What it means
Suspicious or dodgy behaviour, usually the kind that’s a bit crooked rather than actually funny. Most often shows up as no funny business, a warning not to try it on, especially around money, rules, or someone’s boundaries. The humour is in the understatement, because the consequences can be a proper bollocking or worse.
Usage examples
"There’s funny business with the till again, so I’m counting the cash twice. No funny business today, lads, I’m not taking the blame."
"The landlord said no funny business with the deposit this year, every scratch on the wall gets logged in writing within the first week of move-in, fair enough."
"There was some funny business with the till receipts on Saturday, the manager pulled the rota for everyone working that night and started phoning suppliers."
"Keep it clean, yeah? No funny business with my card details or I'm cancelling the whole thing."
"He says the numbers don't add up, and whenever someone says that, you know there's funny business somewhere in the back room."
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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- An example
- Your patch
- Your voice