- NB - noté bene - Used similar to 'PS' at the end of a letter but more formally. Means 'please pay attention to this'
- PTO - Please Turn Over - Used on forms to get you to the reverse side
- Redundant - Laid off - "You have been made redundant"
- Give A Bell - Call - "I'll give you a bell later."
- TTFN - Ta Ta For Now - Tigger says this in the Winnie the Pooh stories
- slated - cursed - "Wow, he really slated you!"
- jaded - tired - "It's been a long day, I'm jaded"
- Shirty - cranky - "Don't you get shirty with me!"
- slag - bad mouth - About the same as 'slated'
- rashers - bacon
- bangers - sausage
- sorted - fixed - "We'll get the problem sorted out for you"
- nick - steal
- pinch - steal
- table - introduce for consideration - Opposite of US usage. "I'd like to table this idea" - bring it to the table for consideration
- Uni - university
- bob's your uncle - all done - "First you do this, then that, and bob's your uncle, you are done!"
- cheeky - smart aleck
- chin wag - a chat - "let's have a chin wag over lunch"
- chuffed - pleased - "He was really chuffed when he won"
- cracking - best - "A cracking good game!"
- dodgy - shaky - "That milk may be a bit dodgy, it smells bad."
- easy peasy - easy - "Let me show you how to do that, it's easy peasy!"
- I'm easy - don't care - "You pick a place for dinner, I'm easy."
- kip - nap - "I'm jaded, I need a kip"
- knackered - tired - "It's been a long day, I'm knackered and need a kip"
- momentarily - an amount of time - In the US if something will happen momentarily, it will happen soon. In the UK if something will happen momentarily, its duration is a minute. So if we say "the plane will land momentarily" they think it's only going to be on the ground a minute. ("How do we get on????")
- total pants - useless - "This watch doesn't keep accurate time, it's total pants"
- pear shaped - disaster - "Well this project has gone pear shaped on me."
- pinch - steal - Same as nick
- zonked - tired - same as jaded, knackered
- zed - Z' - the last letter of the alphabet
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
More "Brit Speak"
We've been here a little over five months and I still regularly learn new expressions or new uses for words I am familiar with. I've been keeping a list. See how many you know.
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2 comments:
This is Andrea Hamblin, Spencer's sister. Just wanted you to know how much I enjoy reading about your adventures in England. It has been an education and very enjoyable! Keep up the great blogs and hope you don't mind that I take a peek into your amazing life. Take care!
Anna - Glad you are enjoying the blog. When we left the states many people suggested I do this, but I had never done one before. It has turned out to be a lot of fun and will be a great diary for us to look at in the future.
Thanks for the note.
John
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