meaning - How many of the "Top 10 favorite British words" are understood by Americans?


Merriam-Webster Dictionary online shows “Top 10 Favorite British Words”. I’m interested in knowing how many of the listed words are understood or accepted by Americans as English, whichever British English or English slang.


The words listed as the top 10 Favorite English are:



  1. prat meaning “a stupid person”,

  2. twee meaning “affectedly or excessively dainty, delicate, cute, or quaint”,

  3. knackered meaning “exhausted”,

  4. jiggery-pokery meaning “dishonest activity, or nonsense”,

  5. plonk meaning “cheap wine”,

  6. chunter meaning “mutter”,

  7. whinge meaning “whine”,

  8. gormless meaning “stupid”,

  9. boffin meaning “scientific expert”,

  10. pukka meaning “genuine, first class”.



Answer



As a reasonably intelligent American, I understand seven of these without the definitions (prat, twee, knackered, plonk, whinge, boffin, pukka). I would say that none of those sound remotely native to the American English speaker with the possible exception of twee, which is occasionally used (although generally with a negative connotation -- sickeningly cute or cloying).


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