You're mingin'!

Although I've done well to maintain my Aussie drawl of an accent, over the past 9 months my vocab has definitely become colourfully peppered with a few choice British words.

Among my favourites would be:

• init - used at the end of a sentence such as "It's bloody cold today, init".
• bless - like 'awwww, how sweet'. For example... Person one: "I just saw a kitten cuddled up with that big scary looking dog" Person two: "Ahh bless".
• You alright? - no, not used to ask if you are in fact ok, but just a general greeting, like Aussies might say 'how 'ya going?' Causes much confusion and frustration amongst my fellow antipodeans, as we often think we must be looking sick or miserable or something with everyone showing such a concern for our well being (Mark resorts to that old chestnut 'No! I'm half left you silly git!').

And then there is the long list of cliched office jargon: 'let's discuss this offline', 'we need to manage expectations', 'don't let the tail wag the dog' and 'squaring off the circle'.

Of course, this leads into all the overly-political-correct phrases like 'thought shower' instead of 'brain storm' (as brain storm is considered offensive to epileptics) and a ban on the words 'nitty gritty' (as is refers to the area of the ship that was used to transport African slaves back in the day).

But then there is the best of the bunch - my all time favourite: minging (pronounced mingin').

Made famous by iconic chavs such as Ali G and Jade Goody, minging is a slang word for 'disgusting'. It is extremely versatile and leaves a nice, graphic visual in your mind.

Some of the examples of use I've come across since arriving include:

'Takes your boots off before getting in the car, they're minging' father to his 7-year-old son after a bush walk in the forest in Caithness, Scotland.

'What do you think of Steve, do you think he's a minger?' My skanky, white-trash former flat mate Brenda, after introducing me to her new 'boyfriend' (p.s. he was, but so is she).

'Would you like a cup of tea?', 'Would love one thanks, but I need to wash my mug out - it's minging' Work mates in my office.

I have fully embraced 'minging' and now use it as much as I can. I urge all of you to jump on the minging band wagon too, share the minging love and brighten the day of those mingers around you.