BRITISH SLANG - Practise and questions thread

Anyone have any question about Britspeak?

I'd be happy to answer them :cheers:

what is a sink? in british term?

Is tele in british the telephone or the television?

I think it is tele for telephone but if I am wrong please correct me

Jesse

It's television lol... I've never wondered why it's not used for telephone...

Padfoot Potter wrote:

what is a sink? in british term?

The place you wash your hands in...um...basin

Severus Snape wrote:

Padfoot Potter wrote:

what is a sink? in british term?

The place you wash your hands in...um...basin

*crying with laughter*

omg, its just a sink, a thingy with taps where water flows and men who are extremely drunk mistake it for the loo

ok ok i did not know if it was diffrent or just a sink... :oops: :oops:

[quote="Etta"]

etta wrote:

its just a sink, a thingy with taps where water flows and men who are extremely drunk mistake it for the loo

I can safely say that I have NEVER mistaken it for the loo lol

Fated4HP wrote:

Is tele in british the telephone or the television?

I think it is tele for telephone but if I am wrong please correct me

Jesse

It's usually spelled 'telly'...

The telephone is usually referred to just as 'phone - though there are a few other terms:

the dog - rhyming slang as in 'dog and bone'

the bell - used as "give me a bell" meaning cal me on the phone.

an older term is 'the blower' which dates back to the time of speaking tubes!

Quote :

ts just a sink, a thingy with taps where water flows

A joke I've heard a lot of people say (I think my Dad said it) jokes is "I was tap dancing...then I fell in the sink." and then he goes "they wouldn't be able to tell that joke in America...they'd have to call it fawcett dancing."

How lame...

lol well in america we do call our sinks sinks XD and use tap water

however I must admit I do have a question. The revlation what do you guys call it XD? Do you just call it the American Revloution? I'm wondering because someone in my history class asked XD

i dont actually know...i can ask my history teacher for you tomorow =D

wow! lol, you guys talk weird, no offense.. could you translate the first post? I donht get it! lol (feels so stupid)

It's ok, I feel stupid to, especially after this question: Do you guys actually say fetch?

Sorry, it's been on my mind all day!

LOL Jessie, Fetch?

Good question, Do they?

In what way do you mean?

I'm not sure I understand what context you're talking about...

I guess, like...

That's soo Fetch!

The only time I've ever heard that is in the Mean Girls film.

It's not used here at all, I don't think.

Okay thanks for clearing that up, =) show's how much I know =)

lol Ok, I was just wondering. I am now claiming 'fetch' as my favorite word XD

okay, here's a question: what does 'are you taking the mickey?' actually mean? what does 'mickey' stand for? ^^

That's a slang term for making fun of someone.

I'm not too sure where the 'mickey' comes from. I've heard some people say "taking the michael" (OK, only Bradley Walsh in Corrie :P)

It's a polite way of saying "taking the p" (you know what that's supposed to say!)

ok.. do oyu guys use words like the loo and mate? or is that in austrailia?

must i say that my looo is a lol and not a toilet! X)

yea thats what I meant.. I wasnt sure... lol. You guys proably think we talk wierd too, its so weird..

These words r wacky!! Y can't you say I'm going to use the lavotory or
Bathroom! Even lavatory is werid! But I guess I know how you feel you
might thing I talk strange! the other half of my country thinks I talk
strange I can't blame someone millions of miles away think I talk
weirdly!

Raistlin The Wizard wrote:

must i say that my looo is a lol and not a toilet! X)

rofl raisty!

thats hilarious...

i dont call the toilet the loo, i call it the bog :D but maybe thats because im a Geordie :D

oh oh wait I have a question...In one of the movies...darn I don't remember which...I think it's the second...anyway, ginny comes running down the stairs looking for her jumper, and Mrs. Weasley says something like, "Yes dear, it's on the CAT"

Huh? what did Molly say? Or maybe she said cot and I just heard wrong? And cot would mean bed?

I think in this case...she actually meant on the cat As in the animal :D

streams of silver wrote:

oh oh wait I have a question...In one of the movies...darn I don't remember which...I think it's the second...anyway, ginny comes running down the stairs looking for her jumper, and Mrs. Weasley says something like, "Yes dear, it's on the CAT"

Huh? what did Molly say? Or maybe she said cot and I just heard wrong? And cot would mean bed?

And adding another ques to this one. Jumper is a sweater or sumthing like that isnt it??

Yes'm it is.

(So not spamming XD)

ah lol...another question for you lovely Brits, what's slang for pimple? (the acne kind XD)

They're usually just called spots. Pimple is rarely used, and zits is used a little.

Spots, mainly though.

lol yeah...i dont remember ever saying zit or pimple.

lol nope no-one where i live says zits or pimple. although i love the word Zit, its just so, hmm, i dunnno something about it makes me giggle.

spots it is then XD

actually I can't believe I forgot this one because my English cousin thought it was hilarious that we didn't call them spots. In her words, "Duh, of course! I mean, they're SPOTS! What else would you call them?"

But then I haven't spoken to her in about 6 months so my forgetfulness could be excused, I suppose ^^

Ookay sorry for double posting but if I don't nobody will look at this for ages probably...OK then.

How do you say a snob? I was going to say prissy but then I looked it up and that is NOT what I meant. So what is slang for um...an arrogant, annoying person?

Hmm that's a difficult one...

I actually can't think of anything other than snob. There's a term for upper-class, slightly arrogant people, which is "toff".

I've often heard Hugh Grant described as a "foppish English toff".

Sorry I can't be very much help...

i say "stuck up" and my brother said "jumped up" for a snob.

thank you all, your input is greatly appreciated. another question for you lovely Brits, then:

Do you say 'buggy' or 'pram' for baby carriage?

i say both, i use pram for well a pram and a buggy for a well a buggy we have two types so i guess it would just depend on what style it was/age of child, nomally a child aged up 6months is placed in a pram and then when they get older into a buggy but now there's those silly 3 in 1 contraptions lol. hope that was of some help.

They mean different things to me.

A buggy to me is a lightweight pushchair:

Pic of a buggy

A pram is something for a younger baby:

Pic of pram

And a pushchair:

Pic of pushchair

That's how I've always interpreted these three words.

see to me buggy and pushchair have always been the same.

wow...our language is confusing!

xD

I second that!
Ive always called baby ones prams and older children ones pushchairs and never actually use the term buggy.