ENGLISH SLANG WORDS VOCABULARY
ENGLISH SLANG WORDS VOCABULARY | Slang words are the invention of literally speaking human as they find feasible and easy to pronounce them. Human invent them for their ease and some slang words got so much famous than expected and they got viral.
English Slang Words Vocabulary List
- IDGAF-English Slang Words Vocabulary– I Don’t Give A F***
- Irony/sarcasm –English Slang Words Vocabulary– The cornerstones of British humour. This is one of the biggest differences between the nations. The sense of humour simply doesn’t translate too well.
- I’m easy –English Slang Words Vocabulary- This expression means I don’t care or it’s all the same to me. Not to be confused with how easy it is to lure the person into bed!
- IMO / IMHO-English Slang Words Vocabulary-In My Opinion / In My Humble Opinion
- IRL-English Slang Words Vocabulary- In Real Life
- JSYK-English Slang Words Vocabulary- Just So You Know
- John Thomas –English Slang Words Vocabulary- Yet another word for a blokes willy! I always felt a bit sorry for people who were actually called John Thomas. What were their parents thinking?
- Jolly –English Slang Words Vocabulary- You hear people use this in all sorts of ways, but basically it means very. So “jolly good” would mean very good. A common exception is where you hear people say “I should jolly well think so!” which is more to emphasise the point.
- Jammy –English Slang Words Vocabulary- If you are really lucky or flukey, you are also very jammy. It would be quite acceptable to call your friend a jammy b****rd if they won the lottery.
- Jimmy –English Slang Words Vocabulary- Actually short for Jimmy Riddle. i.e. I’m off for a Jimmy Riddle. This is Cockney rhyming slang for piddle!
- Jack up —English Slang Words Vocabulary- An abrupt increase, typically in the price of something.
- Jock —English Slang Words Vocabulary- A nickname for John in Scotland but widely used as a Scottish everyman term like, dude, or mack, or buddy. It can be pejorative depending on context.
- Joe Bloggs —English Slang Words Vocabulary- Equivalent to Joe Blow. A typical, average, or unremarkable man.
- Kerfuffle —English Slang Words Vocabulary- A skirmish or fight caused by differing views.
- Knees up —English Slang Words Vocabulary- Adjective for liveliness.
- Know One’s Onions —English Slang Words Vocabulary- To be well versed on a subject.
- Knock —English Slang Words Vocabulary- To speak negatively, to disparage, to badmouth.
- Knock up –English Slang Words Vocabulary- This means to wake someone up. Although it seems to have an altogether different meaning in the USA! At one time, in England, a chap was employed to go round the streets to wake the workers up in time to get to work. He knew where everyone lived and tapped on the bedroom windows with a long stick, and was known as a “knocker up”. He also turned off the gas street lights on his rounds. Another meaning of this phrase, that is more common these days, is to make something out of odds and ends. For example my Dad knocked up a tree house for us from some planks of wood he had in the garage, or you might knock up a meal from whatever you have hanging around in the fridge.
- Knockers –English Slang Words Vocabulary- Another word for breasts.
- Knuckle sandwich –English Slang Words Vocabulary- If somebody offers you a knuckle sandwich you’d be best to decline the offer and leave at the next convenient moment. It isn’t some British culinary delight – they’re about to thump you in the face.
- Keep your pecker up – This is one way of saying keep your chin up. Use with caution as in some places your pecker is also your willy!
- Khazi – Another word for the toilet. Our version of your bathroom.
- Kip – A short sleep, forty winks, or a snooze. You have a kip in front of the telly on a Sunday afternoon.
- Knackered – The morning after twenty pints and the curry, you’d probably feel knackered. Another way to describe it is to say you feel shagged. Basically worn out, good for nothing,tired out, knackered.
- Knees up – If you’re having a knees up, you’re going to a dance or party.
- Knob – Yet another word for your willy.
- Knock off – To knock something off is to steal it, not to copy it!
- Lulz: Kicks (as in “For kicks”)
- Lurgy – If you have the lurgy it means you are ill, you have the Flu. Don’t go near people with the lurgy in case you get it!
- Luvvly-jubbly – Clearly another way of saying lovely. Made famous by the TV show Only Fools and Horses.
- ly – These are two letters that seem to be left off words in America. I never heard anyone say something was “really nice” or “really cool”, they would say real nice and real cool. We would be sent to the back of the class for grammar like that!
Leg it – This is a way of saying run or run for it. Usually said by kids having just been caught doing something naughty. Well it was when I was a kid! - Left, right and centre – If you have been looking left, right and centre, it means you have been searching all over.
- Love bite – You call them hickies – the things you do to yourself as a youngster with the vacuum cleaner attachment to make it look like someone fancies you!
- Lighten up — To relax and take things too seriously. Typically stated as an appeal to someone who is acting uptight.
- Lag — A convict, especially one who served or is serving a long prison sentence.
- Laughing Gear — A metaphor for one’s mouth.
- Luv—It’s no secret that English lacks words for different types of affection.
- Marbles — Wit, intelligence, or good sense.
- Miffed — Upset or offended.
- MFW: My Face When
- MRW: My Reaction When
- MIRL: Me In Real Life
- Mug – If someone is a bit of a mug, it means they are gullible. Most used car salesmen rely on a mug to show up so they can sell something!
- Mush – Rhymes with “push”. Slang word for your mouth as in “shut your mush”. Also meansmate as in “Alright mush?. Which means “Hi”!
- Mutt’s nuts – If something is described as being “the Mutt’s” then you’ll know it is fantasticor excellent. “The Mutt’s” is short for “The Mutt’s nuts” which is clearly another way of saying the “Dog’s Bollocks”! All clear now?
- Mate – Most chaps like to go to the pub with their mates. Mate means friend or chum.
- Momentarily – As you come into land at an American airport and the announcement says that you will be landing momentarily, look around to see if anyone is sniggering. That will be the Brits! I never did figure out why they say this. Momentarily to us means that something will only happen for an instant – a very short space of time. So if the plane lands momentarily will there be enough time for anyone to get off? Weird!
- Morish – Also spelt “moreish”, this word is used to describe desserts in my house, when a single helping is simply not enough. You need more! It applies to anything – not just desserts.
- Mufti – An old army term for your “civvies”. Civilian clothes that is, rather than your uniform.
- NSFW: Not Safe For Work
- NSFL: Not Safe For Life
- On your bike – A very polite way of telling someone to f*** off.
- One off – A one off is a special or a one time event that is never to be repeated. Like writing this book!
- Owt – This is Yorkshire for anything. Similarly nowt is Yorkshire for nothing. Hence the expression “you don’t get owt for nowt”. Roughly translated as “you never get anything for nothing” or “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”.
- Off colour – If someone said you were off colour they would mean that you look pale and ill! Not quite the same as something being off colour in the US!
- Off your trolley – If someone tells you that you’re off your trolley, it means you have gone raving bonkers, crazy, mad!
- On about – What are you on about? That’s something you may well hear when visiting the UK. It means what are you talking about?
- On the job – If you are on the job, it could mean that you are hard at work, or having sex. Usually the context helps you decide which it is!
- On the piss – If you are out on the piss, it means you are out to get drunk, or to get pissed.
- Odds and Sods — Equivalent to ‘odds and ends.’ Miscellaneous.
- Old Bill, The Old Bill — A metaphor for a policeman, or the police in general.
- On point: Outstanding, perfectly executed.
- Nob — Person of high social status, snob.
- nah-sign of no ,no no
- Numpty — An incompetent or unwise person.
- e on point. She looks great.”
- PAW: Parents Are Watching
- Pass the buck — To deflect responsibility onto someone else.
- Plead the fifth — References the fifth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allows a witness in court to refuse questions on the grounds that they risk self-incrimination.
- Pukka – This term has been revived recently by one of our popular young TV chefs. It meanssuper or smashing, which of course is how he describes all his food.
- Pull – Me and the lads used to go to the disco when we were on the pull. It means looking forbirds. Of course, it works the other way round too. The ladies may also be on the pull, though probably a bit more subtly than the chaps!
- Pussy – This is what we call our cat, as in “pussy cat”, or in the fairytale, Puss in Boots. So if you have a Brit neighbour who asks if you have seen their pussy – try to keep a straight face and think back the last time you saw their cat!
- Put a sock in it – This is one way of telling someone to shut up. Clearly the sock needs to be put in their loud mouth!
- Put paid to – This is an expression which means to put an end to something. For example you could say that rain put paid to the cricket match, meaning it stopped play.
- Piss poor – If something is described as being “piss poor” it means it is an extremely poor attempt at something.
- Piss up – A piss up is a drinking session. A visit to the pub. There is an English expression to describe someone as disorganised which says that he/she could not organize a piss up in a brewery!
- Pissed – This is a great one for misunderstanding. Most people go to the pub to get pissed. In fact the object of a stag night is to get as pissed as possible. Getting pissed means getting drunk. It does not mean getting angry. That would be getting pissed off!
Pissing around – Fooling about, in the sense of messing around or making fun or just being silly. Not terribly polite. - Plastered – Another word for loaded. In other words you have had rather too much to drink down your local. It has nothing to do with being covered with plaster though anything is possible when you are plastered.
- Porkies – More cockney rhyming slang. Short for “porky pies”, meaning “pork pies”. Rhymes with lies. My Mum always used to tell me I was telling porkies! And she was right!
- Porridge – Doing porridge means to serve time in prison. There was also a comedy TV series called Porridge about a prisoner starring Ronnie Barker of The Two Ronnies fame.
- Posh – Roughly translates as high class, though if you look at Posh Spice there are clearly exceptions to the rule! Comes from the cabins used by the upper class on early voyages from England to India. The coolest (and most expensive cabins) were Port side on the way Out andStarboard on the way Home.
- Pants – This is quite a new expression – I have no idea where it came from. Anyway, it is now quite trendy to say that something which is total crap is “pants”. For instance you could say the last episode of a TV show was “total pants”.
- Pardon me – This is very amusing for Brits in America. Most kids are taught to say “pardon me” if they fart in public or at the table etc. In America it has other meanings which take us Brits a while to figure out. I thought I was surrounded by people with flatulence problems!
- Parky – Either short for Michael Parkinson, a famous chat show host, or more likely a word to describe the weather as being rather cold!
- Pass – This means I don’t know and comes from the old TV show, Mastermind, where contestants were made to say “pass” if they did not know the answer to the question.
- Pavement pizza – Well here the pavement is the sidewalk and a pavement pizza is a descriptive way of saying vomit. Often found outside Indian restaurants early on a Sunday morning.
- Peanuts – I hated one of my summer jobs as a kid because it paid peanuts. The full expression is that if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. It is a fairly derogatory way of saying that manual labour doesn’t need to be bright and doesn’t need a lot of pay. Typically these days peanuts means something is cheap. For example we would say the petrol in the USA is peanuts or costs peanuts. Compared to our prices it is.
Pear shaped – If something has gone pear shaped it means it has become a disaster. It might be preparing a dinner party or arranging a meeting, any of these things can go completely pear shaped. - Piece of cake – I remember saying it’s a piece of cake in front of one of my American friends, who then started looking around for the cake! It means it’s a cinch!
- Pinch – This means to steal something. Though when you say “steal” it is a bit more serious than pinch. A kid might pinch a cake from the kitchen. A thief would steal something during a burglary.
- Pip pip – Another out-dated expression meaning goodbye. Not used any more.
- Potty – This isn’t just the thing you sit a toddler on – if you are potty it means you are a littlecrazy, a bit of a looney, one card short of a full deck.
- Pound sign – Ever wondered why Brits flounder when voicemail messages say to press the pound sign? What on earth is the British currency doing on a phone anyway? Well, it isn’t. To a Brit, the pound sign is the wiggly thing we use to denote the UK pound (or quid), in the same way you have a dollar sign.
- Prat – Yet another mildly insulting name for someone. In fact, this one is a bit ruder than pillock so you probably wouldn’t say it in front of Grandma.
- PTO – This is an abbreviation for “please turn over”. You will see it on forms in the UK where you would see the single word over in the USA.
- Puff – If a Brit starts giggling in your local drugstore – it may be because they have just found a box of Puffs. To some of us Brits a Puff is another word for a fart. Stems from the cockney rhyming slang, to “Puff a dart”.
- Piece of cake — A metaphor to describe something that is easy or effortless.
- Pig out — A metaphor for binge eating.
- Paddy — A temper tantrum.
- Paste — To hit, punch, or beat thoroughly.
- Penny-dreadful — A cheap sensationalist magazine. Tabloid.
