www.effingpot.com

Same language, British English & American English, right?!?! My arse or sorry should I say ass?

The above mentioned, a peach of (tolle) a webpage is for Americans, who decide for whatever reason, they want to get to know British English better. Here are just 10 highlights from the topic area ‘Slang’ – see chapters – slang (COPIED & PASTED – I couldn’t have done a better job).

1. All right? – This is used a lot around London and the south to mean, „Hello, how are you“? You would say it to a complete stranger or someone you knew. The normal response would be for them to say „All right“? back to you. It is said as a question. Sometimes it might get expanded to „all right mate“?

2. Arse – This is a word that doesn’t seem to exist in America. It basically means the same as ass, but is much ruder. It is used in phrases like „pain in the arse“ (a nuisance) or I „can’t be arsed“ (I can’t be bothered) or you might hear something was „a half-arsed attempt“ meaning that it was not done properly.

3. Bang – Nothing to do with your hair – this is a rather unattractive way of describing having sex. Always gets a smile from Brits in American hair dressers when they are asked about their bangs (Ponyfrisur).

4. Bender – I used to go out on a bender quite frequently when I was at university. Luckily bender doesn’t only mean a gay man, it also means a pub crawl or a heavy drinking session.

5. Chuffed – You would be chuffed to bits if you were really pleased about something.

6. Doddle – Something that is a doddle is easy.

7. Faff – To ‚faff’ is to ‚dither’ or to ‚fanny around’. If we procrastinated when getting ready for bed, as kids, our Dad use tell us ’we were faffing around’.

8. Fortnight – Two weeks. Comes from an abbreviation of „fourteen nights“. Hence terms like „I’m off for a fortnights holiday“ meaning „I am going on a two week vacation“.

9. Give us a bell – This simply means call me. You often hear people use the word „us“ to mean „me“.

10. Grub – Food. Similar to nosh. I remember my Dad calling „grub’s up“, when dinner was ready as a kid. A grub is also an insect larva. Not usually eaten in England.

This was great fun, a trip down memory lane for me – I think, I’ll do it again sometime! Trust me, there are a lot more words to go. Why not check out the site for hours of side-splitting laughter (zum Totlachen)? 2

QsOTD as it’s Friday. How many did you already know? Which do you like best?

P.S. Did you know that ‘effing’ is a swear word that many people find offensive that is used to emphasize a comment or an angry statement; used instead of saying ‘fucking’?

3 Gedanken zu „www.effingpot.com

  1. Jenny Antworten

    For native speakers the webpage sounds like fun, for us English learners it’s quite interesting and amusing. Chapter „Odds and Sods“ is my favourite but the others are worth reading, too. For instance I’ve learned that „bint“ means woman – a word that’s also Arabic for girl. So, it’s interesting to see how languages adapt and adopt according to their people speaking it.

    Of your examples 4 out of 10 were new to me. „Fortnight“ is the word I like best but there are also others I like and use.

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