Coronation Street, the long-running U.K. popular soap, is my favorite TV show and one reason i enjoy watching it is the constant use of British phrases i am not familiar with - and it's fun to track down the meanings as the context on the show of the word or phrase is not always clear.

So in this thread i'll just parrot wome phrases i hear and give the context and guess at the meanings - hopefull those more in the Anglo-isms know will clarify.

From last night's show (about 15 months delayed on my local CBC outlet from the ITV ones in Britain)

"She's like DOSSING DOWN all the time" - talking about someone who is a slut i guess.

"The baby has been really GRIZZLY" - meaning crying, etc all night, i guess

with the money i could have paid my LECCY, or electric bill i guess

'it used to be sad little SAPPERS knew their place - again talking about a slutty woman, i guess.

"I don't suppose there's any tea in that pot" - meaning, i suppose that it is not worth persuing

Any clarifications on these phrases in real-life use?

thanks

Are you making another "case" here (to paraphrase one of your Fodorite admirers)???

'Dossing' means slacking, being lazy, not putting much effort in. It does not mean being a slut!

'it used to be sad little SAPPERS knew their place - again talking about a slutty woman, i guess.

? Slappers?

>>"She's like DOSSING DOWN all the time" - talking about someone who is a slut i guess.<<

Dossing is doing nothing important/wasting time/being lazy, as in 'what did you do this afternoon?' 'Not much, just dossing around'.

I would guess 'Dossing down' meant sleeping/being lazy.

>>"The baby has been really GRIZZLY"<<
Grizzling is that half moany crying thing that babies do - not full on wailing, just a bit grumpy.

>>"with the money i could have paid my LECCY"<<
Leccy just means electricity ('switch the leccy on luv', 'Oh no, the leccy has blown', in this context, yes, 'pay the electricity bill).

>>'it used to be sad little SAPPERS knew their place - again talking about a slutty woman, i guess.<<
Not sure on this one, you're probably right though.

>>"I don't suppose there's any tea in that pot" - meaning, i suppose that it is not worth persuing<<
More like "I'd like a cup of tea, please make me one'

I think you miss heard Slappers as Sappers.

Slappers are indeed slutty women.

Sadly the Corrie dictionary seems to be down or I'd have added the link to it for you me duck .

Married to an Oldhamite I don't need Corrie to hear these expressions

BTW Sappers are the combat engineers (members of the Royal Engineers) in (amongst others) the British army.

"I don't suppose there's any tea in that pot"

Depends entirely on the context, but might well be a not very diplomatic way of changing the subject, or implying that the other party ought to be minding their own business (and getting on with making the tea instead).

both are right it must have been Slappers

<Depends entirely on the context, but might well be a not very diplomatic way of changing the subject, or implying that the other party ought to be minding their own business (and getting on with making the tea instead)>

- yes that was the exact context on the 'i don't suppose there's any tea in that pot' on yesterday's show.

Or another soap opera convention would see it used to mean "The sultry slapper in the Rovers has ditched me for a man with a bigger car, so I'm back........."

DOSSING - either messing around - dole dosser- someoene who doesn't work or try to find work but claims benefits instead.

Dossing is also sleeping either rough or not in a bedroom.

eg "I don't have a spare bed, but you can doss down on the sofa"

GRIZZLY - also grissling - not crying, but when a child is tired but not gone to sleep, they are a bit out of sorts, not happy. Can be applied to a child who is not well. Can also be a pplied to an adult who wakes up bad tempered.

LECCY - electricity

SAPPERS - probably slappers, a tart, a strumpet, a slut

I'd also call that fake crying older toddlers do 'grizzling'.

>>I'd also call that fake crying older toddlers do 'grizzling'.<<

Boredom. I once stopped a child doing that by just clicking my tongue.

"The tea in the pot" could be along the "not the brightest spanner in the tool box" thing, i.e. stupid

thanks all - it's fun for me to learn the nuances of these in actual use

YESTERDAY'S BRITICISMS

1- "Oh he's doing his pits" even though he is semi-conscious (a baby)

pits? i assume his dirty work?

2- Imagine Uncle Liam 'taking the mick out of the poncey"

I assume nothing here - no freaking idea of what that means

3- "he's three sheets to the wind"

well drunk as a skunk and i have only heard this from Americans from the East Coast so we have that phrase too though many Americans would not know it

4- "I'm skivvy over there - if you are skivving i am too"

again not much of a guess?

>>1- "Oh he's doing his pits" even though he is semi-conscious (a baby)

pits? i assume his dirty work?<<
No idea! It must be Northern...

>>2- Imagine Uncle Liam 'taking the mick out of the poncey"

I assume nothing here - no freaking idea of what that means<<

'Taking the mick' means taking the piss, pulling someone's leg. Can have two interpretations depending on context:
1) He's have a joke at the expense of someone
2) He's taking advantage of someone

Poncey is usually an adjective, meaning pseudo-posh, stuck up, affected, full of 'airs and graces' - 'those shoes look so poncey'. 'Ponce' would be the noun equivalent.

>>3- "he's three sheets to the wind"

well drunk as a skunk and i have only heard this from Americans from the East Coast so we have that phrase too though many Americans would not know it<<

Yep, just really drunk.

>>4- "I'm skivvy over there - if you are skivving i am too"<<

A skivvy is a downtrodden domestic worker, usually a cleaner. 'Who do you think I am, your skivvy??'

1. I've no idea. I think you may have misheard something.

2. "taking the mick" (I thought that was American) - either making fun of or otherwise not taking someone seriously (as in ripping them off in some way). "Poncy" is the adjective for "ponce", which originally meant someone living off someone else's (usually immoral) earnings, but now just means someone extravagant, show-offy and usually leeching on someone else.

3. "three sheets to the wind" is not uncommon over here, though I think probably more older-generation now

4. I assume you mean skiving (pronounced "skyving") = slacking off, playing hookey.

A skivvy (also rather old-fashioned now, I suspect) means a downtrodden dogsbody, originally the maid-of-all-work (especially the messiest household jobs).

*sigh*

Do I have to everything?

http://www.slang-dictionary.org/Engl...ng-Dictionary/
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/