5 British Slang Words You Need to Know Immediately (K - O)
Learning a language is a wonderful thing, it opens a person up to new opportunities, new relationships and a whole new perspective.
It’s not an easy process though, one must learn grammatical structures, thousands of vocabulary words and practise, practise, practise. However, many learners feel that even after doing they fail to understand 100% of the language. That is of course because a language is a constantly moving thing, there is slang, accents, dialects and everything in between.
That’s why I’ve started compiling British Slang You Need to Know. Each article will feature 5 words that you can learn and use immediately so that you can sound like a true native.
So read on, comment and let me know what you think!
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Kip
A kip is an interesting word that in a broad sense means that someone is going to sleep.
It can mean that the person is going for a quick nap (otherwise known as “a snooze”).
According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, it can also mean to sleep at someone else’s house.
If, for example, you want to have a nap, you might say:
“I’m going for a quick kip.”
Whereas, for example, if you are staying at someone else’s house you might say:
“I’m going to kip down for the night.”
Leg it
If a person needs to leg it, it normally means that the person is in trouble and needs to run away quite quickly.
“I think the police are coming. We’d better leg it!”
In my experience, it can also be used when someone is running late and they need to get somewhere rather quickly.
“Isn’t your train in 30 minutes!? You’d better leg it!”
Mate
If a person is your mate then they are your friend.
For example:
“John is a good mate of mine. I met him at Uni.”
When people use the term mate they often use it as a term of endearment. The equivalent in American English are words such as buddy, dude or pal.
For example:
“Alright, mate! Long time no see!”
Nick
If a person nicks something then they steal it, they take something that doesn’t belong to them.
For example:
“Where did you get that t shirt from? Did you nick it!?”
If, subsequently, the same person is caught by the police, you can say that they were nicked by the police.
“The police nicked him last night.”
Off your trolley
If you have a crazy idea then someone may say that you are off your trolley.
“That’ll never work! You’re off your trolley!”
If you have been acting in a strange or odd way then someone may say they you are off your trolley.
“Anyone who saw us doing this would think we were off our trolleys!”
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What do you think about these slang words?
Have you ever encountered them or used them?
Let me know in the comments below! I’ll read them later, I’m off for a kip...
January 27, 2020
