the Top Gear British phrases explanation thread

Hey, maybe it's a bit annoying, but can anybody explain me what Jemremy's said exactly about James in 12x02 in the very begining of Fiat 500 review? It's starts like "We're talking about man, who ..." etc. Ends with murmured "Weirdoo" i suppose
He says:"Mind you we are talking here about a man that says that if he came to power, his first job would be to carpet-bomb the Cotswold-town of Burford.". Seems like that town stands for something James doesn't fancy! :lol:

Probably. I hope you're not getting the impression that I'm claiming to be the "foreign joke ubermeister"; almost everything I've said has been a Google/UD/Wiki/combination search
No way man, you're doing important work here. :)

About the two phrases, I have searched. For "bare-face cheek" (independently of the spelling), I only get links to a website about skin care and music. Even UD doesn't know this. So for someone that does not know that it is "mooning", there's is little chance of finding it. Of course, I can derive the meaning from the scene, but in the end, that's just a good guess.

Different problem for "effrontery". Since I had no clue how to spell it, nothing was able to tell me what that means. I thought it had to do with 'to affront', but obviously, it doesn't. Neither google, nor my online dictionary (which is excellent otherwise) did suggest effrontery as an alternative.

So I might sound picky and stuff, but this actually is hard to work out when you face such problems. I know it looks odd for a native speaker, but these things can be hard to find.
 
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Okay, more explanations please for:

ASBO (as mentioned in the Ford Fiesta review back in series 7 when Jeremy called it the ASBO)
Chav (during 12x05 after James says his boat is one and a quarter million pounds and then Richard says Chav)
Nursing a Semi (it's been mentioned a few times by Jeremy but still don't know what that means)
 
ASBO - Anti Social Behaviour Order. Basically a sort of injunction put on someone who has been causing a nuisance - for instance playing their stereo excessively loud. Generally given to chavs. Can't think of an easy description for them, but "anti-social, benefit scrounging scumbags who sit around taking everything and giving nothing back" will do for the moment.

Nursing a Semi - The male state of partial tumescence
 
ASBO (as mentioned in the Ford Fiesta review back in series 7 when Jeremy called it the ASBO)
I know it's a cliche that women do not know about cars, but may I just say that it was a Ford Focus? :lol:

To make up for that evil comment of mine, I will put these into post #1. ;)
 
Okay, more explanations please for:

ASBO (as mentioned in the Ford Fiesta review back in series 7 when Jeremy called it the ASBO)
An ASBO is an Anti Social Behaviour Order, which is given out by a court if people consistently cause low level trouble, that cannot be more appropriately dealt with in the Criminal system. It often involves being banned from certain shops or areas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-social_behaviour_order
Chav (during 12x05 after James says his boat is one and a quarter million pounds and then Richard says Chav)
A chav is a generally white working class yob who typically wears a lot of gaudy jewellery and designer labels - particularly associated with Burberry. An example would be Vicky Pollard from Little Britain. The US equivalent would probably be "White Trash" or "Rednecks" although I don't know those terms massively well.
asbo_chav.jpg

Nursing a Semi (it's been mentioned a few times by Jeremy but still don't know what that means)
"Nursing a semi" basically refers to a partial erection.
 
Got the ASBO and the Chav. Can anybody tell me when Jeremy made the "nursing a semi" comment? Must have been at an appearance of the Alfa Romeo Brera.

Oh, and can anybody tell me how exactly it is to be understood. I guess "semi" is as in "half erect", but what about "nursing"?
 
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A penile erection (or nearly, as not in quite copulation mode - hence semi) - the nursing bit is something along the lines of - keeping it erect I think.
 
Got the ASBO and the Chav. Can anybody tell me when Jeremy made the "nursing a semi" comment? Must have been at an appearance of the Alfa Romeo Brera.

You're spot on with that one. It was in 6x06 (the race to Oslo) where they first had the Brera in the studio. JC and Hammond are enthusing over how it looks and Jezza says "I only have to imagine this in black......with tan leather........and I'm nursing a semi" (relevant Clarkonsesque pauses inserted for your reading pleasure). They had to do a second take for this piece as you can clearly see at one point the bespectacled dickhead in the white T with the red detail who did his best to get into every shot the whole day - he's right there during the News too. Twat!

Mrs Hersworksfine and Yours Truly spent the whole day trying to avoid being on camera but as they moved us around to shoot this part we ended right behind Jeremy (her dark blond hair in a shirt bob and a white sleeveless blouse, me glasses and a dark turquoise short-sleeved shirt. She looks hot 'though in spite of nearly fainting due to a combination of the heat (it was a [really/I] hot day that day) and morning sickness!)

Realises the time and heads off upstairs to see if Mrs HWFT is still awake and ....er.........none of your business.
 
Realises the time and heads off upstairs to see if Mrs HWFT is still awake and ....er.........none of your business.
Since yourworksfine, you're not accidently nursing a semi and can explain the phrase to me? :mrgreen:
 
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Okay, more explanations please for:

ASBO (as mentioned in the Ford Fiesta review back in series 7 when Jeremy called it the ASBO)
Chav (during 12x05 after James says his boat is one and a quarter million pounds and then Richard says Chav)
Nursing a Semi (it's been mentioned a few times by Jeremy but still don't know what that means)

This thread is excellent entertainment.:D

*abbr.*

James was indeed called Captain Cocksure, but was also called Captain Pugwash in the second Amphibious car challenge. Captain Pugwash is a pirate from a kids TV series, which I think has the most memorable theme tune ever made.

Here's a video with the theme tune. Don't know what's supposed to be going on though in the epsiode.

*abbr.*

Thought so (my previous Post) , thanks Matt.:)

Might as well write what's quid (slang for GB Pound), for the daftest of us TG viewers.
Also, referring to the status of cars, there's 'nick', 'MOT', 'SitRep' and so on.
Other suggestions:
- Cow GTi, as the Audi TT
- Minicab
- AirCon


And a quote you forgot - "I have not had my teeth done!"
Not sure if Final Daihatsu is asking question or what, the following may help.


* * *
quid = slang for GB Pound.
nick = to steal (as a verb)
or alternatively
nick = a Police Station (as a noun)

MOT = Annual safety check of a vehicle (a certificate)
SitRep = Situation Report, Army jargon or slang meaning what is currently happening

Cow GTi, as the Audi TT = ? not sure what is being asked here?

Minicab = A Cab which you have to telephone rather than hail in the street.
In London
Black Cabs = Taxis
Saloon cars various = Minicabs​
AirCon = Air Conditioning
 
Mini Cabs are not allowed by law to ply for trade.

A Black cab (a la Stephen Fry) has always been a 'haven', especially for the "threatened female" in London.
 
On the "chav" thing Richmondgal, our Aussie equvalent is those idiots with tons of "bling" in their hotted up Camrys hooning around at 11pm in suburban areas. Don't know if the Victorian term for them is different, but my friends and I alternate between the terms bogans and (stolen from the Brits) boyracers.

EDIT: just heard the term "hoons" used for aussie chavs on a breakfast program, I've only heard of "hooning" being used as a verb, so that's another one.

And nicked is also a verb for "caught" Heathrow, which is how May uses it in the phrase "... he's been nicked by the Rozzers"
haven't heard it used as an alternative for police station lately, that's a long-lost saying where I live!
 
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No, we still use the nick as the Police station - see the Bill. Rozzers and Bill obviously = Police

Yeah, I'm just saying it's long lost in Australian slang- offtopic sorry! I was just making sure that the definition had all of its uses in it.

and I don't watch the bill... don't kill me :)
 
Neither do I - The Bill - it is now and has always been cheap!

To be completely accurate the Bill is short hand for the 'Old Bill' actually.

Ooh, look what I found!

"Origins of the name "Old Bill"
We are often asked about the origins of "The Old Bill" or "The Bill" as slang names for the police. The simple answer is that no one really knows for sure. Over the years at least 13 different possibilities have been proposed, as follows:

"Old Bill" was King William IV, whose constables were an early form of police. (It is often said erroneously that he was on the throne when the police were founded. Actually he did not succeed George IV until 1830)

The play "The Custom of the Country" written by John Fletcher in 1619 has constables of the watch refer to themselves as 'us peacemakers and all our bill of authority'.

Constables of the watch were sometimes nicknamed for the bills, or billhooks they carried as weapons.

Kaiser Wilhelm I of Prussia visited England around the time in 1864 when the police uniform changed from top hat and swallowtail coat to helmet and tunic. Such 'Prussian militarism' may have led to the police being nicknamed after the first (and today less remembered) Kaiser Bill.

The 'old bill' was, in Victorian times, a bill presumed to be presented by the police for a bribe to persuade them to turn a blind eye to some nefarious activity.
New laws for the police to enforce all come from bills passed through Parliament

"Old Bill" might refer to Bill Bailey of the music hall song 'Won't You Come Home...?' used in conjunction with a pun on the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey.

In the 1860s there was a Sergeant Bill Smith in Limehouse. He was a popular character and people used to ask after 'Old Bill'.

Many police officers wore authoritarian-looking "Old Bill" moustaches like that adorning a famous W.W.1 cartoon character 'the wily old soldier in the trenches' by Bruce Bairnsfather.

In 1917 the government used Bairnsfather's character in posters and advertisements putting over wartime messages under the heading "Old Bill says...". For this campaign the character was dressed in a special constable's uniform.

The original vehicles used by the Flying Squad all had the registration letters BYL, so the squad became known as 'the Bill'.

The London County Council at one time registered all police, fire and ambulance vehicles with the letters BYL

According to old Etonian illegal gaming club organizer and author the late Robin Cook ('Derek Raymond'), 'old bill' is a racing term for an outsider or unknown quantity. From the point of view of the underworld, police would be outsiders

Despite all these suggestions, the earliest documented usage traced by the Metropolitan Police Historical Museum is from 1970 and 'Partridge's Dictionary of Slang'. Without giving citations the book dates "Old Bill" from the 1950s "or perhaps earlier". So the term may possibly be post W.W.2."

Reference: http://www.met.police.uk/history/oldbill.htm
 
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An ASBO is an Anti Social Behaviour Order, which is given out by a court if people consistently cause low level trouble, that cannot be more appropriately dealt with in the Criminal system. It often involves being banned from certain shops or areas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-social_behaviour_order

A chav is a generally white working class yob who typically wears a lot of gaudy jewellery and designer labels - particularly associated with Burberry. An example would be Vicky Pollard from Little Britain. The US equivalent would probably be "White Trash" or "Rednecks" although I don't know those terms massively well.
asbo_chav.jpg


"Nursing a semi" basically refers to a partial erection.

The US equivalent of a chav would be a "wigger." http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wigger

The UK equivalent of "white trash" or "rednecks" might be gypsies.
 
Or, alternatively, a beer faucet.
 
I think this thread was a good idea. However some of the things seem pretty obvious to me but I'm sure things I don't get will be obvious to others.

There's a word James says in the Rolls vs. Merc piece in 11x05 I can't figure out. After James has gone through the slalom and Jeremy is about to go he flicks his little shock-absorber-hydraulic-pressure-boooster lever and James says something that sounds like "core" (I don't seem to have the episode on my computer anymore but it's at about 4:26 in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsj4OAN6JSE). Anyone know?

Edit: Could it be "corr" as in "corr blimey" which I just found?
 
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