Natalija Kandic, I1

Gimnazija ‘’Stevan Sremac’’ , Nis

SlAngUsing slang means replacing a common word or sentence with a totally new one.

The use of slang has been around for many years. It is often associated with younger people mainly due to the fact

that each new generation wants it’s own identity. So, in many ways it would be

true to say that slang defines a generation.

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According to the American poet Carl Sandburg, slang is "language which takes off its coat, spits on its hands - and goes to work."

The Concise Oxford Dictionary is more prosaic: "words, phrases, and uses that are regarded as very informal and are often restricted to special contexts or are peculiar to a specified profession, class, etc (racing slang; schoolboy slang).

The problem for learners of English is to know when or when not to use slang. Many people condemn slang, but in fact we all use it. The trick is to use slang in the right context. For the learner, perhaps the first thing to remember is that slang is normally spoken, not written. The second thing is that you may wish to learn slang so that you can understand it when you hear it, but not necessarily to use it.

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wass-up (wazzap)- a form of greeting, what’s up (orig. U.S)

yo! – a greeting or an attention seeking call (orig. U.S.)

pip-pip – goodbye! catch you later- goodbye cheerio- means goodbye

Slang words for Slang words for HiHi and and Goodbye Goodbye ::

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• That’s ACEACE• That’s AWESOMEAWESOME• That’s BADBAD• That’s BONABONA• That’s COOLCOOL• That’s EXCELLENTEXCELLENT• That’s FAR-OUTFAR-OUT• That’s DIAMONDDIAMOND Did you know that word

‘’COOL’’ has been around as a slang term

for over 50 years !

• That’s INTENSEINTENSE• That’s RAD(ICAL)RAD(ICAL)• That’s WICKEDWICKED• That’s DARKDARK• That’s GNARLYGNARLY• That’s KEWLKEWL• That’s RANDOMRANDOM

Instead of saying GREAT we can say:

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Slang words for MONEY: cash, dosh, dough, foldable stuff,cash, dosh, dough, foldable stuff, moolah, notes, readies, smackers, lollymoolah, notes, readies, smackers, lolly

Bees and honey = Money (Cockney rhyming slang)

The English pound- Quid, NickerQuid, NickerUS Dollar- Buck, Green-BackBuck, Green-Back£500 or £50- MonkeyMonkeyCredit card- PlasticPlasticPaper money- Sheet Sheet ‘’My new computer cost me 800 sheets’’‘’My new computer cost me 800 sheets’’

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babe - - a young attractive womandoris - - wife, girlfriendin the club - - pregnantknocked up - - tired, exhausted; pregnantsheila -- woman (orig. Australia)shawty - - young woman or kid

Slang words connected to WOMANThere are some slang words that are no longer used today, for example - In the past man have described woman as a bird or a chick. Nowadays these 2 terms are considered very offensive, so try not to use them.

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food and drink: barbie- a barbecue (orig.Australia) char - tea (from the Chinese cha) cow juice, mu juice - milk tommy k - ketchup

fashion: threads - clothes Jesus boots - sandals jim-jams - pyjamas sunnies - sunglasses (orig. Australia) strides - trousers syrup - a wig bling bling - jewellery ice - diamond or more generally jewellery (orig. U.S.)

vehicle:wheels - car (orig. U.S.) ‘’‘’Can I borrow your wheels?’’Can I borrow your wheels?’’

home equipment: pooter - computer dog and bone - telephone (Cockney

rhyming slang) goggle box, telly - television snail-mail – post, surface mail

face:choppers - teethchops, kisser - mouth

institutions: flicks - cinemapad- appartment,home (orig. U.S.)clink - prison (from the sound of doors

locking)

other:cans - headphonesskins - cigarette paperscancer stick, fag - a cigarette

Slang words for

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dish - a good-looking and attractive man

egg-head - a clever and intelligent person

fit - an attractive person ‘’She is really fit.’’

looker – an attractive person top dog - the leader, bossairhead- a stupid personalkie - an alcocholic (also spelt

alky)cabbage - a person who is

brain-dead from an injury or on a life-support machine

chav - a poorly educated person (often used in the UK to describe young anti-social people)

erk - an unimportant and worthless person

fuddy-duddy - an old fussy, picky person

lobster – a very sunburnt person

nerd- an intelligent, obsessive and often socially inept person, boring or dull

oxygen thief - an elderly personparty animal - a person who

loves parties and partyingrude boy - a young male, tough,

with plenty of attitudescaredy-cat – a person who is

frightenedweirdo, weirdy - a person

perceived unusual, an eccentric

ginger - a ginger or red haired person,carbonated drink such as cola

Slang words describing a personSlang words describing a person

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Slang adjectives and adverbs

cheap as chips - extremely cheap

da bomb - the bestdark - excellentdead - extremely “It’s dead hot in here.”diamond – wonderful, great(Originally used in London)diddy - smalldynamite - impressive or

excitinggaga - insane, just a little crazygay - unfashionable or uselessgut-full – enough of “I’ve had a gut-full of you.”kooky - crazy, eccentric

lashed (up) - drunkmucky - rudenish - nothingpeelie-wally - pale looking,

sicklyphat, fat – very goodpigout - too muchscrambeled - confusedsick, sweet - excellent, goodtickety-boo - fine, all rightthick as a brick - very stupidwacko - crazy, insane (orig. U.S.)way out - unusual, avant gardesixpence short of a shilling-

crazy, eccentricyawn - boringzip - nothing or zero

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Slang verbs and phrasesSlang verbs and phrasesaggro - to fight violently or to useaggressive behaviourchill(-out) - to relaxdiddle - to cheat someone or lie fancy - to be attracted to someone‘’I really fancy you.’’graveyard hours - to work throughthe night barf - to be sick or vomitcruise - to drive or move fast (orig.U.S.)hang five - wait a momentscrew-up - make a big mistake (in

the UK it is said ‘’to cock-up’’)split - leave ‘’It’s time to split.’’ (U.S.)time-out - take a break (U.S.)take it easy - be careful‘’Get a life’’ - do something useful or

sort yourself out

out there - perform well (U.S.)Adam and Eve - believe (Cockney)belt up - be quiet, stop talkingeff off - go awayjosh - to joke with someone‘’Dad,stop joshing me.’’kabish? - understand?peeps - to sleep; peoplescrike - to cryseen! - OK! Understood! Right!shake a leg! - Hurry up! Move!take a chill-pill - to relaxthanks a bunch! - an ironic thank you very muchwolf - to eat greedily or quicklyzip it - stop talking, usually in theimperative (U.S.)

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nutmeg - a skilful move in football where a player with the ball gets past an opportunity by kicking it between rival’s legs

twilight zone - the torm phrased in recognition of a bizzare occurrence

*Additional slang words*

AC/DC - bisexual

drag - dressing

in the opposite

sexes clothes

lilly - the police

mate - a friend

panda car - a police car

piece of cake - something very easy

spark - an electrician

squillion - a very large

indefinite amount

squiz - a look, a glance

stupid o’clock - at an unreasonable,early time

bleeding - an alternative way to say ‘’bloody’’war paint - facial cosmetics, make-up

thang - thing

vibe - the atmosphere or

feelings in a situationdude - friend (male usually)

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Quizz1. I was c_______ (relax) when she scared the God out of me.2. He’s not the kind of boy that wears b_______ .(jewellery)3. Y____! (Hi!) w_______ ? (What’s up?)4. He’s such a r_______ (full od attitude)! As Rihanna said, tough male.5. I gave you the last chance and you s_______ (make a big mistake) again! I really

don’t want to be with you anymore!6. Check out that s_______ (woman), she’s d________ (the best).7. I enjoyed movie last night. It was a______ ! (really great)8. The test was the easiest one I’ve ever done in my life. A real p_______ .

(something very easy)9. Boy, you’re so boring. Stop calling me and g________ . (do something useful)10.I hate him, he studied and he didn’t want to help me! What a n______! (person who

is intelligent and studies a lot)11.Do I look p________ (good) in these trousers?12. 20 b_______ ($) for 4 minutes driving in a cab? You must be j_________ (joke) me!13. I think I’ll pay it with my p_____ (credit card). That would be c_____ (nice).14. It won’t happen in a s______ (a very large indefinite amount) years!15. I can’t believe my eyes! Look at that l_______ (fake tanned person), I can bet on it

that she’s such an a______ !(stupid person)

previous answers

Here are the right answers, hope you did at least 10 correct sentences!

1. chilling2. bling bling3. Yo, wass-up4. rude boy5. screwed-up6. shawty, da bomb7. awesome8. piece of cake9. get a life10. nerd11. phat12. bucks, joshing13. plastic, cool14. squillion15. lobster, airhead

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