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British idioms

HarryCHHarryCH Shipmate
in Heaven
This thread is intended for Americans to ask about idioms in British English: meanings and etymologies. For Cockney rhyming slang, give us the whole rhyme.

To start with:
--- Bob's your uncle
--- toad in the hole
--- spotted dick
--- bubble and squeak

Comments

  • SandemaniacSandemaniac Shipmate
    Are you asking about those, or leaving them as examples? Without knowing which side of the pond you are on, I don't know how I should respond!
  • CaissaCaissa Shipmate
    The first three are fairly common in Canada. The second and third if you ever eat British "cuisine".

    I work with an Aussie so I often learn Australian idioms, as well. Most of the British idioms I have learned are from classic murder mysteries.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    I don't think any of that list count as 'rhyming slang', but here are their generally accepted meanings:

    1. It's OK, or all right.
    2. Sausages in batter pudding :yum:
    3. Suet pudding with lots of currants and raisins :yum:
    4. Cooked cabbage fried with potatoes, and (occasionally) meat :yum:

    Take a butcher's (butcher's hook = look) at Google for definitions, me old china (China plate = mate)!
    :wink:
  • quetzalcoatlquetzalcoatl Shipmate
    Wot a load of old cobblers, = cobblers' awls = balls.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited October 24
    Git yer ol' Khyber (Khyber pass = arse) dahn on the uncle (Uncle Ned = bed) at the top of the apples (Apples and Pears = stairs).
  • Robertus LRobertus L Shipmate
    HarryCH wrote: »
    This thread is intended for Americans to ask about idioms in British English: meanings and etymologies. For Cockney rhyming slang, give us the whole rhyme.

    To start with:
    --- Bob's your uncle
    --- toad in the hole
    --- spotted dick
    --- bubble and squeak

    Well, the first idiom derives from a time when a young and inexperienced man was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ( evivalent to governor/ viceroy). Turns out he was appointed by the then prime minister Lord Salisbury aka Robert Gascoyne Cecil, who was the young man's uncle. ' Bob's your uncle' is often joined with ' and Fanny's your aunt's, though I don't know why

    Spotted dick was originally spotted dough. Given the many ways - ough can be pronounced in English, in some areas dough was pronounced closer to 'dock' as in the Irish 'lough' pronounced loch - a body of water. For some reason the spelling was changed not the pronunciation.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    There is also the possibility that a Spotted Dick pudding (which My Old Mum used to serve with Treacle, as none of us liked Custard) bears a vague resemblance to
    a certain portion of the male anatomy suffering from a fell disease.
  • Robertus LRobertus L Shipmate
    Similar suet based pudding is jam rolly polly ( not pronounced like the name but to rhyme with rolly). It was popular as a dessert in schools because it was cheap and filling

    Baked/ steamed in a long cylindrical shape in a cotton cloth or on the sleeve of an old gentleman's shirts. The jam would often ooze out, and was known as dead man's arm or revered mother's leg
  • PriscillaPriscilla Shipmate
    To spend a penny? Or is that too dated?
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Priscilla wrote: »
    To spend a penny? Or is that too dated?
    It was indeed discussed in the “phrases that date you” thread.

  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    Robertus L wrote: »
    Similar suet based pudding is jam rolly polly ( not pronounced like the name but to rhyme with rolly). It was popular as a dessert in schools because it was cheap and filling

    Baked/ steamed in a long cylindrical shape in a cotton cloth or on the sleeve of an old gentleman's shirts. The jam would often ooze out, and was known as dead man's arm or revered mother's leg

    O! Jam Roly-Poly! A favourite Sunday dessert at a certain Tennis (IIRC) Club in Sheffield, some decades ago...my in-laws used to take Mrs BF and I there for lunch now and then...
    Priscilla wrote: »
    To spend a penny? Or is that too dated?

    Possibly, but I can remember when a Penny was all one needed to gain access to the cubicle, which would often be all got up regardless with Tiles, Lead Pipes, a Chain, Brass, Shiny Paper, no expense spared...
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited October 24
    ETA:

    Us gents didn't have to spend a penny if we just needed a Jimmy (Jimmy Riddle = piddle). The facility was free...
  • quetzalcoatlquetzalcoatl Shipmate
    Bobs your uncle, and if he didn't have balls, he'd be your auntie. Doesn't rhyme.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    That's because it isn't rhyming slang:

    https://theslangpodcast.com/what-does-bobs-your-uncle-and-fannys-your-aunt-mean-in-british-slang/

    Garn 'ome, an' git frimed!
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Usual SE English hegemony. What about numpty, hallion, scunner, dwam, craic, stooshie, wheen, clanjamfrie?
  • SandemaniacSandemaniac Shipmate
    Firenze wrote: »
    Usual SE English hegemony. What about numpty, hallion, scunner, dwam, craic, stooshie, wheen, clanjamfrie?

    Gallus?
  • Celtic KnotweedCeltic Knotweed Shipmate
    Sandemaniac wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Usual SE English hegemony. What about numpty, hallion, scunner, dwam, craic, stooshie, wheen, clanjamfrie?

    Gallus?

    Glaikit; dreich; sleischter. That last has been spelt phonetically and IIRC was heard by my parents (Aberdeen & Peterhead) from an Edinburgh proff they were working under in Aberdeen...
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Sandemaniac wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Usual SE English hegemony. What about numpty, hallion, scunner, dwam, craic, stooshie, wheen, clanjamfrie?

    Gallus?

    Or come to that, galluses.
  • AmosAmos Shipmate
    I wonder how much Cockney rhyming slang is still used; hearing more MLE (Multicultural London English) from the under-fifties.
  • SojournerSojourner Shipmate
    In the Antipodes, yes.
  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    By "Antipodes", do you mean "Sarf of the River"?
  • SojournerSojourner Shipmate
    Oh come on BT, even you know I’m referring to Oz🙄
  • SighthoundSighthound Shipmate
    The full explanation of 'berk' (a foolish or unpleasant person) is better not set out in a polite forum like this.
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