Learn the Art of the Perfect British Put-Down

Dry, devastating, and delightfully witty—The Ultimate Guide to British Insults is your passport to mastering the cheeky charm of British lingo and backhanded compliments.

From casual pub banter to the razor-sharp repartee of British comedy books, this guide unveils the nation’s best jabs, witty put-downs, and euphemisms, all delivered with that signature deadpan humor.

Written by internet personality and British humor aficionado Michael Baker, this book decodes the colorful world of British slang, vernacular, and colloquialisms that make up the UK’s most beloved (and biting) forms of communication. Whether you’re wondering What is dry humor? or eager to impress your mates with authentic British insults, this guide has you covered.

Inside, you’ll find:

• Ways to master the art of the backhanded compliment and insult someone so politely they’ll thank you for it.
• Advice to sharpen your wit with a repertoire of British euphemisms, Shakespearean burns, and modern-day snark.
• How to decode everyday British lingo and uncover the subtle slights and deadpan humor woven into casual conversation.

Perfect for fans of British humor books, anglophiles, expats, or anyone hunting for dry humor gifts, The Ultimate Guide to British Insults turns you into a true connoisseur of cheeky charm. So, grab a cuppa and prepare to wield words with the grace of a British aristocrat and the cheek of a seasoned pub regular.

If you liked Very British Problems, The Wicked Wit of Winston Churchill, or How to Speak Brit, then you’ll love The Ultimate Guide to British Insults.

A Fall 2025 Indies Introduce Pick

★ “A small treasure... A bloody and beautiful sojourn in the distant past.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A brilliant Scottish debut, shortlisted for the Highland Book Prize and the Bookmark Book Festival Book of the Year.

The year is 825 CE. In the aftermath of a vicious attack by raiders from the north, an unlikely trio finds themselves the lone survivors on a remote Scottish isle. Still breathing are young Brother Martin, the only resident of the local monastery to escape martyrdom; Una, a beekeeper and mead maker who has been relieved of her violent husband during the slaughter; and Grimur, an aging Norseman who claws his way out of the hasty grave his fellow raiders left him in, thinking him dead. 

As the seasons pass in this wild and lonely setting, their inherent distrust of each other melts into a complex meditation on the distances and bonds between them. Told with humor and alive with sharply exquisite dialogue, David Greig deftly lifts the curtain between our world and the past. The Book of I is an entirely unique novel that serves as a philosophical commentary on guilt and redemption, but also humanity, love, and the things we choose to believe in.

A major anthology that illuminates historical and contemporary solidarities between Black and Asian feminists.

A collaborative project between Black Women Radicals and the Asian American Feminist Collective, We Are Each Other's Liberation envisions a cross-racial and internationalist politics that explicitly addresses solidarity between Black and Asian feminists. Bringing together organizers, artists, journalists, poets, novelists, and more, this collection introduces readers to new ways of understanding and reflecting on race and feminism.

Drawing out lessons from the revolutionary work of movement forebearers—including the Combahee River Collective, Claudia Jones, Grace Lee Boggs, Yuri Kochiyama, and Third World Women’s Alliance as well as struggles today—We Are Each Other’s Liberation offers an urgent call for the just future we might build together.

Kyle Seibel's debut short story collection is a bracing look into the lives of society's misfits.

From a junkyard worker haunted by the death of a special cat to dinosaurs that materialize to dispense life advice—these stories explore the thin line between the mundane and the surreal.

Hilarious, poignant, gritty and bizarre, Hey You Assholes heralds the arrival of a bold new voice in American fiction.

When William Fox, a TV writer on location in Florida, is dragged by his show’s toxic producers to a “gentleman's club” that’s just appeared outside town, he meets Nicole, a mysterious dancer who claims to be an anthropologist searching for signs of rational life on Earth.

Enchanted by her both playful and serious ideas exploring love, limerence, power, monkey behavior, paintball combat, creativity, and the dilemma of a rational mind compelled to serve an animal’s body by feeding it fantasies, Will falls in love—and his ever more troubled love-struck behavior and the acidly destructive battles among his producers and network executives during the production of his show soon begin to illustrate Nicole’s theories.

Nicole is charmingly romantic on a cruise up the Space Coast, but nothing about her seems authentic. After she warns she’ll soon leave and his producers are humbled by an uncanny encounter with the police, Will begins to wonder, is Nicole staging real world events with him and the producers as her experimental subjects? And if so, can he discover her true identity, learn the lessons she’s trying to teach, and earn her love before he loses her forever?

A campy dark comedy for the angry and the disenchanted.

Last November, I found a dead body inside the freezer that my roommate keeps inside the garage. My first thought was to call the police, but Jignesh hadn’t paid his share of the rent just yet. It wasn’t due until the thirtieth, and you know how difficult it is to find people who pay on time. Jignesh always does. Also, he had season tickets for the LA Opera, and well . . . Madame Butterfly. Tosca. The Flying Dutchman . . . at the Dorothy Chandler . . . you cannot say no to that, can you? Well, it’s been a few good months now—Madame Butterfly was just superb, thank you. However, last Friday, I found a second body inside that stupid freezer in the garage. This time I’m evicting Jignesh. My house isn’t a mortuary . . . alas, I need to come up with some money first. You’ll understand, therefore, that I desperately need to sell this novel. Just enough copies to help me survive until I find a job . . . what could I do that doesn’t demand too much effort? We have a real treasure here, anyhow. Some chapters are almost but not quite pornographic. You could safely lend this to nana afterward!

In this political satire-thriller, we follow a government official, an exiled influencer, and a burned-out delivery driver, living through a culture obsessed presidency that signs the policy to Kill the Rich.

The year is 2038, America’s new President won with a simple, snappy campaign slogan: Kill The Rich. Now in office, his administration kicks off with a televised public hanging of Kim Kardashian, whose lip kits have poisoned a working-class city.

The execution sets three very different people on a collision course that will change the nation forever. Jay, a senior adviser and best friend to the President, is hyper-focused on finding the next billionaire head to roll. Chloe, an influencer living in Russian exile, is willing to do anything to get her life of luxury back. Sasha, a burned-out pizza delivery driver, is desperate to find her missing brother. 

Their stories converge in a cryptocurrency-fueled secessionist city in the Nevada desert where they must come together to thwart an insurrection by the internet-poisoned, meme-obsessed, richest man in the world.

'Extraordinary' Naoise Dolan
'Seriously good' Louise Nealon

PICKED AS 'ONE TO WATCH' FOR 2022 BY IRISH TIMES, STYLIST AND IRISH INDEPENDENT

Dublin student life is ending for Sophie and her friends. They've got everything figured out, and Sophie feels left behind as they all start to go their separate ways. She's overshadowed by her best friend Grace. She's been in love with Finn for as long as she's known him. And she's about to meet Rory, who's suddenly available to her online.

At a party, what was already unstable completely falls apart and Sophie finds herself obsessively scrolling social media, waiting for something (anything) to happen.

None of This Is Serious is about the uncertainty and absurdity of being alive today. It's about balancing the real world with the online, and the vulnerabilities in yourself, your relationships, your body. At its heart, this is a novel about the friendships strong enough to withstand anything.