Anna Overseas

Lately I've been trying to collect Current British Slang into a book that exists only in my head. It gets frustrating in the middle of a conversation to have to interupt someone to ask them what the heck they meant.

Here's a brief collection:

punter = patron of a business. No idea where that would come from, since punter to me means football, for some reason. And by football, I don't mean soccer.

mump = as in "She had a mump at me". I think this kinda means angsting or complaining or moaning, but it might mean bitching at. Used by one of my coworkers when describing a conversation she had with one of the higher ups.

tit's up = as in "It's all gone tit's up". Probably means horribly wrong or awful, although the first time I heard it (when I was in Grade 7 Language Arts) was as a way of describing someone who'd died: she'd gone tit's up. I almost swallowed my tongue when my boss (not Kenny, his boss) used this about a situtation at work. I'm not a big fan of the word, and I had trouble telling him what he'd said that so shocked me.

Go to France = also used is "go to fuck". Basically, go fuck yourself.

knackered = which I've heard before (from Paul) to mean tired. Apparently also means broken.

I think those are the big ones.

The other thing that's really thrown me here is the assumptions people have no problem expressing. In Canada, I would never dream of asking someone with an accent how their vacation was going. We're a country of immigrants, I assume everyone I'm talking to, unless otherwise indicated, is living in Canada. (I'm usually right - Edmonton may have the World' Largest Shopping Mall, but we are not a tourist mecca.)

Here, I get asked on a daily basis in shops how my vacation is going. I usually just say "I'm not here on vacation, I've moved here, but I'm having a wonderful time". Of course, every time I hear myself saying this, I wince, because really, who the hell cares?

Related to that, the plane tickets have been purchased. Guess I am going to France.