gaffe" is an embarrassing mistake, usually in a social context. Quids in was slightly wrongly described. It means SUCCESSFULLY getting a big return on an investment or a gamble. it could also mean not losing your money by NOT investing or gambling on something that turns out to be a failure.

[@Louisyed]

"Mint" doesn't have to mean new. It's more like "that's awesome/cool" or equivalent to "that's sick" or "that's dope"

[@elaineirving77]

Yep Mint is known as cool etc here in Manchester.

[@Louisyed]

@@elaineirving77 also where I got it from!

[@andyjdhurley]

Quids in can mean making a decent profit or just an action that turned out well.

[@edwardmclaughlin7935]

It's ",,,he played a blinder" in my neck of the woods." "Full Monty" was well established way before the film. The tailoring firm Burton used to offer a suit which was their best. The owner of the firm was Montague Burton, thus you could go for the full Monty and do it all the way. "Skive" has a wider sense. You can be at work but not putting in the same effort as others - you're skiving.

[@Serenity_yt]

Never heard of Anorak used for anything other than for a raincoat (That's actually also the German meaning of Anorak) But Im pretty chuffed getting 39/60 as a German that's never lived in the UK and only visited once for a week almost 7 years ago.

[@e17simon]

Anorak is normally used to describe someone with a geeky hobby ie train or bus spotter and is a mild insult. Also occasionally used the Term Veg

[@lindyashford7744]

Anorak on its own just means a waterproof jacket. You have to preface it with an, as in an anorak to invoke it as a description of a type of person. Usually rather a nerdy person.

[@0utcastAussie]

"He's a bit of an Anorak" means single purposed. He's set his sights on that and he'll wait all day to fulfill that purpose ! [Edit] ie: a boring dull person

[@sroberts605]

How on earth did you get _any_ of them? I'm impressed.

[@maryandrews4097]

An anorak is more like a parka than a raincoat.

[@luluuwr]

i think spend a penny refers to public toilets where you often used to have to pay a penny to go - not so much of a thing anymore i don't think

[@Boogledigs]

You are out of date, I'm afraid. Not only do we pay to use the public toilets but it now costs 20p!

[@luluuwr]

@@Boogledigs yes that's what i meant, it's not just a penny anymore!

[@stephenlee5929]

Yes, but inflation. We still use the term regardless of actual price, even if sometimes its free. Though nothing to do with BOGOF, which is buy one get one free, which is rare in toilets (restrooms).

[@weetyskemian44]

Yeah they want at least 20p these days lol. There's a pub in my town where they kept the original lock mechanism from 100 years ago and you have to put an old penny in to open it. They kept a big jar of them behind the bar.

[@katiem29]

the ‘swot’ word, i believe, at least in my school, has changed a bit to ‘sweat.’ i remember my parents saying they used ‘swot’ and had to explain what it meant to me, and i realised that it has the same meaning as ‘sweat.’ also, ‘dench’ is most likely a modern MLE (multicultural london english) word. however, it’s surprising that they put it in here if it is a modern word!

[@wossaaaat]

An American asked me the time once, and I told him it was 'half four', and they were like... wut? Two? Then even when I said, 'no, half past four', they still didn't understand... or pretended to not understand so they could be indignant about my choice of speech. Not sure.

[@shinyshinythings]

Teaching English in Spain, as an American from the west coast, I had to teach myself to say “half past nine” instead of “nine thirty” because “nine thirty” was definitely not in the UK English curriculum they use there! We taught “half past” and “a quarter past” (never “a quarter after” which of course we do say in the states).

[@pv-mm2or]

In English it follows thus: a quarter Past the hour, half past the hour, A quarter to the hour, minutes are the same, past the hour until half past, then to the hour, however one may use only minutes to count the passing of time from 1 hour to the next starting with a quarter past, e.g. 1 minute past 2 until 14 minutes past 2 then every minute 2-15, 2-30,2-45 until 2.59 then 3 O'clock.