Tag: Spoken English

“Tosser” – British slang

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Tosser - British Slang Photo credit: Lst1984 / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

Here you can find other examples and meanings of this slang term: Urban Dictionary

Whatever – English slang

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Whatever

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.

“To fancy” – English slang

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To fancy someone

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

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To waffleImage source

Probably you knew already the common meaning of “waffle” in British and American English. If you didn’t … this is a “waffle”:
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):
newspaper - to waffle

Image source

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

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a_hoodie

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.

Ways of saying “goodbye” in English

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Informal_goodbyes

INFORMAL GOODBYES

  • Bye! => very common way to say goodbye.
  • Bye bye! => it sounds very kiddish (more for kids).
  • Later! => Very friendly and casual way, more for men. Ex. “Later bro!”, “Later man”.
  • See you later / soon => Very casual and relaxed goodbye. It can be used to indicate that you want to or plan to meet with the person again soon. If you use “ya” instead of “you”, this become even more casual.
  • Talk to you later
  • I’ve got to get going / I must be going => This is used in casual situations when you want to escape the conversation quickly and you don’t want to go through a longer or more sentimental goodbye.
  • Take it easy => It’s now less used than in the past. It is casual and it means “take care”.
  • I’m off
  • Have a good one => Similar to “have a nice / good day”, but it sounds really casual.
  • So long! => It’s used in some news headlines, but not so common between people.
  • Alright => Very casual way.

Formal_and_business_goodbyes

FORMAL AND BUSINESS GOODBYES

  • Goodbye!
  • Have a nice day / have a good day! => For example, you buy something in a shop after you have paid the cashier would tell you “Have a nice day”.
  • I look forward to our next meeting
  • Take care! => it is a little formal and you use it with your close relatives and other people you are close too. You might use this in an email or written letter.
  • It was nice to see you again / It was nice seeing you.
  • Good night!  => Notice that “good afternoon”, “good morning” and “good evening” are greeting expressions and you can’t use them to say “goodbye”).
  • Farewell => it is more like a final goodbye. For example, someone is moving abroad and you are not going to see this person again. In this situation, you can use “farewell”.  It is the type of thing that two lovers in a movie might say if they’re never going to see each other again. So, you probably won’t use it often in daily life.

Slang_ways_of_saying_goodbye

SLANG WAYS OF SAYING “GOODBYE”

  • Later / laters / catch you later
  • Peace / peace out => it comes from the hip-hop music culture. It’s more of a hand gesture. It is a very casual way and it means that you wish the other person well.
  • I’m out / I’m out of here => You are really happy about going.
  • I gotta jet / I gotta take off / I gotta hit the road / I gotta head out => these are slang versions of “I have got to get going”. “Gotta” is an abbreviation of “got to”.
  • Catch ya later! => Variation for “See you later”. This is used very casually between friends or acquaintances.
  • Smell you later! => This is something you’ll hear kids say far more than adults! But grown-ups might occasionally be overheard saying this to a friend as a joke too. 

This is a video on this topic:

Mind maps download (imx file) available on Biggerplate.