BRITISH SLANG - Practise and questions thread

I'm american and we just say stroller.. its easier... only one word!

Uhh... some people seemed a bit stuck on what the first post meant.

Here I am to translate!!

A Bloke started having Bread trouble with his Bog.

A guy started having money trouble with his toilet.

I told him he was a Bungalow and needed a cup of Brew.

I told him he was an idiot and needed a cup of tea.

His Backhanders Babby is Barking at Bedfordshire.

His bribes baby is crazy at Bedfordshire(actual place)

I said Anchor the Ankle-biters up the Apples and pears.

I said lift the little kids up the stairs.

This would fix his Ackers and have a Best of British Afty.

This would fix his money and have a good afternoon.


Umm.. yeah, doesnt make much sense, was it supposed to?

Someone should open a class for this :]] ya know, for all us Americans. Then I promise I will teach you Pittsburgheese haha

haha maybe you should suggest the idea to Elfie, it would be a fun class that even i could take part in since, well, my English is terrible and i was born and bred here haha.

We really DO need a class on this.... some one open one PLEASE!!! And we can give one on American Slang XD

lol, okay first up, Loonykim, yes depending on where you live your accent will be totally different from someone who lives 100 miles away.

for example, Elfie lives down south, i live right up in the north east, our accemts are extremely different, so different people can hardly understand what i say.

And yes we do use terms like bloody hell, blimey etc the things you see and rad i th HP books and films are generally what we say here....except i dont say Chum, its so i dunno pompeus for someone from my area to say lol.

Now, i have no idea about Donkey Jacket, ive never heard it before lol!

And yes smeone should teach this as a class, perhaps you should sugested it in te Head of House Office on the main page Kathrine.

And finally, its time to teach you all some Geordie (the way i talk) after three you shall all learn to say "come on, that was extremely good don't you agree?"

now, 1 2 , 3

Howay man, tha wa well mint dain't yee fink.

xD i'd love to hear an american say that

Okay *clears throat* quick history lesson.

We still have a Queen, HOWEVER the monarchy has NO control over the country ie the Queen doesn't actually rule us, Parliment, our Government the eejits, rule us instead, it goes back to the time of the English Civil War, annnnnnnd have you heard of guy Fawkes? That guy was a loon, we still celebrate the gun powder plot anyways to know more about when the monarchy lost rule over the UK read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell

or just google oliver cromwell.

History lesson over lol, and yes thats how we talk in the north east of England

[font=Courier New]Ok well that clears a lot up, thanks. I don't watch British news or anything so I don't know what goes on. So the Queen basically just gets to be rich and live in a palace?[/font]

um, yup basically. And she doesnt even chose who gets knighted in the honours list or anything, thats all down to our government as well.

People are still knighted, but it's an honour thing. Sir Paul McCartney, for example.

Quote :

Back on the language topic, when you go to school, do you call each level a year or a grade? Like,"I'm in 8th grade" OR,"I'm in my 8th year". In America we call them grades.

We call them years. Here's a quick overview of the English education system:

Nursery
Children may go to nursery before the age of five.

Primary School
Year One: 5-6
Year Two: 6-7
Year Three: 7-8: In this year, children sit tests called SATs (Standard Attainment Tests) at Key Stage One
Year Four: 8-9
Year Five: 9-10
Year Six: 10-11: In this year, children sit tests called SATs at Key Stage Two. A lot of children will also sit 11+ exams, with the aim of getting into a Grammar School.

Secondary School
Year Seven: 11-12
Year Eight: 12-13
Year Nine: 13-14: In this year, you sit the final level of SATs at Key Stage Three
Year Ten: 14-15
Year Eleven: 15-16: At the end of Year Eleven, everyone has to sit their GCSEs (General Certificate of Secondary Education). You take the three core subjects (English, Maths, Science), as well as "options". At least one modern language is compulsory. Most people take between 9-14 GCSEs, though it depends on the school.

Compulsory education ends here, and you can leave school for good.

Sixth Form/College

Most people will opt to go to Sixth Form/College, though it's not compulsory. School's often have Sixth Form's attached to them, though there are also independant colleges, which also offer vocational qualifications such as NVQs.

Year 12 (Lower Sixth): 16-17: At the end of Year 12, you sit your AS-Level exams. At most colleges and sixth forms you take four AS-Levels plus General Studies.
Year 13 (Upper Sixth): 17-18: At the end of Year 13, you sit your A-Level exams. At this point, most people have dropped one subject that they studied in Year 12, and therefore many people end up with three A-Levels, one AS-Level and one General Studies A-Level.

Further Education

After Sixth Form/College, you can go to university. Universities accept you based on your A-Level qualifications.

Hope this has helped!

Oh, wow. Thats a bit confusing... haha, with the Americans, you just have to attend Kindergarden before you turn 8, and take state tests every once in a while. So, you go to 13 years instead of 12? Thats interesting.... and i have a question. If you fail your GCSE's, does that mean you cant continue on in school?

It's very hard to fail your GCSEs.

Pass grades are A*, A, B, C, D, E, F and G. But to get below a G...you'd have to just sit in the exam and do nothing, I reckon. The fail mark is known as a U - Unclassified. Though, saying that, I remember one girl getting a U in my year at GCSE...anyway. If you fail, you can resit them.

Most sixth forms and colleges require a minimum of GCSE's before they accept you - at my school, which was a Grammar School, they wanted you to get at least five B's, but it'd vary from place to place.

*waves hand*

i got a U in GCSE Spanish, but thats because i was rather, um, merry and started t sing Baby One More Time, very funny, i never did care for Spanish.

Also, here where i live we have middle school, which you attend from the age of 9 to 13, before going to High School, we're still in the process of tansferring into primary and secondary schools, and *whispers* i didnt go to Nursery....but thats because i was in hospital alot til i was 6 lol.

ooo, I see. Hod dos the grading system exzactly work then? Cause thats a lot. In America, below a D is a failing grade, C's are considered a time for warning.

well, the GCSE's are or were i dunno anymore it was 10 years ago when i was at school lol, but they are split into two groups Higher and Foundation, if you're enterted into Higher, you are thought to be intellligent enough to handle tougher questios and if you dont get a C grade, you fail, the pass grades for Higher are A*. A, B, C, FAIL. Or atleats it was when i was at school. Then there is Foundation, the highest mark you can get is C, and the lowest is U, it really all depends on your SATs marks and how your teachers feel you will handle the exam papers.

ooooo, ok. I gtet it now :]

Well we finish school at 16, anything after year 11 is optional. Which i think so much better then havin to stay until 18 as the government are now planning to do.

is there really double deckers there? and do you drive on the left side of the road? oh, and do you actually have tea time?
sorry, i am hyper and curious!!

Okay I have a question....

In america...F means of course Fail...then I'm sure the other letters mean something else as well. A is...accell I think. Anyway what does E stand for?

Anyway, back to language, in america the...Tasty word changes back and forth, does this happen in England? If so what is the...quote quote fantabulous word right about now?

Okay first of al we have double decker buses, and trust me when i say, never attempt to go downstairs when the bus is turning a corner!

Define Tea Time. Here we say Tea instead of dinner and dinner instead of lunch, and if your thinking of all things Mary Poppin's where they have "high Tea" time, with tiny cups and piles of cakes, then no, unless your the Queen i think.

I have no idea what the Letter's stand for, i just know i had plenty of E's in my exam results lmao i had D's and C's and one B i never did figure out they all mean. hmm, have you tried googling it?

To be honest I don't think they stand for anything, they're just a scale of letters.

About tea time - some regions of the country would say tea instead of dinner, but other regions don't. Some regions would say supper, for example, whilst others would just stick with dinner. Yeah, we don't have the high tea thing from Mary Poppins or Famous Five

Yup, we drive on the left side of the road, and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car.

Hmm...the "fantabulous" word right now...well, I'm a bit out of it cos I've been in France, but I've noticed Elly saying 'mega' a lot over the holidays.

Ohhh im so going to hire a car on my trip to New York lmao watch the news for the Breaking News Reports of the "Insane English woman seen driving through Manhattan on the wrong side of the road shouting to everyone that she is doing nothing wrong"


And the whole "FANTABULOUS" word - well, here, where i live ive noticed a lot of the kids are saying UBER and Fandabbydozzy (i used to say that to my parents years ago!) lol i still find it mind blowing how the younger generation start saying "new" words only for us older ones to go "Oh we used to say that when we were kids!" which is what i said to a kid today when they went "Ohhhhh Fandabbydozzy!"

what does that mean?

basically it means Brilliant, fantastic great etc.

Butter and margarine are two different things. I'm not entirely sure what the difference is (though we always have margarine cos my Mum says it's healthier). But yeah, both

lol i use marg because its CHEAPER! and you can taste the difference lol, butter is much more creamier then marg, and softer.

I dunno, its not like "oh i sooo want to visit the USA!" its more or less wherever people want to go on holiday, like myself, me and my partner are going to New York but not because of the city itself, because of the shopping XD we'd much rather visit places like Greece and Italy, because of the history there and the weather is just an added bonus lol

OOOO, thats cool. yeah, the american are obsessed with visiting Europe.... mexico has suddenly become "overated" haha.I have a question.... what do you think are the best vacation spots in Europe?

The Isle of Wight!!

No, seriously, it's my favourite place. It's the little diamond shaped island at the bottom of the UK, and it's so pretty there.

Apart from that...well I've never really been on holiday anywhere else so...Isle of Wight

haha, ok. Thanks! I am prob gonna be vacationing in Europe my senior year, me and my friends plan on it, so we were wondering... haha

Oh now visiting Europe depends on what kind of person you are, are you into histprical places? Because i could name a few hundred places in the UK to visit then their is Greece and Italy etc.

But then if you're a party person, i'd say try Ibiza, Majorca, Kos, Rhodes, etc.

Some schools differ but wher ei live, school starts at 9am ends at 3.30pm. Unless of course your wagging, then school starts at 9am and ends at 9.01am XD i used to love those days lmao

I think that's pretty general for most schools. Mine was 8.50 til 3.30.

Also, I remember seeing someone in the GHCR being shocked about how late our school's end for the summer.

They usually end mid-July, but don't go back until the beginning week of September.

So.... do you guys have, like, feild trips? Cause I couldn't live without them. XD

Sometimes. But they're not called field trips - just school trips.

Most secondary schools will do a residential or two between Years 7-9. My school also had the ski trip and the cruise, but everything had to be paid for.

In primary school we'd do school trips to museums, theme parks, pantomimes and plays etc.

oh i loved the trips when i wa sin first school! Esp at Xmas, i loved the panto!

Also, every student (at my old school anyway) HAD TO attend Church at Christmas for the Christmas service, even though it isnt a religious school, its a requirement, mind you, and if you're parents phoned the school to say you were ill on that day the school would actually send a teacher out to check on the student. It so sucks.

I think 7 weeks for summer holidays was long enough as well, by week 5 my friends and i would be climbing the walls by then lol.

What on earth is a brain fart? Like an idea? Or something stupid?