Is YOUR favourite on the list? Study reveals the most loved and hated British slang words

The results of this survey, revealing the top ten most loved and hated British slang terms, could leave you ‘exhilarated’ or ‘gutted’.

Analysts compared the share of upvotes and downvotes assigned to various words and phrases listed on the Urban Dictionary website.

It showed that the most popular word is ‘chuffed’, defined as ‘satisfied, satisfied and satisfied’, as 96 percent of the vote is positive.

It would come from the word “chuff,” which means swollen with fat, according to the researchers of Letter Solver.

But the worst-rated word was “mug,” meaning “someone who has been treated like an idiot or been seriously naive,” receiving 37.1 percent votes against.

It is thought that it might have evolved from the surname ‘Muggins’, which was typically given to characters who were considered silly or easily fooled in comics in the mid-1800s.

The term may also be influenced by ‘mug’ meaning an unattractive face, and came from the 17th century drinking cups in the shape of grotesque faces.

“Barred” came out as the second most popular term, receiving a share of 94.7 percent positive votes from Urban Dictionary users.

This term describes extreme disappointment and, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, comes from prison slang.

It probably came from the literal definition of the word, because devastation can sometimes feel like your insides have been mercilessly stripped.

In third place came ‘zonked’, meaning extremely tired, with 93.3 percent of the vote positive.

The Online Etymology Dictionary says that “zonk” is a mid-20th century slang term meaning someone to be beaten hard or stunned, so the term probably evolved from that.

In fourth and fifth place were ‘Bob’s your uncle’ and ‘Argy bargy’, with 90.3 percent and 88.7 percent votes respectively.

The earlier expression, meaning ‘there you have it’ or ‘it’s that simple’, is said to have originated around 1887.

This is when then Prime Minister Robert ‘Bob’ Gascoyne-Cecil appointed his nephew as Chief Secretary for Ireland in an act of nepotism.

Therefore, life is very simple and easy if Bob is indeed your uncle, hence the evolution of the expression.

‘Argy bargy’ has been part of British English since the second half of the 19th century and is considered a light-hearted, lilting version of the word ‘argue’.

To compile the lists, analysts searched 205 quintessential British slang terms on Urban Dictionary and ranked them by their share of the vote.

This also revealed the least popular words and phrases coined on the tiny island, with “mug” at the very bottom of the list.

The second least popular word was ‘graft’, which received 34.1 percent votes against and means hard work.

It is believed to be related to the phrase ‘spade’s graft’, which refers to the amount of earth one blow of a shovel will displace, and came from the Old Norse word for to dig.

But in recent years, “grafting” has become more commonly used to describe working hard to pursue someone romantically, thanks to the success of British reality TV shows like “Love Island.”

In third place came “mooch,” meaning “one who wants something for free” and “takes and takes but does not give back,” according to Urban Dictionary.

This is the definition in the US, and sometimes across the pond, but the more popular British definition is an aimless, leisurely stroll.

It is thought to come from the Old French word ‘muchier’, meaning ‘to hide, sneak or lie in wait’.

‘Grim’ and ‘fluke’ came fourth and fifth on the list of least popular British slang words, with 31.2 percent and 30.8 percent downvotes respectively.

The former means something disgusting and has its origins in many ancient European languages, while the latter means “an event based solely on luck or chance.”

It originally referred to the flat end of an arm of an anchor in the 1560s, but later became the word for a whale’s tail because they are similar in shape.

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it began to be used to denote a lucky strike as a reference to the whale’s use of its flukes to get along quickly.