American and British slang

nancy boy an effeminate male

nark a police informer

nightie a nightdress

nick prison; to steal

e.g "Hey, my bike's been nicked !"

nick, the prison

nincompoop a fool

nipper a young or small child

nippy (1) fast, or (2) cold

e.g. (1) "that car is nippy !"

e.g. (2) "it's nippy out today"

nix nothing

none too easy very difficult

e.g. "that exam was none too easy !"

nosey parker somebody who is nosey

not bad very good

not so hot not very good, awful

old man father

old girl mother

old lady mother

one in the oven pregnant, also "a bun in the oven",

"up the plum duff" and "in the pudding club"

on spec on chance

on the nod on credit

on the razzle dressed up and looking for sex

on the tap looking for sex

on your bike! go away!

out for a duck obtained a zero score

Paddy an Irishman

paralitic to be drunk

pavement sidewalk

pictures, the the cinema

pick-me-up a tonic

pie eyed to be drunk

pigs, the police

pigs breakfast a mess

pigs ear a mess

pig in muck somebody in their element

e.g. "he is as happy as a pig in muck"

pillock an insult

pinny apron

pissed drunk

pissed off to be annoyed

4.3.3 Dictionary if modern USA slangs

These phrases are in everyday use in USA

airhead: stupid person. "Believe it or not, Dave can sometimes act like an airhead!"

amigo: friend (from Spanish). "I met many amigos at Dave's ESL Cafe."

antifreeze: alcohol. "I'm going to need a lot of antifreeze tonight!"

armpit: dirty, unappealing place. "This cheap motel is an absolute armpit!"

awesome: great and impressive. "Dave's ESL Cafe is truly awesome!"

baby boomer: a person born from the end of the Second World War until the early 1960s. "Dave Sperling was born in 1961, so he's considered a baby boomer."

ball (1): a fun time. "I really had a ball in Dave's ESL class."

ball [offensive] (2): a testicle. "After getting kicked in the balls, his voice seemed much higher."

bang (1): a very powerful thing. "Disneyland is really a bang!"

bang (2): a powerful effect. "Japanese sake really has a bang!"

barf (1): vomit. "My dog barfed all over the carpet."

barf (2): vomit. "Don't step on the barf!"

barf-out: a displeasing person or affair. "That restaurant was a real barf-out."

bazillion: an infinite number of something. "Has Dennis really taught a bazillion students?"

B-ball: basketball. "Do you wanna play b-ball with me?"

beans: money. "I've worked for this company for ten years, but I still don't have beans."

beat: tired. "I'm really beat because I was awake all night."

beemer: a BMW. "He wants to buy a beemer when he makes more money."

biggie: something important. "I was hoping to get my homework completed, but it's no biggie. "

biker: a motorcycle rider. "Dave used to be a biker until he got into a serious motorcycle accident."

bod: body. "Stalone has a great bod!"

bonkers; go bonkers: crazy. "If Dave works too hard, he sometimes goes slightly bonkers!"

booboo: a mistake. "I made a booboo on the last question of the exam."

boob tube: television. "Benjamin is always in front of the boob tube."

booze: alcohol. "The ESL party was fun, even though there wasn't any booze."

boss: excellent; great. "Dave's ESL Cafe is totally boss!"

bread: money. "Can I borrow some bread?"

brew (1): coffee. "Every morning Dave needs a fresh cup of brew."

brew (2): beer. "Do you want another brew, dude?"

brewski: beer. "I love drinking brewskies!"

B.S.: bullshit; lies. "I'm tired of listening to your B.S."

bull: bullshit; lie. "That's a bunch of bull!"

bullshit [offensive]: lie; dishonesty. "I don't like people that bullshit me"

buns [possibly offensive]: the rear end; buttocks. "Don't stare at my buns!"

bushed: extremely tired. "I'm completely bushed."

butt: the buttocks. "Stop sitting on your butt and help me wash the dishes!"

catch some rays: get some sunshine. "Let's go to the beach and catch some rays."

cheesy: cheap; outmoded. "Why are you wearing such cheesy clothes?"

chicken: coward. "Don't be such a chicken!"

cool: excellent; superb. "Dave's ESL Cafe is totally cool!"

cooler, the: jail. "If you drink and drive, you'll end up spending time in the cooler."

couch potato: a person who watches too much television. "Why did I have to marry such a couch potato?"

crap [offensive] (1): something worthless. "My furniture is a bunch of cheap crap."

crap [offensive] (2): excrement. "Yuck! I stepped on dog crap!"

crap [offensive] (3): falsehoods and lies. "I've had enough of your crap."

deck: to hit someone. "His wife almost decked him when he returned home with lipstick on his shirt."

dicey: unpredictable; risky. "Gambling is a dicey occupation."

dinero: money (from Spanish). "I wish I had more dinero!"

dirt: extremely bad person. "My ex-boyfriend was dirt."

dorky: strange; peculiar. "If you keep acting so dorky, you'll never get a girlfriend!"

dude: a male. "That's really cool, dude!"

dynamite: powerful; excellent. "Dave gave a dynamite presentation."

dinosaur: something old fashioned or out of date. "I'd love to surf the Net, but unfortunately my computer is a dinosaur."

el cheapo: something cheap. "Since I don't make much money, I always purchase the el cheapo brand."

evil: great; excellent. "Your car is really evil!"

eyeball: to stare long and hard at someone or something. "Dave eyeballed his daughter's new boyfriend."

eyepopper: something or someone visibly astounding. "Wow, that girl is truly an eyepopper!"

fab: fabulous. "Dave's ESL Cafe is really fab!"

face-off: confrontation. "I think it's time we had a face-off."

fender-bender: small accident. "This morning I had a fender-bender on the Ventura Freeway."

flaky: unpredictable. "I waited four hours for my flaky friend to show up."

flashback: sudden memory. "In Little Tokyo I had a flashback to my days living in Japan."

flick: movie. "Let's go out tonight and watch a flick."

fox: attractive, alluring person. "Is it true that Dave is a fox?"

freebie: something that does not cost money. "My trip to New York was a freebie."

geek: someone who works too hard, is more intelligent than usual, and is slightly unattractive.

"Bill Gates is kind of a geek."

get it: to understand something. "Sorry, but I just don't get it."

glitch: flaw. "There must be a glitch in this softwware."

go bananas: go slightly mad. "This project is causing me to go bananas!"

gomer: a dumb person. "Stop acting like a gomer!"

goof (1): a silly and foolish person. "What a goof you are!"

goof (2): make a mistake. I really goofed on the test today."

goof off (1): waste time."Stop goofing off and help me clean the house!"

goof-off (2): someone who wastes time and isn't serious. "A goof-off never does well in school"

goof up: make a mistake. "Oh no! I really goofed up!"

goofy: silly. "Kids always make me feel goofy!"

grabbers: hands. "Have you washed your grabbers, Benjamin?"

grand: one thousand dollars. "He's making over a hundred grand a year!"

grub: food. "Where's the grub?!"

grubby: not clean. "I always feel grubby in the morning."

grungy: unclean and stinky. "Grungy people are not allowed in Dave's house!"

gut: a person's stomach; belly. "Dave is getting a big gut because he loves chocolate ice cream and beer!"

guts (1): courage. "It took a lot of guts to ask his boss for a raise."

guts (2): the nature of something. "Let's get to the guts of Dave Sperling!"

hairy: difficult; dangerous. "The steep and windy road was really hairy."

hang a left: make a left turn. "Hang a left at the next corner."

hang a right: make a right turn. "Hang a right at the next corner."

hep: sensible; informed. "She's a really hep student."

hickey: a love bite on the skin. "Wow! Is that a hickey on your neck?"

hip: sensible; informed. "He really tries hard to be hip."

hot : popular. "Brad Pitt is really hot now."

humungous: really big. "American supermarkets are humungous."

hungries, to have: be hungry. "I don't know about you, but I've got the hungries."

hyper: overly excited. "Children often get hyper when they are tired."

icky: unpleasant. "The food is really icky in the school cafeteria."

I.D.: identification. "If you want to order a beer, you'll need your I.D.

I'm outta here: I'm leaving; I'm departing. "Sorry, but I'm outta here, dude."

in: fashionable. "Ray-Ban sunglasses are really in now."

ivories: teeth. "Tom Cruise has really beautiful ivories."

jack around [possibly offensive]: waste time. "Will you please stop jacking around?"

jam, in a (1): trouble. "If you're in a jam, I promise to help you."

jam (2): improvise (musically). "I'd love to jam with Bon Jovi!"

jamming, to be : going well. "Dave's ESL Cafe is really jamming!"

jerk: stupid or annoying person. "How could you go out with such a jerk?"

jillion: an immense number. "Do you really have a jillion problems?"

jock: someone good at sports. "I've never been much of a jock."

K (k): a thousand. "I could retire with 100 K (k)!"

kick back: relax and enjoy. "I wish I could kick back at the beach today."

kick off: die. "My dog finally kicked off."

killer: something exceptional or great. "Wow, your boyfriend is killer!"

knockout: beautiful woman; handsome man. "Benjamin is already a knockout!"

kook: peculiar person. "Stop acting like a kook!"

laid back: relaxed; calm. "I always feel laid back at the beach."

lame: incompetent. "Dave is really lame when is comes to fixing his car."

loser: a bungling and worthless person. "Why are you dating such a loser?"

love handles: excess fat around the waist. "Is it possible for Dave to lose his love handles?"

luck out: to be lucky or fortunate. "You really luck out by visiting Dave's ESL Cafe!"

make waves: cause problems. "Teachers don't like students to make waves."

max, to the : maximum. "I'm happy to the max."

mega: big. "American restaurants serve mega portions of food."

megabucks: a large amount of money. "It takes megabucks to live in Japan."

mellow: relaxed. "I'm feeling very mellow this evening."

mickey-mouse: unimportant; time-wasting. "I'm sick of this mickey-mouse job."

munch out: to eat voraciously. "Let's munch out on a large pizza!"

nada: nothing (from Spanish). "I know nada about politics."

neat: cool; great. "Isn't my new car neat?"

noid: someone that's paranoid. "Why are you so noid?"

nuke (1): nuclear weapon. "This world had too many nukes."

nuke (2): destroy; delete. "Sorry, but I accidentally nuked your e-mail message."

nuke (3): cook something in the microwave oven. "Can you nuke this frozen pizza for me?"

nut (1): odd or crazy person. "Why are you always acting like a nut?"

nut (2): someone passionate about something. "I'm a nut about computers."

pad: someone's home. "Can I sleep at your pad tonight?"

party: celebrate. "Let's party tonight!"

party animal: someone that loves parties. "Dave has been known to sometimes be a party animal."

paws: hands. "Get your paws off me!"

peanuts: very little money. "I love my job, but the pay is peanuts."

pee: to urinate. "I always have to pee after drinking beer."

pig out: eat too much. "Dave is famous for pigging out on chocolate ice cream."

pissed (off): angry; upset. "I'm really pissed (off) at you."

poop, the (1): knowledge; information. "What's the poop on Michael Jackson?"

poop out: get tired and quit. "I got pooped out after spending eight hours at Disneyland."

pro: someone who's good at something; professional. "She's really a pro at golf."

psycho: crazy person. "Stay away from that psycho!"

pumped (up): excited. "I'm really pumped (up) about Dave's ESL Cafe!"

puss: the face. "My girlfriend slapped me right on the puss."

quarterback: leader. "Dave is the quarterback of Dave's ESL Cafe."

quick and dirty: done fast, but not well. "The mechanic did a quick and dirty repair on my car."

racket (1): noise. "Small kids can make a lot of racket."

racket (2): something that's dishonest or deceptive. "The Tobacco Industry is quite a racket."

racket (3): an occupation. "I've been in the ESL racket for fourteen years."

rank: give someone a difficult time. "She's always ranking her teacher."

razz: annoy someone. "Will you please stop razzing me?"

rear (end): buttocks. "Dave fell on his rear (end)."

riot, a : something or someone very funny. "Jim Carrey is a riot!"

rip off (1): stealing. "Someone ripped off my car."

rip off (2): fraud. "I paid $10,000 for my computer. What a rip off!"

rocking: great; excellent. "Dave's ESL class is really rocking!"

rubbish: nonsense; not true. "That rumor is a bunch of rubbish."

rug rat: a child. "Dave has a couple of rug rats at home."

runs, the: diarrhea. "Oh no! I've got the runs!"

scarf: to eat. "I can easily scarf an entire banana split."

screw up: to make a mistake. "I screwed up on the driving test, so I didn't pass."

screw-up: a person who makes a mistake. "Why are you such a screw-up?"

scum: a despicable individual. "Don't hang around with that kind of scum."

shades: sunglasses. "Those are really cool shades!"

shoot some hoops: play basketball. "Let's shoot some hoops!"

silks: clothing. "Those are really awesome silks!"

smarts: intelligence. "It takes a lot of smarts to become a doctor."

snookered: cheated. "I got snookered into buying swamp land in Florida."

sofa spud: a person who watches too much television. "I'm usually a sofa spud on Sunday."

solid (1): really good; cool. "Dave's ESL Cafe is totally solid!"

solid (2): consecutive. "It's been raining for seven solid days."

specs: eyeglasses. "I didn't know that you wore specs."

split: to leave. "Let's split from here now."

spunk: spirit. "She might be small, but she's got a lot of spunk."

street smart: knowledgeable about city life. "Since Dave is from Los Angeles, he's very street smart."

suck: to be bad and unacceptable. "That song really sucks!"

thou: thousand. "I need to borrow a hundred thou."

ticker (1): the heart. "My grandfather has a bad ticker."

ticker (2): a watch. "Wow! That's a really cool ticker!"

tints: sunglasses. "You have to wear tints in California."

totally: really; completely. "That's totally awesome, dude!"

to the max: maximum. "I studied to the max."

turkey (1): failure; flop. "Thank goodness that Dave's ESL Cafe is not a turkey!"

turkey (2): dumb person. "Turkeys are not allowed to work for this company."

turn-off: something that repulses a person. "Bad breath is a real turn-off."

umpteen: many; countless. "I've asked you umpteen times to show me the money!"

unlax: relax. "Dave needs to definitely unlax with his family."

vanilla (1): plain. "She drives a vanilla car."

vanilla (2): Caucasian. "The Midwest is too vanilla for me."

wad: roll of money. "It's dangerous to carry a big wad in your pocket."

wasted: killed. "A lot of people get wasted in the streets of New York."

wheels: car; motorcycle. "If you want to live in Los Angeles, you've got to get some wheels"

whitebread: plain; boring. "Dave's ESL Cafe is definitely not whitebread!"

whiz (1): someone who shows a special talent for something. "Einstein was a whiz in Physics."

whiz [offensive] (2): to urinate. "I really have to take a whiz."

wimpy: weak. "Don't be so wimpy!

winks, get some: sleep. "I really need to get some winks"

5. Conclusion

5.1 Keep a vocabulary log

I recommend you to keep a vocabulary log. Purchase a small notebook that you can carry with you at all times.Use it to record unfamiliar words and phrases. By writing a word down as soon as you hear it, you ensure that you will be able to recall it later. You can then research it online or ask a friend to help you understand what it means. “Keep track of how often you are hearing things and under what conditions,” he advises. “What is the relationship between the people who are saying these things to each other? Friends? Acquaintances? Same sex or opposite? Older or younger? There are so many variables.”

As I observed, not all slang, idioms or colloquialisms are widely used. If you only hear something once or twice, you likely do not need to go out of your way to learn what it means. If, however, you hear something daily--in class, on the streets, on television--it is common usage. Understanding its meaning could make day-to-day conversations easier to understand. Also, there are a number of unspoken rules and customs regarding language. It may be appropriate to say one thing to a peer but completely unacceptable to say the same thing to a teacher or employer.

Think about how you would ask a favor of a friend, sibling, parent or ruler. Undoubtedly, there would be differences among all of these. The same is true for the use of slang. There are things you can and cannot use. And, the higher up the social ladder you go, the less slang you can use.

For example, students may greet each other by saying “Whazzup?” or “Sup, Dawg?” but they would say “Good morning” or “How are you?” to their teachers. Be comfortable with ambiguity. Relax and enjoy yourself. Do not feel pressured to understand every word that is being said.

Students have to get used to dealing with ambiguity.That's true both inside and outside the classroom language learning setting. Sometimes you just smile and nod, and try to remember what you heard. In most cases, you will still be able to appreciate the general sentiment of what someone is saying. If not, you can always ask someone to explain it to you later.

5.2 Remember, you don't have to use it

Not everyone uses slang, idioms or colloquialisms.It depends on who you hang around with. “Some American students affect a cool demeanor and can be barely comprehensible because it's all about the vocabulary they use. But others use it far less frequently.”

Although it is useful to understand the meaning of words and phrases that are frequently used, you do not have to use slang when you are speaking. Find a way of speaking English that feels natural and comfortable to you. The most important thing is to convey your meaning clearly, not to sound cool or hip while doing it.

6. Bibliography

Chapman, Robert L. American Slang. HarperPerennial, 1987. Abridged edition of the New Dictionary of American Slang (Harper, 1986).

The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, Third Edition Copyright © 1994, Columbia University Press.

Dictionary of contemporary slang - Tony Thorne. Published by Bloomsbury / London. 1997.

The Encarta World English Dictionary, published by St. Martin's Press. 1999

Flexner, Stuart Berg, and Anne H. Soukhanov. Speaking Freely: A Guided Tour of American English from Plymouth Rock to Silicon Valley. Oxford University Press, 1997.

Greil Marcus, Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century (1989), Lighter, Jonathan E.; J. Ball; and J. O'Connor, eds. Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang. Random House, 1994 .

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th Edition © 1985, Britannica Corporation

The Oxford dictionary of modern slang - John Ayto / John Simpson.Published by Oxford University Press. 1992.

Partridge, Eric. Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. Macmillan, 1985. A classic, with 7,500 entries; first published in 1937.

Peter van der Merwe, Origins of the Popular Style (1989, reissued 1992),

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc

Wentworth, Harold and Flexner, Stuart Berg. Dictionary of American Slang. Crowell, 2d ed., 1975.

For more information on American idioms, visit www.idiomconnection.com. and let you know when it may be inappropriate to say certain things.