Cushty, Prat, Cowson… And Other British Terms I Can No Longer Say In America

As an Englishman who moved to nan US successful 2006 and became a national a fewer years later, I person been done various stages of homesickness. There are nan evident forms—the absence of friends, family and places. For a while, I gravely missed pubs and British beer, but now America brews arguably amended ales than my homeland.

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I utilized to miss watching cricket—but there’s an app for that now. I erstwhile pined for nan easiness of taking agelong walks acknowledgment to Britain’s vast, intricate web of nationalist footpaths. Then I bought a location adjacent nan Shawangunk Mountains successful New York’s Hudson Valley, wherever miles of trails person sated my yearning.

Recently, however, I’ve developed a caller strain of homesickness. I’ve started to miss nan connection of my youth. You mightiness beryllium thinking: “I’m reasonably judge English is spoken connected some sides of nan pond.”

But that’s not wholly true.

I’m referring to nan aphorism—often misattributed to Winston Churchill—that nan UK and US are 2 nations separated by a communal language. There exists a slew of words and phrases I cannot usage successful nan beingness of astir Americans. Or astatine least, not if I want to beryllium understood.

That’s partially why, successful my first 2 novels, Black Chalk and Grist Mill Road, I made not a azygous mention of nan spot successful England wherever I was raised—the Medway Towns, situated 30 miles southeast of London. And nary of my characters hailed from nan area. There was a clip erstwhile I couldn’t hold to flight from my hometown. But, arsenic my property has crept up, nostalgia has crept in.

By nan clip I wrote my 3rd novel, The Rabbit Club, I felt nan irresistible impulse to create a characteristic who hailed from my portion of nan world, personification who utilized nan words I grew up hearing. So I invented aging British rockstar, Gerry McCain, lead singer/hellraiser of The Pale Fires.

Gerry “Gel” McCain comes from nan largest of nan Medway Towns, Chatham, which locals pronounce almost for illustration a azygous syllable, Chah’em. He’s an approximate transverse betwixt Ozzy Osbourne and Mick Jagger. (Jagger hails from Dartford, 20 miles up nan roadworthy from wherever I was raised.)

Gel McCain calls everyone son aliases sunshine and speaks successful a substance of cockney rhyming slang and different dialectical words that person almost fallen retired of use, words for illustration jacksie, for example, meaning ass (anatomically speaking); he calls different men geezers; alternatively of nothing and perfect, Gel says nuffink and perfick.

I americium 1 of those writers who perceive voices successful their heads, my characters speaking to me, each pinch their ain unique accents and reside patterns. Also, I don’t for illustration to scheme my land excessively heavy successful advance, overmuch preferring to “tune in” to those voices, waiting to spot wherever they take to return me; aliases each other, sometimes, arsenic a consequence of unexpected directions their conversations return while I’m listening in.

As soon arsenic I created Gel, he started rabbiting distant to me. (Rabbiting is perfectly a connection Gel would use. See beneath for its meaning if you’re not capable to conjecture it from nan context.)

I didn’t request to investigation really Gel said because unleashing him connected my imagination opened nan floodgates and my representation became quickly filled pinch words, phrases and reside patterns I haven’t heard for decades. Most of my family moved distant from nan Medway Towns years ago, meaning that I haven’t spent immoderate clip location for a sizeable number of years.

But intelligibly I’ve been carrying nan area’s argot pinch me, buried heavy wrong my neural networks. Gerry was truthful delightful to perceive to (for me, astatine least) that I already cognize I want to someway shoehorn him into a early novel.

Even connected nan eve of The Rabbit Club’s publication, I still perceive my rockstar speaking some to maine and different people. I support a record connected my machine filled pinch nan caller lines he’s been planting successful my mind, much words and phrases that beryllium to a distant country, a bygone age. It seems my consciousness of nostalgia has not yet been sated.

The main characteristic successful The Rabbit Club is Gel’s 3rd (acknowledged) son, Ali/Alistair, who grew up successful California, wherever his mother moved aft Gel abandoned them both. Ali leaves his homeland to study English Literature astatine Oxford, partially because he hopes to reconnect pinch his father. But it’s not only his begetter who seems to speak a different language, it’s everyone successful Britain. Ali spends a bully chunk of clip confused by nan unusual words whirling astir him.

Below I’ve listed a number of specified words and phrases, each of them guaranteed to confuse astir Americans. Perhaps readers would beryllium bully capable to memorize them. And past 1 day, if you bump into maine successful a bar, we tin person a bully old—chinwag!

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Chinwag: A gloriously evocative connection for a chat.

Rabbit: Given nan sanction of my novel, it would person been remiss of maine not to deploy this slang connection supra aliases see it here. It intends talk. For instance, if you’re discussing a man who speaks excessively much, you could say: “He ne'er stops rabbiting on!”

Cowson: A very 1970s British insult, suggesting that personification is nan boy of a heifer.

Heifer: different insult, implying that personification is nan size of a cow.

Glasgow kiss: A humorous explanation of a headbutt! Californian Ali gets tripped up by this 1 connected his first nighttime successful Oxford, assuming it’s thing romantic.

Leave it out: Nothing to do pinch an omission. The American type of leave it out would be: “get outta here.”

Pavarotti: A ten-pound banknote. Pause a infinitesimal and spot if you tin activity retired why… It’s because 10 pounds is known arsenic a tenner! Sounds for illustration tenor, right?

Brolly: A very British connection for a captious mundane transportation successful Britain—an umbrella.

Cushty: All good, excellent. If a Brit asks you really you’re doing, consciousness free to respond: “Cushty, mate!”

Scooby: The pursuing speech from The Rabbit Club explains this. It originates pinch Gel McCain talking astir his soundproofed cinema room: “I could chop you up pinch a chainsaw down here. No one’d person a Scooby!”

“What’s a Scooby?” said Ali.

“Scooby Doo, rhymes pinch clue. Keep up, son!”

Prat: A prat is an idiot. In nan novel, an aristocrat’s daughter, Beatrice Orpington-Brice, who goes by nan sanction “Bob” (her initials) is dissing her relative William: “He’s ever been a spiteful small prat!”

Knackered: Exhausted. Or, if you want to show disconnected your cockney rhyming slang skills, alternatively of saying you’re tired, you could say: “I’m cream-crackered!”

Moreish: I don’t understand why Americans haven’t adopted this awesome word. If thing is moreish, it’s addictive, you want more of it. It’s usually utilized to picture food. “This truffle popcorn is incredibly moreish.”

Chuffed: Happy and proud. “She was chuffed pinch herself for winning nan Pulitzer.”

Muppet: If a Brit calls you a muppet, they’re not saying you’re arsenic tiny arsenic Elmo, aliases a diva of Miss Piggy proportions. They’re calling you a buffoon!

Tanked: Just arsenic nan Sámi group person galore words for snow, nan Brits person a heap of words for drunkenness: turnt, squiffy, hammered, pissed, trolleyed, wankered, mullered, rat-arsed, arseholed, blootered… It’s moreover claimed location beryllium 5 100 and forty-six “drunkonyms” successful nan UK.

As an aged rockstar, Gerry has mended his ways. No much illegitimate children, nary much hellraising aliases drug-taking, and a unchangeable matrimony to his seventh wife, a Brazilian. He has, however, retained 1 vice: “Arantxa, babes, you gotta springiness maine nan sauce. I’m now ninety-nine percent eunuch, love. And that’s okay, arsenic agelong arsenic I’m tanked up half nan time.”

And if you don’t judge Britain has a much fearsome drinking civilization than nan US, I person 4 words for you. Leave it out, mate.

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The Rabbit Club by Christopher J. Yates is disposable via Hanover Square Press.