The Wide, Wide World Of Slang

[Deleted]

I was watching an episode of the British TV series MI5 (I think it was called 'Spooks' in the UK) and one of the characters referred to a cat as a "moggie". Good old Wikipedia helped me out a bit, but my question is this: is that current slang?

I like the word (plus, the accompanying Wikipedia article had a photo that looks exactly like my cat). Not that I would use it in general conversation, lest I come off like a lame American appropriating British slang; I'm just interested. Is it a regional UK thing? Generational?

[nycspendaholic]

fernbeau said:

I was watching an episode of the British TV series MI5 (I think it was called 'Spooks' in the UK) and one of the characters referred to a cat as a "moggie". Good old Wikipedia helped me out a bit, but my question is this: is that current slang?

I like the word (plus, the accompanying Wikipedia article had a photo that looks exactly like my cat). Not that I would use it in general conversation, lest I come off like a lame American appropriating British slang; I'm just interested. Is it a regional UK thing? Generational?

It sounds like an old word. I think it is generational and not in common use now.

But don't quote me as I'm not 100% sure (I'm only about 80% sure). Someone else who knows for sure will have to chime in on this.

[livviebway]

I grew up in Utah and through internet research I've determined this phrase to be exclusive to Utah and parts of Arizona. Instead of skipping class, one sluffs class.

[fairfox]

I was watching an episode of the British TV series MI5 (I think it was called 'Spooks' in the UK) and one of the characters referred to a cat as a "moggie". Good old Wikipedia helped me out a bit, but my question is this: is that current slang?

Moggie is still in use in the UK. It's an affectionate term. I think most British people would, most of the time, use 'cat' instead of 'moggie' but it isn't an archaic term. I, weirdly enough, often see it used in UK tabloids.

[Shanmac]

My mother would never say God Damn It, it was only Dag Nammit. I find myself saying Dag Nammit a lot myself, it makes me feel so quaint

I used to know a guy who would say that. He would also say things like, "Drat!" and "Blast!" and "It's hotter than blazes." And no, he wasn't born in 1925. I have no idea who taught him to talk like that, but I found it either cute or annoying, depending on my mod.

Heh, speaking of "Dag nabbit" (that's how my friend used to say it), my mom once smacked me (not hard, just kind of kidding) for saying "God damn it" in the car. So I kept working it into my conversation with her, and she swatted at me each time. I threw in a "dag nabbit" just to throw her off, and I got smacked anyway. No fair, Ma. Funny, because my mom takes the Lord's name in vain more than anyone I know. Except maybe me.

What's up with the fact that people in Minnesota call so many desserts "bars"? "I have to go bake the bars." When we were in MN for my friend's dad's funeral, her best friend and I went to Costco specifically to get "bars" (several different kinds) for the wake. Bars, bars, bars. Why the obsession with bars? And it seems like so many desserts -- brownies and several different cookie-type items -- can be called bars.

[Deleted]

shanmac said:

What's up with the fact that people in Minnesota call so many desserts "bars"? "I have to go bake the bars." When we were in MN for my friend's dad's funeral, her best friend and I went to Costco specifically to get "bars" (several different kinds) for the wake. Bars, bars, bars. Why the obsession with bars? And it seems like so many desserts -- brownies and several different cookie-type items -- can be called bars.

I'm not from Minnesota, but I've always classed brownies and other cookie-ish desserts baked in one big pan "bars" because that's what they look like when cut properly. Which I suck at, so I get irregular bar-like things. Most of my cookbooks refer to those kind of recipes as "bar cookies" (differentiating from shaped and drop.)

[/cooking geek] ;D

[ang]

Ive always known a moggie as a cat thats just a mongrel - your regular housecat, not a fancy breed. I still hear moggie used fairly often. We torment a stuck up Auntie by calling her siamese a moggie.

[Deleted]

Calling all Brits! This one is driving me crazy and I was reminded of it recently when watching Don Cheadle in Ocean's Eleven...what is the origin of (and here I have to go phonetic) gnaws up I can figure out a lot of Brit slang if it's the rhyming kind (cobblers = cobblers awls = balls) but this one has me beat.

I was born in Durham and when I was a kid my parents would torment me with the following, whenever I asked for more to eat: "You've had your nakes." Rhymes with stakes, meaning, "you've had all you're going to have." Anyone ever heard that one before?

[fairfox]

Can you use it in context, Duke? Is it used in the context of something being a screw-up? I was thinking maybe it was "balls up" (which means a screw up)...?

[Deleted]

From the context it seems to mean "balls-up" as in "he made a right gnaws-up of that." I'm scratching my head trying to figure out the derivation. And how it's spelled.