Scouse Slang: A List Of 18 Essential Scouse Slang Words & Phrases Used In The Liverpool City Region — From 'Bevvy' And 'Boss' To 'Baltic'

Here Is An Important List Of Liverpudlian, Or Scouse Slang, Words That You Will Hear When You Visit Liverpool - From 'Boss', 'Bevvy' And 'Baltic' To 'Clobber' — Plus, An Overview On The Liverpool City Region

The world-famous Royal Liver Building situated on the Pier Head in Liverpool City Centre (Credit: The Liverpudlian/This image is an original piece of work by The Liverpudlian Team).

Scouse Slang is of course well understood by locals to the Liverpool City Region, however, if you are just moving to Liverpool you will definetly want a list of Scouse slang words you can reference when you hear some of your newfound friends speak.

Regardless of if you are moving to Liverpool for work, to study at one of our many Universities that house around 70,000 students, or if you just feel like relocating to a new city, this quick guide will help you get on your way with some of the local slang terms used in the Liverpool City Region.

The Liverpool City Region (LCR) comprises of 6 Metropolitan Boroughs, with a population of more than 1.6 Million people having an intertwined culture and heritage, whilst all still enjoying their own localised identities to their specific Boroughs and neighbourhoods. The LCR includes the City of Liverpool & the Boroughs of Wirral, Knowsley, Halton, St. Helens and Sefton. There are also two additional Associate Boroughs to the Liverpool City Region include the Borough of West Lancashire (West Lancs) and the Borough of Warrington.

Here is some of the local Liverpool slang words and phrases that you will hear used across the City's Six Boroughs.

Scouse Slang Quick Links

Here's Quick Links for some of the Scouse Slang you will hear in Liverpool, we have put some of the key Liverpool Vocabulary in bold with a quick link to the word. Just click on them to go straight to them.

Scouse // Boss // Sound // Clobber // Smashing it // Baltic // Ta-ra // Bevvied // Our Kid // Scran // Bizzies // Lad // Sound as a pound // Going the ozzy // Jarg // Scally // Antwacky // Bonus Words: Blag // Devo'd/Devoed // Cob On // More coming soon!

18 Scouse Slang Words & Phrases & A Few Bonus Ones Too:

1. 'Scouse' - First and foremost, what does 'Scouse' even mean? Well, I'll tell you. The word 'Scouse' is the nickname for Liverpudlians. It's the name of the bowl of the imported Scandinavian stew, which is called 'Lobscouse', or 'Scouse.' This then led to the nickname of the local inhabitants of the Liverpool Bay Area that ate the stew in the Port of Liverpool areas being also known as 'Scousers', in addition to their official name of Liverpudlians. The Port of Liverpool traditionally spans multiple Liverpool Boroughs: The City of Liverpool, the Borough of Wirral and the Borough of Sefton. With the modern expansion of the Liverpool Free Port, this also now includes the Borough of St Helens. Some of the key Port of Liverpool Areas across the Boroughs that ate Scouse included the likes of the Pier Head, Dingle, Birkenhead, Seaforth, Bootle and Wallasey. Scouse then also became known as the nickname of the Liverpudlian Accent that the local people spoke with, which is influenced by an amalgamation of poor air quality, and a whole host of immigration from around the world, as well as from across the UK; including Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

2. 'Boss' - Liverpool's almost emblematic slang word that most people will know about before visiting the City. Saying something is 'Boss' means that it is brilliant or excellent. E.g. 'Mate, I can't believe you got the job! Well in. That's boss, that is.'

3. 'Sound' - This an agreeable word meaning good or great. E.g. "Yeah that's sound mate, I'll see you there."

4. 'Clobber' - This term means clothes. E.g. 'I need to get some new clobber.'

5. 'Smashing It' - A phrase used when you are doing really well. It is a phrase that is used to express delight when someone is succeeding at something that they want to achieve. Eg. 'She's absolutely smashing it with her exams.'

6. 'Baltic' - This means extremely cold, however, can just more gerenally mean that the weather is partiularly cold. This derives from The Baltic Triangle neighbourhood due to the whaling trade in the Baltic Sea which during the Winter months it can be dangerously cold. E.g. "I'm not going outside, it's baltic out there."

7. 'Ta-Ra' - This is a way of saying goodbye which has been influenced by the speakers of the Welsh language due to the fact that 'Ta-ra' is the Welsh word for 'Goodbye'. E.g. 'Ta-ra mate, see you later.'

8. 'Bevvied' - This means drunk. E.g. 'He was well bevvied last night, he could hardly stand up straight.'

9. 'Our Kid' - Pronounced 'are kid', this is often used to refer to a sibling or close relative. E.g. "Me and our kid are going to the match.'

10. 'Scran' - This simply means food. E.g. 'I'm absolutely starving, shall we go get some scran?'

11. 'Bizzies' - Used when referring to the police. E.g. 'Stop acting like a divvy, the bizzies are about.'

12. 'Lad' - Whilst this term is not exclusive to Liverpool, it is a word that is used as a way to almost punctuate sentences. E.g. 'I'ya lad, how are we?'

13. 'Sound As A Pound' - This means something is great and can be used as a term of agreement. E.g. 'Sound as a pound, I'll see you then.'

14. 'Going The Ozzy' - This phrase means going to the hospital. E.g. 'He's sadly ended up in the ozzy after that fall. Hopefully he'll be out again soon.'

15. 'Jarg' - This means that something is fake or broken. E.g.'I don't know why my phone is acting all jarg, I'll reset it and see if that does the trick.'

16. 'Scally' - This is a term that can be used to desribe someone who is causing trouble and is behaving in a manner in a rough way that is deemed inappropriate. E.g. 'Keep an eye out on those scallies over there.'

17. 'Antwacky' - This means that something is old-fashioned or percieved to be out of date. E.g. 'That vintage shop on Bold Street sells some proper antwacky clothes you know'

18. 'Z-Cars' - Another, more obscure word for the police. This takes its name from the 60s TV show 'Z-Cars' which was set in the fictional town of Newtown near Liverpool. The place Newtown was based on was Kirkby which is situated in the Borough of Knowsley in the Liverpool City Region and now firmly sits as part of the suburban Liverpool neighbourhoods. E.g. 'The Z-Cars are over there, lad.'

19. Bonus Word: 'Blag' - This means to talk your way out of a situation or to trick someone into thinking that you can do something when you actually can't. It is essentially another word to desribe someone as 'lying'. E.g. 'He blagged his way into that job, he wasn't nearly fit for the role. It's so unfair.'

20. Bonus Word: 'Devo'd'/'Devoed' - This term is short for 'devastated'. The expression is used to state complete and utter disappointment about a stituation. It can be used both casually over something small or a minor inconvenience, yet also carried weight for something more serious. E.g. 'I was proper devo'd that we missed the flight, it just threw our plans out of the window.'

21. Bonus Word: 'Cob On' - If someone's in a bad mood or is acting in a very grumpy manner, then they will likely be described as having a 'cob on'. It's a playful way of acknowledging that someone is in a mood without taking it too seriously by letting them know you are aware that they are upset in a non confrontational way. E.g. 'You've got a right cob on since you walked through the door. Come on now, what's up?'
    

Overview Of Scouse Slang

Whilst not all words may be refined to the Liverpool City Region, such as 'scran' and 'lad', they are used exponentially more in the City as opposed to many other parts of the UK. With common terms such as 'bevvy', 'boss' and 'baltic' being second nature to many locals, those that are visiting Liverpool will more than likely need these localised terms explained to them.

What Scouse Slang Do You Use?

This is just a small selection of the local lingo, and we'll add some bonus slang now and again to keep it up-to-date! Yet it provides a more in-depth look at some of the Liverpool City Region's quirky vocabulary, what they mean and why they are used.

Let us know in the comments further down or through our email address what Liverpool Slang you use the most, what your thoughts are on some of the local language, or your own opinions and stories about the Liverpool lingo. And please do let us know of any little stories you have that you think may be of interest!

The internationally recognisable Pier Head which forms part of Liverpool Waterfront in Liverpool City Centre (Credit: The Liverpudlian/This image is an original piece of work by The Liverpudlian Team).

New To Liverpool?

Let us know what Liverpool Slang words that you found the funniest, the most unusual, and ones that if you tried to guess before reading this article, you just wouldn't even have a clue about.