When I lived in UK my coworkers referred to idiots as muppets. Faaaahhking muppet!
This was funny every time to me.
this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2025
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Muppet is a good one. It's great for using in front of kids too (as long as you don't prepend it with anything too harsh. "Bloody Muppet" is safe to say in front of tweens and upwards, in my view
I've used all of those except wheeliebin, which I've never run across before.
Ain't no shame in borrowing good slang, and that's something brits do extremely well imo. It's usually easy to use, rolls off the tongue, and sounds just silly enough.
I'm right chuffed about it
Amusingly, wheeliebin isn't even slang, it's just what we call them. Like if we've had extreme winds, you might see news anchors talking in their pish, RP British accent about how people have had their wheelie bins flying away
Edit: chuffed is a good one. It feels good to say. It's more than just saying "I'm pleased with myself", because there's an earnestness to it.
Newsreaders haven’t had to talk in RP since at least the 70s or something. They’re all pretending to be regular middle class now, even if they still went to Oxbridge.
Keep it simple. You're chuffed about it. Not "right chuffed" otherwise you're over-egging it.
Don't forget the antonym "narked".
You can say reet chuffed or dead chuffed.
That's a new one to me! Thanks, I really do love discovering new words :)
I didn't know these words were distinctly British.
What about knob? "He's such a knob", "Oi, knobhead!"
Most of them don't surprise me, but posh? What do other English-speakers say to mean posh?
chic
classy
deluxe
elegant
exclusive
fashionable
grand
high-class
luxury
opulent
ritzy
swank
swanky
trendyThose are all synonyms for there secondary meaning of posh as "fancy", I'd say the primary meaning is to describe a person of "higher social class", so a combination of rich, pretentious, not in touch with normal people, etc.
yeah we just call them "rich assholes"
I think that's a difference across the pond, you can be posh without being rich, and you can definitely be rich without being posh!
The posh old money are largely skint, and have to sell their crumbling homes to the National Trust or open them to visitors to pay the bills.
A fair translation of "posh twat", but a bit cumbersome.
The people I know refer to those people as “bougie” (boo-gee) as in bourgeoisie.
I’m rather fond of a simple one word response to almost anything that has been said: quite.
Hm. Indeed.
I love using "posh". It parses well and its meaning isn't ambiguous.
I like posh because it's distinct from rich. Not all rich people are posh, and sometimes posh people are relatively poor. It's useful to have two different words
Especially as 'classy' has a tacky connotation
I've only ever heard such connotation when it's used sarcastically. 'Posh', on the other hand, often has connotations of 'affected' and 'pretentious'.
Other than chuffed and wheeliebin, I think I've used the rest in one or two consecutive sentences at some point in my life
If you were invited to a fancy dress party, would you think you’re supposed to wear a fancy dress? Nope.
I dont get invited to those sorts of parties.
“Mate” and “love” as pronouns. Never sounds right when said by Americans.
"This list is incomplete so sling your hook you slapper!". /s
NOT chuffed? that's a load of bollocks.
Wouldn't mind being able to call someone who's being a jackass a 'plonker', but I think in an American accent it would sound like some kind of obscure slur
I don't mind wheeliebin. We have a tendency to naff-ify everyday items so they always sound unglamourous - witness Brit garage "garidge" vs US "gararj"). In Australia they were called "Otto", after the company that made them.
Not sure which words I'm uncomfortable with.
I try not to use Twat even though it can still happen when I'm really exasperated.
Also loo and bog for toilet I avoid. Only bog is really off limits though.