About a year ago, I wrote a post about British slang words and phrases. Using fifteen examples, I endeavoured to explain their definition, provenance and the context in which they are commonly used. I then provided an example sentence of each word or phrase for reference. This proved such a popular post (it didn’t), that I thought it would be beneficial if I gave some further examples (Again I didn’t. I just needed to write a quick blog post, with minimal effort). So here is another selection of slang words and phrases that are used  in common parlance in the UK, for your amusement, edification and consideration. Some are relatively self explanatory. Others are somewhat tenuous and arcane in their origins. 

After receiving critical acclaim in the UK, the 1980 gangster film The Long Good Friday was revised to make the dialogue more accessible to American audiences. A few lines of dialogue were re-recorded to tone down the East End slang. A glossary of terms was also added at the start of the film, including such phrases as “manor” (precinct, area, patch, turf) and “ponce” (pimp or fool). Conversely, this has seldom happened with regard to American TV shows and films exported around the world, due to the ubiquitous nature of US pop culture. Nowadays, you would think the internet would have bridged this linguistic divide but it would appear not. I still see a lot of YouTube videos explaining British slang and traditional phrases. Never being one to pass up the opportunity to jump on a passing bandwagon, I thought I’d tackle 15 British slang words and phrases for your edification and the sake of an easy blog post.