The Brilliant British Language

I am convinced that the Brits love colorful language. Every day listening to the radio I hear wonderful terminology I've either never heard, or heard only in literature, TV or movies. They seem to look for entertaining ways to speak, both in media and in every day business.
1. Today on the radio the newsreader mentioned an instance in which the government had misplaced a great deal of sensitive information. She referred to it as a "cock-up by the government." It sounds rude, but was on the BBC national news.
2. My boss, in referring to a request for money, referred to the ruckus surrounding the current tight budget crisis as a "kerfuffle." "We'll hold off on our request until the kerfuffle has subsided."
3. One of my associates is flying in to London in a few weeks and I am taking him to dinner. He suggested we go to a "gastro pub." I had to ask what he meant. It is a bar that serves food like a restaurant but is trying to retain the pub atmosphere.
4. This morning the weatherman referred to our cold weather as a "nithering cold." That was a new one to me. Not sure I spelled it right.
5. And, a recent favorite I mentioned before, a raffle is called a tombola.
6. In a meeting recently with the CIO of our company, he referred to both 'bob' and 'shilling.' I knew both from previous experience, and the context of the conversation, that they referred to money but I didn't know how much. It turns out that both refer to they same unit of English money worth five pence, but no longer in circulation. The shilling (aka bob) was discontinued 40 years ago but you still hear both terms frequently.
7. "Brilliant" - You hear it used all the time. I have realized, they use it at the same time Americans use "great." "That movie was great!" = "That movie was brilliant!" But they don't use it in a negative sense, like "great, my pants are on fire ... again." Only in a positive sense.
8. A print ad in the London Times describes a movie camera as "a cracking new camera"
9. There is a public service announcement on BBC radio about registering your bicycles, evidently there is a tax on bicycles but many don't pay it. The ad is telling everyone that you can pay it on line now. The voice is that of a young man saying, "I got up this morning to go down to pay my bike tax. I found my bike helmet in the refrigerator filled with pudding. Alas, despite the best efforts of myself and my dog we were unable to eat enough of the pudding to make wearing the bike helmet safe for riding. So I was unable to pay my bike tax today." Hilarious.
10. The Brits have a thing for the word "rubbish. Who knew it was such a utilitarian word? " In an article in today's London Times about Daniel Craig, the new James Bond, there are three different uses. "When he was first named to the James Bond role, websites were set up for the express purpose of rubbishing a man who hadn't yet shot a single scene"; (verb) "...because of all the furor that was going on concerning my having gotten the part, some people were going to come along to see how rubbish it was"; (adjective?) "But I knew what I could do, and knew it was all rubbish." (noun)
Brilliant!