Thursday, September 1, 2011

Say What?

Here's my homemade British vocab lesson for you all. Enjoy!
  • All right? - Hello, how are you? (doesn't carry the assumption that something is wrong like the US "you alright?")
  • A&E - Accident & Emergency (ER)
  • Aubergine - eggplant
  • Bap - sandwich 
  • Barbacue - grill
  • Bang on - Right on  (I swear they only say this in tv adverts)
  • Bathroom - the room with the bath and/or shower. Ask "Where are the toilets?" instead of "Where is the bathroom?"
  • Biscuit - cookie (tea cookie rather than a chocolate chip type of cookie)
  • Beer garden - outdoor seating at a pub or restaurant (I started fantasizing of a Willie-Wonka-esque brew paradise when I first saw these signs around)
  • Chips - french fries
  • Chippy - a place that sells french fries
  • Crisps - potato chips
  • Crumble - crisp "I made some apple crumble"
  • Cream tea - traditional tea with scones, jam, and clotted cream
  • Cheeky - tricky  "Well that was cheeky of him."
  • Cheers - Thanks
  • Can't be bothered - Don't feel like it  "I'm out of milk but can't be bothered to run to the store."
  • Courgette - zucchini 
  • Chuffed - pleased 
  • Daft - stupid "Don't be daft"
  • Eat In/Take Away - For here/To go
  • Fit - Attractive "That girl was really fit."
  • Fiver - Five pound note
  • Flat - apartment
  • Faffing - wasting time  "I always faff about in the morning."
  • Footie - football (soccer)  "Gone to see a footie match."
  • Garden - back yard 
  • Gherkin - small pickle or this building
  • Gone off - gone bad, stopped working  "Oh man, the mango's gone off."
  • Hiya - informal but friendly hello
  • Holiday - vacation
  • Knackered - tired  "I was too knackered to go out." (semi-sexual connotation)
  • Loo - toilet
  • Nice - very good "This cake is so nice." This is used a lot more genuinely to describe things as opposed to being a polite filler-word.
  • On the pull - looking for a date/one-night-stand   "Watch out, he's on the pull." or "Did you pull a girl last night?"
  • On offer - On sale
  • Pickle - condiment made of chopped vegetables and fruits pickled in vinegar and sugar (look for "dill cucumber" if you want an American pickle)
  • P - pence "The 99p Store"
  • Pissed - drunk  "He gets pissed after about two pints."
  • Quid - One pound (£)
  • Rubbish - trash  "Where's the rubbish bin?"
  • Shattered  - tired  "I'm always shattered after a run."
  • Squash - a concentrated fruit juice
  • Skiving - procrastinating  "Just skiving about."
  • Toilet - this often refers to the room with the toilet rather than just the toilet, like a public bathroom. You don't ask "Where is the bathroom?" you ask "Were are the toilets?" This also explains signs such as "There is not safe drinking water in these toilets."
  • To let - For rent
  • Tip - mess "My room is a bit of a tip at the moment."
  • Tea - evening meal
  • Trolley - shopping cart
  • Tyre - car tire
  • Wee - Pee "Where's the loo, I've got to wee!"
  • Whinge - to whine/complain   "Stop whinging over your football team's relegation."

    2 comments:

    Unknown said...

    Brilliant. Don't they say we're, "two nations seperated by a common language"
    Have you ever seen charlieissocoollike. He has a video on speaking English, and another one on speaking American. I think you'd enjoy them, http://mothethird.blogspot.com/2011/08/some-enchanted-evening.html

    We miss you, here in the Colonies.

    Anna said...

    I watched both the vids after seeing the link on your blog. love it!

    I'll be back in the colonies soon enough -_^