The Wide, Wide World Of Slang

[kindred]

I'm a Kiwi, but I've lived in the UK for the past 8 years. I've become fairly good at wearing trainers when I leave Heathrow, but sneakers when I land in Auckland. NZ is a good place to be from as far as slang goes, because we cherry-pick the best from everywhere - from our Aussie neighbours, our US-heavy TV, and our British roots (heh). So we shag, wear sneakers, and have a barbie. It's all good.

My dead giveaway Antipodeanism is the way I still say 'no worries' if anybody asks me to do something for them. And I periodically pepper my conversation with seriously Kiwi phrases, like 'sucks the big kumara' for 'sucks a lot', and 'bullpaki' instead of 'bullshit'. It's been great fun corrupting Mr Kindred in this manner.

[batmom]

No one I know who's from there (including myself) ever refers to it as "Van" when speaking (although they may very occasionally do so in writing, but only as an abbreviation). Mr. underjoyed, who lived near Vancouver as a kid, and then grew up elsewhere, used to refer to it consistently as "Van", until my giggling put a stop to it.

Totally. I roll my eyes when I hear Van; however it's no match for the expression I make when I hear Raincouver (a stupid espression made even worse by the fact that it is said by some locals, albeit usually transplanted locals, who fancy them selves clever pun-makers).

And I freakin' love the expression no worries. Seriously, that was the best thing I learned in Australia.

Would you look at that. Apparently I do preface a lot of stuff with seriously. Batguy was right after all. Shhh. Don't tell him I said that.

[Deleted]

Snacktastic -- I had no idea that Boston stole "Wicked" from Maine! Shame on us! I always wondered how and why "we" came up with that strange phrase.

A friend lived in Philadelphia for a few years and while she was settling in, she politely asked a few people if it was permissible to refer to the city as "Philly." This was awhile ago, but I think she was told "Yes," it's okay to say "Philly." I think she was afraid that the nickname was something that out-of-towners used but that natives loathed.

[aims]

I love 'dude'! And we used to say 'like' all the time in high school. I used to annoy my parents with that and it was really difficult to stop saying that all the time.

But the funniest one is, here we don't even say 'sneakers' or 'trainers' or anything....we say 'tennis shoes' or 'tennies' for short. Its weird I know!

I like the 'no worries' too but really without the accent it loses something. If I would say that around here I'd be looked at funny. Kind of like if I'd say 'bloody hell' or something.

I tend to say 'clearly' a lot too. Like 'Clearly you didn't here me when I said... '

[jennipoo]

I use "clearly" a lot too. And in a really condescending, bitchy way too.

[foxfair]

I grew up on Vancouver Island and Vancouver has always been "Van" for me, as Victoria has always been "Vic". I think those usages are probably more in use for lower-mainlanders who live close to but not IN Van or Vic - you need a short, snappy way to differentiate the two. I swear I have Vic friends who call it "Vic" though, as well.

Edit: Yeah, and I use "dude" so much it's not even really slang anymore. I lived in London and noticed that 'dude' is definitely a west coast/North American thing. Saying "dude" in London gets you laughed at. I've heard men in suits calling each other 'dude" here, unironically.

[spider]

I've always lived in or around Boston and, yes, "Wicked" is very unique to us

I grew up in Dublin (Ireland) and in the 80s everyone said wicked. My Canadian friends from the Maritimes say it too.

After that I spent a few years in SoCal and haven't stopped saying dude ever since.

[Deleted]

I once smsed a UK friend who was out drinking. When I asked her what she was doing she replied "I'm getting trolleyed." I now use it alot. Also I'm not sure when it happened but no worries for me changed to no wuckers. I have no idea where I picked it up but as I tend to steal everyone elses expressions I doubt it's original to me in any way.

[Deleted]

aims said:

But the funniest one is, here we don't even say 'sneakers' or 'trainers' or anything....we say 'tennis shoes' or 'tennies' for short.

We always called them gym shoes (in Detroit).

[littleblacksheep]

I looove this thread!

Other drunken slang that we have over here in Dublin:

Trollied = really drunk
Slaughtered = really really really drunk
pissed = drunk
sloshed = drunk (rarely used though)
flutered = really drunk (though this is an older generation thing but I think it sounds great but never use it)

I also use 'deadly' for brilliant/wicked all the time. It can get quite confusing when I speak to a non-Irish person and say that I think that i.e. a band/dress/film/song etc is 'deadly' and they have no idea what I'm on about!

ALso in place of trainser/sneakers/gym shoes we have 'runners'

Thongs are underwear and flip-flops are, well, flip flops

soda/pop = 'fizzy drink'