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Posted on Jan 29, 2007 by As promised, here is another installment of our light hearted look at English Slang.
When a word is indicated by a ‘*’ it means that it is not in common usage nowadays in England, but once was.
Oftentimes, slang comes around in phases so one word might not be used now but in future it may be.
This often depends on popular media such as movies and newspapers who have been responsible for the use of mane slang phrases over the years.
The first word is the slang word, then the proper English word closest to it, followed by an example of how to use it.
Airy-fairy - lacking in strength, weak. ‘Don’t give me that airy-fairy excuse! Hand your homework in on time! ‘
Aggro - Aggressive behaviour, troublemaking. ‘Don’t be so aggro, we can work this out.’
Airhead - A silly person, someone who doesn’t think well. ‘Why did she get that question wrong? She is such an airhead! ‘
Alky / alkie - An alcoholic . ‘My uncle is such an old alky - he never stops drinking!’
Ace! - Brilliant, really good. ‘This food is ace!’
Action man - someone who does alot of macho things, someone trying to be tough. ‘Peter is a real action man, look at him trying to impress the ladies. ‘
All-nighter - an event which takes place all night or at least for longer than most events of the same type. . ‘Are you going to the club tonight? I fancy doing an all-nighter ‘
All to pot - messed up, everything went wrong. ‘The trip was ace until I broke my leg, and then it all went to pot. ‘
Ankle-biters - young children, babies . ‘What a cute little ankle-biter he is!’
(going) Apeshit - angry, being very aggressive, violent. ‘Someone told Jon he was fat, so Jon went apeshit and punched him on the nose!’
More soon..!
Learning English is a difficult task - we fully sympathise with you if you are trying to do it!
Most English people do not know the full range and function of the English language - using it is as natural to them as breathing!
One all too common complaint made by people attempting to learn English is that there are too many slang words and other types of word that cannot be understood or even found in the dictionary.
Without further ado then, here is our first in what will be a series of English Slang blogs and articles.
The first word is the slang word, then the proper English word closest to it, followed by an example of how to use it.
- Botched messed up, made worse. ‘He made a botched job of repairing the door - he completely botched it up’.- Bloke - man. ‘Jon is a great bloke.’
- Bottle - fortitude, courage. ‘Do you have the bottle to tell her you like her?
- Chucking it down - heavy or annoying rain. ‘Oh no! It’s chucking it down outside and I have to walk home!’
- Chuffed - pleased, happy, proud. ‘I feel chuffed to have passed my exam’
- Cheesed Off - annoyed, fed up, angry. ‘She was so cheesed off when she found out I had eaten all her chocolate!’
- Daft - a little crazy, stupid. ‘Sine is daft, she just ate her pencil’- Dosh - money. ‘Can you lend me some dosh mate?’
- Gobsmacked - very surprised, astounded. ‘When she told me I was fired I was gobsmacked.’
- Gutted - Unhappily surprised, negatively affected. ‘I feel so gutted to have lost the fight - I thought I was going to win.’
More soon..!
My name is Sine and I am from Thailand. Here’s some of my story. I’m here in England!! Even though it has been nearly 5 years of living in England, I never forget my strange feeling at the first moment I was in England.
Let’s start from the weather (I know everybody loves talking about the weather here..!) It wasn’t one of nicest days - rather cloudy but no rain.
Personally, I don’t like rain or gloomy days that much. I don’t know why but for some reason, I always find myself slightly depressed.
I comforted myself… ‘Nevermind, it will be sunny later on’ However, that whole evening went dark very quickly.
Then I thought, ‘Hm, I shall go to bed (my body told me that if it was dark, it was time to sleep) and once I get up tomorrow, it will be a nice day’.
My alarm clock went off at 8am, ‘Mmm..(stretching my body)…(slowly drew the curtain out)…aw, it is raining!’Then, I had to force myself to cheer up on my first day at school in England. Unfortunately it didn’t help as I forgot to bring an umbrella and ended up walking home soaked by the rain.
Secondly, English food, erm.. sorry, I honestly don’t mean to offend any English readers here but it was just…’different’. Possibly I wasn’t used to cheese - to me, cheese smelled like milk which has gone off for more than a month.
I found English food quite rich. However, it didn’t take me long to get used to the food. After 3 months of having toast and butter every morning and pudding after supper, I put on more than 5 kgs. or nearly 1 stone!
After living here for 5 years (2 years with an English family, 1 year in the catered hall of residence), I’m much better and believe it or not, I do love cheese!
I enjoy cheese and salad sandwiches as much as Thai green curry with rice!
Next time, I’ll be writing on a culture shock in England and how to handle it. Also some tips on how to cope with homesickness.
Don’t forget, if this is your first time in England, let me know whether you feel the same way as me. What do you think about England? Do you enjoy it? Share your experience or even if you are feeling homesick right now, let me know cuz I might be able to help…If not, then I’ll promise you to be a good listener. Believe me, saying it to someone does help a lot!
Hammasa Kohistani, famously chosen to be the “English” entry into the Miss World contest last year, has spoken publically about the societal rift between Muslims and British people in England.There are several observations I would like to make over her comments, reprinted below:
“The attitude towards Muslims has got worse over the year. Also the Muslims’ attitude to British people has got worse.”
She simultaneously wishes to see the osmosis of Muslim Brit’s into English society while herself making a distinction between the two. She worries that she was only used as a “sugar coating” to help iron over the tensions between Muslims living in Britain and British caucasians, yet she self-defines as a Muslim and her opinions seem to prioritise her Muslim identity above her English identity, rather than both being of equal importance to her.
“there is this hostility”, she says, which comes “mainly from the Government”.
She blames Tony Blair for making things worse:
“Tony Blair addressed Muslims in particular [?], telling them that they need to sort out the problem within. That was a huge stereotype [?] of the Islamic community. Even the more moderate Muslims have been stereotyped negatively and feel they have to take actions to prove themselves.”
The highlighting is my own. Firstly, why would Tony Blair not address Muslims in particular? What other group should he be addressing on the subject of Muslim terrorists that he has not already addressed? Secondly, how is this a stereotyping? By instructing Muslim leaders to do more to avoid those from within their communities from becoming terrorists or terrorist sympathisers, he is simply speaking logically. If group A has a problem, you are best advised, lest you want to be accused of being patronising, to expect that group’s leaders to deal with it. I find no basis for the accusation that his instructions were in any way stereotyping Muslims. Unless she means he was stereotyping Muslims as being Muslims, in which case she has no complaint.
Hammasa feels that Muslims are unfairly treated by the opinions of English people, yet she herself received several thousand death threats from Muslims in the weeks after she accepted the position of Miss England. Several community leaders openly declared her to be betraying Islam. Yet she feels Toby Blair has no place telling those same leaders to do more to curb the problematic few Muslims who are capable of causing such destruction.
“It is not for me to answer how to get people to turn away from terrorism. The politicians don’t know what to do and I am just a 19-year-old.”
Fortunately she saves herself from sustained criticism by at least admitting the possibility that she doesn’t quite know enough to express opinions on this subject. Yet the subtext here is still vitriolic; that the politicians do not know what to do.
Call me racist if you must (I assure you I am not) but is it really, really awful of me to expect Miss. England to be caucasian English and to have spent their childhood living in England and not abroad? That, of course, is another post entirely.
In mid January a whale was found in the Thames River, London. It died the next day as environmentalists attempted to lead it to deeper waters. It was believed that the whale had taken a wrong turning and rather than meeting the atlantic drift where it could relax and chow down on some squid, it had actually found itself surrounded by football chants and heavy accents in the middle of Chelsea bridge.
The post-mortem showed that without the healthy diet of squid, Fred had been unable to hydrate himself and his skeleton had been put through alot of stress.
This rings warning bells for the cockneys, of course, who also put their skeletons through alot and quite frequently end up lost in the Thames River after one too many beers on a Friday night. The next time Frank “The Bruiser” Fiddlesticks decides to take a refreshing swim across the river he may be mistaken for a particularly attractive pink and wobbly squid, and consequently gobbled right up.
Personally though, I can’t imagine the Thames becoming much of a nature reserve for oceanic wildlife. Apparantly there are quite alot of fish in the Thames, but they’re fighting for space with the plastic bottles, industrial waste and raw sewage.
Another site has cropped up; www.StGeorgesHoliday.com. As the name suggests, the plan is to work a sort of active petition for the creation of an official holiday celebrating St. George and all that is English (or Turkish.. depending on who you ask about St. George).
Graham from the site has been in touch to share some details:
“..We want the government to introduce a bank holiday on 23rd April. I’m sure you appreciate that a bank holiday will be a great opportunity for all the English (regardless of colour or religion or sexuality) to recognise the things that bind us together - rather than concentrating on our differences..”
You are invited to join the growing number of people who have pledged to take the day off work - officially or otherwise - on St. George’s Day. We look forward to seeing how this progresses.
I’ve returned from London after an enjoyable weekend up there. You can view the photos from my trip over at the english-blogs.com photo album.
The flats pictured there are part of the building I stayed in. They are a group of flats in Chelsea, which is a part of London known for ‘high-society’ living.
The area is expensive and I could not afford to visit any of the restaurants there! The streets surrounding the flats are littered with all manner of small boutique-like shops, selling expensive fashion items such as dress and formal wear or jewellery.
Fortunately the underground system in London (a system of trains that connect parts of the city under the ground) is very easy to use and efficient enough so that getting from one place to another is both inexpensive and hassle free.
One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to Covent Garden. This area is famous for street entertainment and good eating/drinking.This is largely a pedestrian area with no cars allows for performers to set up shows and entertain the public in return for tips (if you feel generous!). There are also many good places to sit and watch people as they walk by.
There are terrace areas owned by a local pub that allow you a great view of the goings on beneath you in the square. Most days, happy punters watch a man balance a bucket of water over his person or walk over some unsuspecting innocents, or somesuch similar spectacle.
If you don’t enjoy being accosted by strangers then Covent Garden Market is not the place for you.
As soon as you step off the tube (the underground tube is the best way of getting there from afar) you will be surrounded by performers and public.
Many people use the area as a go-between for travelling from one street to another, so the area gets additional foot traffic. It’s also a popular place to stop for a quick lunch as you can listen to opera or perhaps a string quartet while munching happily on a sandwhich before returning to work.
For a modest sum you can even have a skilled artist paint your portrait, or even a comedy version such as a charicature. If you enjoy the talent of a performer the option is always there to throw some spare coins into their hat - a way of keeping street performance alive and showing your appreciation for the effort.
Covent Garden Market is a must-see for any first time visit to London.
Women in England are given equal rights to men, and this is a very important part of English society now.
It wasn’t always this way, and it took the bravery and courage of some famous women and men to make the change. Here are some simple points about women that may differ to your country (or may not!):
It’s completely acceptable for women to drink beer. Women can drink anything men can and most of society will not find it odd. However, many men still feel that it is not attractive to see a women drinking the more tradition ‘male’ drinks like a pint of beer or very hard spirits.
It’s also normal for women to wander around alone. Just like men, women in England can go anywhere they want and do anything they like (within the law!). It is very normal to see women on their own walking from place to place, just like men. You might be asking yourself why this is notable - if so, consider yourself lucky!
Another important social event is eating out! Women in England are socially free to eat alone in restaurants. It is not seen as odd or notable to be female and alone while eating your meal in a cafe or restaurant. This is something not all countries can take for granted!
It is standard in England for women to hold positions of authority in the Armed Forces, police, politics, law and every aspect of society and business.
There are no legal restrictions on what a woman can achieve in terms of a career in England.
Some women still complain that men stop women from succeeding in business sometimes, but equally so some men complain that companies will be more likely to hire women because it makes the company look good in the eyes of society, so men are losing out on some jobs.
Both things probably do happen sometimes, but this is the result of an equal society.
The question of who it is exactly who runs the country of England is an interesting one to research.
Many foreign people often think that the Queen and Royalty of England are, naturally, the people in charge. As we shall find out, it’s not quite that simple..
England is run by the British Parliament. England is of course the largest country in Britain. The other countries are Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Parliament is basically a mix of important people and groups who together, run the the country.
England is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional Monarch as the ‘Head of State’.
English (British) democracy works on the basic principle that the people of England and Britain elect Members of Parliament (known as ‘MPs’).
These MPs are elected by the people into The House of Commons. This is in London and this process occurs during a General Election. General Elections have to happen once every five years, and the current ruling government gets to decide at which time during those five years it will take place.There is always much speculation in the English Media as to when exactly the Election date will be. Bookies (companies or individuals who let you place wagers/bets with them) often offer odds on when it will be announced, too.
The Government has some principle officials, namely: The Head of State - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Then, Prime Minister (Head MP) - The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, MP. (Rt. Hon. stands for ‘Right Honourable’ and is a mark of respect). So Parliament itself is made up of the House of Commons, together with another ‘House’ called the House of Lords and then the Monarch (currently Queen Elizabeth).
Yes, alright! But what does Parliament actually DO?
Ah, ok ok. Essentially the Parliament has one main job - the creation of Law. Parliament passes new laws, amends laws, discusses laws and then other matters such as taxation. Foreign matters are often discussed along with domestic issues.
The Houses of Parliament sit next to the river Thames, a river that runs right through London. The impressive buildings are the subject of many a tourists photography!
Each MP who sits in the House of Commons (which sits inside the Houses of Parliament) has been elected, as I mentioned. Each individual MP ‘represents’ one of 659 constituencies in the U.K. Each of the constituencies has one ’seat’ in the House of Commons, so called because that is where the MP gets to sit while the House debates the various issues of government.
MPs are also grouped by the particular party they belong to. There are three main political parties in the system; New Labour, The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. The party that gets the most ’seats’ elected by the people becomes the ruling government.
2001 saw the General Election won by New Labour. They won an impressive 413 ’seats’ (i.e. 413 constituencies voted a New Labour MP into power). By comparison, the Conservatives won 166 ’seats’ and the Liberal Democrats got 52. As it happens, we’re coming up to the next General Election at the moment. May 5th, 2005 will once again see the English people voting for who will run their country.
Here continues our blog on English Do’s and Dont’s - those things you should and should not do when in England or with English people! You can read from the beginning here.
Do not stare at people! - It is considered impolite to look at someone too long when you do not know them very well.
Do not spit! - Spitting in the street is considered to be very impolite indeed. You should only spit when no one can see you!
Do not touch people too much - unless you know them very well, gestures like hugging and kissing and so on are only shared between close friends. In general, English people are very modest when it comes to public affection between strangers.
Do not pick your nose in public - English people find this disgusting! If you have to do it, use a handkerchief or tissue to blow your nose into it. Blowing your nose in public is considered more polite, unlike many other countries.Do not burp in public - After eating or drinking, you may enjoy a good burp! If you do it in public you can be sure that people will be very offended.Do not pass wind in public! This one is obvious to English people. Any loud sounds your body can make are usually considered very rude!Do not speak when you have food in your mouth - English people consider it rude to speak with your mouth full. If you want to reply to someone, they will appreciate you finishing what you are eating before talking back to them, so don’t worry about the pause.
Do not ask personal or intimate questions - English people are very keen on their privacy. This might seem strange considering how we treat our celebrities. Nevertheless, you should not ask questions like ‘Why aren’t you married?’ or ‘How much money do you earn?’ and if talking to a lady, definitely never ask ‘How much do you weigh?’.
Do not eat from your knife - only put food in your mouth from the fork or spoon - the knife is just for cutting the food!
Here is just a small selection of Do’s and Don’ts for life in England. I hope you are not completely put off ever visiting if you haven’t already! English people are very friendly usually and are used to meeting foreign people. If you make a mistake, it will probably be forgiven very quickly with a round of smiling and maybe some gentle teasing.
