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Victorian Victorian Slang

Victorian Slang Word of the Week – Unutterables

“Unutterables”, “Inexpressibles”, “Unwhisperables” – what do you think they might be referring to?

In what seems excessively modest even for the Victorians, it means “trousers”. God knows what they called their underpants.

Nb. On this page there’s also “Vardo”, meaning to see, which obviously developed into the Polari word “Vada”.

By Estelle

I am Estelle, a small person who lives in Liverpool. I love all books apart from "The World According to Clarkson". Also very keen on comedy, cooking, octopods and other small people.

3 replies on “Victorian Slang Word of the Week – Unutterables”

Clued as “trousers (12)” in Guardian Quick Crossword 14,171, 9th October 2015, to much the consternation in the comments section!

Haha, I enjoyed those comments – btl for crosswords seems like the place to be. Agree, is a bit obscure for a crossword, but I do love it!

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