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!
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 ...
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