The British have many delightful and colorful expressions that often make no sentience to the rest of the world . fortuitously , Christopher J. Moore has decode a number of them inHow to Speak Brit : The Quintessential Guide to the King ’s English , Cockney Slang , and Other Flummoxing British phrase . Here are a few of our pet .
1. Load of Cobblers
This phrase , which means " a raft of trash or nonsensicality , " has its origin in rime slang . The full phrase , Moore writes , is " a load of shoemaker ’s awls , " and awl rime with … well , you may probably project that out . So , do n’t use this one around anybody respectable .
2. How’s your father?
Brits are all about sustain affair proper , so they ’ve get up with many grand slang terms for referring to clobber that would be considered untoward in cultivated company . " How ’s your Church Father ? " is one of these phrases . According to Moore , this bit of the C phrase was probably mint by comic Harry Tate , who used it to change the study when something he did n’t want to talk about number up . finally , it became slang for sexual activity .
3. All Mouth And No Trousers
Hailing from the N of England , this phrasal idiom is “ used to describe a humans whose good sense of self - importance is in inverse proportion to his factual relevancy , ” Moore write . The mouth refers to brash talking ; pant , of course , are pants .
4. Bob’s Your Uncle
It means “ and there you are ! ” or “ it ’s that dim-witted ! ” According to Moore , it ’s think to have originated in the late eighties , when Arthur Balfour — nephew of the straitlaced Prime Minister Robert Cecil — was appointed to be the Chief Secretary in Ireland though he had no qualifications . “ So he got the line of work strictly because Bob was his uncle , ” Moore writes . “ A nice hypothesis , and no one has number up with anything convincingly better . ”
5. By Hook or By Crook
“ A very old idiom meaning to use any mean value potential and bearing no relation to criminals , ” Moore spell . First used in the 14th century , it refers to peasants pulling down leg for firewood using either a bill - hook or a shepherd ’s crook .
6. On the Pull
Another British argot term for something considered uncivil to talk about in plain terms . If you ’re out at the public house and someone tell you they ’re “ on the pulling , ” it think they ’re look for someone to hook up with . Saucy !
7. Spend a Penny
This cant idiom for a visit to the bathroom “ comes from the erstwhile practice , literally , of take to put a centime in the door of a public can to utilise it , ” Moore writes . It ’s only appropriate for intimate configurations , so do n’t utilise it to ask where the public convenience are in a eating place !
8. Sweet Fanny Adams
It intend , essentially , f * * * all , and though it sounds delightful , it has a dark historical line : Fanny Adams was a real soul , a child who was hit and dismembered in 1867 ; she was dub " Sweet Fanny Adams " during her liquidator ’s trial and performance because of her youth and ingenuousness . Not long after , the Royal Navy bring out tinned substance ration , which the bluejacket referred to as Sweet Fanny Adams , a reference to the offence . Eventually , Moore write , “ the face scatter into wide manipulation as meaning something of little or no economic value , and was ordinarily shortened to Sweet FA . In modern usage the phrasal idiom has become baffle with another , more impolite FA , which also means ‘ absolutely nothing . ’ ”
