British Phrase, Please

Hmmm... need to think and it's late here. See you in the morning?

Twocced?

Comes from Taking a vehicle without consent. "That UFO twocced me."

Is he English, Welsh, or Scottish? I know you mentioned that he was in London, so does that mean he is English and from London? Is he upper, middle, or lower class?

Many British people are amusingly indirect and faux-diplomatic. I lived in Britain for several years, and witnessed this phenomenon first-hand. Southeasterners (think Kent) in particular suffer from this cultural bent.

Elsewhere it can morph into slightly different modes. For my geology and geography classes I play a documentary video on John Harrison, the famous unschooled genius clockmaker who solved the great riddle of how to determine longitude at sea. He was from the North, and at one major manor house in Lincolnshire (I think) one of his early wooden clocks has been keeping accurate time for nearly 300 years. The estate has a full-time carpenter who winds the mechanism once a week, and is interviewed in the program. He greatly admires Harrison's skill as a joiner and inventor, and his most effusive praise is:

"He didn't do a bad job, really."

caw

To be honest, I think 'scooped' is a both a rather nice understatement and mental image. 'Plucked' might be another choice, and if you need something for where they're returned to Earth (if they are), 'plonked down' is a good one. 'Popped us into a holding bay' or something along those lines (i.e. 'popped us in the boot of their spaceship') perhaps?

I wouldn't think any of what I've mentioned would be overly age-, class-, or region-specific. Unless he's especially highbrow (maybe).

Can't see an elderly gent using twocced tbh.

You could say "hoiked us up", but I think "scooped" works just as well.

saizine said:

and if you need something for where they're returned to Earth (if they are), 'plonked down' is a good one.

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If they've been returned to earth, he could say "They could've plonked us down nearer to our own front door, the intergalactic shower of bastards." ("shower o' bastards" is a phrase my dad uses all the time, which for me always conjures up an interesting mental image).

Twocced is 'tw' as in 'twat' and 'ocked' as in 'clocked'.

And yeah, 'shower o' bastards' is a very Brit saying.

Maythe said:

Can't see an elderly gent using twocced tbh.

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Why not? They were the Bill's main demographic before it was brutally murdered.

And now Orianna is even more confused......

mirandashell said:

And now Orianna is even more confused......

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LOL!

Scooped - sounds like an ice cream.

What sort of device was used? Large pincer type thing? A large scoop type thing? A ray? I think the work you use should match the method used by the space ship. Many English people use swear words when describing stressful situations.

Ok how about....

'We got sucked up into this big ship thing. Honestly, if I could have moved I'd have shown 'em what for! And then they had the bloody cheek to drop us miles from home. Bastards!

If he's elderley and from London, you could have him compare surviving the Blitz to being kidnapped by aliens. Just a thought.

Yeah.... but that was 1940. He'd have to be pretty old. To remember it himself, he'd have to be at least 5 which would mean he was born in 1935. So if it's set in 2013 he'd now be 78 years old.

Ah, ok. Right. So.


Did he actually feel he was lifted by the light? Was it a gentle float upwards or more of a suck?

Orianna2000 said:

His wife was taken, as well.

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"Typical, I get abducted by aliens and still can't get away from the bloody wife....."

'There we were, minding our own business and what d'you know? Bloody great light. And here we are, stuck in some bloody tin can. And who's watering my cucumbers, I'd like to know!

Put them all together and the guy'll have a better place in the story than any other character; you'll have to write a story with him as MC.

"There I was, walking along minding my own business and suddenly I started to rise."
"Weird! What did you think?"
"Well, to be honest I thought that it was the viagra kicking in." Sighs, "Then I caught sight of the wife . . . "

"...In my day, Rag Week was in October, and we saved our pranks for them. Bloody students..."