What it means
Porkies means lies, usually in the phrase telling porkies. It comes from Cockney rhyming slang, where porky pies stands in for lies, then got shortened to the bit people actually say. It’s a cheeky British way to call someone out for chatting rubbish, whether it’s a daft exaggeration or a straight-up fib.
Usage examples
"He reckons he pulled a supermodel in Spoons. Nah mate, he’s telling porkies, I saw him get pied off by the barmaid and spill his pint."
"Stop telling porkies, we both know you were nowhere near the library."
"You’re telling porkies if you think that scratch just appeared on the car by magic, mate."
"He said he only had two pints, but he could barely find the front door. Absolute porkies."
"You said your phone died, but you were posting on Insta all night. Stop telling porkies."
Where it comes from
It comes from Cockney rhyming slang. Pork pies rhymed with lies, then everyday speech did its usual snip-snip job and turned it into porkies. These days loads of people say telling porkies without even clocking the old rhyme sitting underneath it.
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