Viewers shocked as Adolescence star uses British slang word 'Americans don't understand' on Jimmy Fallon

It's been a few months now since Adolescence first stormed to Netflix's number one spot, but teenage star Owen Cooper is enjoying the fruits of his labours.

After producing a superb performance as Jamie alongside dad Stephen Graham in the haunting series, the UK actor has been touted as a huge name for the future, and already has secured a spot in a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights which is due to be released next year.

Cooper has already opened up about one of the hardest moments in the show, which was stomaching a horrible tasting liquid disguised as hot chocolate in the show, something he later described as 'minging'.

Owen Cooper rose to fame after starring in the Netflix thriller Adolescence alongside Stephen Graham (Netflix)

And it's that particular British slang which has perhaps tripped up Americans again, after he used it to describe US snacks during a recent interview with Jimmy Fallon.

Perhaps inspired by LADbible's own Snack Wars, the two were comparing British and American snacks, with the teenage actor going for a solid selection of Maltesers, Fruit Pastilles, something he humorously describes as 'the caviar of corner shops', and Monster Munch.

After trying the chocolatey snack, Fallon compared them to Whoppers, which are malted milk balls coated in chocolate in the US, but as we all know, British chocolate is far superior.

Cooper agreed, saying: "I tried Whoppers today. They're minging. I hated them."

To which Fallon replies: "You're totally wrong. You are so wrong."

For those of you who don't know, minging essentially means something is disgusting, repulsive or smelly.

In fact, there's a pretty interesting history behind the word, as it derives from the Scots word for stinking, which is 'mingin', as well as being the present participle of ming ('to stink') and also Middle English and Old English mengen/mengan, which means (to mix).

Of course, this isn't the only British slang that Americans struggle to understand as while we might be speaking the same language, there are some huge differences, which is further evidenced later in the show when Cooper describes fig newtons and ice cream as 'unreal', which the TV host seems confused by until he affirms that he does in fact like them.

Commenters on the show's TikTok post were shocked but impressed that Cooper stuck to his northern roots by using the term in front of an international audience.

One poster wrote: "They're mingin on Jimmy Fallon is iconic," as another said: "Bro dropped minging on American late night TV, legend."

A third commented: "They're minging'. Northern representation is right."

Other examples of British words some Yanks can't quite get their heads around include 'bloody', 'dribble', 'b*llocks', 'kn*b' and finally 'bubble and squeak', which isn't exactly commonly used unless you're a massive fan of cabbage.