Hi everybody.
Welcome back to Love English.
As usual I’m here with my good mate Leila.
I am, I’m her best mate.
I think so.
She thinks so.
Well today we’re going to be looking at British slang.
We’re going to give you our top ten British slang words.
Words that we both commonly use.
Yes.
So you will notice there that I used the word ‘mate’ to refer to Leila rather than friend.
And this is because this is a slang word ‘mate’ it means the same as friend, it’s more used
though, amongst men rather than women.
So British guys, British men, will often say to each other ‘You alright mate?’, ‘How
ya doing mate?’
Very, very, very common.
Unless…girls might say ‘my best mate’ as I did before.
Yes, girls can use it, but it’s more used amongst guys.
Yep.
So guys, unfortunately today, poor Leila, she’s not feeling very well.
Yeah.
She’s feeling a bit under the weather (sick/unwell) we could even say she was feeling knackered.
Yes, I have Sabrah, I’ve been really knackered this week.
Send her some love.
She’s not feeling well.
So, if you look at the spelling of knackered, pay attention, there is a silent ‘K’,
so it’s NOT Knackered.
Although that sounds funny.
Knackered!!!
It’s knackered.
It basically means very, very tired.
Exhausted.
Be careful as well…a lot of students, they love this word when they first learn it.
Knackered that’s fantastic but…they will then say naked!
You don’t want to say to your teacher…’Oh teacher, I’m naked!
No… or like someone else I know, who said his mother was ‘naked’ the other day.
Eeek!
Haha!
I was like...
‘What?!...really?’
Um, so knackered is a great way to tell people you’re very tired.
Mmhmm, that’s right.
Yes.
And Sabrah, what did you do late night?
Last night I had a very relaxing evening, I chilled out.
Oh nice.
I had some Netflix and chill.
Oh…
Which Is a very popular hashtag amongst the young people.
I wouldn’t know sorry.
I know ‘chill’ So that’s a really nice slang word.
Chill just means to relax.
Yes, you can say ‘chill out’, which is a phrasal verb.
So if somebody is getting a bit angry or getting a bit stressed, you can say to them ‘chill
out’ or just ‘chill’…’chill’.
Or ‘take a chill pill’ …a bit rude.
Oh that’s very cool.
That’s very cool Leila.
See you do know what the young people are talking about.
I’ve heard it on TV.
Yes.
Haha!
Ok.
Brilliant.
So, Leila, I have a question for you…
Have you ever been somewhere, like a nightclub or a bar where you thought…’mmm I’m
not sure if this is a good place, I’m not sure if I trust the people here?’
I have.
I usually walk out within 20 minutes.
I’ve been to a few ‘dodgy’ bars.
Dodgy!
Okay.
Here we go…
Dodgy is an adjective that we can apply to people, when you don’t feel that you can
trust them.
Maybe you think…’mmm they’re a bit dodgy, I won’t tell them my secrets.’
You could refer to ‘something’ as being ‘dodgy’ like the care engine.
I don’t think it’s working very well, it might break (down).
Yeah.
And then a place, again where it doesn’t feel very comfortable, very safe maybe.
Or maybe not very clean.
You might think that they’re charging too much, or they’re not paying their taxes.
It could be a little bit illegal.
Dodgy!
Yes.
But it’s a great slag word.
We use it all the time.
Yep.
Dodgy!
Right, have you got one for me Leila?
I’ve got one that I think everyone will love.
To ‘crack up’
To crack up, yes, I do this a lot.
I’m very fond of cracking up.
Hahaha!
So, to ‘crack up’ means to laugh.
To suddenly laugh.
To crack up.
Yeah, kind of without control.
Yes.
Like, you find something so funny…
Yes, you crack up.
Yeah.
A friend makes a joke and you crack up.
So the other day I was watching Donald Trump, again, talking about how he’s going to fix
everything, how he’s going to make America great again.
And to be honest, I found it quite funny because I don’t believe him.
So, I cracked up.
I was like hahahah, whatever Donald.
He just makes me want to cry sometimes, but never mind.
Yes, so…I have a good question for Leila.
Leila, what…how many subscribers have we got now on Youtube?
Uh…it’s gone up, we’re one thousand, one hundred and thirty something.
To be honest, I’m a bit gutted.
Me too.
Yeah.
Gutted.
Gutted means to feel disappointed.
It’s that simple.
It’s very common slang.
So for example: students often feel gutted if they work really hard and revise for an
exam but they don’t get the grade that they want.
They feel gutted.
Disappointed . You don’t pass your driving test, I’m gutted.
It’s an adjective.
You can ‘feel gutted’ or you can ‘be gutted’ .
That’s right, yeah.
And next…
Another really nice one.
A really nice one, applies a lot to my family as well.
Bonkers!
Haha…oh dear!
So, bonkers.
I love this word.
It’s probably one of my favourite words in the English language, it’s crazy.
It means crazy or nuts.
So for example, you could say….me and Leila if we get twenty thousand, forty thousand…one
hundred thousand subscribers on Youtube, we would be like…’this is bonkers!
This is crazy!’
Yeah, so it can have a good meaning but it can also have a negative meaning.
So, for example: My mum, she spent one thousand pounds at the weekend, on clothes, she’s
bonkers.
Yeah, what was the other one?
Oh earlier, Leila was singing to herself, by herself, I think she’s taken too much
medicine.
Cold medicine, I’ve had a lot.
So, I though um, she’s going bonkers.
To ‘go bonkers’ it means to ‘go crazy’
Yeah, that’s a really lovely one.
Right so, I’ve got one for you here Leila…
Right, okay.
What’s the most common way to say ‘thank you’ in English.
Well, if we’re talking about slang, to be honest, we’d probably say ‘cheers’
mmm..yes.
So, although we can say ‘cheers’ when we’re having a drink with somebody.
‘cheers’
We’d often use it…I use it when I get the bus, and I get off the bus and I say ‘oh
cheers’ to the bus driver.
mmmm.
and to a friend as well.
Like, you look lovely Sabrah!
Oh, cheers!
No problem.
That was very fake (not real).
Hahaha!
She does look lovely.
She always looks lovely.
Um, so, ‘cheers’ is a really nice, informal way to say ‘thank you’.
So be careful of the situation, again with slang you should know, you would use it in
very informal situations, with friends.
Yes, you wouldn’t say to your teacher ‘cheers’, unless you knew them very well.
If you knew them very well, it could be ok to say ‘cheers’ but normally it’s amongst
friends.
Yep, ok.
I’ve got a great one!
And this is one that actually includes…it’s a slang word but then the first part is also
slang.
‘Gobsmacked’
Gobsmacked!
This means to be surprised!
Very surprised.
And we can actually explain this physically because ‘gob’ is mouth, it’s a slang
word for mouth.
Be careful, it’s not a very nice slang word.
You could say to somebody ‘Shut your gob.’
And that sounds horrible.
Yes, it’s very, very rude!
Yeah.
So we don’t use that word very often but we do use ‘gobsmacked’.
That’s not too bad, that’s fine.
We say it because ‘smack’ means to hit.
But when we do this, when we’re surprised, we might go huh!
Like this.
Almost like we’re smacking our ‘gob’ (mouth).
Don’t literally!
That could hurt!
Yes, haha!
So, if Leila, one day, bought me a new computer, a Mac, I’d be like huuuh!!
GOBSMACKED!
Leila…giving you a tip there!
If England won the European cup?!
GOBSMACKED!
Ok, the last one Sabrah?
So, Leila….
Mmmm?
Speaking of you buying me things…
Yeah??
Would you like to buy me a new car?
Uhhhh…Nope!
Hahahaha!
I tried.
I’m skint!
Oh, there’s an extra one there!
Yeah, freebie!
Um, ‘nope’ Nope basically means ‘no’
I use it quite a lot actually.
Nope.
Dunno (don’t know) why.
It’s exactly the same number of syllables as ‘No’…but nope…a bit more informal.
Yeah, that’s right.
So very quick run through guys.
I’ll just run through these ever so quickly for you.
So we had ‘mate’
Friend!
Yep, I’ll say them, Leila you can explain.
Yeah!
Knackered
Very tired.
Chill/ chill out
Relax
Dodgy
A bit untrustworthy not sure about it.
To crack up
Hahaha…Laugh.
Brilliant…that was great!
Gutted
Disappointed
And the Golden Globe goes to….
Thank you.
Bonkers.
Crazy!
Hahahaha!
She did that too well!
That’s worrying.
Yeah, no acting needed.
Cheers.
Thank you.
Good.
Gobsmacked.
Shocked/Surprised
Excellent
Nope
No!!!
And the freebie…Skint
No money, I’m poor.
Oh, didn’t need to act that one.
No!
Brilliant guys
Thank you.
Thank you so much for watching and please do leave a comment and try to use one of these
(words) in a sentence.
We will get back to you and let you know if you did it correctly.
Say something funny to us, make us gobsmacked…
…or crack up
Yes.
We will crack up.
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Bye!