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Gaffing In ... Meaning Butting In Where You're Not Wanted?

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OldNS | 22:49 Thu 11th Feb 2021 | Phrases & Sayings
6 Answers
When I was a teenager in the 80s we would use the phrase, Gaffing in.
Used as in .. "oh shes always gaffin in"
Meaning .. butting in or joining in uninvited.
I remember using it, my friend and her mum remember using it, but I cant find one other person in my circle who used the term. Am I mad or was it a term used in the 80s (London)
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Yep. I definitely remember the term. Still hear it occasionally.
I am a Londoner, never heard that phrase.
It was possibly a fairly local thing.

As an analogy, when I started teaching on the northern edge of Sheffield in 1975, all the kids used 'non good ' and 'bit good' in almost every other sentence. 'Non good' meant "absolutely fantastic", whereas 'bit good' (always uttered in a disparaging tone) meant 'utterly pathetic'. Friends who taught up the road in Barnsley were familiar with the terms but those who taught in schools in central and southern Sheffield had never heard of them. They only seemed to stay in use for a year or two anyway.

So "gaffin in" might be an equally local term, only used within a very small area of London, such as a single borough.

However it's also possible that 'gaffin' might be related to the definition of 'gaff' offered by the OED as "Humbug, ‘stuff and nonsense’ ".
When I was teaching (in the NE) the kids used the word 'wicked' to describe something very good. Another word they used with the same meaning was 'mint'.

Never heard it, my Wife is a London lass and she's not heard it either.
// When I was teaching (in the NE) the kids used the word 'wicked' to describe something very good.//

wick - - opposite slang - also ungood - it is in 1984 innit as part of NewSpeak

popular in Bristol uni in 1970

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Gaffing In ... Meaning Butting In Where You're Not Wanted?

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