hi my name is Olivier welcome to Oxford
online English in this lesson you can
learn about British slang if I told you
I was feeling knackered today would you
know what I meant
if I asked you to buy some bog roll on
your way home what do you know what I
wanted confused these are examples of
British slang and they could be
difficult for non-native speakers to
understand and use correctly but don't
worry we're going to help well you're
going to help I'm from the US and we
don't understand some British slang
anyway what is slang slang phrases can
cover any topic and they're mostly used
in informal contexts in this lesson
you'll see dialogues with slang words
and phrases connected to four different
topics our first topic food at the start
of the next section you'll see a
dialogue with four slang words and
phrases try to hear them and write them
down as you listen
Hey want to get lunch yeah I was
starting to feel a little peckish do you
have anywhere in mind I still don't know
what there is around here well there's a
cafe around the corner we could splash
our go to that new gastropub it's a bit
pricier but they do have really nice
food shall we do the pub yeah why not I
skip breakfast I'm absolutely starving I
could murder a burger they do this
burger with mint and feta cheese it's
amazing it's so good I almost have to
slow myself down and enjoy it otherwise
I just wolf it down sounds like you need
to get there fast ready to go now did
you hear the slang words and phrases the
first two you heard were peckish and
splash out what do you think they mean
if you are peckish you're a little
hungry but not very hungry maybe you're
not hungry enough to eat a full meal but
you want to snack splash out needs to
spend more on something than you usually
would in the dialogue we were choosing
between a cheap cafe and a more
expensive pub in the end we decided to
splash out on a pub lunch
but remember that this is not normal
spending you can't splash out if you
always spend that amount of money the
second two slang phrases were I could
murder and wolf it down the full phrase
in the dialogue was I could murder a
burger what do these mean if you say I
could murder a burger that means you
really really want a burger right now
you can use it with other food and drink
for example you can say I could murder a
pint or I can murder some chips right
now what about will sit down if you wolf
something down you eat it very fast
imagine how a wolf might eat a hamburger
it's not going to eat slowly and
politely next let's look at some slang
phrases you can use to describe people
and how they
hey how was the party last week did you
have fun boots okay for a while but then
things went downhill Oh what happened
you know John you brought this really
smarmy guy with him he was trying to hit
on all of the women starting arguments
and generally being annoying
anyway I got stuck talking to him for
ages
I think I've heard about this from Paula
yes what a horrible guy then finally
Paul will have told him to leave and he
threw a huge wobbly he was shouting at
everyone and being totally obnoxious
it'll ruin the atmosphere I think I've
got home by that point he completely
lost the plot Paula was pretty pissed
off with John for bringing him did you
manage to talk to Paula at all she's
such a nice person I wanted you two to
meet because I'm sure you'll get along I
did a little but only after everything
had happened she was upset so I guess
you didn't feel like talking much that's
a shame she's normally so chatty
I can imagine she seemed full of beans
earlier in the evening I like her she's
one of those people who if you're in a
bad mood you talk to her and you feel
better yeah hopefully next time I meet
her it'll be in better circumstances
again there were four slang words and
phrases in the dialogue did you hear
them can you remember them now these
were the words and phrases you heard
what do they mean remember then you can
always go back and repeat parts of the
lesson if you want to go back and listen
to the dialogue again and trying to
understand the words in context smarmy
refers to somebody who is unpleasantly
polite you can use it for someone who is
polite and friendly but in a fake and
sincere way you can also use the word
slimy which has a similar meaning lose
the plot means to go crazy you might use
it if somebody who is really stressed
starts behaving strangely or starts
making some strange decisions for
example Steve has absolutely lost the
plot he's been
driving around the same three streets
for 20 minutes throw a wobbly means to
become angry or agitated very quickly a
more neutral phrase with the same
meaning is throw a tantrum which we
often use to describe children who lose
control of themselves and get very angry
full of beans describes a person who is
full of life and energetic for example
mark is full of beans today he got great
results in his exams and he can't stop
smiling in our next section you'll see
some slang phrases to talk about
situations which went especially well or
especially badly let's look
you look a bit stressed everything okay
yeah
it'll be fine it was a bit of a cock-up
without invoicing nothing too serious
I hope not too bad we just sent things
to the wrong people it's a bit
embarrassing but I'll write a couple of
apologetic emails and everything will be
hunky-dory what about you that was a big
sales presentation a disaster Jerry was
completely unprepared as usual it was
almost funny but mostly embarrassing
yeah that's not my surprise I guess when
I heard he was in charge I was sure it
would go completely peaked on like
everything he's involved with what's
weird is that he seems to have no idea
how bad he is at his job yeah what's
that called dunning-kruger or something
he's probably in the break room right
now telling everyone he had an absolute
blinder and how amazing is good point
I'll avoid the break room anyway I'll
let you get back to work
this time we want you to do some work
you'll see sentences from the dialogue
but with the slang phrase is removed can
you remember them let's see the first
one do you remember the answer it was a
cock-up
what does this mean this means a mistake
you can use it as a noun or a verb for
example he made a massive up with
the hotel bookings he really cocked up
the hotel bookings up is not very
rude but it's not polite either so be
careful when you use it let's look at
the second sentence what do you have
here hunky-dory
means fine are okay for example you
might say I was feeling pretty ill
yesterday but today everything's
hunky-dory
hunky-dory is often used with the word
everything as in everything was
hunky-dory or is everything hunky-dory
now he's the third sentence
can you remember this one Pete Tong what
on earth does that mean Pete Tong is a
famous radio DJ but that's not the point
here
this is an example of rhyming slang Tong
rhymes with wrong if you say that
something went completely Pete Tong you
mean it went very badly okay last one
what goes in this sentence what did you
get blinder means an excellent
performance usually in a sport event but
we can use it in other situations you
usually use the verb have but you can
also say play a blinder if you're
talking about sports for example you
could say we have a blinder at the
trivia night we won by nearly 50 points
Holly played a blinder in the
five-a-side match yesterday she scored
four goals let's look at one more topic
in this section you will hear the same
dialogue twice in the second dialogue
will replace four words and phrases with
the slang with the same meaning watch
the first dialogue now so how's
everything
honestly not great Oh No why not
it's my new housemate he seemed
perfectly normal when I met him but he's
been acting really weird recently and
getting on my nerves
last Sunday I cooked a bunch of food to
take to work for lunch or week he had
all of it on Sunday night after I went
to bed I was really surprised ah your
food everything it's such a shame
because I was so happy when I finally
found this place it seemed perfect
it's a lovely area and it's very cheap
for what it is I'd be disappointed about
to move out and find somewhere else so
are you seriously thinking about moving
out again you just got there I don't
know I guess I have to but I'm putting
off making a decision partly I just
can't face house hunting again you know
it's so much work when I get home these
days I'm really tired I don't want to
think about it well if you need some
help just let me know did you understand
that if not it could be a good idea to
go back and listen again next watch the
second dialogue try to find the four
slang words and phrases and write them
down so how's everything honestly not
great Oh No why not
it's my new housemate you seem perfectly
normal when I met him but he's been
acting weirdly recently and getting on
my nerves
last Sunday I cooked a bunch of food to
take to work for lunch
all week he ate all of it on Sunday
night after I went to bed I was
gobsmacked ah your food everything it's
such a shame because I was over the moon
and I finally found this place it seemed
perfect
it's a lovely area and it's very cheap
for what it is I'd be gutted if I had to
find somewhere else so are you seriously
thinking about moving out again you just
got there I don't know I guess I have to
but I'm putting off my
a decision partly I just can't face
house-hunting again you know it's such
hard work
and when I get home these days I'm
zonk's and I don't want to think about
it well if you need some help just let
me know did you find the four slang
words and phrases can you work out what
they mean
the first Laing word was gobsmacked do
you remember what the original word was
this means really surprised
it has a strong meaning so it's used to
describe strong emotions for example I
was gobsmacked that Liverpool beat
Barcelona in the last minute he was
gobsmacked when he opened his tax bill
next was gutted do you remember what
this replaced it replaced disappointed
and also described strong feelings for
example if you miss your best friend's
wedding or your holiday gets canceled at
the last minute
you might feel gutted next was over the
moon which means very happy
for example I'm over the moon because I
just got a new job only zonked what a
strange word what could zoom mean it
means the same as very tired or
exhausted for example I was sunked when
I got home from work today oh one more
thing at the beginning you use the words
knackered and bog roll what do those
mean well nekkid is another way of
saying very tired and bog roll is toilet
paper well now we know thanks for
watching see you next on
you