American Slang Compared To English Slang [Archive]

Strike For The South

01-31-2010, 19:41

English slang is second to none, In fact it's probably there greatest cultural achievement other than plum pudding and Simon Cowell.

American slang, in comparisson, is severly lacking we mostly just curse to get out point across.

So I suggest we start here to create better American slang.

Ill start,

Dude

Hooahguy

01-31-2010, 19:46

confused of what were supposed to do.

johnhughthom

01-31-2010, 19:52

Let the rest of the world hear some awesome American slang. I think.

Veho Nex

01-31-2010, 19:55

What up G?

Lemur

01-31-2010, 21:17

Strike, you took the long way 'round the barn on this one.

Megas Methuselah

01-31-2010, 21:17

Guess he never heard our reserve dialect...

Lemur

01-31-2010, 21:32

We've howdied, but we ain't shook.

Veho Nex

01-31-2010, 22:06

Wait are we going for suthrin' speak or all around slang?

That dudu is to legit to quit... I think I've only heard that twice though.

Owen Glyndwr

02-01-2010, 00:04

Here at UCSC we get into a lot of discussions of NorCal vs SoCal dialects. Usually it just boils down to SoCal kids having no idea what we NorCal people are talking about.

Some terms:
Hyphy: generally get crazy: Yo we gon' get hyphy tonite
Krunk: Crazy drunk: Dude we got so krunk last night.
Hella: Generally refers to a characteristic in abundance in a person (not a contraction of hell of): He bro, that *FEMALE* is hella bangin'!
Hecka: Like hella, but for quantifiable values, generally: I got hecka beer in my car

More once I consult my more "with it" East Bay friend...

Subotan

02-01-2010, 00:53

So Owen is basically a Valley Girl

Crazed Rabbit

02-01-2010, 02:40

So Owen is basically a Valley Girl

? :inquisitive: ?

Anyways, I can't really think of slang off the top of my head - it's something that comes in the moment.

I've heard and used "too legit to quit" though.

CR

Louis VI the Fat

02-01-2010, 03:20

Hyphy: generally get crazy: Yo we gon' get hyphy tonite
Krunk: Crazy drunk: Dude we got so krunk last night.These two are fun. They are crossing over from hick to hip.

American has lots of slang, but perhaps not all of it immediately recognised as such: take a hike, it's hip to be square, that's nuts, no sweat. All of these - there must be countless others - strike me as peculiarly American. It is a rich language.

Subotan

02-01-2010, 10:01

? :inquisitive: ?
CR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnVE3UTIgEM
This is what California means to the rest of the world.

pevergreen

02-01-2010, 13:19

Talk to a true Aussie, one whos language isn't corrupted, or one who actually uses Australian words and you won't understand what they say.

Its awesome.

Also, no one but an Aussie can do an Aussie accent (apart from Lemur [I remember your story :P])

Subotan

02-01-2010, 15:05

Do you mean the Aussies who have been abandoned by civilisation for about 60 years?

pevergreen

02-01-2010, 23:22

I meant one who has managed to escape the death of culture that is called America.

Subotan

02-02-2010, 00:26

Oh, right. Are there many of them?

miotas

02-02-2010, 00:29

I knew quite a lot back home, but there's not many here in the city.

Subotan

02-02-2010, 00:31

That's unfortunate.

Crazed Rabbit

02-02-2010, 04:26

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnVE3UTIgEM
This is what California means to the rest of the world.

My point is that sounds nothing like what Owen was talking about.

CR

Samurai Waki

02-02-2010, 06:06

I know I was rather put off by some Californian's excessive use of slang. I suppose I use slang too, but for the most part people in the Rockies just pronounce regular American English words with a drawl of varying length (and use words/phrases like Yep, howdy, and what can I do ya for?) most people don't expect me to sound like your average cowboy, but it's an inescapable dialect.

Owen Glyndwr

02-02-2010, 09:07

So Owen is basically a Valley Girl

Wait, what? No, this is the NorCal dialect, particularly Bay Area. Valley Girl is something completely different.

Valley Girl is more like

"Like Oh my gawd!"
"So CUTE!"
"Gag me with a spoon!"

Everything that was on that Frank Zappa video, pretty much

Oh, and make sure you use like, every other word.
The word is like, a filler or something. It like, doesn't like, mean anything y'know?

Subotan

02-02-2010, 15:32

So what's NorCal?

A Very Super Market

02-02-2010, 17:08

North California....

Basically, everything above LA.

Subotan

02-02-2010, 18:26

I know what North California is, I was asking for clarification on the differences.

Hax

02-02-2010, 19:30

Pirate slang would be better, I think.

Rhyfelwyr

02-02-2010, 20:41

'Gnarly' popped into my head for some reason.

Centurion1

02-02-2010, 22:33

Im lived in socal (san diege about as south as you get) so i can confirm what hes saying though krunk is known most everywhere.

I actually use the term gnarly when i snowboard or surf though.

and dude i probably overuse dude.

Centurion1

02-02-2010, 22:34

I almost forgot though!!!!!! dont forget stuff from like video games that becomes like common slang.

Gears of War
Call of Duty
Halo

dude this stuff spreads all over the place.

and as a result of this site i now use gah! all the time.

Beskar

02-02-2010, 22:38

I don't wanna go nuc-u-la on ya

Centurion1

02-02-2010, 22:45

^ hey i looked it up it is an accepted pronunciation just like some people say Caribbean differently.

Cyclops

02-02-2010, 22:58

Strewth you galahs bang on like sheilas on the turps.

We Aussies also affect rhyming slang in generous emulation of our cockney forbears (of which I have none). It propagates a miasma of egalitarian vernacular bonhomie.

I like SW american slang, combined with that incomprehensible accent. There were extended stretches of "No Country For Old Men" that I needed fully subtitled, especially when our hero and his girlfriend are squabbling.

Also Billy from Predator (he's also Billy in every other film I saw him in, must be his name in real life too). "I wouldn't wish that on a broke- (something) dawg"

Sarf London slang grates on the ear like it is meant to. "Av you got the minerals?" Ugly ugly stuff.

Owen Glyndwr

02-02-2010, 23:19

NorCal most generally refers to the Bay Area (San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, Alameda, Marin, Solano, Sonoma and Napa counties. It can also refer to California north of Monterey and Fresno counties (inclusive). There is a definitive split culturally between NorCal and SoCal. The most noticeable way to tell if someone is from Northern California is to listen to them for about 5-10 minutes. If they use the word hella, then they are from NorCal. Conversely, the way to tell is someone is from SoCal, use the word hella judiciously, and gauge their reactions. If they react aggressively, or with scorn, they are probably from Southern California.

Bay_Area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Area)

Northern California (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_California)

pevergreen

02-02-2010, 23:46

Strewth you galahs bang on like sheilas on the turps.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Centurion1

02-03-2010, 02:21

i hate the word hella soooooooooo much its so dumb my cousin went to ucsf and now she says it all the time and i want to shoot myself. and now i don't even live their even more but this girl who just moved to my town (navy town lots of california people) says it too and everyone at my school thinks its the coolest thing but i want to shoot myself whenever i hear it.

miotas

02-03-2010, 03:07

^ hey i looked it up it is an accepted pronunciation just like some people say Caribbean differently.

Yes but both ways of pronouncing Caribbean still have the letters in the correct order, nucular rearranges the letters.

Cyclops

02-04-2010, 05:26

Both versions of Carribean are OK by me, but if you can't say "Nuc-le-ar" you shouldn't be allowed to fire one.

I tend to call 'em newks, as opposed to the Yank way of saying nooks. Of course officially we don't have any so its a mewt point.

Australian slang is mostly just adding the colloquial term for vagina into every sentence. I think our slang is heavily based on the English and Irish who started the joint, although there's a lot more seppo creeping in thanks to the idiot box.

NZ slang has some choice tidbits, especially when ennuciated in their cute accents.

ajaxfetish

02-05-2010, 07:45

Oh, and make sure you use like, every other word.
The word is like, a filler or something. It like, doesn't like, mean anything y'know?

It's a discourse marker, much like 'dude.'

Ajax

A Very Super Market

02-06-2010, 00:36

I think "Like" is an urban thing. At least, because of the media being based in California.

bobbin

02-07-2010, 15:44

Where I come from (Glasgow) we have a tendency to add "but" to the end of sentences, it causes no end of confusion to people not used to it.

"He's an idiot"
"Aye I know but"
".....but what ?"
"eh ?"

There also the habit of using the word c**t as a term of endearment.

Cyclops

02-07-2010, 22:13

...

There also the habit of using the word c**t as a term of endearment.

We use it as a gender-neutral marker like "person", it gets turned into an adjective, general greeting, marker of negative attribiutes, marker of positive attributes. Gets a fair workout, deserves its own holiday, but what would they call it?

Vuk

02-08-2010, 01:37

I HATE Brit slang! :P I got a Brit friend who uses the 'word' 'dosh' as a catch-all. He has to use the word in at least every other sentence to mean a whole score of things. What does it really mean? I got no idea. I know that in Killing Floor your char uses it to mean money (as has my friend), but he has used it to mean a great deal of things.

pevergreen

02-08-2010, 01:42

One australian got really confused by english slang.

Don't be taking the lego (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfx5WUbNiJ8).

(One bad word in the last few seconds, otherwise should be SFW.)

Its hot lego.

Cyclops

02-08-2010, 03:05

...'dosh'...

Its only ever meant money AFAIK.

Maybe your pal is a try-hard, or just misunderstood its meaning, or knows that it annoys you?

Niot having a go at your mate of course, just suggesting explanations.

Vuk

02-08-2010, 03:29

Its only ever meant money AFAIK.

Maybe your pal is a try-hard, or just misunderstood its meaning, or knows that it annoys you?

Niot having a go at your mate of course, just suggesting explanations.

lol, he is a genuine Brit, so I doubt that he is faking it. And before he knew it annoyed me he used it for care and ciggy.

bobbin

02-08-2010, 13:14

I HATE Brit slang! :P I got a Brit friend who uses the 'word' 'dosh' as a catch-all.

God that sounds irritating, he isn't Danny Dyer by any chance ? (probably the most annoying person in britain)

Subotan

02-08-2010, 19:50

I HATE Brit slang! :P I got a Brit friend who uses the 'word' 'dosh' as a catch-all. He has to use the word in at least every other sentence to mean a whole score of things
That isn't British slang. Sounds South African or something./

One australian got really confused by english slang.

Don't be taking the lego (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfx5WUbNiJ8).

(One bad word in the last few seconds, otherwise should be SFW.)

Its hot lego.
I've seen Jason Byrne live, twice :yes:

The Stranger

02-08-2010, 21:13

i vote for australian slang.

AlexanderSextus

02-12-2010, 17:58

See if you can decipher this, Euros and Aussies:

"Yo money, we 'bout to hop in the whip, go cop some lye, and then roll thru to my homie crib and bump some ill tracks."

miotas

02-12-2010, 18:15

Hello friend, we are going to get in a nice car, (do something) and then drive around my neighbourhood playing some nice music.

I presume that you aren't talking about caustic soda when you mention lye, so my guess would be some drug.

AlexanderSextus

02-12-2010, 19:05

close enough. I actually said "go to a friends house and listen to some nice music" though

Mikeus Caesar

02-14-2010, 11:48

Ey up lad, ya reet? Got some peng weed, fancy goin on a mish with it?

Centurion1

02-15-2010, 02:37

Mikeus Caesar

02-16-2010, 07:20

whats up man, got some awesome pot wanna go smoke it

try this.

Whassup dude. Me and some other dudes were going to go hit a curl, we were wondering if you'd wanna hit that it would be right gnarly bro. This is the hip man you arent gonna get more wicked than that.

With my quote, close but no cigar. "Going on a mish", mish = mission, being slang for a very long walk. Was a habit of ours back home to go on a mish with large quantities of not entirely legal substances. The whole sentence is quite unintelligible when spoken with thuh propeh Yorksherh aksuhnt.

As for yours...

"Greetings close friend. Me and some other close friends were going to go smoke cannabis out of our smoking implements, we were wondering if you would be interested as it would be very good, brethren. This is the very best my friend, you will not get much better than it"

Either that or replace all references to cannabis and replace with surfing references.

Centurion1

02-16-2010, 22:52

surfing actually...... good catch.

Louis VI the Fat

02-17-2010, 02:25

See if you can decipher this, Euros and Aussies:

"Yo money, we 'bout to hop in the whip, go cop some lye, and then roll thru to my homie crib and bump some ill tracks."Well I recognised that full stop as being English.