British Slang Words & Phrases

Discussion in 'Evolution of Language' started by Hal Pollner, Jun 26, 2018.

  1. Tom Galty

    Tom Galty Veteran Member
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    Same in Blighty no way is the term sexual.

    Might be used to some one who voted for Hillary(English Sarcasm)
     
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  2. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    Agreed...scumbag doesn't mean anything sexual at all... as Tom rightly says it means the same as wherever you are @Neville Telen an objectionable person...a lowlife, basically...
     
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  3. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Holly Saunders
    We have made a game of coming up with synonyms for your term; lets see if I can recall some......
    vagabond
    rascal
    rapscallion
    hoodlum
    hooligan
    half-wit
    mendicant
    miscreant
    rogue
    scoundrel
    blackguard
    foot-pad

    Think you of any others?
    scrounger
     
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  4. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    a lot of those probably haven't been used since Edwardian or even Victorian times ...some like Vagabond came into common usage from India during the Raj period...

    We have literally thousands of adjectives we use that aren't common in other western Countries...

    I've never heard of foot-pad.. o_O


    Those still in most common use from your list..

    Hooligan
    Rogue
    Half-wit
    Hoodlum

    Blackguard ( pronounced Blaggard ) is// was most commonly used by the upper class to describe a rogue


    Miscreant most often used by the legal system
     
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  5. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Holly Saunders
    Why, thank you for taking the time! It slips my mind always that we (you and I) are talking the same language but at the same time, different ones. I have a bit of difficulty with reference to a "lowlife"; that was why I wrote, basically. For example, someone having attained high-position in life, be it monetarily, fame, or public popularity, would very likely look askance at this old man and proclaim me a "lowlife". It has to do with "relativity".

    Would it be acceptable, do you think, to describe homeless folks as "lowlifes"? The abyss becomes apparent, yes? For example, the pitiful homeless situation currently occurring in Myanmar involves a minority faction of Muslims being essentially "eradicated" by a Buddhist majority, militarily controlled. Are those Muslims "lowlifes"?

    Frank

    EDIT: "Footpad" was a term heard in early television, the phrase being used only by Arthur Godfrey, in referring to highwaymen, yet another nebulous descriptive noun.
     
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  6. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    In a nutshell Frank, the term lowlife is almost entirely used to describe those who are basically out to fleece or harm others ( or even themselves through drug abuse etc ) for their own selfish reasons... .

    This could be anyone regardless of Status, creed or colour... although generally ..the term is most often used here to describe, muggers, robbers, thieves, child abusers, and terrorists

    Incidentally , most Brits would never know who Arthur Godfrey was...I wouldn't have known myself if it wasn't for my love of country music, and had listened to Ferlin Husky refer to Arthur Godfrey in an interview...
     
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  7. Beatrice Taylor

    Beatrice Taylor Veteran Member
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    The word POSH just came to mind.

    I was told that this term was coined during the days when England ruled India and people traveled back and forth by ship.

    When booking a cabin the preferred accommodations were on the port side of the ship going to India and on the starboard side when returning to England. Port Out Starboard Home.

    I have no idea if this is true but it makes a good story.
     
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  8. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Holly Saunders
    I wondered about Arthur Godfrey's "reach". He was very popular here, until he foolishly fired young and popular singer Julius LaRosa live, on the air.
    Frank
     
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  9. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    By all intents and purposes it's a true story...it's always one we were taught... Incidentally POSH is a word in very common usage to describe those who are perceived to be of a higher class than the hoy polloi ...


    never heard of the 'popular' Julias .. Frank...what happened?
     
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  10. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Holly Saunders
    I was just a kid, so understood little of it. LaRosa was a good and popular singer who I think was given his first big break by Godfrey, on his show. Godfrey had a hidden mean streak, as was revealed years later.




     
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  11. Neville Telen

    Neville Telen Veteran Member
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    According to several Brit-based forums I got banned from, it's a sex slang word....as best as I can figure, those Brits was desperately holding to the old (1939) definition ~ https://www.etymonline.com/word/scumbag
     
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  12. Neville Telen

    Neville Telen Veteran Member
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    Well, after a lot of searching I found this ~ https://www.dictionary.com/browse/scumbag, but frankly I think they were looking for an excuse to ban me, and this was a convenient smokescreen....though how two different forums coordinated to use the same exact tactic is questionable.
     
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  13. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Neville Telen
    Pray tell, WTH were you up to that might have justified being banned? Further, does not a forum's basic economic value suffer as it loses many members?
    Frank
     
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  14. Neville Telen

    Neville Telen Veteran Member
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    Don't recall exactly. Vaguely recall one was https://linuxformat.com/forums/, which looks to of shut down since...guess they just could not survive without my words of wisdom. Think it had something to do with DRM, and I said something like all the companies that joined TCG proved themselves to be apex scumbags. Mod then sent a email banning me for cussing, and the word targeted was scumbag. Don't recall the other forum, or much else, other than the same word set that mod off too. At that point I looked into its definition, and made the jump that it was a Brit slang thing, albeit a really really old one....like 'thee', 'thy', 'ye', 'nonce', etc.
     
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  15. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Neville Telen
    All I can add is "shit".
    Frankl
     
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