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British slang has “all gone Pete Tong”. New research shows that nearly 60% of Gen Zs haven’t heard the insult “lummox”, less than half know what a “ninny” is, and only slightly more are familiar with “prat” or “tosspot”. This is a travesty. It wasn’t long ago that nearly everyone in Britain would sling around insults like “blighter” or “toe rag”. Back then, the population had more of a shared pop culture, built around comedies like Only Fools and Horses. Today, with everyone getting their linguistic cues from TikTok, young Britons just copy Americans and call each other “basic” or “Karen”. |
| All is not lost. The Scottish still like to use their own slang, largely because “it’s Scottish and not English”. Someone prone to embarrassing themselves, for example, is a “roaster”; someone who’s “a danger to themselves and others” is a “weapon”. An impressive 80% of young Scots know the words “bam” and “speccy bam”, meaning, respectively, “a nutcase and a nutcase who wears glasses”. Long may this linguistic adventurousness continue. Traditional terms of abuse like “pillock” and “numpty” are softer than their contemporary equivalents, enabling a “wider range of emphasis and intensity”. They can be used to defuse what might otherwise become a tense situation. Plus, of course, they’re a lot of fun. So don’t be a wazzock, and keep the silly stuff coming. Even if it is “a load of twaddle”. |
Luke Littler MBE…huh?
June 14, 2025
