that's so moosh of you

Nah, safe.

I was visiting Birmingham when "safe" was taking off in England (2006?) but hadn't reached Scotland yet. Was talking to a random guy in a bar, and I couldn't understand why he was so insistent that Birmingham was "safe"

Safe predates 2006 in the UK by a long distance. “Laters” was a fun one. A shibboleth to pretend you are from London if you live just outside.

Maybe among younger people in the South East of England, but it certainly hadn't spread all the way north at that point

Someone here's going to need to explain "safe" and "laters" to this Yank

"safe" is just some slang meaning like "cool"

"laters" would just be a short way of saying "see you later" - but it sounds really a bit lame and try-hard to me, or the kind of thing a middle-aged, middle-class person would write as dialogue for a working class urban teenage character in a TV show. I think quickthrower2 is saying the same thing but maybe they can correct me (sounds like they're England, so they'll know better than me).

Don't worry about either, you won't hear them particularly often :)

Yeah it was definitely try hard IMO. I said some of the old crap sayings but only said “laters” only in pure irony!

Thanks for scratching that itch. Laters definitely sounds contrive. Totally moosh.

Safe, mate!

(or less inauthentic, "nae bother")