slightly off the original topic.... knackered always makes me grin, and it just seems a word not appropriate for conference calls, but the Brits I work with don't seem to think like me.

Another that I quite like is jiggery-pokery - just sounds naughty doesn't it? I heard this from a Brit IT guy (who was described as camp (also a Brit term for gay, as in he's a bit camp)) who described the work behind the scenes of a program as "jiggery pokery". When I asked for a definition he said "knackered", which of course to my delight led to asking for another definition. They were a fun implementation team!