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British sayings like ‘chuffed to bits’ and ‘storm in a teacup’ at risk of dying out in next few years
People might not be seeing a man about a dog for much longer…
A number of traditional British sayings are at risk of becoming fully extinct in the next few years, new research has revealed this week.
The study, conducted by Perspectus Global, quizzed 2,000 members of the British public aged between eighteen and fifty on their knowledge of a variety of traditional sayings.
Ultimately, it was found that fifty phrases could be soon lost from the English language all together.
Of the people surveyed, 78% had never used the the phrase ‘pearls before swine’, while 71% had never used ‘colder than a witch’s tit’ or ‘nail your colours to the mast’.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, 70% of Brits don’t wave goodbye with a jolly ‘pip pip’ anymore, either – did anyone ever say this?
Brooke Cagle / Unsplash
And even the more popular sayings such as ‘flogging a dead horse’, ‘having a chinwag’ and ‘cool as a cucumber’ aren’t safe, with 54%, 52% and 51% of the Brits surveyed claiming not to use them.
Other high-risk sayings include ‘it’s chock a block’, ‘not enough room to swing a cat’, ‘snug as a bug in a rug’, ‘pardon my French’ and ‘chuffed to bits’.
Ellie Glason from Perspectus Global said on the findings: “It’s interesting to see from our research how language evolves and changes over the years.
“It would seem that, many of the phrases which were once commonplace in Britain, are seldom used nowadays.”
@wadeaustinellis / Unsplash
Here is the full list of British sayings in risk of dying out:
- Pearls before swine 78% [have never used the phrase]
- Nail your colours to the mast 71%
- Colder than a witch’s tit 71%
- Pip pip 70%
- Know your onions 68%
- A nod is as good as a wink 66%
- A stitch in time saves nine 64%
- Ready for the knackers yard 62%
- I’ve dropped a clanger 60%
- A fly in the ointment 59%
- Keen as mustard 58%
- A flash in the pan 57%
- Tickety boo 57%
- A load of codswallop 56%
- A curtain twitcher 56%
- Knickers in a twist 56%
- Dead as a doornail 55%
- A dog’s dinner 55%
- It’s chock a block 55%
- Storm in a teacup 55%
- Could not organise a p*** up in a brewery 54%
- Not enough room to swing a cat 54%
- Flogging a dead horse 54%
- Toe the line 54%
- Popped her clogs 54%
- Drop them a line 53%
- Steal my thunder 53%
- A few sandwiches short of a picnic 53%
- A legend in one’s own lifetime 52%
- Be there or be square 52%
- Fell off the back of a lorry 52%
- A bodge job 52%
- Eat humble pie 52%
- Having a chinwag 52%
- Put a sock in it 52%
- Mad as a Hatter 51%
- Spend a penny 51%
- Cool as a cucumber 51%
- It’s gone pear shaped 51%
- It cost a bomb 51%
- Raining cats and dogs 51%
- See a man about a dog 51%
- It takes the biscuit 50%
- He’s a good egg 50%
- Snug as a bug in a rug 49%
- Chuffed to bits 49%
- Have a gander 49%
- Selling like hot cakes 49%
- Pardon my French 48%
- A Turn up for the books 45%