Listen to Arctic Monkeys’ Matt Helders explain British slang

Matt Helders has given a rough guide to British slang words like “bloke”, “chav” and “proper bladdered” – check it out below.

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The Arctic Monkeys drummer was appearing on the Bandsplain podcast when he talked his American host Yasi Salek through some of the UK’s choicest colloquial terms, offering his guidance on how best to use them in everyday life.

Explaining the minute differences between a “lad” and a “bloke”, he said: “It’s sometimes the way you say it, but ‘lad’ would definitely be used like, ‘oh, he’s a bit of a lad’, and that’d be like Jack the Lad or a lad about town.”

Explaining that the American equivalent of a “lad” would be a “bro”, he added: “And then you’d have a ‘chav’ in a Kappa.” Clarifying that you get chavs “up and down the country”, he said, “I’ve been accused of being a chav in my time, my early days, I had a big windbreaker phase.”

He said a “dodgy geezer” is generally “up to no good”, while a “diamond geezer” is cool. If you’ve had a “wank” night then you have probably not had the best time, Helders explained, but if you were “bladdered” or “rat-arsed” then at least you had a few drinks to make it go by more quickly.

Listen to the full chat, which also includes an introduction to Cockney rhyming slang as well as a guide to British food like bangers and mass and butties, here:

Earlier this year, Helders revealed he has a “weird” version of ‘Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High’ that has never been released. He said it “sounds a bit like ‘R U Mine’” and is “really fun to listen to” but “it just wouldn’t have worked”.

Helders also ran into Mel C at the Grammys this year, saying that meeting the former Spice Girl made up for the band being “robbed of a Grammy or three”. They went away empty-handed after being nominated for Best Alternative Music Album for ‘The Car’, Best Alternative Music Performance and Best Rock Performance.

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