British Cigarette (Slang)

About

British Cigarette is a slang and Don't Google trend in which people search "What Do British People Call Cigarettes?" or joke about the different ways in which British people call cigarettes, which is "fags" or "fag packet" (pack of cigarettes). British people have been referring to cigarettes as "fags" for most of the 20th century, not in the same meaning as "faggot," which is a homophobic, derogatory slur used against homosexuals. Memetic content about British cigarette slang can be tracked to as early as 2014, with the expression "Smoke A Fag" and Bum A Fag being prominent examples. TikTokers have also used the slang for comedic content since 2020.

Origin

According to an article posted by the The Sun^[1] tabloid on August 25th, 2022, for most of the 20th century in the U.K., "people routinely referred to their tobacco as a fag," with some people speculating "the phrase was coined because cigarettes were formerly made with a thin layer of cork covering the filter to prevent lips sticking to the paper."

On July 26th, 2004, Urban Dictionary^[2] user @cheese posted one of the earliest mentions (shown below, top) of the British cigarette slang, with an explanation about the "bum a fag" expression. The post details the phrase is used when someone wants "to borrow a cigarette from an English chap," which garnered more than 170 likes in two decades.

A few years later, on October 30th, 2006, Urban Dictionary^[3] user @the-boss then posted the "smoke a fag" expression, explaining it's used in the context of "have a cigarette" for British people and to "kill a homosexual" for Americans. The post (shown below, bottom) garnered over 7,300 likes in 19 years.

Spread

In the 2010s, British cigarette slang became the subject of ironic memes and jokes about its double meaning. For example, on March 8th, 2014, Memedroid^[4] user @boguz posted the definition of the "smoke a fag" expression paired with the quote "Boy, that escalated quickly." The post (shown below, left) amassed more than 2,900 reactions in 10 years.

On April 16th, 2023, Redditor^[5] @PewPewAnimeGirl uploaded a three-panel meme using a Pulp Fiction scene in which a character says, "You know what they call a cigarette in Great Britain?" The last panel then shows Facebook's ban account message (shown below, right), amassing more than 1,500 upvotes and 110 comments in a year.

TikTokers also have been using the British slang of cigarette for comedic content since early 2020.

For instance, on October 22nd, 2023, TikTok^[6] user @amberkacherian replied to a user's question "what do British people call cigarettes," which amassed more than 12 million plays and 1.3 million likes in a year (seen below, left). On August 23rd, TikTok^[7] user @matthews_stupidity posted a POV video in which he talks to a Britsh person asking him for a cigarette, which garnered over 1.2 million plays and 279,000 likes in a year (seen below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References