Since my son met and married a girl from London, his language has become peppered with UK SPK™, which I define as words and phrases he’s appropriated from his wife, her family, and friends. Because I like to be as trendy and hip as he is, if only to annoy him, I have incorporated quite a few into my daily life.
When everyone was here for Thanksgiving, my DIL (daughter-in-law) and her sister left behind quite a few gems to share.
I really love this one. You need to use rinse if you listen to a song over and over again. “I love Christina Perri‘s song, ‘Jar of Hearts‘ and I’ve been rinsing it.” Or…to use something a lot; “I’ve given my credit card a rinse this holiday season.” …or to play Candyland with your kids until it wears out, or to read the same bedtime book over and over.
Spunk is a very interesting word. For us who speak American English, it means courage or spirit or full of energy, as in “She’s full of spunk” or “She’s a spunky girl. However, for Brits–spunk takes on a WHOLE different meaning! it’s a slang term for semen. Imagine the shock on DIL’s face when a man at a business meeting told her she had a lot of spunk and she thought he was sexually harassing her!
Cheers–not as a prelude to lifting a glass or a toast, but as a way to say thank you. It’s spoken in monotone with no inflection. Let’s say someone passed you a bowl of mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving. You would say “cheers”. It’s low-key.
To DIL and her sister, swish means cool–to us, swish is a disparaging term for a gay man and denotes an effeminate personality.
Reem = sexy, great, fantastic. Be reem, see reem, look reem. “Johnny Depp is so reem!”
Error or to drop an error, which means to make a mistake. “I dropped an error and left something in the car”. The family is sitting around the dinner table and somebody makes a mistake in etiquette and one would say, “Error” and then everyone laughs.
To cotch is to relax, chill, take a rest. Describing something as a cotch means it was relaxed and chilled out. A really great cotch is cotchtastic.
Amazeballs is the same on both sides of the pond. Amazing, obvs.
The last and best one comes with its own hand gesture.
The word is cringe–but it’s not pronounced the same way –/krinj/–as if we meant to bend one’s head and body in a servile manner.
This is how to pronounce it the UK SPK™ way.
/kr-AWW-nJ/ drawing out the w and j sound. This is the perfect word to use when someone says something really unfunny and then everything goes silent, or when someone goes on and on about something which is really boring, or when someone makes an unwanted comment.
“OMG, gurrrl, I can’t believe that Phoebe got wasted and fell down the stairs naked in front of her brother-in-law. That was cringe. Totally cringe.”
What makes cringe totes amazeballs is that, to be accurate, it needs to be accompanied by a hand gesture that is very similar to the Wendy Williams‘s “how you doin”, but with one hand.
So to review, when you find yourself in a perfect situation to use cringe, you’d lift your right hand, (or the hand that’s not holding a vodka marty), and make that WW or “claw” gesture. Got it? Practice makes perfect!
When DIL/sister were here, we all rinsed “Jar of Hearts”.
Related articles
- Christina Perri Dedicates ‘Jar Of Hearts’ To Alice Radio Onstage In Berkeley (radioalice.cbslocal.com)
Love this post and it really show the difference. Smiling at Spunk which is good in America. This post was totally Cringe 🙂
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Oh you totes got it!! You are so reem! Cheers.
On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 10:38 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Cheers 🙂 LOL
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Having drank heavily with Brits and Irish over the years, it’s good to see these words get recognition.
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Ha ha ha! Let’s hear some sprinkled in your posts! We need to spice up our language a bit, keep ’em off guard, what say mate? I’m gonna catch a cotch now. cheers…
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spunk.. eeew. I like reem … good to have new words to spin 🙂
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I know, right? They bring me all the cool stuff-I’m prolly too old to use the jargon and I know they “cringe” but whatev!
On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 11:09 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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haa that is half the fun.. screwing with them right?
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Spunk! Dear Heavens,I am ROFL! Once in a while on World Irish (facebook), they have Irish phrases.A kid about 13 or 14 does them from one area.He goes straight-faced into the camera and explains in clear English and in all seriousness,(enough for an American to understand.)
I have had a lot of laughs over the years with differences in terminology.It is a riot when my friend in India calls.The English is so archaic and they expect Americans to be British. It has to be a lot of fun with your d-in-l at the table!
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Oh yes, it’s SOOO much fun. Everyone is great at banter and lively chat, so refreshing. Def not boring!
On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 11:51 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Well, I’m English and most of these words have totally passed me by – except for spunk (of course), cheers and swish!I
But then again, I’m a Northerner – so much of London SPK goes right over my head anyway!
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My DIL’s sister is newly graduated from university and she’s a social media whiz so I was just writing down everything she was saying. A bit of a thief, I am! If I might ask, what is a Northerner?
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Gee, Shells, she’s from the North Country…the counties south of Scotland. London is a whole ‘nother ballgame! Think Vermont as opposed to New York.
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Oh, got it! My DIL went to school in Scotland. It could have been her instead of Princess Catherine!
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Someone who lives north of London!!
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Oh, that’s what it means! Thank you, I had no idea and I asked even if it was a dumb question. I’ve never been there but I so want to go one day! I want to see harrods and go to all the shops!!
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In truth, it means much further north than that, but it just seems that way!
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I need to print this out and carry around for my new vocabulary!
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What a great idea! you will find so many situations during the holiday season that call for “error” and “crawnje” with the hand gesture and you might be trending in your town!
On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 2:54 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Fantastic post, and enlightening, too!
I’m still laughing at “spunk,” and have vowed to not use it to refer to my grandson’s antics any more. eeek! If only I’d known.
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I’m looking for one of those little girl’s birthday cards that says “happy birthday to a little girl who’s full of spunk” and give it to DIL for her bday. ha ha!
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I knew that about spunk LOL. And I like the word reem, of course.
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of course you do! 🙂
On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 7:48 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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LOL! I have been using “cheers” like that for a while. Perhaps I picked it up from my trip to the UK. I like the “Rinse”one….I have been definitely been giving my wallet a rinse this holiday season 🙂
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yeah, you said it perfect! rinse is one of my faves. It is such a perf descriptor.
On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 9:45 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Great post!! Loved it 🙂
Your daughter in law is a very lucky girl to have you as a mother in law!! Humor goes a long way in life! It is a form of love 🙂
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Yes, I totally agree. Humor goes a LONG way!
On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 2:48 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Its true what Oscar Wilde wrote: “Britain and America are two natuions sperated by a common language”
Another example for you is “pissed” In the US you can say I was totally pissed! (meaning annoyed) in the Uk that would mean drunk – or as one satiraical magazine would write when a celeb or politician was caught totally drunk and abussive “he was tired and emotional”
Where I liove in the Westcountry city of Plymouth if you say something like I’ve just bought a new car/coat/suite/house they will reply “ideal!” What? Ideal means suitable, appropriate as in “this would be an ideal solution” Only in Plymouth do they say that. How strange.
I won’t even start on the lnaguage my children use.
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I love it! Ideal! That’s very interesting, I had heard of the “pissed” definition, and I find the jargon/slang fascinating. Thank you so much for your comment. Cheers.
On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 3:37 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Alright Bill … is it used in the future tense? … such as, Bill – let’s go to the pub and get pissed.
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Hey let’s go and get pissed.
Oh man I am sooo pissed I’ve gotta go home.
Boy, I was sooo pissed last night I couldn’t stand.
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LMAO … Oh thanks Bill … just wanted to confirmation of my thoughts!
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How about having “ciggies and beers”. I was told that means to go out for a few drinks, not to smoke a cigarette! How about “dont’ get pissed and drive”? doesn’t sound as good to me.
On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 11:48 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Now this really going to muddy the waters. We hardly ever say ciggies any more but rather fags. You shoud never ask “where can I get some fags at this time of night” in certain districts of New York.
“dont’ get pissed and drive”? We would never say that. We just say don’t drink and drive.
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Wonderful. I used spunk/spunky … but although clueless with the rest of them, this post was a lot fun.
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Beware of ever using “spunk -y ” to a Britisher again. I know I won’t make that mistake after hearing about how it was misunderstood!
On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 11:41 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Thanks … and fortunately, I don’t use it often.
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That is so awesome! I learned something new today! Thanks for sharing! You must be so confused when they start talking or are you a pro now? hehe
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I just ask a lot of questions. What did you say? what does it mean? and then I write it down LOL
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May I offer an amazing words link? It is a couple of chapters of a book by Mark Forsyth called The Etymologican. He explains the route of words in such an entertauining way. Just click on the page tabes to turn the page.
http://tinyurl.com/7jjjgms
I would go as far as to say this would be a great little christmas present. Amazon will do the rest.
Here’s his blog page too. Hours and hours of fun.
http://blog.inkyfool.com/
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I was just looking at the book (above) and in the preface he talks about a biscuit – that is what the British call a cookie – ok? Good. Carry on.
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that one took forever for me to understand. She would call a cookie a biscuit and I was so confused!
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Thanks for the suggestions, I will go there and check it out!
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This is funny! I love all that slang o lingo! 🙂
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She’s going back to UK for the holidays, I hope she brings back more slango (love your lingo!)
On Sun, Dec 16, 2012 at 1:49 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Funny! It’s like watching an episode of “Little Britain” … it’s like those Brits have a word for everything!
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Oh, they think they’re so superior to us, and the bad thing is, I start talking just like them, pick up all their lingo!
On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 5:59 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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