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The GMTK guide to British slang
🕑 Added 2019-05-10 14:37:51 +0000 UTCOne of the challenges of following a YouTube creator from Great Britain* is navigating the bizarre cultural quirks that are unique to our tiny, soggy island.
I often get YouTube comments, Tweets, and Discord messages from people who are utterly baffled by some of the words, phrases, and idioms I use on a daily basis. I say things that you’d never hear outside the UK, like “utterly baffled”.
So I thought it was time to clarify some of the terms I personally use, to help you figure out what the bloody hell I’m saying in some of my videos.
Chuffed to bits- This means “really pleased”. When I reached 600k subscribers, I was chuffed to bits.
Faffing around- This means wasting time, wandering aimlessly, or procrastinating. In open world games, you can spend a lot of time faffing around before you actually focus on the main story.
Bugger all- This means none or nothing. If there’s bugger all to do in No Man’s Sky, that means the game is empty and boring. I should really update No Man’s Sky...
Can’t be arsed- This means “can’t be bothered”. I can’t be arsed to sit through 30 hours of Days Gone.
Wanky- This is a bit of a rude one, but it means “pretentious”. If I’m talking about ludonarrative dissonance or other overblown terminology, I’m going to worry that I sound a bit wanky.
Ta- Just means “thanks”
Cheeky- So cheeky is obviously a word everywhere, meaning impolite or brazen. But I use it in lots of other contexts but I genuinely don’t know why. It just kinda fits, sometimes.
Gagging- Desperate for something. I’m gagging for a new Metroid game.
Telling porkies- I said this in my detective video and then later realised that 99% of people won’t know what I mean. It means telling lies, and is Cockney rhyming slang (telling lies / pork pies).
Haven’t got a scooby- Another Cockney rhyming slang, meaning I haven’t got a clue or I have no idea. Comes from Scooby Doo.
Blower- Telephone
Bonce- Head
Blimey- General exclamation of surprise or awe. “Blimey, that’s the biggest monkey head I’ve ever seen”.
Minted- To have loads of money. Valve can take 20 years to make Half-Life 3 if they want, they’re minted.
Gutted- Really disappointed. If I lost all my Patreon backers I’d be absolutely gutted. Bonus word: “miffed” is like low-key gutted. If I lost 20 Patreon backers I’d be a bit miffed.
Dodgy- A bit broken. The camera in this game is really dodgy. Can also mean creepy or suspicious, such as when talking about most gaming YouTubers.
Knackered- Really tired. I’ve been walking around Malmo all week and now I’m knackered.
Video game special
Mega Drive- For some reason, the Sega Genesis retained its Japanese name, the Sega Mega Drive, in Europe. We also got the Japanese Super Famicom design for our SNES, instead of the boxy purple monstrosity seen in America. We lucked out in the 16bit era!
SNES- This one’s a pronunciation. While Americans would spell out each letter (Ess En Ee Ess), Brits will often say “Snez” as one sound. I try to call it the Super Nintendo to avoid this, but slip up sometimes and say Snez.
Computer games- this is a funny one. Growing up, I would never have said video games. They were computer games, regardless of whether they were on PC, or Mega Drive, or Game Boy. But by this point, I do just use the word video games. You win this round, America.
Game names
For various licensing, legal, and cultural reasons, game names sometimes get changed over here. For example, Dance Dance Revolution is Dancing Stage. Star Fox is Starwing, and Star Fox 64 is Lylat Wars. Contra is Probotector (and has robots instead of burly dudes). Bully is Canis Canem Edit. Grand Theft Auto is Stealy Wheely Automobiley.
Okay that one might not be real.
If I’ve missed any, shout in the comments and I’ll let you know the translation!
*If you’ve ever wondered what the difference is between UK, Great Britain, and England, then England is a country. Great Britain is the physical island that England lives on, alongside Scotland and Wales. The United Kingdom is a sovereign state that wraps up the countries on Great Britain, and also Northern Ireland.
Unless we need to be specific, we use them interchangeably. I’d call myself British, English, or “from the UK” without thinking much about it.
Comments
Oskar van Velden
Funny, I never really had trouble understanding your videos and/or noticed any weird words. But seeing the list written here, about 50% I wouldn't know what it meant if not explained by you ^^ And maybe I have a benefit since I'm from Europe (The Netherlands to be more precise), so I also know the Mega Drive and SNES (pronounces as "snez", instead of the more American way
Mark M
I used to say computer games too, seems like at some point everyone just switched to video games. I was a bit self conscious about it first, but now if somebody said computer games I would think they were old fashioned, how things change...
Parachuting Turtle
It just sounds really unpleasant! I would not want to be chuffed to bits.
Parachuting Turtle
I think bonnet is hood, while trunk is boot. It's great because bonnets and hoods are both parts of clothing that cover your head.
Max Goldstein
The way you use "cheeky", it comes across as "smug", like "I know I'm doing something bad or at least annoying to you, and I don't care and will keep doing it, smirking all the while". I wonder.how closely that jives with your intended usage?
Chris K
Not sure if you would know this, but any idea how old text adventures handled torches? In the US it would be clear the game meant a torch instead of a flashlight, but I wonder if there would have been confusion for British players. Also, it's funny, the first six Layton games had a US localization, but for the most recent one we just got the UK version. I've actually come across a couple of these and just went "well I hope that's not supposed to be important"
Alice
As someone who grew up post-2000, I say Ess En Ee Es and video games, despite being a proud Brit. I guess I've been infected by America, haha!
I don’t know if you use this one yourself, but you could end up referring to a character as a bit of a pillock!
Zeragamba
"If you’ve ever wondered what the difference is between UK, Great Britain, and England" => The United Kingdom Explained by CGP Grey: https://youtu.be/rNu8XDBSn10
Seth Powell
You say we lucked out in the 16-bit era (and having the proper SNES definitely is a major high) but not getting Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6 (3) among others as well as having to wait 9+ months sometimes for getting releases doesn't make me feel that lucky... Also, £40 for new releases, then double that or more for import releases and I'm not really sure the it was worth it. Then I look at the NA Super Nintendo again and yea, it was a fair trade.
I'm convinced half of those you made up to screw with us
Game Maker's Toolkit
Well it kinda does, yeah. It’s a halfway between angry and disappointed.
Marty Crenlon
"Chuffed to bits" is the oddest one, IMO, because it sounds like a euphemism for being drunk to the point of vomiting.
Car bonnets, which I think are the hood or trunk of the car for Americans (?)
Ryan Spargo
Cockney rhyming slang is so damn fascinating.
Ryan Spargo
People in my office are looking at me funny right now, but that's too funny to keep the laugh in.
Ironically, the only one I didn't know was the one you didn't list. I thought "miffed" meant "annoyed" or "angry"...
Really excited to tell people how much I'm "gagging" for things haha
Megukaphii
I'm Australian, but dad's British, so I've ended up hearing a lot of these from him and mum, who I guess got them from him too. I didn't even notice blower or bonce in your videos, though.
cptnoremac
My wife is from England, so I'm familiar with most of the slang. I quite like British slang. It's very cheeky. I'll grant you the SNES might look better with smoother edges, but you'll never convince me Mega Drive is a better name than Genesis. Mega Drive sounds like something from the early '80s. Genesis is one sexy name. So are Saturn and Dreamcast. Sega has the best console names.
Mathew Dyason
As an Aussie with a British wife, the only two I haven't heard here are blower and scooby. Pretty chuffed with my performance. Also, you mentioned minted means loaded, but is it also a Britishism to use mint as good/great? I always assumed it's British.
iammacio
In Poland it was the same, computer games uniting all gamers until consoles claimed the territory and you had to choose side and indicate whether you are playing computer or video games. Hopefully next gen consoles with planned switch to mature-pc-buld can unite us all again :)
Rich Stoehr
"Stealy Wheely Automobiley* - I lol'd.
