Glossary

Lie-In • Glossary “Having a lie-in” means “sleeping in”, sleeping late. Read More

I Must Not Tell Lies • Glossary When he was serving detention, Dolores Umbridge forced Harry to write this sentence using her own magical quill. The words were instantly cut into the back of his hand and the words appeared on the paper with his own blood as the ink. Read More

Lift • Glossary U.S.: An elevator. Ironically, the meanings of ‘lift’ and ‘elevator’ are reversed between the U.S. and the U.K.; ‘elevator’ in the U.K. refers to what in the U.S. would be called a ‘lift’ put into a shoe. Read More

I'll Take Cadogan's Pony • Glossary To make the best of a bad situation. Read More

London Underground • Glossary a.k.a. The Tube – London’s underground train system, most of which runs deep beneath street level. U.S.: subway, but just to make things interesting, a “subway” in the U.K. – in London, at any rate – is a tunnel serving as a walkway under a busy street, and nothing to… Read More

In the Loo • Glossary U.S.: restroom or toilet. Read More

Lot • Glossary Used to refer to people in groups, as in, “you lot”, “our lot”. Read More

Lounge • Architecture • Glossary

Lurgy • Glossary Usually referred to in the phrase “the dreaded lurgy” but which has come to mean any unspecified minor illness. The term comes from a (non-existent) highly infectious disease frequently referred to in the British 1950s – 1960s radio comedy series the Goon Show (NSOED). Read More