British English Slang – Knackered or Cream Crackered.

Meaning – Extremely tired. This expression can also be used to describe something that is worn out or damaged because it has been used too much.

Cream crackered is British English rhyming slang for knackered. Cream crackered can therefore be used in a similar way to knackered.

The slang term knackered is believed to have originated in the UK in the late 19th century, specifically from the trade of a knacker, which was a person who purchased and slaughtered worn-out horses for their meat, hides, and bones.

The term knackered originally meant “to be worn out or exhausted,” and it is thought to have come from the idea of a horse that had worked so hard it was no longer useful and needed to be knackered. Over time, the term was adopted into popular slang and is now commonly used in British English to describe a person or thing that is tired, worn out, or broken.

The idiom long in the tooth can also be used to describe something that is old or showing signs of age.

Cockney Rhyming Slang:

Here are some more examples of Cockney rhyming slang that you may come across. You’ll notice that in many of these examples the word that rhymes with the meaning is dropped from the expression; for example, we just say loaf, not loaf of bread, when we mean head. This makes it very difficult to guess the meaning of some of these expressions!

  • Apples and Pears – Stairs
  • Brown bread – Dead
  • (You’re having a) bubble (from bubble bath) – Laugh
  • (Have a) butcher’s (from butcher’s hook) – Look
  • China (from China plate) – Mate
  • Dicky Bow – Bow tie
  • Dog and bone – Phone
  • Half-inch – Pinch (steal).
  • Loaf (from loaf of bread) – Head
  • (It’s all gone) Pete Tong – Wrong – Pete Tong is a popular English DJ on BBC Radio 1.
  • Ruby Murray – Curry – Ruby Murray was an Irish pop singer from the 1950s.
  • Trouble and strife – Wife

Examples:

  • “I’ve been playing football all afternoon and now I’m utterly knackered!”
  • “I’m not going out tonight because I’m cream crackered.”

In The News:

Gosport faces more delays to replace its ‘knackered‘ bus station

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