British English has many mild phrases for work that has real problems.
Interesting: Strange, and probably not a good idea.
Quite good: Acceptable, but no better than that.
A brave choice: A risky decision that will probably not work.
A bit hit and miss: Some parts work, and many do not.
Not my cup of tea: I do not like it.
It needs a bit of work: It needs a lot of work.
British English has many phrases for presenting one’s own work as less than it is.
I just threw it together: I worked hard on it.
It’s a bit rough: It is finished, and I am fairly pleased with it.
It’s only a first draft: Please be gentle.
I got lucky: I prepared well.
Oh, this old thing?: A reply to a compliment on clothes, even new ones.
It was nothing, really: A reply to thanks, even for a real favor.
British schoolchildren have many words for a classmate who tries too hard.
Swot: A pupil who studies a lot, said with scorn. To swot up is to study hard for a test.
Teacher’s pet: A pupil who works hard to please the teacher.
Know-all: Someone who behaves as if they know everything.
Clever clogs: Someone who shows off how clever they are.
Smart alec: Someone who always has a clever answer, in an annoying way.
British English has several half-mocking words for people with deep, narrow expertise.
Boffin: A scientist or technical expert. Newspapers use the word with affection and a little distance.
Anorak: A person with an obsessive interest in a narrow subject. The word comes from the waterproof jacket associated with trainspotters.
Trainspotter: Someone who collects the numbers of railway engines, and by extension anyone with a dull, detailed hobby.
Geek: A person who knows a great deal about computers or another technical subject.
British English has many harsh words for rough work done where proper work was possible.
Cowboy builder: A builder who does poor, dishonest work. Other tradesmen of this kind are called cowboys too.
A botch job: Work done badly and carelessly.
Jerry-built: Built cheaply and badly.
Shoddy: Badly made, or done with little care.
To cut corners: To do something in the easiest or cheapest way, at the cost of quality.
British English has several warm words for a person who can be relied on.
Sound: Reliable and sensible. “He’s sound” is solid praise.
A good egg: A kind, reliable person. The phrase is old-fashioned.
Salt of the earth: An honest, decent and unpretentious person.
A safe bet: A person or choice that is certain to work out.
A bit of a maverick: A person who goes their own way, said with some unease.
To pass the British driving test, a candidate may make “no more than 15 driving faults (sometimes called ‘minors’)” and “no serious or dangerous faults (sometimes called ‘majors’)”.
The Sten submachine gun was designed in 1940, when the British army had to replace the weapons it had lost at Dunkirk. It “paired a simple design with a low production cost.” The most basic model, the Mark III, could be produced from five man-hours of work. Some of the cheapest versions had only 47 parts, and only the barrel and the bolt were machined.
In 1942, a Sten cost £2 6s to make. Soldiers called it the “Plumber’s Nightmare” and the “Stench Gun.” Around four million were made in the 1940s.
British English has several phrases that treat doing too much as a fault.
To gild the lily: To add decoration to something that is already fine. The phrase is a misquotation of Shakespeare’s King John, where the line is “To gild refined gold, to paint the lily.”
To over-egg the pudding: To do more than is necessary, or to exaggerate.
To use a sledgehammer to crack a nut: To use far more force or expense than a small problem needs.
Overkill: Much more of something than is needed.
In the 1990s, Arsenal under its manager George Graham was criticized for a defensive, low-scoring style of football. The fans answered by adopting a chant, sung to the tune of “Go West”: “One-nil to the Arsenal.”