I have been preparing for this post for the last month, ever since we arrived in England, and I’ve been very dilligent in collecting my research. There are a crazy amount of words and phrases that the British say that we need to adopt right now. Here’s a little list, complete with translations. Examples of usage are in parenthesis.

“Jollivating”- To mess around/waste time (as in, “You’ve been jollivating all day!”)  To be fair, there is really only one Brit who has ever actually used this phraze.

“Squiffy”- We would define it as “tipsy”, not drunk, but certainly not sober. (“This half-full glass of Prosecco has made me a wee bit squiffy!” -one of our new friends, who would probably rather remain unnamed.)

“Sozzelled”- The step between squiffy and drunk. (“The other half of that glass has me sozzelled!”)

“Tittivate”- to decorate or beautify. (“Come on, only the house, milking parlour, cow-shed, and 685 twigs left to tittivate!”)

“Cheers”- Thank you. (“Cheers!”)

“Ta”- Thank you (“Ta!”)

“Its chucking it down”- Its raining, especially when its raining very hard. (“Don’t go for a walk tomorrow, its meant to be chucking it down.”)

“Sod”- not quite so strong, but bearing the same essential meaning as “the f-word”. (“Sod-off”,”sod this”, “Sod this sodding path.”)

“Wellies”- rubber boots, usually up to the knee. (“Its ok if its chucking it down, I’ve got me wellies on!”)

“Posh loo”- fancy bathroom (“Don’t use that loo, use the posh loo!”)
Here are a few names that we have been called during our time here. These are all endearing, and none are or have been taken as offensive. 

“Me Lovely” or “Me love”

“Yank” as in Yankee

“Chicken” or “Chick”

“Pudding”

Our time in Cornwall is drawing to a close, so check back on Sunday to see our re-cap of our month in Southwest England!