Then of course theres the word Ponce. Which described a Lady of the night minder in my younger days. Nowadays used by parents about their teenage children when they want money
Not just parents of teens, Tom... but used to describe anyone who is constantly on the cadge ... ( i never knew that ''ponce'' was once used to describe a Lady of the night )...I learn somethin' new every day...
Sounds like the new/re-purposed version. The old one was used like 'for the nonce' (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/for_the_nonce) and was often said by my Granny.
Yep. One reason I prefer forums where you don't have to self-censure every word, and go skating on thin ice, and also why I don't give a crap about getting banned anymore....those sorta forums I can easily live without.
I enjoy some of their slang words and phrases, but I don't like the word "loo" for bathroom. I wonder if Theresa May uses that word..... Hal
I would imagine she does, almost certain in fact ... most people do.. the queen however is probably the exception, but perhaps not...I do know that other members of the Royal family use the word Loo... Anyway do you now where the word Loo originated? We were taught in school that the phrase came from the French for Regardez L'eau , which means watch out for the water .. in the 1700's when servants were emptying chamber pots or dirty water out of top floor windows into the street below and warning... those below , which became gardyloo in England ..but that was later discounted as it took another 100 years for the phrase to come into use... However, it's now thought that the word ''loo'' came from British soldiers in France in the first world war.. at Waterloo... and given the British penchant for making many words or phrases into rhyming slang .. when they returned home, instead of calling the outside toilet the water closet as it was commonly known, it became a pun or joke on Waterloo and ultimately shortened to just ''Loo''
I kinda like that. Instead of saying, "I gotta go pee" you say, "I need to go to the loo." Yep, sounds good.
I always say "I find it necessary to urinate." But my all-time favorite British slang phrase is when a guy tells a girl he'll call on her at eight, and says: "All right then, Luv...I'll knock you up at eight!" Hal
I have a hunch the English would often not be that direct. Depending on the situation, a "I need to / (or) where can I wash my hands?" might also do.
I keep reading non Brits repeating that story about knocking up... it's not true!! Goodness knows where that fallacy arose, but Knocking UP here means exactly the same as anywhere else. if a guy says he's got a girl knocked up ( and even then that such a last century phrase)...then it means he's got her pregnant. Never would anyone say when calling for someone that they would ''Knock them up''....