What it means
Being mildly to moderately annoyed, usually in a restrained, sulky way. It’s got a bit more bite than just miffed, but it’s still miles off full-on pissed off. Think tutting, a quiet moan, and doing that polite thing where you say it’s fine while mentally deciding you’re never volunteering for that again.
Usage examples
"I’m proper miffed off you lot started the pub quiz without me. I only nipped to the loo, and now I’m stuck next to Gerald."
"I was proper miffed off when the airport changed the gate three times in twenty minutes, we had already walked the length of terminal three from one end to the other, and the kids were starting to ask awkward questions about lunch and toilets."
"My nan got miffed off about the new postman, says he never closes the gate properly behind him, the cat keeps escaping into the garden of number thirty-two, and now she has to walk down twice a day to retrieve him from the holly bush by the bins."
"I was a bit miffed off when they nicked my parking space after I'd been indicating for ages."
"She's still miffed off about the office party, said they forgot her veggie option and then acted like a bag of crisps fixed it."
Where it comes from
Eighteenth-century British coinage from miff, a small huff, with the off intensifier borrowed later from pissed off to add slight extra heat. The result is a phrase precisely calibrated for the British emotional middle range: just past patient and well short of furious, perfect for office grievances and queue-related disappointment alike in any Marks and Spencer outlet.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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