dead ting
/dɛd tɪŋ/
CommonA boring, dull, or unattractive person with no personality or presence.
Almost always used about people, not situations. Calling something other than a person a dead ting is rarer and feels more like a stretch. The insult covers personality and physical attractiveness at once.
Real-world examples3 examples
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | why is she always inviting him? he's such a dead ting | He is boring and no one understands why he keeps getting included. | x, 2023 |
| 02 | matched with him but he's a dead ting, conversations are dry | He has no charm and the chat is going nowhere. | tiktok, 2024 |
| 03 | nah the party was full of dead tings, left after an hour | Everyone there was boring and unattractive. | reddit, 2022 |
Use it when
- You are dismissing someone as boring and without appeal.
- Someone has no romantic or social value in your eyes.
- A person brings nothing to a group or situation.
Do not use it when
- You only mean someone is physically unattractive without the boring aspect.Use “london-slang-dead-ting” instead.
- You are in a context where the person might genuinely be hurt.
Dead ting vs wasteman
dead ting
Dead ting is about being boring and unattractive with no energy.
VS
london-slang-wasteman
Wasteman focuses on being useless, lazy, or a failure at life.
Origin and context
Emerged from MLE in London. Dead as a modifier meaning dull or lifeless is longstanding in UK slang. Ting, from Jamaican Creole, means a person or thing.
- First seen
- 2000s
- Confidence
- medium
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/london-slang-dead-tingUpdated: 2026-08-29License: CC BY 4.0