Speak like a native: Three In The Bed. (standard / colloquial / slang) Maybe you’ve met my ‘Three In The Bed’ posts before where I compare 3 words/phrases, which are very similar and /or go well together.
For a bit of fun on Fun on Friday, I’d like to offer you some ‘Threes In The Bed’ with synonyms of words starting with the standard word, a more colloquial equivalent and, how could we do without the SLANG version too.
Let’s dive into the last real McCoy.
1) To reprimand sb / to tell sb off / to bollock sb. These three are a perfect example of a quite formal word with the phrasal verb equivalent and a nice slang term to finish. ‘bollock’ also means ‘testicle’ and you also often here ‘to give sb a bollocking’. Speaking of bollocks
2) (That’s) rubbish / (That’s) cobblers / (That’s) bollocks. If you every want to say that what somebody says isn’t true or downright wrong or stupid you can use one of those three.
3) To make a mess of sth / to mess sth up / to cock sth up. I could add to this list until next Christmas because there are so many other synonyms, especially in the colloquial (to muck sth up) and in the slang section (to screw sth up & to fuck sth up) to name but a few. With ‘fuck’ & ‘cock’ (can also mean ‘penis’ in slang English) you can also exchange ‘mess’ and say ‘to make a cock-up/fuck-up of sth’
4) To tease sb / to take the Michael/Mick (out of sb) / to take the piss (out of sb). I think they speak for themselves. BTW I have no idea why it became Michael and not ‘Fred’ or even ‘Dave’ for that matter.
5) Last but not least a bit of medical English in the widest sense. To vomit / to throw up / to puke. Again a perfect example of standard & more colloquial phrasal verb version. As always ‘puke’ can be exchanged with other words like ‘spew’ and ‘chunder’. For the sake of completeness, I typed ‘kotzen’ into dict.cc (my go to online dictionary also available as app) and it threw up (sorry couldn’t resist!!) ‘to blow chunks’ (US slang), ‘to shoot the cat’ (UK slang), and wait for it ‘to drive/ride the porcelain bus’ – all of which I’ve never heard of!!!
to reprimand sb (jdn zurechtweisen), term (Begriff), ‘testicle’ (Hoden), speaking of (apropos), (That’s) rubbish (Quatsch), to make a mess of sth (vermasseln), to name but a few (um nue einige zu nennen), to tease sb (jdn auf den Arm nehmen), for that matter (hier: übrigens auch), last but not least (zu guter Letzt), in the widest sense of the word (im weitesten Sinne des Wortes), for the sake of completeness (vollständigkeitshalber), ‘couldn’t resist’ (Ich konnte es nicht widerstehen)