A new poll has revealed a list of traditional British sayings which may become extinct despite the UK having one of the most rich and diverse languages in the world.
By Bill McLoughlin
A new poll has revealed a list of traditional British sayings which may become extinct despite the UK having one of the most rich and diverse languages in the world.
According to a study, there are 50 phrases that are in jeopardy of being lost from the English language.
Of those 2,000 people asked, 78 percent have never used the phrase “pearls before swine”.
A further 71 percent said they had never used “colder than a witch’s tit” or “nail your colours to the mast”.
In the poll, conducted by Perspectus Global, 70 percent do not wave goodbye with a “pip pip”.
A further 68 percent of Brits said they had never heard of or used the phrase “know your onions”.
Ellie Glason from Perspectus Global, said: “It’s interesting to see from our research, how language evolves and changes over the years.
“It would seem that, many of the phrases which were once commonplace in Britain, are seldom used nowadays.”
While a series of phrases may now become extinct, four out of five Brits believe the UK has the most descriptive language in the world.
The survey was based on a nationally representative sample of 2,000 adults, aged between 18 and 50.
British sayings such as “colder than a witch’s tit” and “a dog’s dinner” at risk of dying out.
Britain is known as a rainy country, despite the fact that it doesn’t get any more rain than say, Seattle. But it’s true that Britain is very wet. Their soggy maritime climate has shaped their history and culture, and it’s no surprise that like the Inuit with multiple words to describe snow, the British also […]
Britain is known as a rainy country, despite the fact that it doesn’t get any more rain than say, Seattle. But it’s true that Britain is very wet. Their soggy maritime climate has shaped their history and culture, and it’s no surprise that like the Inuit with multiple words to describe snow, the British also have many different phrases to describe the different kinds of rain. Here are our favorites.
Pissing down – In America, variations of the word ‘piss’ are considered quite coarse language, it’s not so in Britain, it’s a much softer connotation. Pissing down is torrential rain.
Bucketing down – A nice way of saying ‘pissing down’ – raining very hard.
Tipping Down – Raining heavily.
Mizzly – A common Cornish phrase for rain – it’s a misty rain that seems to settle on the landscape. It’s doesn’t feel like it’s actively raining, but everything is wet.
Spitting – Very light rain – with only a few drops at a time.
Plothering – A phrase often used in the Midlands or Northeast that describes is heavy rain that, well, plothers (the sound it makes hitting the ground).
Lovely weather for ducks! – A jovial phrase that the terrible weather must be good for something at least – like Ducks.
It’s chucking it down – Heavy and constant rain.
It’s siling/syling down (N. England) – A heavy rain.
Sea Fret – A wet mist or haze that comes inland from the sea (see Mizzly)
Smirr – A Scottish term for an extremely fine and misty rain that comes from a poem by George Campbell Hay.
Scotch mist – A thick mist and drizzling rain.
Letty – A West Country term that says that there is just enough rain to make outdoor work impossible (coming from a word that once meant disallow).
Cow-quaker – A sudden massive rainstorm characteristic during the month of May when the cows are traditionally let back on the fields.
Snell – A Scottish phrase for a very, very cold rain.
Smizzle – A Scottish phrase for a light rain.
Duke of Spain – Cockney Ryhming Slang for rain.
Raining forks’tiyunsdown’ards – A colorful Lincolnshire phrase meaning heavy rain like it’s raining pitchforks.
Confused by the traditional lingo in our city – well here’s some ‘lump of ice’
Whether you have lived in London all of your life, or are new to the city, you’ve probably have heard people speaking Cockney.
There’s literally hundreds of Cockney phrases, which means the native East End language can get pretty confusing.
For those Only Fools and Horses fans you would have heard Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter use rhyming slang including: “would you Adam and Eve it”, which is slang for you won’t believe it.
We’re also used to Danny Dyer tell Queen Vic punters he’s “done some bird” as he plays Mick Carter in EastEnders , or hearing acting legend Michael Caine naturally use the lingo during television interviews.
So to help you navigate your way around the London dialect we’ve comprised a list of of 33 popular Cockney rhyming slang terms and what they mean.
The study of 2,000 adults via OnePoll also found 47 per cent think the language of money is evolving, with 28 per cent agreeing that as new words for money are created, historical or traditional words fall by the wayside.
Three in ten also believe the evolution of money and payments over the past 10 years has impacted the words they use every day, for example, when they speak about ‘tapping’ for payment or ‘pinging over’ money.
The changing of the linguistic guard also looks set to continue as 41 per cent believe we will have different words for money and payments in 20 years’ time as technology continues to evolve.
As technology brings new words in, older words are falling out of favour with younger age groups, with ‘tuppence’ used by 54 per cent of people aged over 55 compared to just 16 per cent of 18-24-year olds.
