Cos’è lo slang?

Con la parola slang intendiamo una maniera di parlare codificata che corrisponde al “gergo” in italiano e ad ”argot” in francese, anche se oggi solitamente il termine indica qualsiasi tipo di gergo, anche in Italia. Questo modo di parlare viene adottato da gruppi di persone che hanno le stesse caratteristiche sociali. In inglese si registrano famosi fenomeni di slang soprattutto nei grandi centri metropolitani. Nei grandi centri di commercio internazionali, come i porti, è possibile che i linguaggi gergali si sviluppino in linguaggi più stabili, i pidgin, che contano come veicolo di comunicazione corrente per le attività di lavoro e che contengono elementi di diverse lingue. Per uno studente che decide di andare a studiare in UK, in questo caso, è utilissimo imparare ad usare questi 20 slang!

20 Slang essenziali da conoscere se vai in UK!

No.	Slang Words	Explanation
1	Any road	“Any road” is another way of saying ”anyway”. It is commonly used up North. Instead of saying anyway, they say “any road”!
2	All right	This is technically a form of greeting. It is used a lot in London and the south to mean “Hello, how are you”. It is usually said as a question. Sometimes it gets expanded to “All right mate“? You would say it to someone you knew or a complete stranger. The normal response would be to say “All right” back to speaker.
3	Ace	This is used a lot in Liverpool. If something is ace, it means it is awesome!
4	Anal	When someone is being anal about something, he is choosing to be an asshole. He is choosing to be tight and strong minded like the anal sphincter. Therefore, you tell him: ”Don’t be anal”.
5	Ass	This means your buttocks, your backside, but mostly a donkey!
6	Arse	This word 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 someone say “a half arsed attempt” meaning that it was not done properly.
7	Aye	It means yes. It is commonly used in Scotland. It was used in the film ”Brave Heart”
8	Bladdered	When a Brit say you are Bladdered, they mean you are drunk.
9	Ballistic	It is used in informal settings to describe anger and rage. E.g. He went ballistic ( meaning he went mad)
10	Bloke	Another word for male
11	Barmy	If someone tells you that you’re barmy they mean you have gone mad or crazy. For example you’d have to be barmy to visit England without trying black pudding!
12	Beastly	You would call something or somebody beastly if they were really nasty or unpleasant. Most people would consider you a snob if you used this word. People like Fergie can get away with it though.
13	Blinding	If something is a blinding success – it means it’s a great success!
14	Blinkered	Someone who is blinkered is narrow minded or narrow sighted – they only see one view on a subject.
15	Bloody	One of the most useful swear words in English. It is used for emphasis. E.g. “bloody awful” or “bloody hell”. “bloody brilliant “. It is used to emphasize almost anything!
16	Bollocks	This is a great English word with many excellent uses. Technically speaking it means testicles but is typically used to describe something that is no good (that’s bollocks) or that someone is talking rubbish (he’s talking bollocks).
17	Bugger all	If something costs bugger all, it means that it costs nothing. Meaning it is cheap. If you have bugger all, it means you have nothing.
18	Cheers	This word is obviously used when drinking with friends. However, it also has other colloquial meanings. For example when saying goodbye you could say “cheers”, or “cheers then”. It also means thank you.
19	Chips	French fries. it is basically a deep fried finger length potatoes eaten in the UK not to be confused with American potato chips- these are known a crisps in the UK
20	Chat up	To be flirtatious, that is, to speak to someone with the intent of eventually engaging in sexual intercourse with them. Generally conducted in a relaxed, playful and outstandingly obvious manner.