Weird English phrases continued

Here's some more British English which I find is not used overseas! The first two were new even to an American friend.

1. Gammy
This is a slightly old fashioned term. It's an adjective meaning 'not working properly, damaged'. I've only heard it used to refer to human limbs, but it might have other uses! After a recent fight injury, I used this: "Hold on, I can't walk so fast with my gammy leg!"

2. Self-flage (self-flaj)
Short for self-flagellation, something very religious Christian monks used to do to punish themselves (for sins). Now we use it a bit jokingly; self-flage is definitely informal language, and to be honest I've never seen it written down so I'm not sure of the spelling! It means to do something, voluntarily or not, which is harmful, difficult or annoying to ourselves.

Example:
"I can't believe she went back to him, that's a bit self-flage." or
"I'm going to spend the weekend in the office working on X - total self-flage!"

3. Urchin
This is another old-fashioned term. It refers traditionally to a mischievous small child, often a poor one or 'street kid'. Most of the kids in Oliver the musical would be considered urchins. Sometimes also called street urchins. We don't use it very much in modern English.

In old fashioned English, urchin also meant 'hedgehog' - hence the name for another spiny creature, the sea urchin.


For more odd UK English...
A couple more strange 'English' terms
Four more weird English phrases
Three weird English phrases