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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
I like using slang expressions.  Anyone want to swap a few? I just remember really enjoying learning slang from different countries when I was on the backpacker trail in Oz and NZ back in '98. The man I was backpacking in sin with was British and we enjoyed each other's linguistic differences a great deal. From him I got: I can't be arsed for "I can't be bothered" (I've even infected my 76-year-old Mum with this one!) Then it all went pear-shaped for "Then it all went wrong" and (one of my faves! though I keep forgetting to use it in appropriate moments, usually because I'm TOO flabbergasted!) What are you LIKE?! for an expression of surprise at someone's actions From me, he got: Out in the boonies for "out in the back of beyond" or, more simply, "in the middle of nowhere" (usually refers to somewhere deep in the country or somewhere remote) and Where do you get off?! for, um, probably "What are you LIKE?!" only it's not as kind as that - more righteous indignation. As with "What are you LIKE?!" this phrase is used with all different pronouns: "Where does he get off?!" or "Where do you get off?!" You might say, for example, "Where do you get off, telling me how to drive?!" Guess it's a bit of a "how dare you!" More recently I got "pants" from a British girlfriend, but I have to confess I'm still not entirely sure how it's supposed to be used....
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
You got most of them from Zild. "What are you like?" is a definite Austraaalianism.
- Pfranz
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 171
member
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member
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 171 |
Not a slang expression, but a lesson in the King's English from my tour of duty in London.
When we finally ventured out on the highways surrounding the city, we were intrigued by the number of villages/towns named Adverse Camber--around almost every turn, but never clearly visible from the road.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
villages/towns named Adverse Camber--around almost every turn, but never clearly visible from the road.  Yes; here on the continent, we sometimes see signs that read Dip in Road, but there's never anybody there.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
I've seen road works signs saying "Repairs to Tired Road Surface" - don't you feel for it, being on duty 24x7?, and for "Worn Out Tarseal", to which the same injunction applies ...
- Pfranz
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
...but a lesson in the King's English from...
what are you thinking, my *new freind...
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
A friend of mine told the tale of his wanderings around on the German Autobahnen. His traveling companion noted, "This town, Ausfahrt, sure is big!"
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Joined: Jul 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
must be the translation for a town in France that I could never catch a bus to. I'd wave and wave, but the busses headed to Complet never stopped for me.
TEd
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 171
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member
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And I'm surely not the only one to wonder why they allowed that incompetent French highway engineer De Tour to mess up so many of our American roadways.
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 9
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 9 |
Yup, have a British boyfriend to thank for expanding my slang horizons. All I want to know is, who/what is "billio"(sp??), as in "he was driving like billio" ??
DSW
DSW
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