It’s been a few months now since Adolescence first stormed to Netflix’s number one spot, but teenage star Owen Cooper is enjoying the fruits of his labours.
After producing a superb performance as Jamie alongside dad Stephen Graham in the haunting series, the UK actor has been touted as a huge name for the future, and already has secured a spot in a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights which is due to be released next year.
Adolescence had a huge cultural impact, with UK prime minister Keir Starmer even commenting on why it was so important, but it seems as if viewers from other countries haven’t always been able to grasp all elements of British culture in the Netflix show.
Cooper has already opened up about one of the hardest moments in the show, which was stomaching a horrible tasting liquid disguised as hot chocolate in the show, something he later described as ‘minging’.
And it’s that particular British slang which has perhaps tripped up Americans again, after he used it to describe US snacks during a recent interview with Jimmy Fallon.
Perhaps inspired by LADbible‘s own Snack Wars, the two were comparing British and American snacks, with the teenage actor going for a solid selection of Maltesers, Fruit Pastilles, something he humorously describes as ‘the caviar of corner shops’, and Monster Munch.
After trying the chocolatey snack, Fallon compared them to Whoppers, which are malted milk balls coated in chocolate in the US, but as we all know, British chocolate is far superior.
Cooper agreed, saying: “I tried Whoppers today. They’re minging. I hated them.”
To which Fallon replies: “You’re totally wrong. You are so wrong.”
For those of you who don’t know, minging essentially means something is disgusting, repulsive or smelly.
Of course, this isn’t the only British slang that Americans struggle to understand as while we might be speaking the same language, there are some huge differences, which is further evidenced later in the show when Cooper describes fig newtons and ice cream as ‘unreal’, which the TV host seems confused by until he affirms that he does in fact like them.
Commenters on the show’s TikTok post were shocked but impressed that Cooper stuck to his northern roots by using the term in front of an international audience.
One poster wrote: “They’re mingin on Jimmy Fallon is iconic,” as another said: “Bro dropped minging on American late night TV, legend.”
A third commented: “They’re minging’. Northern representation is right.”
