by Daisy White
Kark: die
Keep it under your hat: keep it a secret
Keep mum about it: keep it a secret
Keep your hair on: don’t get so excited
Kneecapping: punish by shooting in the kneecap
Knee-trembler: sex standing up
Knighted: given a British honour
Knock his block off: punch him hard, block = head
Lad: young man
Lass: young woman
Late birds: people who stay up late
Lecky: electricity
Lift: elevator
Lippy: lipstick — can also mean loquacious
Little hussy: girl of loose morals
Load of tripe: lot of nonsense
Loft: attic
Lonnnie Donegan: father of British skiffle music
Loo: toilet (also bog, khasi)
Lorry: a truck
LSE: London School of Economics
Mac: raincoat
Magistrate: a civil officer who administers the law
Mantelpiece: shelf above a fireplace
Mare: derogatory term for woman, or can mean having a bad day (nightmare)
Marmite or Bovril: meat-based sandwich spreads
Mates: friends
Met: the Metropolitan Police, police department serving London
Mickey Finn: a drugged drink which makes the drinker unconscious
Milkman: person who delivers milk to the house
Missus: wife
MIT: Major Investigation Team
Mobile phone: cell phone
Mobile: cell phone
Mosquito: British airplane used in Second World War
Mothercare: shop selling stuff for babies and expectant mothers
MP: Member of Parliament, politician representing an area
Mumsnet: website where parents discuss stuff
Naff: lame, not good
Nail varnish: nail polish
Narky: bad-tempered
Net curtains: a type of semi-transparent curtain
News of the World: British tabloid newspaper
NHS: National Health Service, public health service of UK
Nick: police station (as verb: to arrest)
Nimby: Not in my backyard. People who object to developments/buildings, etc. use this word.
No-go area: dangerous place
No-mark: loser
North London / South London: separated by the River Thames
Nowt: nothing
NQT: newly qualified teacher
Nursery: a place which grows plants, shrubs and trees for sale (often wholesale)
Nutter: insane person
OAP: old age pensioner, senior citizen
Off his chump: slang for being mad, crazy
Off-licence: shop selling alcohol
Ofsted: UK government’s inspector of schools
On the game: prostitute
Ovaltine: malted milk beverage – served hot
Overall: a one-piece garment worn to protect clothes
Owt: anything
Oxbridge: Oxford and Cambridge universities
Oz: Australia
Palais: dance hall
Pathé News and Pearl and Dean: adverts before the movie starts
Pay-as-you-go: a cell phone you pay for calls in advance
PC: police constable
Pear-shaped: go wrong
Petrol: gasoline
Pin money: small amount of earnings
Pinny: pinafore
Piss off: as exclamation, go away (rude). Also can mean annoy.
Pissed off: annoyed
Pissing around: messing about, not telling the whole truth
Pissing down: raining
Planning Department: the local authority department which issues licences to build and develop property
Plantagenet: English royal dynasty, on throne from 1154-1485
Plaster: Band-Aid
Playing cards close to her chest: being coy with the truth
Pleb: ordinary person (often insulting)
Plimsolls: gym shoes
Plods: derogatory name for police
Police Gazette: newspaper produced to publish notices of wanted criminals
Poncy: pretentious
Poofter: offensive slang for a gay person
Portakabin: portable building used as temporary office etc.
Post: mail
Pounding the beat: working as a uniformed officer on the streets
Premier League: top English soccer division
Prick: slang for penis
Prom: a classical music concert where some of the audience stands
Puds: puddings/desserts
Pull the wool over their eyes: fool people
Pulling my leg: having a joke at my expense, teasing
Punter: someone who gambles in a betting shop
Pushchair: stroller
Q cars: A car that has a high performance engine and an unassuming exterior
Querent: person for whom the tarot card reading is done
Quite sweet on you: likes you romantically
Rag: newspaper
Ram-raiding: robbery where a vehicle is rammed through a shop window
Randy: horny
RC: Roman Catholic
Red Brick University: university founded in 19th and 20th centuries
Reggie and Ronnie: the Kray twins, gangsters
Register office: a government building where you get married or register births
Right state: messy
Ring: telephone (verb)
Roadworks: repairs done to roads
Roedean: upmarket girls’ boarding school
Roundabout: traffic circle
Rounders: baseball’s ancestor
Row: argue/argument
Rozzers: policemen
Rubbish: trash
Ructions: disagreements
Rum bunch: odd
S.P.: starting price i.e. the truth about what is being said
Scally: scallywag
School Friend: comic aimed at teenage girls
Scroat: low life
Semi: semi-detached house, house with another house joined to it on one side only
Set of pipes on her: a good singer
Settee: sofa
Shandy: beer and lemonade drink
Shedload: a large amount
Shout the odds: talk in a loud bossy way
Sick: vomit
SIO: senior investigating officer
Sixth form college: school for high school students in final two years.
Skiffle: 1950s style of popular music
Skip: a dumpster
Slacks: UK trousers/ US pants
Slapper: slag
Sling your hook: go away
Snapshot: photograph (also snap, shot, print, photo)
SOCO: scenes-of-crime officer, police officer who gathers forensic evidence
Sod: an annoying person
Solicitor: lawyer
Sort: to do or make
Stick of rock: a cylinder of candy often sold at the seaside
Sticking plaster: Band-Aid
Stinks like a haddock left out too long in the sun: doesn’t sound correct
Stitching me up: framing me
Stunner: beautiful woman
Sun cream: sun lotion
Super: superintendent (police rank)
Sweet: candy
Sweeting: endearment, like sweetheart
Swot: a nerd, a geek, someone keen on their studies
Tabloid: newspaper
Takeaway: takeout food
Tannoy: PA system
Tart: sex worker
Tea: afternoon meal of cakes, small sandwiches, tea etc.
Tea: dinner (Northern English)
Teddy boys: thugs and young tearaways
Ten bob: ten shillings: pre-decimal money — half of £1 = ten-shilling note
Tenner: ten pounds
The Boat Race: famous rowing race between Oxford and Cambridge
universities
The tube or underground: subway
This Is Your Wife: parody of TV show This Is Your Life
Ticking off: reprimand
Till: cash register
Tipsy: a bit drunk
Tizer: fizzy pop/soda
Tod: on one’s own
To-do: a commotion
Toerag: a bad person
Toff: upper-class person
Tommy Steele: 1950s-60s pop star
Ton: a hundred pounds
Torch: flashlight
Totty: attractive woman
Tower block: tall building containing apartments (usually social housing)
Travel card: transport ticket
Travellers: gypsies or other nomadic people
Triskele: Celtic symbol of three spirals
Trousers: pants
Tutor: university teacher
Tweedledum and Tweedledee: characters in an English nursery rhyme
UHT: ultra-heat treated milk for long life
UKIP: political party wanting UK to leave European Union
Undertaker: mortician
Up the duff: pregnant
Upmarket: affluent or fancy
Victor Sylvester: popular ballroom dancer and band-leader in the 1950s
Waccy baccy: marijuana
Wash: the washing machine
Water board: company supplying water to an area
Wedding breakfast: meal eaten just after the wedding (doesn’t have to be in morning)
Wee: little (Scottish)
Wheelie bin: a large refuse bin on wheels
White van man: typical working-class man who drives a small truck
WI: Women’s Institute, social club for women
Willies: (can mean plural of penis), to have the willies means to be frightened
Winkle-picker: pointy shoe or boot
Wolseley: model of saloon car used by the police
Yobs: thugs and young tearaways
CHARACTER LIST
Ruby Baker – nineteen-year-old apprentice hairdresser with a taste for solving crimes. Runs Ruby Baker’s Investigation Bureau from the back room of the hairdressing salon.
Mary – Ruby’s best friend. A single mum struggling to adjust to her circumstances and cope with her baby.
Kenny and James – young reporters set on finding the next big story.
Pearl – Ruby’s cousin, a nursing student who likes to party.
Victoria – Pearl’s best friend, also a nurse.
Beverly Collins – recently released from Holloway Prison. On a mission to find the daughter she was accused of killing ten years ago.
Johnny – flamboyant, upper class entrepreneur. Owns the hairdressing salon where Ruby and Mary work. Tougher than he appears.
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