The bee’s knees – a rather lovely term used to describe someone or something you think the world of.

For example, ‘She thinks Barry’s the bee’s knees’. Can also be used sarcastically in this same sense.

Given the British tendency to mock and satirise anything and everything possible, ‘taking the piss’ is in fact one of the most popular and widely-used British slang terms. To ‘take the piss’ means to mock something, parody something, or generally be sarcastic and derisive towards something.

For example, ‘The guys on TV last night were taking the piss out of the government again.’

This is a relatively newer entry to the lexicon of British Slang, most often used by youth. In this case something being “sick” is actually a good thing. It’s like a stronger form of “cool”

For example, .Yeah I’d love to do that, it sounds sick.’

One of the most commonly-used British phrases, ‘rubbish’ is used to mean both general waste and trash, and to also express disbelief in something to the point of ridicule (in this sense it is a much-more PG-friendly version of ‘bollocks’.)

For example, it can be used respectively, in, ‘Can you take the rubbish out please?’, and ‘What? Don’t talk rubbish.’

This has two different meanings depending on location or social classes. From a higher social class, ‘Proper’ denotes actions appropriate to certain circumstances. For example, ‘Don’t do that, it’s not proper!’ However such a usage is becoming less common.

More common, and common in the north and southwest England. “Proper” is used as an alternative to “very” or “extremely”, something that can give a term extra weight. For example, ‘that meal was proper tasty’ or sometimes ‘that was proper.’

Generally, ‘posh’ denotes the English upper classes. However it can be used to describe anything flashy or needlessly classy or expensive. It is similar to the American word ‘fancy’, however it has a much more entrenched class basis.

In this way “posh” can be used in the following two ways:

• I’m going to a posh restaurant tonight.
• Have you met Bob’s girlfriend? She’s pretty posh.

This term comes from cockney rhyming slang,^[1] a form of communication originated in old east London by merchants to communicate with each other in a way that is disguised and incomprehensible to outsiders. Unlike most rhyming slang expressions, it is still in semi-popular use both in London and outside.

The expression is a synonym for ‘lies’. Note how the second word ‘pies’ rhymes directly with ‘lies’.  As such when you hear it in use, even if you aren’t familiar with expression you can often tell what is being said by the rhyme and the context it is being used in.

For example, ‘Don’t listen to him he’s telling pork pies.’

I’m cheating a bit with this one, as this is used almost exclusively used around Manchester and the North of England. But there is something wonderfully tender and endearing about it.
It is a term denoting your younger brother/ sister, or close family member such as a cousin.

For example, ‘Did you hear about our kid Kevin? He got a new job.’

‘Nice one’ – used almost always sarcastically in common British lexicon, although it can be used sincerely depending on the context.

For example, ‘You messed up the Rutherford order? Nice one, really.’

Muck is a substitute for “dirt” however, in many ways I find it a superior word. There is something oddly onomatopoeic about it and seems to have a dirty quality of itself.

In context, ‘I can’t come in, my shoes are all mucky.’

Minging (pronounced: ming-ing) is a lovely alternative to the word “disgusting” or “gross”. I feel there is something appropriate about it.

For example, ‘Don’t it that mate it looks minging.’

‘Lost the plot’ is one that can actually be discerned by examining the words themselves. To ‘lose the plot’ can mean either to become angry and/or exasperated to a fault, or in a derogatory – if slightly outdated sense – to mean someone who has become irrational and/or acting ridiculously.

For example, ‘When my girlfriend saw the mess I’d made, she lost the plot.’