Brits have been sharing the many, many ways they have of saying they’re really busy – 19 familiar suggestions

You may have spotted the news that Brewdog founder James Watt claims that the British are the most work-shy people in the world.

This man has just made millions from thousands of bar workers grafting over Christmas and New Year on just above the minimum wage.

The same man who was sunning himself in the Maldives weeks before his company abandoned the real living wage. #JamesWatt has absolutely no… pic.twitter.com/YP7io2YCz7

— Unite Hospitality (@FairHospitality) January 15, 2025

His comments have gone down as well as you’d expect, with calls to boycott the brewery, which has previously been in trouble for what was described as a toxic culture of fear amongst the workforce. Maybe the two things are connected. Who can tell?

via GIPHY

In not entirely unrelated news, the wonderful VeryBritishProblems account pointed out that the Brits have an awful lot of ways of saying they’re busy.

I love how many phrases Brits have for being really busy. Here’s one or two (which confusingly can actually mean a lot more than one or two):

I’m flat out
I’m up to my eyes/ears/neck in it
Snowed under
Run/rushed off my feet
It’s full on at the moment
I’m running around…

— VeryBritishProblems (@SoVeryBritish) January 16, 2025

Weird, that, for people who don’t do much. Once people spotted the list, they began to add to it – and these are some excellent additions.

1.

I don't know if it's pancake Tuesday or Sheffield Wednesday

— James Scott of Ugie (@JamesScottUgie) January 16, 2025

2.

I haven’t stopped!
I’ve been up and down like a yo-yo!

— Angela Jelf (@angietange) January 16, 2025

3.

“Up to my Oxters!”…a Scottish phrase but pronunciation ends up becoming “Uxters!” for some reason… but ‘uxter’ is an old English word meaning ‘to bargain’…

— Jennifer Baldam (@JMBaldam) January 16, 2025

4.

I've been in fifth gear, nose to the grindstone all day.

— Happy and Positive (@happypositive0) January 16, 2025

5.

1.juggling too many balls in the airhttps://t.co/rMCcnvfi2d’s been non-stop all day
3.I’m in over my head

— Jim Osman (@EdgeCGroup) January 16, 2025

6.

Broomhandled

— Kevin O'Leary (@KevinOLeary123) January 16, 2025

7.

Someone upstairs thought we didn't have enough to do…

— Matthew Brain (@SaurPoints) January 16, 2025

8.

Mate, I’m slammed!

— Veronica Pullen (@VeronicaPullen) January 16, 2025

9.

“Like a blue arsed fly!”

— Monkey Island Lane (@MonkeyIslandLn) January 16, 2025

10.

my grandad used to say "don't know whether to shit or wind me watch"

— Quantum P1 vs the CPU (@1PvCPU) January 16, 2025