In northern England, mafting means “oppressively hot” or “sweltering,” as in mafting hot weather. The word is of uncertain origin and has been around only since the 1990s. It can also work as a verb, for example when someone is mafting in bright sunshine, and it invites wordplay about a house that could win a mafting award from the School of Mafting. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Northern English “Mafting” Means Oppressively Hot or Sweltering”
Another weather word that’s used in the UK and that’s only been around since the 1990s is the word mafting.
M-A-F-T-I-N-G. Mafting. Mafting hot weather is oppressively hot weather.
That sounds like a minced oath. It sounds like somebody who…
Or an acronym.
Well, they’re on television, yeah.
Just oppressively hot.
It can also be used as a verb, like I was mafting in the bright sunshine because I was wearing too many shirts or whatever.
So it’s so hot that you’re evaporating.
Maybe that’s it.
You’re wafting downward.
Your molecules are dissipating into the atmosphere.
Mafting.
Mafting hot.
That’s good.
Oh, here’s a tweet that I really liked.
I don’t think my house could maft more if it was given a mafting award from the School of Mafting.
Now that’s a hot house.
That’s a hot house.
Oh, yeah.
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