Go Back  Fodor's Travel Talk Forums > Destinations > Europe
Reload this Page >

Do You understand British slang?

Search

Do You understand British slang?

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old May 19th, 2016 | 02:36 AM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
Do You understand British slang?

I am having a real hard time understanding some Brits. It took me 3 days to work out what "take a butchers of that " was. Anyone else have this problem.
adielk is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 02:45 AM
  #2  
 
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 1,205
Likes: 0
Butchers = butcher's hook = look.

There are tons of Youtube videos to help

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRVVCbXmYJo
Blueeyedcod is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 02:54 AM
  #3  
 
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 16,543
Likes: 4
No.

Butchers = Butchers' Hook = Look.

You just have to "use yer loaf" . Have a goosey at this :

http://londontopia.net/londonism/fun...s-and-phrases/
Bokhara2 is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 03:07 AM
  #4  
Community Builder
 
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 19,759
Likes: 0
Shouldn't that be have a gander at? I've never heard have a goosey at, and I grew up with rhyming slang speakers.
hetismij2 is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 03:39 AM
  #5  
 
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 6,476
Likes: 0
We watch a number of British murder mysteries and we use closed captions and still do not understand what they are saying.
IMDonehere is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 03:41 AM
  #6  
 
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 7,763
Likes: 0
Daily.

The struggle is real.

On the plus side, this part of England must not get many Americans because I have had more than a few women swooning over my accent. True story.
sparkchaser is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 04:08 AM
  #7  
20 Anniversary
 
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 49,560
Likes: 0
The only person around here I cannot understand, ever, is our neighbor from Manchester. And it's not just the slang - it's her everyday speech that is absolutely baffling.
StCirq is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 04:16 AM
  #8  
 
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 16,543
Likes: 4
Hetismij - derived from "goosey gander"
Bokhara2 is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 04:18 AM
  #9  
 
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 2,585
Likes: 0
Nobody understands anyone from Manchester unless they were born there.

I went last time close to Manchester and the guard at the entrance started talking to me. My colleague, younger than me, and French asked me afterwards, waw, you could really understand him ? I said : no, I got about 15% and just nodded or grunted and it apparently worked. (we did understand the rest of the workers we met in the plant).

I get about 5% of slang. But not a lot of people talk slang to me, the last who did it said he was surprised I didn't understand. and kept going. I have in this case the same attitude : I answer in Flemish (just in case he would understand some french).
Whathello is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 04:23 AM
  #10  
 
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 7,763
Likes: 0
Manchester I can deal with. It's the folks from Liverpool that have me baffled.
sparkchaser is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 04:24 AM
  #11  
Community Builder
 
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 19,759
Likes: 0
Bokhara2 I know where it comes from but it is normally shortened to Gander not to Goosey.

St>Cirq you have my sympathies. DH is from Oldham and whe he gets back with his friends from there he reverts to his childhood accent, and as a result is, even after 40 odd years married to him, completely unintelligible.
hetismij2 is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 05:37 AM
  #12  
Original Poster
 
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
To me folks from Manchester and Liverpool may as well be speaking in martian.
Im having a difficult time understanding some Londoners and their slang "Bob's your uncle" that one got me pretty good too. I just stared hard at the guy saying it and wondering why he thought Bob was my uncle. I m getting used to things now though/
adielk is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 05:40 AM
  #13  
Community Builder
Conversation Starter
20 Anniversary
 
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 75,049
Likes: 50
adielk . . . see my post on the expat thread -- may help explain the 'mystery' of your missing post.
janisj is online now  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 05:50 AM
  #14  
 
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,738
Likes: 0
Don't forget to take a dekko at the Indian-origin slang, which can drive you doolally...
Man_in_seat_61 is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 05:59 AM
  #15  
20 Anniversary
 
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 21,270
Likes: 0
Kushti....
PatrickLondon is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 06:24 AM
  #16  
 
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 7,160
Likes: 0
Glaswegian.
Mimar is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 06:40 AM
  #17  
10 Anniversary
 
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 3,165
Likes: 2
"Manchester I can deal with. It's the folks from Liverpool that have me baffled". They baffle us Mancs too, not least because they choose to live in Liverpool.

The Manchester accent varies from soft to hard and although I understand all of it, I can well see that the "hard" accent might throw our US friends.

adielk, the end of that quote is "fanny's your aunt and if she had b*lls she'd be your uncle"!
Rubicund is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 06:48 AM
  #18  
Original Poster
 
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
Rubicund: "fanny's your aunt and if she had b*lls she'd be your uncle"!
Haha what the!

What does it actually mean???
adielk is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 07:02 AM
  #19  
 
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 7,584
Likes: 1
I was born in London and understand the old Cockney because my Uncle Terry is from Whitechapel and one of the last (he 82) of the old characters.

I understand some "mockney" and what was known as Polari.

I am shocked that there are people who still use Cockney rhyming slang like "butchers."

My maternal grandfather was at Harrow and Cambridge (he was from St. Johns Wood) and I had a hard time understanding him because he used this odd boarding school slang.

"Bob's your uncle" comes from Arthur Balfour's uncle Robert Cecil. People thought the only reason a fop like Balfour rose in politics was because Prime Minister Cecil was his uncle.

Balfour was famous for saying, "Nothing matters much and very little matters at all."

Thin
Pepper_von_snoot is offline  
Old May 19th, 2016 | 07:18 AM
  #20  
 
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 7,561
Likes: 0
http://www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml

And check out Chris Brookmyre's website if you go to Scotland - he has a glossary for its slang. Just like people from Manchester, the Scots pretend that what they speak is English.
BigRuss is offline  


Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement -