User:Hharvey

== American’s Page of British Slang Words and Phrases ==

Many of our vastly used expressions in the United States come from old or current British slang words and phrases. If an American traveled to England and listened to casual conversation between friends, they would find themselves lost and confused. However, if they wrote down the expressions and slang, and considered each one, they would find links to common expressions in the U.S. There are many words that have merely been adapted, however, there is also a type of slang called Cockney Rhyming Slang; all of these styles are widely used.

Cockney Rhyming Slang is a type of slang, used mostly in the Northern parts of England, in which words or phrases are substituted by something that they rhyme with. Not only can the words be replaced, but the new word can be a double rhyming word such as “nitty-gritty” or “namby-pamby”. Some of the phrases derive from historical figures that represent a certain thing. For example, “Hampstead Heath” for “teeth” because it is an alliteration in which Hampstead is a dental care company and Heath rhymes with teeth. The reason for this vernacular is still unknown, although it is evident that it was formed for excluding outsiders to the conversation. Cockney Rhyming Slang is very common among friends, coworkers, or any other types of groups. Many people continue to use Cockney Rhyming Slang, some just doing it for the fun of it, others for a purpose unknown to us. The use of this slang is often thought of to be working classmen’s language, however, the flow and sleekness of it is actually quite desirable. The following are some examples:
Apple and Pears, stairs.
Barnet-Fair, hair.
Bird-lime, time.
Lath-and-plaster, master.
Oats and chaff, footpath.
(http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cockney-rhyming-slang.html)

Cockney Rhyming Slang can be an extremely interesting thing to try to do, so here are some tips to replacing dull words with interesting phrases. The first thing one would do is pick the word that they would like to replace. Then they would think of something completely unrelated to their word, but that rhymes with it. Next, they simply replace their common every day word with their new arbitrary word or phrase. For example, if one were to say “can I borrow your pen?” they could change that by replacing the word “pen” with the rhyming phrase “clen-den” which has absolutely nothing to do with the original word. The final phrase would come out to be “can I borrow your clen-den?”. Another example could be taking the word “boots”, rhyming it with “roots”, and finishing by replacing the word “boots”, with the phrase “tree roots”. The name Grant (as in Ulysses S. Grant) is often associated with war. Therefore, to replace the word war, one can take the name Grant, combine it with a word that rhymes with war, such as sore, and create “Grant-sore”, meaning “war”. The British’s favorite Cockney Rhyming slang is the word “Septic”, which is something they call Americans. The reason is that it is short for “septic tank” which rhymes with “yank” which is another word for an American. Here are some more examples of Cockney Rhyming Slang:
Donkey’s Ears, Years
Dog and Bone, Phone
Frog and Toad, Road
Elephant’s Trunk, Drunk

Like every other language in the world, English has its different accents and pronunciation, whether it is Australian, American, Irish, or many others. When visiting another English-speaking country, people find it harder to understand the natives, and therefore should be taught about the pronunciations so that when they need to, they can apply what they know. The number one thing that one should know about, is how most of the English do not pronounce an “r” in the middle of a word. For example, when the British say the word “hard”, they pronounce it “haad”. A similar example would be the word “farther” that the British pronounce just like “father”. Another very common thing is “shire”, which comes after the name of many counties. For example, Hampshire, would not be pronounced “Hamp-shyer”, but “Hampshuh”. Also in names of cities and towns, “ham” is a common ending, but is pronounced differently than it appears. Such as in “Nottingham”, the “ham” is not pronounced like the sandwich meat, it is pronounced “Notting-um”. One must also be aware of the letter “t”. For example, in America, we pronounce “butter” like “budder”, however, the British say “butter” with enunciation on the “t”’s.

Knickers: underwear (mostly ladies)
Pants: underwear (mostly men)
Trousers: pants, jeans
Jumper: sweater
Frock: dress
Dressing Gown: robe
Cozzy or Swimming costume: swim suit
Dinner Jacket: tuxedo
Dungarees: overalls
Nappy: diaper
Pinafore (pinafore dress): jumper
Polo neck: turtle neck
Suspenders: garder belts
Tights: pantyhose
Trainers (short for training shoes): sneakers
Vest: undershirt
Waistcoat: vest
Wellies (Wellington Boots): galoshes

Bump start: jump start
Bonnet: the car’s hood
Cab: taxi
Car park: parking lot
Coach: like a Greyhound
Double decker: bus
Dual carriageway: divided highway
Economy: coach (the cheaper seats on a plane)
Hire Car: rental car
Jam Sandwich: police car
Juggernaut: 18 wheeler
Lorry: truck
Magic Roundabout: a roundabout with cars moving in both directions
Motorway: freeway
Petrol: gas
Subway: underpass
Zebra crossing: crosswalk

Ace: cool
All right?: Hi, how are you?
Any road: anyway
As well: also
Barmy (or mad): gone crazy
Belt up: shut up
Best of British: good luck
Bite your arm off: enormously excited
Blast: exclamation of surprise
Bleeding or bloody: derogatory exclamation of surprise
Blow me: exclamation of surprise
Bob’s your uncle: and that’s it!
Brill: brilliant or cool
Cheeky: flippant; smart alec
Cheerio or Cheers: good-bye
Chinese whispers: the game “telephone”
Codswallop: bologna
Daft: stupid
Dicky: feeling sick (cockney rhyming slang-see if you can figure it out!)
Dishy: good-looking or attractive
Duck or Ducky: term of endearment
Fag: cigarette
Fagging: at a boarding school when a new boy acts as a slave for an older boy, the act of doing this is called fagging
Fancy: desire or want
Fit: good-looking. A fit bird is a good-looking girl and a fit bloke is a good-looking guy
Getting off: making out
Hanky-panky: making out
Snoggingh: making out
Have: get (saying “can you go get it” is rude in England)
Jolly: very good
Khazi: bathroom
Kip: nap
Knock on: to go to someone’s house
Knock up: wake someone up
Love bite: hickies
Mate: friend
Morish: when you feel like you want more (food)
Mug: someone who is gullible
Nosh: food
Pants: total crap
Pavement Pizza: vomit
Posh: high class
Prat: insulting name for someone
Quid: the British pound; like saying “buck” in America
Right: “I’m feeling right sick today”, means very
Ring: a (phone) call
Row: argument
Rubbish: garbage; used literally and used to describe someone talking “crap”
Skive: to skip or ditch (as in a class)
Slapper: tramp
Snog: making out
Spend a penny: go to the bathroom
Ta: thanks
Taking the biscuit: sweeping the floor
Tidy: used to describe a woman being attractive
Two finger salute: giving the middle finger
Watcha or Wotcher: hi
Yonks: ages
Zed: the last letter of the alphabet; the letter “Z”

http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-ukinfocus-regional-england-words.htm
http://www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cockney-rhyming-slang.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/voices2005/
http://www.slanguage.com/british.html

http://www.businessballs.com/clichesorigins.htm
http://www.panix.com/~acohen/expr.html
http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/index.htm
http://www.zoo.ufl.edu/bolker/vocab/vocab.html

--Hharvey 23:33, 5 December 2006 (UTC)