5 January 2016 MORE BRITISH SLANG




MORE BRITISH SLANG

G'day folks,

Brace yourself for some more British slang. Some of you authors might like to slip a few of these in your next novel.



Gagging - Desperate, in a fat slaggy kind of a way. Not nice. 

Gallivanting - The dictionary says "to gad about", which probably doesn't help much! It means fooling around or horseplay

Gander - When I was a kid, my Dad often used to go off for a gander when we were visiting a new town or village. It means to look around

Gen - Gen means information. If you have the gen then you know what is going on. 

Gen up - To research a subject or to get some information

Get lost! - Politely translated as go away, this is really a mild way of telling someone to f*** off! 

Get stuffed! - Even politer way to tell someone to get lost is to tell them to get stuffed. However, this is still not a nice thing to say to someone. 

Getting off - This seems to be the objective of most teenagers on a big night out. Getting off with someone means making out or snoggingh them. 

Give us a bell - This simply means call me. You often hear people use the word "us" to mean "me". 

Gobsmacked - Amazed. Your gob is your mouth and if you smack your gob, it would be out of amazement. 

Good value - This is short for good value for money. It means something is a good deal

Goolies - If you have been kicked in the goolies, your eyes would be watering and you would be clutching your balls

Gormless - A gormless person is someone who has absolutely no clue. You would say clueless. It is also shortened so you could say someone is a total gorm or completely gormy. 

Grem - The form of gob meaning to spit something out. e.g. Did you see him grem? Yuck. Usually associated with that ghastly noise as the content of the lungs are coughed into the mouth before gremming can take place. Grem is also the word that describes the green lump that is created in the process. You might call it hacking up a hacker

Grub - Food. Similar to nosh. I remember my Dad calling "grub's up", when dinner was ready as a kid. A grub is also an insect larva. Not usually eaten in England. Actually is available in some Australian restaurants! 

 Gutted - If someone is really upset by something they might say that they were gutted. Like when you are told that you have just failed your driving test! 

Haggle - To haggle is to argue or negotiate over a price. Most people that wangle stuff are usually quite good at haggling. I just learnt that in the USA you dicker over a price, particularly for used cars! 

Hanky panky - Hanky panky - or "slap and tickle" as some older folks call it - would be making out in America. 

Hard - After your 20 pints of lager, the curry or the doner, your average 20 year old feels hard. Since his male organ has no chance of working at this stage, hard clearly refers to something else - it means he is ready to fight anything or anybody or to take on any bet. This is the time to make fun of drunken lads by betting them they can't jump off the end of the pier, hang on to the back of a bus etc. 

Hard lines - This is another way of saying hard luck or bad luck

Hash - The thing you call a pound sign! Before you ask, yes it is also something you smoke - see wacky backy. Also to make a real hash of something means you really screwed it up

Have - This one used to wind me up a treat in Texas. When we were in restaurants with friends, they would say to the waiter something like "Can I get a refill". And the waiter would go and get them a refill. No no no - that's completely wrong. It's "Can I HAVE a refill". Not GET! If you say "Can I GET a refill" in the UK, the waiter will give you a funny look and tell you where to go and GET it - yourself! 

Healthy - Healthful. I'm not really sure if this is slang or whether the American use of healthful is the real alternative to the English "healthy". We talk about a healthy lifestyle and about healthy food. I never heard anyone say smoking was "unhealthful" in the US but I suppose that must exist too!
 




Clancy's comment: There ya go, cobbers. Keep ya goolies safe.

I'm ...






No comments:

Post a Comment