English Slang | Street Talk Savvy

I had one of those but the wheels fell off (I’ve never heard of that before)

English slang and spoken English is the dialect from England that came mostly from the capital of London. It’s initial roots are a mixture of dialects from NW Germany (Schleswig Holstein), NE Holland (Frisia), and Southern Denmark (Jylland), then over the years, added words from migrants to that country, Sweden and Denmark, 300 years of French rule gave it it’s first base of Latin words, then borrowed heavily from pure Latin.

After the building of the largest empire that has ever existed words came back to England from the colonies. The British empire was so vast a phrase was coined

“the sun never sets on the British Empire“.

Then American English profoundly changed the English spoken these days.

Nowadays the main dialects of English are American and British English, with other major important ones like Canadian, Australian, South Africa, New Zealand and Carribean English, which serve more as dialects rather than ones that standardise the language.

Although some countries would like to think that they speak British English, mostly through the media i.e movies, American English has infiltrated the everyday use of people in Britain, and other countries that use British English as a standard.

PS This dictionary is written in British English

Countries where English is an official or de f...

Countries where English is the official spoken language Image via Wikipedia

Greetings & Salutations

Bye

Catch you later! Goodbye!

Cheers (currently used a lot, you’re welcome, goodbye)

Don’t mention it

Eh What’s up doc? (Bugs Bunny)

Good bye and good luck

Good evening (when it is dark)

Good night (when you are going to bed)

Happy birthday

Happy New Year

Have fun

Have a good day

Hello/ Hi

Hello Mick I haven’t seen you for donkeys years
I haven’t seen Mick for a very long time

Hope you have a good time!

How are you going? So so…So far so good

How’s life?

I’ll see you when I’m looking at you/ I’ll see you when I see you

I’m happy that you’re happy

Later (short for see your later US)

Morning (short for good morning)

Pleased to meet you

Long time no see

See you later

See you later alligator, in a while crocodile

See you on the flipside

Sweet dreams

Thanks a lot

Take it easy- (not always a command to calm down, but more a wish that all goes well for you)

Too easy (you’re welcome, understood)

Welcome to (Street Talk)

What’s new?

What’s the latest?

You’re welcome
[top]

a combination of British flags

That’s Cool

Awesome

Cool

Excellent

Fabulous darling (England)

It’s all hunky dory (it’s all good)

Jim Dandy

Phat

Spiffing

Stirling job Old chap! (England)

That’s gold (US)

That’s creamy goodness (good stuff)

Wicked

the Kiwi- symbol of New Zealand

Monty Python the masters of English comedy Image by Jenn and Tony Bot via Flickr

Understand??

It’s all Greek to me
I can’t decipher the meaning of that

Capeesh- Capeeshee?
From Italian meaning understand

Catch my drift?

Double Dutch

Get the picture?

He’s in a world of his own (to be in a different reality, separate to everyone else)

Mumbo jumbo (not understandable or mixed up)

I had one of those but the wheels fell off (I’ve never heard of that before)

Savvy?

Speaking gibberish– Stop talking gibberish!
Start speaking to make sense

You

The fact that English has only one form of the word ‘you’ singular and plural has left a huge gap in the vocabulary, that has a necessity to be filled. When speaking, in some circumstances it is hard to differentiate between you as the person I’m talking to within a large group, or ‘you’ as in the whole group. You can say ‘you all’ which is grammatically correct but it depends on the circumstance. Most replacements fall in the badly spoken English category and sound a bit hard on the ear for those who speak correct English. The result is in British English you might hear the word ‘youse’ or in the United States , you might hear ‘y’all’ (you all) or ‘all y’awl’ (the all in the last example being superfluous because of the double use of all)

Canada- a large English speaking nation

Weather

Hot as hell

It’s so warm you can cook an egg on the pavement

It could freeze the balls off a brass monkey

It’s great weather for ducks

It’s raining cats & dogs

It’s only spitting

It’s bloody freezing

It’s pissing down

It’s fucking freezing (with this superlative it can’t get any colder)

It’s so hot you can fry an egg on the pavement- extreme heat

Money Matters

A lot of bang for your buck
It means that your money would go far

Charge like a wounded bull- to charge exhorbitant amounts of money

Cheap as chips- supremely cheap

Costs an arm and a leg- too much money

Daylight robbery- so expensive it isn’t worth it

El cheapo- He bought the el cheapo model and now he’s back to the shop within 3 months to buy a new one.
A cheap version that is not really the best or worth buying

Hard up- have little money

It’s a steal- a bargain

I don’t have a penny (GB)/ dime (US)

I’m flat broke- to be completely out of money

I’m absolutely skint
To be completely broke

That costs the earth- expensive

That costs a pretty penny- to be expensive

What’s the damage?
How much does it cost (in the sense that the price will give you a shock and damage your wallet)

you could save a mint
you could save lot’s of money

You can kiss your money goodbye

the typical Australian ute (pick-up) and his dog in the back, often a blue cattle dog (blue heeler)

Food

He’s a bootmless pit (A big eater)

I could eat a crotch out of a low flying duck (to be extremely hungry)

I could eat a horse (extreme hunger)

I couldn’t fit another thing in

I’m a vegetarian who eats fish
(that’s no vegetarian)

I’m stuffed- (not polite/colloquial)
To be full

Is the dog barking at your stomach because you are hungry?

Let’s pig out (colloquial)
Let’s have a big feed

That didn’t even touch the sides
to not be enough food

That’s finger licking good

You wolfed/scoffed that down you pig
To eat very fast

Your eyes are bigger than your stomach
To ask for more than you can eat

Tongue Twisters

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

Seventeen slimy slugs in shiny sombreros sat singing short sad songs.

She sells seashells by the seashore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I’m sure she sells seashore shells.

The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick.
Six thick thistle sticks. Six thick thistles stick.

Thirtythree thin Finns throw fortythree frogs into four Thracian theatres.