The GMTK guide to British slang (Patreon)

One of the challenges of following a YouTube creator from Great Britain* is navigating the bizarre cultural quirks that are unique to our tiny, soggy island.

I often get YouTube comments, Tweets, and Discord messages from people who are utterly baffled by some of the words, phrases, and idioms I use on a daily basis. I say things that you’d never hear outside the UK, like “utterly baffled”.

So I thought it was time to clarify some of the terms I personally use, to help you figure out what the bloody hell I’m saying in some of my videos. 

Chuffed to bits- This means “really pleased”. When I reached 600k subscribers, I was chuffed to bits. 

Faffing around- This means wasting time, wandering aimlessly, or procrastinating. In open world games, you can spend a lot of time faffing around before you actually focus on the main story. 

Bugger all- This means none or nothing. If there’s bugger all to do in No Man’s Sky, that means the game is empty and boring. I should really update No Man’s Sky...

Can’t be arsed- This means “can’t be bothered”. I can’t be arsed to sit through 30 hours of Days Gone. 

Wanky- This is a bit of a rude one, but it means “pretentious”. If I’m talking about ludonarrative dissonance or other overblown terminology, I’m going to worry that I sound a bit wanky. 

Ta- Just means “thanks”

Cheeky- So cheeky is obviously a word everywhere, meaning impolite or brazen. But I use it in lots of other contexts but I genuinely don’t know why. It just kinda fits, sometimes. 

Gagging- Desperate for something. I’m gagging for a new Metroid game. 

Telling porkies- I said this in my detective video and then later realised that 99% of people won’t know what I mean. It means telling lies, and is Cockney rhyming slang (telling lies / pork pies).

Haven’t got a scooby- Another Cockney rhyming slang, meaning I haven’t got a clue or I have no idea. Comes from Scooby Doo. 

Blower- Telephone

Bonce- Head

Blimey- General exclamation of surprise or awe. “Blimey, that’s the biggest monkey head I’ve ever seen”. 

Minted- To have loads of money. Valve can take 20 years to make Half-Life 3 if they want, they’re minted. 

Gutted- Really disappointed. If I lost all my Patreon backers I’d be absolutely gutted. Bonus word: “miffed” is like low-key gutted. If I lost 20 Patreon backers I’d be a bit miffed. 

Dodgy- A bit broken. The camera in this game is really dodgy. Can also mean creepy or suspicious, such as when talking about most gaming YouTubers. 

Knackered- Really tired. I’ve been walking around Malmo all week and now I’m knackered. 

Video game special

Mega Drive- For some reason, the Sega Genesis retained its Japanese name, the Sega Mega Drive, in Europe. We also got the Japanese Super Famicom design for our SNES, instead of the boxy purple monstrosity seen in America. We lucked out in the 16bit era!

SNES- This one’s a pronunciation. While Americans would spell out each letter (Ess En Ee Ess), Brits will often say “Snez” as one sound. I try to call it the Super Nintendo to avoid this, but slip up sometimes and say Snez. 

Computer games- this is a funny one. Growing up, I would never have said video games. They were computer games, regardless of whether they were on PC, or Mega Drive, or Game Boy. But by this point, I do just use the word video games. You win this round, America. 

Game names

For various licensing, legal, and cultural reasons, game names sometimes get changed over here. For example, Dance Dance Revolution is Dancing Stage. Star Fox is Starwing, and Star Fox 64 is Lylat Wars. Contra is Probotector (and has robots instead of burly dudes). Bully is Canis Canem Edit. Grand Theft Auto is Stealy Wheely Automobiley. 

Okay that one might not be real. 

If I’ve missed any, shout in the comments and I’ll let you know the translation!

*If you’ve ever wondered what the difference is between UK, Great Britain, and England, then England is a country. Great Britain is the physical island that England lives on, alongside Scotland and Wales. The United Kingdom is a sovereign state that wraps up the countries on Great Britain, and also Northern Ireland. 

Unless we need to be specific, we use them interchangeably. I’d call myself British, English, or “from the UK” without thinking much about it.