h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A knackers yard is a place where tired out old horses go to be put down, chopped up and turned into glue.
To be only fit for the knackers yard is to be totally worn out.

Rhyming slang "I'm creamed" As in "I'm cream crackered"

of course - thanks! about the glue?!!
apples and pairs - stairs

I believe it was George Bernard Shaw who said that Britain and America were two countries divided by a common language. How right he was!

"Can you knock me up in the morning?"

UK - can you give me an early call?
US - can you get me pregnant in the early hours?

Now that means two totally different things either side of the atlantic.

"He was full of it!"
UK - He was so excited he could talk of nothing else
US - He was full of Bull Sh!t

"The groom was drunk and the bride was pissed."

This caused some understanding problems when told to a friend of mine of a US wedding. Who wondered what the problem was if they were both in the same condition.

It means "The groom was drunk and the bride was pissed off."

I far as I was aware "Full of it" mean't full of crap on both sides of the antlantic. that's what we mean in essex anyway

That's a very recent American influence on UK English.
I have a friend who is a Bishop who went to visit a church in America which had been previously visited by one of his parish priests. He told the American congregation that when Fr. Fred arrived back in England he was full of it. Meaning he was full of excitement about his visit and welcome and so on.
The American congregation, on the other hand, were totally shocked at the Bishop making such a remark about one of his own priests.

What about all the words that exist for that indeterminate thing that you can't remember the name of...?

Like:

Thingy
Thingamujig
Doobry-wotsit


Not sure of the spellings - I don't think I've ever seen them written down, although everybody uses them, as in "You know..the thingy..it's used in the doobry-wotsit...you know what I mean?"


AndyF

I am in agreement with the brake. Certainly down 'ere in Laaand'n, when you're full if it, you're full of s**t.

People can be "full of themselves" too - confident, enthusiastic, bouyant, cocky

Though that usually means they're full if it as well...

One of the problems we have with slang is that it can fast turn to be everything is to do with sex or s**t.
How many people would feel conficdent of saying "Could you knock me up in the morning?" knowing that somewhere else the meaning has sexual overtones. It wouldn't go the other way would it? You wouldn't get a brave American saying OK from now on I mean "wake me" when I say "knock me up."
So we are on a slippery slope. As soon as someone says something has a meaning of sex or s**t then that finishes off that saying for anything else.
So "full of it" now can no longer mean full of enthusiasm and excitement - it just means full of crap. That's sad, isn't it? We've got lots of sayings for full of crap already.

"I dunno what it is" words:
Dufer
Wassit
thingummybob
howsyerfather
oojit

I thought "howsyerfather" had more connotations towards the first part of your post - sex.

Or is it that the word started meaning "thingy", but over time got perverted (like all slang words) into meaning "sex"


Maybe slang words age the same as humans do - when they first appear, they have innocent meanings, but as they get to their teenage years and finally into "slang adulthood", they have more sexual meanings...


Or maybe it's just Friday afternoon and I'm bored

AndyF

I'd like to use this forum for peole to suggest new words for things that often don't have slang words.

For instance if somebody is doing something that is not "cool" or "hot" - which have pretty much come to mean the same thing now - how about using tepid.

"Hey, how was your weekend?"

"Nothing happened it was really tepid, man"

Perhaps a Star Wars fan would say Luke warm

That's just not funny.

Is a person that is just a little bit superstitious just stitious?

Two-bagger i.e. she's a two bagger

(yet another) derogatory term for an unattractive woman, i.e. she's
so bad that not only does she need a bag over her head you need one
on your's just in case her bag breaks.

Yes they are.
How about this. Think of 3 words in the English language that end in "gry"

Angry
hungry
errr......
I can't think of any more