Top Ten British Words~~They Invented The Language And I Do Not Understand A Word!!

At Red River, in Second Life, we used to have a 'Word Of The Day' board up in the saloon. Most of the words on the board each week came from our British quests and it was fun trying to fit them into our everyday conversation. So I was delighted to find this Top Ten List of British Words at the Merriam-Webster website.  Although Merriam-Webster is a dictionary of American English, it contains a range of words rarely heard outside Britain.

Top Ten British Words:

#10: Pukka~~genuine, authentic; first-class

#9: Boffin~~a scientific expert and especially one involved in technological research

#8: Gormless~~lacking intelligence: stupid

#7: Whinge~~to complain fretfully: whine

#6: Chunter~~to talk in a low inarticulate way: mutter

#5: Plonk~~cheap or inferior wine( I bet the French hate this one)

#4: Jiggery-pokery~~dishonest or suspicious activity; nonsense

#3: Knackered~~tired, exhausted(One of my favorite words of all time and one that had at one time gained popularity at Red River)

#2: Twee~~affectedly or excessively dainty, delicate, cute, or quaint

#1: Prat~~a stupid or foolish person

I love everyone of them and I will make an effort to include them in my everyday discourse. I am including some sentence examples here so you can get a feel for how they might be used.

 

"Went for a 4 miler and then when I got back from work we took the kids swimming. Nice and knackered now." – blog post at SoreLimbs.co.uk, January 18, 2011

"[Greece] flouted European Union rules on the limits to budget deficits; its national accounts were a moussaka of minced statistics, topped with a cheesy sauce of jiggery-pokery." – Jeff Randall, The Telegraph, May 20, 2010  ( I think I just had an orgasm, lol)

"Gormless, unhelpful and poorly trained shop staff create merry hell for customers who are simply exercising their legal rights to a repair, refund or replacement." – Sam Dunn, Two Pennies Worth blog, March 22, 2011

"Brain boffins at University College London have made a major breakthrough in the ongoing effort to bridge the gap between man and machine." – Rik Myslewski, The Register, April 11, 2011 (I think Cally just had an orgasm,,hahahah)

So there you have it. My educational moment of the month. The importance of language in how you present yourself can not be calculated easily; but it is a rare occurence to come across a successful person that is not well spoken, well read and well written.

“Being deeply learned and skilled, being well trained and using well spoken words; This is good luck”~~Buddha

Love ya,

Night