slowpoke

(slang) slow.

(informal, UK, Irish) A person, especially a child, who moves slowly.

(informal, UK, Irish) A person who is slow on the uptake; one who does not comprehend new ideas quickly.

(UK, Irish) A period of time spent in an unusually slow fashion.

A versatile slang word that can mean the total opposite depending on context. In everyday American English, pokey most often means annoyingly slow — a pokey driver, a pokey internet connection. In British slang it means cramped and tiny, like a pokey flat with no room to breathe. Flip it to car talk and in some UK circles it weirdly means fast or powerful. The slow/cramped meaning is far more common in modern usage, making this a slightly confusing little word with some regional personality.