With the first winter series of Love Island kicking off this week, it is fair to say that many of us here at Impression are already hooked.
We like to pretend we watch it to keep up with PR trends and news, but in reality, Love Island has become an integrated part of our culture. With some cracking phrases and quotes delivered by the casts over the years, the show has brought us one liners which we still use today.
Episode 2 of 2020 brought us the slightly crude “butter churner”, a phrase which saw a 20k increase in search volume, rising by 9900% interest on Google after Callum announced it to be his favourite romantic position. With this in mind, we were able – with our love for the show and some handy Google Interest data – to compile a list of the nation’s favourite Love Island phrases and how they influence our searching habits.
We wanted to see which Love Island phrases caught the population’s interest the most, and how long these search peaks lasted through the summer.
What did we find? Well, it seems the UK population are suckers for a cheeky bedroom phrase and they are not so fond of those coined by Love Islanders in an attempt to increase their fame (Sorry Lucy, Bev is not a thing…)
| Love Island Phrase | Increased search interest during the series |
| Butter churner | 9900% |
| Dead ting | 9900% |
| Fanny flutters | 1567% |
| Peng sort | 1150% |
| The Eagle | 1150% |
| Catch feelings | 900% |
| The Do Bits Society | 335% |
| Bev | 285% |
| I’ve got a text | 257% |
| Bevvy | 223% |
| All mouth | 223% |
| Chivey | 194% |
What do these Love Island phrases mean?
Butter churner
Claimed by Calllum Jones as his favourite bedroom position, the butter churner had most of us scrambling to Google to enlighten us as to what exactly this involved…
Dead ting
Made famous by Amber Gill, describing someone seen as highly boring and dull. In this case, Amber was referring to Joanna Chimonindes who her ex-partner Michael Griffiths had recoupled with.
Fanny flutters
Outrageously hilarious Maura Higgins presented this term when discussing boxer Tommy Fury. We’ll leave you to work out why.
The Eagle
Introduced to the show by Curtis Pritchard, this phrase refers to what Curtis called his “favourite romantic position”
Peng sort
First used in 2018, this term meaning handsome or good looking was used by Jack Fincham to describe Dr Alex George.
Catch feelings
This phrase, which originated from ‘catch flights not feelings’ became so entwined in the Love Island culture, they even had a sign created for the villa
The Do Bits Society
Invented by Wes Nelson, referring to couples in the Island who had..ahem…done bits…
Bev
Lucie Donlan fought hard to make this term famous, claiming it described a hot guy who could either be your boyfriend or…not your boyfriend
I’ve got a text
An on going phrase for Love Islanders, this saying is used to signify an exciting update from our favourite Love Island members, the producers
All mouth
In a moment which will go down in history, Tom Walker famously blew his chances with Maura Higgins as he wondered out loud if she was “all mouth and no action”. Disappointing.
Bevvy
A variation on the original phrase by Lucie Donlan, this was another she tried (and sadly failed) to populate with her fellow islanders.
Chivey
Made famous by Amber Gill, describing someone seen as highly boring and dull. In this case, Amber was referring to Joanna Chimonindes who her ex-partner Michael Griffiths had recoupled with.
What do the results show?
Well, it is certainly clear to see that the UK audience loves a cheeky bedroom phrase or slightly insulting quote (note the term ‘dead ting’).
After analysing the results, Maura Higgins has been crowed with the best performing phrase of Love Island by Impression, for the long lasting search interest we see on Google for her slightly (incredibly) rude saying.
Yes, it is a rude one but what can we do..it is what it is.
