British alternative to "kick ass"?

If it's contemporary I think 'kick-arse' would be fine - not kick-ass though. You've used a good alternative yourself - thrash, or thrashed.

It's a little long-winded, but I'm fond of 'handed his arse on a silver platter', or as I like to say, being butlered.

Dave

I share your doubts about saying 'kick arse' or 'kick ass'.
I'm fond of the phrase 'stuffed out of sight' to describe the kind of overwhelming victory you refer to.

Kicking someone's arse, yeah pretty okay I think. I don't hear it as in the phrase 'That was really kick-arse' though for something good. It's more about the arse-kicking as in your actual kicking it.

Some alternatives

Threatening: "I'm going to kick your arse into next week!"

Triumphant: "We wiped the floor with them/knocked seven shades of snot out of them!"*

Complimentary: "That curry was the dog's bollocks!"

Give them a slap. Give them a smack. Give them a spank.



(Gets overexcited and has to retire to a dark room)

This thread is the bollocks.

And you, my American fellow AWers, will get your arses felt.

I don't think it would bother me much. After all, I've started writing check for cheque these days....

Showed them how it's done. Walked all over them. Showed them who's boss.

Give 'em shit!

Give them a gubbing.

I think you can get away with "kick-ass" as an adjective, since it's made its way into British English as a loan-word:

"That was a seriously kick-ass movie."

Any other usage, though, it depends on context. In the imperative, "(go and) kick ass!", maybe "Give 'em what for!"? If it's an exclamation, "(that was) kick ass!", some of the suggestions above, like "You showed him who's boss" would be more idiomatic, or just "You totally kicked his arse".

Wander over to Quora, where Jonathon Green - the world's pre-eminent expert on English language slang - seems to be happy to answer all kinds of slang-related queries.

Priene said:

Give them a gubbing.

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I'll take thee knackers and have 'em fer earrings!

Sorry, sorry, couldn't resist

My favourite (for telling someone to go kick ass) "Put some welly into it!" or "Give him some welly!"

From wellingtons-big boots. It's a pretty useful phrase meaning 'give it all you've got'.

So long as none of your UK male characters refer to having hurt their fannies you'll be fine.

But yeah,

"Kicked his arse" for violence. Is fine. But if you want kick-arse as a complimentary it would grate for me to have coming from a UK character. Our language may be becoming more Americanised amongst the younger ones, but I've still yet to know anyone who uses "kick-ass" as a positive. Phrases equivalent will vary from region region but phrases I grew up with include

dog's bollocks
fucking minted
fanbloodytastic
well dead good
fecking marvellous

The fecks and fucks are important. We are not such a polite bunch

Also as a general cheering-on of someone as in watching sport, dog racing etc, COME ON MY SON! Regardless of whether the thing being cheered is your son, male or even human

My best advice is - play Killing Floor for a bit. The characters are all delightfully working-class-British-Londoner in the way they speak.

http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/index.htm

A pretty complete dictionary of britishisms.

On my trip to England, I learned this one: Get stuck in! Is that close to what the OP wants?

Kitty Pryde said:

Get stuck in!

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I just had a flashback to my old games teacher.

If I were being slangy, I'd say "thrash them" rather than "kick ass" in that context.

If I saw "kick ass" coming from an Englishman's mouth in a novel, I'd assume the novel was written by an American who hadn't bothered with any research.

I love the episode of Fawlty Towers where Basil tries to get all Clint Eastwood and shouts "I've had enough of this ARSE!"

Rufus Coppertop said:

If I saw "kick ass" coming from an Englishman's mouth in a novel, I'd assume the novel was written by an American who hadn't bothered with any research.

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Agreed. A British author could have a British character use it in a smirky, sarcastic way, but that wouldn't come over from a foreigner author.

You should join us at CB2 one Saturday - I'm sure the Cambridge NaNoWriMo crowd could put you straight