What it means
Means rubbish, terrible, or not up to standard. If something is bobbins in Manchester, it is genuinely bad and not worth your time. The weather is bobbins, the ref was bobbins, that takeaway was absolute bobbins. Comes from the cotton mills where bobbins were the basic, low-value part of the machinery. Now it is the go-to word for anything disappointing.
Usage examples
"Ordered a kebab from that new place and it was absolute bobbins. Dry meat, no sauce, and the salad looked like it had given up on life three days ago."
"Manchester United played a bobbins first half against Leeds last Saturday, three lazy passes, two yellow cards and a manager on the touchline pulling his hair out, the second half was thankfully a different story."
"The Wi-Fi at the new café on Deansgate was absolute bobbins on Tuesday morning, I tried to upload three photos for half an hour and gave up, the barista smiled and offered me a refill on the house."
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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