LONDON—Stone the crows, our lingo’s all gone Pete Tong.
British slang isn’t what it used to be. American stars might enjoy grappling with the alternate universe of what people say on the other side of the Atlantic. A recent highlight saw singer Billie Eilish coming up against British swear words and terms like “chip butty” during a promo tour for her new album. “You guys are not real,” she told Capital Breakfast radio.
But many of the phrases the English grew up with are fading away as younger generations plug into TikTok or other platforms where they learn to call each other “Karen” or “basic” like any other rando, instead of sticking with tried and tested indigenous slurs.
Nearly 60% of the Gen Z cohort haven’t heard the insult “lummox,” according to a study by research agency Perspectus Global. Less than half know what a “ninny” is, with only slightly more of them familiar with “prat” or “tosspot.”
What a bunch of plonkers.
There was a time when nearly everybody would sling about terms like “blighter” or “toe-rag,” and sometimes far ruder terms. That was when the British had more of a shared pop culture, often built around television comedies such as “Only Fools and Horses,” about a family of likable London con men. People would talk about them in the schoolyard or at work the next morning. Everyone knew what everyone else was talking about, even if it was a load of twaddle.
As television and internet culture have radically transformed, the younger crowd has been left ignorant as to what “lovely jubbly” or even “smell my cheese” might mean.
“Language changes, evolves and moves on,” said Harriet Scott at Perspectus, which conducts market research for various global brands.
Old insults such as “mooncalf,” a term for fool, or “cozener,” a word for trickster common during Shakespeare’s time, have long since vanished.
Now it could be happening much faster, with new slang terms either bubbling up before evaporating, or coalescing into something that circulates among niche groups siloed away in different corners of the internet. It’s a similar situation in other, smaller English-speaking populations.
In Australia, old classics like “bogan,” to refer to someone less sophisticated than you, have some legs. But the country that came up with “skulling a tinny in the arvo,” or enjoying a beer in the afternoon, isn’t generating as many new terms as it used to . Often things are reduced to a vanilla “awesome.”
Things are slightly better in Scotland, where people like to use their own slang mostly because it’s Scottish and not English.
Some 80% of young Scots still know “bam” and its popular derivative, “speccy bam,” which mean, respectively, a nutcase and a nutcase who wears glasses. “Roaster” and “weapon”—which are closely related—are also widely used. Some TV critics say the creative swearing that punctuated HBO’s “Succession” was so effective because it was a distinctively Scottish way of speaking, supposedly inherited from the family’s patriarch, Logan Roy.
There is another bright spot in the U.K. In recent years, twee contractions have gained currency, albeit briefly. When the late queen celebrated her platinum jubilee to mark 70 years on the throne, it quickly became known as the “platty jubes.” The recent snap election became “genny lec” and a cool glass of Sauvignon Blanc is now “savvy b.”
Not everyone is keen. “If I am re-elected,” Labour lawmaker Stella Creasy vowed earlier this year , tongue somewhat in cheek, “I promise legislation to ban the terms ‘genny lec’ and ‘snappy gen.’ That’s a pledgywedge.”
Coco Khan, a podcast host, suggests there is some merit to going twee in that it makes it easier to broach difficult subjects, like how inflation has made the cost of living unbearable for many. In a recent piece in the Guardian newspaper , she pointed to an exchange on the Depop shopping platform in which a seller said, “I can’t go that low sorry babe xx. Especially with the cozzie livs and all that jazz.”
This is progress, Khan wrote. “Where previously WhatsApp groups discussing hen parties or meet-ups were fraught with anxieties around money, now the simple phrase makes it clear: ‘Sorry girls, can’t afford it. Cozzie livs,’ which is promptly heard and understood with no further need to justify how or why, nor open oneself up to judgment,” she said.
While some of these contractions might stand the test of time, like “rizz ” for charisma, by nature they tend to be fleeting. Nobody talks about the platty jubes any more.
More importantly, some researchers fear the British might be losing something crucial if terms like “pillock” or “numpty” are forgotten. These traditional terms of abuse tend to be softer than their more contemporary equivalents, allowing a wider range of emphasis and intensity. Linguists say they can help defuse what could be an otherwise tense situation. Many of the words could be terms of affection when used in the right company.
Others, like “wanker,” are the dog’s bollocks and simply too good to lose, as the British discovered when the Scottish soccer team was based at the foot of the 5,840-foot-high Mount Wank for the European Championship in Germany this summer.
The U.K. press gleefully described how visitors could buy a €27.50, or around $30, ticket for the Wankbahn cable car up to the top, where they could savor the views while sipping beer at the Wankhaus. Journalists posed with street signs pointing the way to Wank or bought bumper stickers saying “I heart Wank.”
The German media was less impressed.
“The players are experiencing the full program of alphorns and Schuhplattler dancing,” the Süddeutschen Zeitung newspaper sniffed. “The reporters are making late-pubescent jokes.”
