SLANG (American)
As I had mentioned before, here is the article about slang in American people.
Again, if you face to translate or interpret something full of American Slang, this guide attempts to help you and to make your job a bit easier.
Here are some useful examples:
Propeller – head: Socially inept person interested in computers and technology.
Babe: Attractive young woman.
Bimbo: Attractive but stupid young woman.
Himbo: has been coined for an attractive but stupid young man.
Ho: Wife, woman (in Black American slang). From "whore" (prostitute).
Squeeze: Lover, girlfriend or boyfriend.
Joe Sixpack: Uncultured, beer-drinking white american manual worker.
Dweeb: Studious, boring person.
Skell: Homeless person who sleeps in the subway. Probably from “skeleton”.
Wannabe: Fan. Someone who “wants to be” someone else.
Wonk: Expert
Adjectival Expressions
Attitude: Arrogance, non – cooperation. Common in the expression “with attitude” which means “individualistic”. E.g. in the music group “Niggaz with Attitude “.
`tude: Abbreviation of Attitude.
Awesome: Wonderful, excellent.
Rad: Excellent, wonderful. E.g. “It was a really rad party!”.
To die for: Extremely desirable or attractive. E.g. “a to-die-for face “ or “food to die for”.
From hell: Horrible, nasty. E.g. “students from hell”.
Drop-dead: Very, stunningly. Especially in the adjectival expression “drop-dead gorgeous" (exceedingly attractive). “Dead” has existed as a slang adverb meaning "very" for sometime in Britain and America.
Happening: Trendy, fashionable, contemporary.
Hard-ass: Difficult, tough. Also “hard-assed”.
In your face: Aggressive and provocative. E.g. “he likes really in your face comedy”.
To the max: To the maximum/limit. This explains the smart advertisement “Reduce to the max”. The adjectival expression “maxed out” means “stretched to the limit”.
Other Expressions
Bad hair day: A day on which everything goes wrong.
To spazz out: To lose emotional and physical control.
Palookaville: An imaginary town which symbolizes mediocrity and ineptitude. There is a movie called “Palookaville” (1998).
Tag: Nickname. Signature of graffiti-writers. E.g. “Her tag is ghostess”.
I have also written some useful spoken expressions in case you have to interpret slang speakers
There are number of sentence modifiers that British and American people use which do not add very much to the meaning but which make their speech more natural. Many of these elements would be considered “incorrect” in a formal context:
Actually: used for emphasis
Like: used to fill a pause
Sorta…(sort of): used to fill a pause
Kinda…(kind of): used to fill a pause
I dunno…: used to show uncertainty
I mean…: used for clarification
Y´know: used for confirmation
Certain verbs followed by to + another verb are typically contracted in both British and American English. The idea that these are “Americanisms” is nowadays a myth:
Wanna: want to
Gonna: (be) going to
Gotta: (have) got to
Tryna: (be) trying to
Other contractions are almost prerequisite if one wants to sound natural while speaking (in formal writing these contractions are not used, they just attempt to reflex how we speak):
Y´see: you see, you understand
Y´think?: do you think so?
Y´what?: what did you say?
C´mon: come on!
a´the moment: at the moment
´bout: about
´cos: because
*you never write these forms, but this is how they are pronounced.
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