Phrase For Phriday
These Phrases for Phriday are something that I started a while ago in response to a suggestion from one of my readers, the lovely PJ. They (I hope) provide examples of how Brits and Americans (and other English speakers around the world) are often, as the saying goes, divided by a common language.
I prefer to begin these light-hearted posts by admitting right here that I’m not at all sure if these are particularly solely British words and phrases. However, I have to start somewhere and that means making some assumptions… they sound pretty British to me, or to put it another way, these are instances when I believe those Americans and others I mentioned might be tempted to think, “WTF does that mean?”. But I’m providing nothing more here than my personal interpretation of the words in question. Of course, I could be wrong – nothing new there then, either!
~
It’s been a while since my last post on this, so today’s phrase is a whole paragraph…
I felt a right Hampton: She smiled and flashed her hampsteads and then kicked me in the khyber. Of course, I was pretty brahms at the time, or I wouldn’t have asked her for a butchers at her bristols. The thing is though, she’s got this gorgeous long red barnet and the sexiest green minces you’ve ever seen.
I guess you can figure it out if I tell you that it’s rhyming slang and…
Hampton = Hampton Wick = dick
Hampstead = Hampstead Heath = teeth
Khyber = Khyber Pass = arse (ass to our American cousins)
Brahms = Brahms and Liszt = pissed (drunk)
Butchers = Butcher’s hook = look
Bristols = Bristol Cities = titties (boobs)
Barnet = Barnet Fair = hair
and Minces = Mince Pies = eyes
Have a good weekend… 😉
March 13, 2010 at 02:29
Hmmm, I guessed about 50% of them.
Hope all is well with you Adam. Have a good weekend,
jj
March 13, 2010 at 10:12
I guess most of them are logical, but in a rather British way, which makes them fairly confusing for the rest of the world (like most other things in the UK) 😆
March 19, 2010 at 12:00
Oh I have never heard of any of these which surprised me! Then again the thing that occurred to me living in Scotland is that every villiage, city etc in the UK is so vastly different from each other in accents, culture etc Compared to here where there is not much difference from one side of the country to the other. How boring are we?
March 19, 2010 at 23:42
Glad it was new to you at least. Oh, no. If you’re an example, Aussies are never boring.