British Terms

[Keira]

Now that we have both an American terms and Canadian Terms thread, I thought it'd be nice to put together an American/British terms thread. I know that we have a few British authors who could benefit from this, as well as some of us looking to branch into other fandoms of writing.

A few to begin with (with the help of Rylee :


Am: Lies <=> Brit: Porkies/fibs
Eg: "Have you been telling porkies? If so, you're in trouble, young man."

Am: Trashcan/waste basket <=> Brit: Bin/Dustbin

Am: Crazy <=> Brit: Bonkers/Barmy

British Term: Cheeky Monkey/Cheeky - A light-hearted name for a verbally impertinent person. It's said to kid a lot. It's not an insult or anything.

Am: Thanks/Thank you <=> Brit: Cheers

[Laughing]

Am: garbage/trash
Brit: rubbish (can also be used as slang in the context that we use 'crap'; Eg: "What a load of rubbish!")

Am: dessert
Brit: pudding

Am: joking insults such as "jerk" or "freak"
Brit: bugger or prat (I'm not sure if these are equivalent to a word like 'jerk' or to a word like 'bastard')

That's all I can think of for now. I wrote a Harry Potter fanfic recently, and after a little googling and consulting, I used the above terms in dialouge to try to make it a little more authentic. There's also "blimey", but I can't think of an American equivalent.

[Tensleep]

Ok, as a Canuck, I'm finding it funny that we have a really interesting mix of Am/Br words so far.

AM: Trashcan/waste basket
Br: Bin/Dustbin
Can: Trash-bin/garbage can/garbage bin

Am: Lies
Br: Porkies/Fibs
Can: Lies/Fibs/Tales

Am: Crazy
Br: Bonkers/Barmy/Nutters
Can: Nuts/Crazy/Bonkers

Am: Thanks/Thank you
Brit: Cheers
Can: Thanks/Merci/Salute (mostly when you get a beer)

And one of my own observations:

Am: Shut up!
Br: Bugger off!
Can: Take off, Hoser! (hoser optional)

[Ryker]

*cracks knuckles* Here we go.. lol. Keep in mind most of this is slang, and most of the words you guys use we do too, lol.

Am - Ass
Brit - Arse

Am - Panties ?
Brit - Knickers

Am - Trouble/Arguing
Brit - Argy-Bargy

Am - Nonsense/Rubbish
Brit - Bollocks. Eg: "What a load of bollocks!" NOT to be used as "I don't want any bollocks from you." Sounds weird, eh? You have to be careful, otherwise you could end up writing a lot crap, lol. Bollocks is another word for testicles, but you didn't wanna know that, lol.

Am - Barbecue
Brit: Barbie

Am - Ignore
Brit - Blank Eg: "Ha, she completely blanked you."

Brit - Blooming - It's a less crude way of saying f***ing or bloody. Eg: "It's blooming freezing!"

Brit - blonde moment - a moment of stupidity.

Am - F off, go away
Brit - Bog off, sod off

Am - Drunk/Hammered
Brit - Pissed, smashed, hammered, drunk

Am - Gay
Brit - Camp

Am - Can't be bothered
Brit - Can't be arsed

Brit - Chick/chicken - used an an endearment or a young person or used to mock cowards.

Am - Chill/Relax
Brit - Chillax


Brit - Chippy - chip shop

Am - pleased
Brit - Chuffed

Am - Annoyed/ Po'd
Brit - Hacked off

Brit - Skive - To ditch class, work, play hooky

Am - pantomine/theatre
Brit - Panto

Am - fool/idiot
Brit - pillock

Am - waste time/ mess about
Brit - piss about

Saddo - A pathetic or contemptible person.

Am - Sex/F***
Brit - Shag

Am - Thanks
Brit - Ta/Cheers

Brit - Take the piss - To tease/ridicule/mock/ and take advantage off/expliot/

Thats enough, I'm tapped out, lol. You guys got enough slang there to confuse you for a while.