What it means
Means brilliant, really good, spot on. You’ll hear it round Brum and the wider Black Country when something hits just right, from a curry to a cracking bit of banter. Often said as bostin’ without the G, and it likely comes from bursting, like something’s so good it’s ready to burst. Say it with pride and a grin. Dead simple, dead flattering.
Usage examples
"That balti we smashed last night was proper bostin, bab. Get us back to Ladypool Road this weekend and I’m ordering the same again."
"That curry was bostin, mate, best balti I've had in ages, we're coming back next Friday for definite."
"Fair play, the lad did a bostin job on the garden fence, looks brand new and held up in the storm."
"That new chippy by the market is bostin, I'm not even joking, best chips I've had in ages."
"You should've seen her face when they announced the result, she was buzzing, proper bostin day all round."
Where it comes from
Bostin is a real Black Country dialect word for excellent or really good. It’s commonly traced to older local forms of busting or bursting used as praise, with written evidence turning up in West Midlands dialect records from the nineteenth century. It’s still a badge of local pride now.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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