What it means
A polite-ish British brush-off that means go away and leave me alone. It's annoyed without going full nuclear, so it lands as the cleaner cousin of fuck off. Feels a bit old-school, which is part of the fun, and it's often said with that clipped, fed-up snap that makes it hit harder.
Usage examples
"He kept leaning over my pint chatting absolute nonsense, so I told him to naff off and went back to the darts."
"Told the cold-caller to naff off and put the phone down."
"Oh, naff off, I'm not giving you a tenner just because you asked nicely."
"The bloke started banging on about crypto at the bus stop, so she told him to naff off."
"He tried cutting in front of us at the kebab shop, so Dave just went, naff off, mate, we're queuing."
Where it comes from
It comes from naff, a British slang word that was already knocking about by the 1960s for something tacky, rubbish, or a bit lame. Naff off grew from that into a milder send-off meaning go away. It also got a big public boost after Princess Anne was reported to have said it to photographers.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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