Comments on: Slang and idioms from around the world

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 22:02:00 +0000

I am South African and can attest to the fact that certain South African slang words have become such a part of the language that one doesn’t even realise that they are slang! For example, one could say ‘just now’, which is a little bit later than ‘now now’. You try telling a South African that uses the term ‘just now’ that it isn’t used internationally and watch their surprise. Also, Afrikaners have the tradition of referring to elders as uncle or aunt/auntie (as in Uncle Mike or Aunt Hilda) even if they aren’t related, it derives from the tradition in the Afrikaans language of calling someone older ‘oom’ (pronounce the oo like in poor) and ‘tannie’ (tunn-ee). Many (especially English speakers) don’t enjoy this however, and one should always ask how people prefer to be addressed.

By: Flash Animations

Flash Animations — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 00:45:41 +0000

I also want to learn some new Slangs and Idioms to improve my English. I think, the best way to improve your English is Talking with other people in English; that’d defentiy helps you improving your English.

By: Kate

Kate — Mon, 31 May 2010 11:50:48 +0000

I was going to mention “Fighting” in Korea but someone beat me to it! My other favorite is that Koreans throw in the English word “something” to substitute for things they’re embarrassed to say explicitly, namely for sex. My students giggle every time I use the word “something,” no matter how many times in a class I say it!!

By: Rock

Rock — Sat, 29 May 2010 12:50:04 +0000

Lolx Amanda .. b careful dude

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 24 May 2010 06:54:12 +0000

I didn’t learn enough of the Thai language while teaching there but I was often told about the word play many Thai’s like to have fun with.

Some phrases may just be strange sounding in traslation but others were downright goofy. For example, many people who think their English skills are poor will say “phuud pasa Anglit ngoo ngoo plahr plahr” which means, “I speak English snake snake fish fish.”

I liked a few others like “jai yen” which means “cool heart” and is said in place of a phrase like ‘calm down.’ Also, a smooth talker was called “sweet mouth.” There were plenty more but my memory has failed me.

…and I speak Thai snake snake fish fish

By: sam

sam — Sun, 23 May 2010 00:15:44 +0000

Theres french verlan too which commes from the word l’envers or reverse. You reverse the syllables in words thus l’en-vers (silent s) becomes ver-lan. One good example is the word keuf, it means cop and comes from the english word fuck. Other frequently used words are meuf = femme, renoit = noire, beur = arabe, relou = lourd, cimer = merci etc..

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 18 May 2010 13:38:33 +0000

in Bangla, the word “fourteen” and “f**k” are one extra ‘d’ away from each other.. so i’m super careful when I say “I want to go to road 14, please…”

By: eileen

eileen — Mon, 17 May 2010 22:47:32 +0000

Chile, land of Spanish slang also has Canadá for slang for jail, which comes from la cana, itself a mystery to me, but surely comes from coa, which is the jail-based slang. I’ve been told a lot of coa has Argentine crossover, but didn’t know it did with Peru as well!

By: Camden Luxford

Camden Luxford — Mon, 17 May 2010 21:26:48 +0000

I’m loving the Peruvian slang – my favourite is “un chancae de a veinte” which means easy, not a problem, and draws its name from tiny little sweet pastries of twenty centimos each, devoured in one quick mouthful. I also love “Cánada” as slang for jail. “Where’s your son?” “Oh, he’s in Cánada”.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Mon, 17 May 2010 20:34:53 +0000

Nice!!
Koreans use “Fighting!!” just as the Japanese use “Fight!”

Have you ever tried to read Indonesian text or FB posts??? omg they abbreviate everything, eliminating vowels!

pg k Dpsr = going to Denpasar for ex!

and good luck with the slang from each dialect!