The Arctic Monkeys – vocabulary and notes

Mardy Bum!
Many of the expressions used in this song are common informal language. Be careful about using some of them!

Do not call someone a bum lightly – i.e. without very good reason – it means he / she is a lazy or worthless person; to call someone a mardy bum is very familiar and could be aggressive. The singer is imagining a situation in which he is having an argument with his wife or close friend.
The word ‘mardy‘ is a pejorative adjective used only informally that is used mainly in only a small area of the UK, around the East Midlands, in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. To be mardy is to be sulky, contrary, grumpy, out of sorts, or easily upset or moody. It is usually used of a child – a parent might tell a child not to be ‘so mardy‘ if the child is being sulky and negative. Sometimes ‘mardy‘ is used of any person who wants his / her own way all the time.
bum noun INFORMAL – 1) the part of the body that you sit on; bottom 2) may denote a person who is lazy, and lacks direction – (s)he may spend time bumming around (i.e. doing nothing much). In the US it is a person who has no home or job and lives by asking other people for money
bum – adjective before a noun SLANG – bad in quality or useless eg She’s in some bum job at the moment, until she can get something better.
up, up and away describes a object floating or flying in the air. Here it must mean the two of them have some great times together, when they have a lot of fun.
to have a face on is informal for looking furious or having a negative expression on your face. It is often used with ‘a bit of’ eg ‘He had a bit of a face on‘ would mean he was looking angry, or bad-tempered.
Sometimes women use the informal phrase ‘to put a face on‘ meaning to put their make-up on – eg "I’ll just go and put my face on" = make myself look presentable by putting some make-up on.
The Face – because this is an expression the man has seen before he calls it ‘The Face‘, letting us know it’s a familiar look that spells trouble ahead (i.e. a disagreement, quarrel, or argument).
I thought as much = I thought so, I thought that was the case, and I was right. Eg "John’s passed his driving test!" "We all thought as much – he looked so pleased with himself!"
to be arsed – BE VERY CAREFUL – arse is already an OFFENSIVE word for ‘bum‘ ( informal) – i.e. the part of the body you sit on, the behind
If you ‘can’t be arsed (**OFFENSIVE) to do something’ it means you can’t be bothered to do something, it doesn’t matter enough to you to fight your reluctance, fatigue or laziness. It may be just that you don’t have the time or energy to do something at the moment.
Eg "I can’t be arsed** to ‘phone him" means "I can’t be bothered to ‘phone him."
reoccur / or recur – verb meaning to occur again or repeatedly.