n briefs. The more form-fitting old-fashioned equivalent of boxer shorts. The name derives from the upside-down ‘Y’ shape on the front, through the convergence of which you extract your old man in order to pee.

n, adj American. To a Brit, a Yank is anyone of American descent. It’s not altogether complimentary and conjures up an image of Stetsons, oil wells, Cadillacs and overweight children. The word comes from “Yankee” – after receiving and trying to synopsize nearly a million different explanations for where that word came from, I realised that I was drifting wildly off topic and so I’ve scrubbed them all. Go and look it up elsewhere. yank tank American car. A description one might regard as unfair to the humble tank.

n a specific London criminal gang. The term was originally used to describe a native Jamaican – “yard” is used in Jamaica to mean “home”.

n hooligan; rabble-rouser. Usually seen in the context of upper-middle-class people referring to the working-classes: Well, yes, Mildred – my Jeremy used to be such a sensible boy but now he’s got mixed up with this awful crowd of yobbos! The derivation of the word is apparently modified back-slang – the moniker “boyo” became “yobbo.” Amusingly, in New York City slang, “yobbos” are breasts. Not in the U.K.

n a long time; ages. Not a specific length of time at all; it could be minutes or decades: Where have you been? I’ve been waiting here for yonks! or: Met a friend from school the other day that I haven’t seen for yonks.

n Scottish plural form of “you”: Are yous coming out later? When alien civilisations try to crack the English language, several things will make them wonder how on earth anyone managed to communicate using it. One of these things will be the fact that “pound” was both a unit of weight and a unit of currency. Another will be that “pint” represented two different volumes on different sides of our tiny planet. Perhaps the most confounding will be the fact that we had no way to make a distinction between addressing one single person, or several thousand.