What it means
Gobby means big-mouthed and a bit cheeky, the sort who’s always got an opinion and isn’t shy about firing it off. All mouth, no filter. It can be playful between mates or a proper put-down if someone’s being rude. Comes from gob, meaning mouth. Perfect for the one who talks over everyone and treats the pub like their stage.
Usage examples
"She’s so gobby, mate. We’re in the chippy and she’s telling the bloke how to do his job, like she owns the fryer."
"My cousin from Leeds is proper gobby at every family wedding, corners the new in-laws on the second cocktail to explain how mortgages really work in the north of England, and her husband stands by the buffet table eating sausage rolls with the patient look of a saint."
"The new barman at the Crown and Anchor in Bristol is a bit gobby for my taste, comments on every order with unsolicited opinions about beer styles, the regulars have started ordering by pointing at the pump rather than speaking, and the manager has had three quiet words this week alone."
Where it comes from
From the British slang noun gob for mouth, attested in English from the sixteenth century via Scots and Irish Gaelic gob (beak, mouth), and used freely in working-class urban speech across Britain and Ireland. The adjective gobby crystallized in twentieth-century London and northern English playgrounds as the standard description of the loud child or pub regular who would not shut up, and survives intact today with the same dual edge of affectionate banter or pointed put-down depending entirely on the tone of voice of the speaker.
Other ways to say it
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