Dictionary

herbert en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /ˈhɜːbət/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈhɝbɚt/ (General-American)

Etymology

* (working-class youth): From the name Herbert. The term was popularised by the punk movement but predates it.

Meanings

1. (qualifier:punk subculture, slang) A working-class youth, especially male.
   • […] everything was busy now with the usual mix of herberts, and because this was Brunel University there was a lot of students, the sort who wouldn't normally go see a punk band […] 2000, John King, Human punk:
   • Into this haunted house stumble a couple of modern-day herberts, Alison and Mike (Charlotte Ritchie and Kiell Smith-Bynoe). They have inherited Button Hall after the last of the Button family died. When they arrive to take stock of the place, the unseen ghosts mill around the couple in the great hall - and some don't like what they see. "She's exposing her knees! And she's got a tattoo! exclaims the buttoned-up Edwardian Lady Button. 2019 April 15, Stuart Jeffries, “Ghosts review - a silly sitcom that will make you die laughing”, in Guardian Online, archived from the original on 16 Apr 2019:
   • I was a proto-hippy in '66 - '67 and by about August '67 the bandwagon jumpers, the media and all manner of assorted herberts had turned up to spoil everything. 2007, Paul Marko, The Roxy London WC2: A Punk History:
   • It was the Ulster Annual Jamboree. For weeks past, hundreds of spotty-faced herberts, with yodelling voices and chin fuzz, had tied three million knots, started ten thousand twig fires, and completed six hundred leaf fires; perfect training for round about 3000BC but bloody useless in the twentieth century. 1963, Spike Milligan, Puckoon:
   • Because of my appearance, I was accosted by a couple of spotty herberts on the way […] 2007, Bobby Smith, Margaret Oshindele-Smith, One Love Two Colours:
2. (slang) A foolish or contemptible person, especially male.
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:herbert.

Forms