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Neil tells Li that he lost the party mood after bumping into a bunch of lairy blokes in a bar. What on earth can that mean? Find out more about this common word.
Lairy football fans
The script for this programme
Neil: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, I'm Neil.
Li: And I'm Li. Did you stay much longer last night at the office party?
Neil: Yes I did. After you left we went on to a bar in the City.
Li: Oh sounds good! We had an office party last night. I left early but Neil and a few colleagues went on to a bar in the city of London – the financial district. How was it?
Neil: Actually it was pretty bad. There were all these traders getting drunk and shouting a lot about their cars and expensive clothes and holidays. You know, they were just really lairy.
Li: They were what?
Neil: Lairy.
Li: Lairy. This adjective is used to describe people, usually men, behaving in a loud, excited and slightly aggressive way. So it wasn't much fun?
Neil: No, they made it miserable for everyone else in the place, to be honest.
Li: So the bar was full of drunk and noisy men. They were talking loudly about their expensive things. They sound very lairy. Here's another example of the word.
Example
A: Shall we go shopping in Kensington on Saturday afternoon?
B: I'd love to but I hate getting the Tube to Kensington on a Saturday. It's always full of lairy Chelsea fans on their way to the football.
A: Yes, you're right. It's really scary when they're so drunk and shouting and singing. How about somewhere else?
Neil: Those women don't want to get the Tube near the Chelsea football ground on a Saturday because the fans travelling to the stadium are often drunk and shouting and singing. They're lairy.
Li: Yes, I've been in that situation too. It's not much fun. So, this word 'lairy': is it common?
Neil: I'd say it's quite common, but slang. And you wouldn't often write it. But you'll hear British and Australian people using it; especially in the situations we've talked about.
Li: Anything else I need to know?
Neil: Yes, you should use the word in combination with 'blokes'. This is British slang meaning 'men'.
Li: Lairy blokes.
Neil: That's right. That's all from us, but we'll leave you with the sound of lairy blokes watching football.
Li: Bye!
(Angry football crowd)
