MovieChat Forums > Happy Valley (2014) Discussion > Learning useful vocabulary

Learning useful vocabulary


I love this show and as an American I have to rewind every now and then to get the full effect of the colorful terms used - especially by Catherine.

-Referring to the councilman who she arrested as a "teflon twat"
-Being told by the inspector it was "procedure and what we do" and replying "no it's a wank and a toss"

But the best might go to little Ryan when he was mad at Catherine and called her an "old cow bitch wanker", spit some water across the room on that one.

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I'm an American who watches a lot of British TV, but I watch this one with subtitles turned on.

I might start working "numptie" into my vocabulary.

Other words which were new to me:

lag - a convict
reet - ok, good, fine
"She's poorly" - She's not well
SOCO - Scene of Crime Officer, I think

I can think of 1-2 others which are too colorful for polite company.

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Calling the punks they arrest for street crimes “scrotes”. Yes, Urban Dictionary confirms this is an anatomically inspired term

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"Pin your Jodrells back" was new to me.

Can't believe it has anything to do with what urbandictionary thinks Jodrells means though.

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