Origin of this expression:
It’s likely that “tickety-boo” comes from the Hindi ṭhīk hai babu, which means ‘it’s all right, sir’.
Everything is tickety-boo – Danny Kaye (from the movie Marry Andrew, 1958):
Tag: slang
Whatever – English slang
Example sentences from the web:
- Boy: I am exhausted today. Looking forward to going home and doing nothing, hopefully, you’re up for the same?
Girl: Yeah, whatever. - Whatever. It’s like you want to get your heart broken again.
- Whatever… just another reason we made the right decision.
An interesting discussion on this topic: When did “Whatever.” begin to be used as a sentence?
Notice that ‘whatever’ has other meanings. It can be used as an adverb, a conjunction, a determiner, or a pronoun.
As a pronoun it introduces a relative clause and its meaning is: ‘everything‘; ‘anything that‘. For example: Do whatever he asks you to. As an adjective, it means ‘of any kind‘; ‘in any amount‘; ‘no matter what‘. For example, I saw no point whatever in continuing. Furthermore, we use it in questions as a synonym of ‘what’, but with more emphasis. For example: Whatever do you mean? = What do you mean? ‘Whatever’ is also used as a conjunction. In this case, it connects two clauses: I won’t go there, whatever he says.
“Knackered” – British slang
Example sentences from the web:
- The rider forgot to eat before the last climb of the day and he was completely knackered half way up
- I helped my parents with house chores today. I’m too knackered to join you for dinner, I’m sorry.
- She has finished the book. Then she fell asleep immediately, she was so knackered!
“Butty; buttie” – British slang
Example sentences from the web:
- Get yourself a piece of bread, I’ll make you a chip butty.
- Give us an egg butty and don’t break the yolk.
- “What’ve you got for your dinner?”
“Cheese butties.”
Notice that you could also hear the term ‘sarnie’ (British slang) referring to a sandwich.
Example sentence from the web:
- Do us a favour, pop to the shops and get us a sarnie.
“To fancy” – English slang
Example sentences from the web:
- The thing is, you marry a woman you fancy.
- Did you fancy anyone?
- No, I do not fancy Miss Pattman and I will not have her disrespected in this way.
Notice that in British English “to fancy” means also “to like something”:
If you both fancy the dress, you’ll just have to share and wear it one after the other.
“To waffle” – British slang
Probably you knew already the common meaning of “waffle” in British and American English. If you didn’t … this is a “waffle”:
A “waffle” is a type of pancake with a pattern of square dents in it, made in a waffle iron.
According to Random House Dictionary waffle with the British English meaning of talking idly, and foolishly without purpose is derived from waff (which means to bark or to yelp like a dog) and first appeared in print between 1695-1705.
Example sentences from the web:
- She waffled when asked what she thought of her sister’s new boyfriend.
- If you don’t know the answer, it’s no good just waffling (on) for pages and pages.
From a British newspaper clipping (1957):
Remember that in American slang the meaning of “to waffle” is different.
Example sentences from the web:
- American voters waffled in 2000.
- He waffled on an important issue.
[= to fail to make up one’s mind; to equivocate; to waver; to oscillate between options].
“A hoodie” – English slang
A “hoodie” is also any person that lives or came from the hood (the ghetto).
Example sentences from the web:
- There was a hoodie watching us.
- I just keep seeing that faceless person in the black hoodie.
- Yall seen dem hoodies shooting dice in da cut back there?? F*ck, I think we back in da ghetto yall…
- Don’t go near that hoodie, he’ll blow your kneecaps off.
“To chill out” – English slang
Example sentences from the web:
- Mummy will be back in just a minute, so just chill out.
- I chill out after a long, hard day’s work.
- Sunday, before bed, light a few candles with the scent to chill out for the week ahead.
“Bloke” – British slang
Other examples from the web:
- You blame that bloke for your situation.
- You look like the bloke from Stranger Danger posters.
- Who’s that bloke with the funny sunglasses sitting on the plush lounge next to Susan?
- He’s a funny bloke.
- I was told you had more imagination than other blokes in the big firms.
Terms you may not know:
– TO BLAME = to hold responsible; to find fault with.
– PLUSH = expensive and luxurious.
– LOUNGE = waiting room; casual bar (hotel).
– FIRM = a partnership or association for carrying on a business.
Quiz on idioms, slang and proverbs.
I just created this quiz. You should take it to test your knowledge about these topics. It’s quick and fun, just 15 questions.
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