Definition of septic tank

• Cockney rhyming slang meaning American i.e. septic tank - yank. Used by character Joe Mangle in the Australian soap opera Neighbors circa 1993.

  He's a septic tank, don't talk to him.

  • See more words with the same meaning: British, UK slang (list of).

  Last edited on Jan 12 2013. Submitted by Andy from Maidenhead, Windsor and Maidenhead, UK on Aug 21 1997.

noun

• American. Can be reduced to "septic". Originally it was derogative in meaning and comes (probably) from the English (particularly Cockney) fondness for rhyming slang. As all Americans (including Southerners) have been referred to as Yanks by the British for years, so this is a rhyme derived from that. Nowadays, it is often used matter-of-factly, without any thought to the implied derision. Whether or not it is used as an insult depends entirely upon the way the speaker says it. At the London branch of an American bank, imagine the British employees saying:

  The septics were over last week.

  • See more words with the same meaning: British, UK slang (list of).

  Last edited on May 17 2011. Submitted by Matthew R. from Blackpool, United Kingdom on May 31 2004.