Peculiarities of Slang

K (k): a thousand. "I could retire with 100 K (k)!"

kick back: relax and enjoy. "I wish I could kick back at the beach today."

kick off: die. "My dog finally kicked off."

killer: something exceptional or great. "Wow, your boyfriend is killer!"

knockout: beautiful woman; handsome man. "Benjamin is already a knockout!"

kook: peculiar person. "Stop acting like a kook!"

laid back: relaxed; calm. "I always feel laid back at the beach."

lame: incompetent. "Dave is really lame when is comes to fixing his car."

loser: a bungling and worthless person. "Why are you dating such a loser?"

love handles: excess fat around the waist. "Is it possible for Dave to lose his love handles?"

luck out: to be lucky or fortunate. "You really luck out by visiting Dave's ESL Cafe!"

make waves: cause problems. "Teachers don't like students to make waves."

max, to the : maximum. "I'm happy to the max."

mega: big. "American restaurants serve mega portions of food."

megabucks: a large amount of money. "It takes megabucks to live in Japan."

mellow: relaxed. "I'm feeling very mellow this evening."

mickey-mouse: unimportant; time-wasting. "I'm sick of this mickey-mouse job."

munch out: to eat voraciously. "Let's munch out on a large pizza!"

nada: nothing (from Spanish). "I know nada about politics."

neat: cool; great. "Isn't my new car neat?"

noid: someone that's paranoid. "Why are you so noid?"

nuke (1): nuclear weapon. "This world had too many nukes."

nuke (2): destroy; delete. "Sorry, but I accidentally nuked your e-mail message."

nuke (3): cook something in the microwave oven. "Can you nuke this frozen pizza for me?"

nut (1): odd or crazy person. "Why are you always acting like a nut?"

nut (2): someone passionate about something. "I'm a nut about computers."

pad: someone's home. "Can I sleep at your pad tonight?"

party: celebrate. "Let's party tonight!"

party animal: someone that loves parties. "Dave has been known to sometimes be a party animal."

paws: hands. "Get your paws off me!"

peanuts: very little money. "I love my job, but the pay is peanuts."

pee: to urinate. "I always have to pee after drinking beer."

pig out: eat too much. "Dave is famous for pigging out on chocolate ice cream."

pissed (off): angry; upset. "I'm really pissed (off) at you."

poop, the (1): knowledge; information. "What's the poop on Michael Jackson?"

poop out: get tired and quit. "I got pooped out after spending eight hours at Disneyland."

pro: someone who's good at something; professional. "She's really a pro at golf."

psycho: crazy person. "Stay away from that psycho!"

pumped (up): excited. "I'm really pumped (up) about Dave's ESL Cafe!"

puss: the face. "My girlfriend slapped me right on the puss."

quarterback: leader. "Dave is the quarterback of Dave's ESL Cafe."

quick and dirty: done fast, but not well. "The mechanic did a quick and dirty repair on my car."

racket (1): noise. "Small kids can make a lot of racket."

racket (2): something that's dishonest or deceptive. "The Tobacco Industry is quite a racket."

racket (3): an occupation. "I've been in the ESL racket for fourteen years."

rank: give someone a difficult time. "She's always ranking her teacher."

razz: annoy someone. "Will you please stop razzing me?"

rear (end): buttocks. "Dave fell on his rear (end)."

riot, a : something or someone very funny. "Jim Carrey is a riot!"

rip off (1): stealing. "Someone ripped off my car."

rip off (2): fraud. "I paid $10,000 for my computer. What a rip off!"

rocking: great; excellent. "Dave's ESL class is really rocking!"

rubbish: nonsense; not true. "That rumor is a bunch of rubbish."

rug rat: a child. "Dave has a couple of rug rats at home."

runs, the: diarrhea. "Oh no! I've got the runs!"

scarf: to eat. "I can easily scarf an entire banana split."

screw up: to make a mistake. "I screwed up on the driving test, so I didn't pass."

screw-up: a person who makes a mistake. "Why are you such a screw-up?"

scum: a despicable individual. "Don't hang around with that kind of scum."

shades: sunglasses. "Those are really cool shades!"

shoot some hoops: play basketball. "Let's shoot some hoops!"

silks: clothing. "Those are really awesome silks!"

smarts: intelligence. "It takes a lot of smarts to become a doctor."

snookered: cheated. "I got snookered into buying swamp land in Florida."

sofa spud: a person who watches too much television. "I'm usually a sofa spud on Sunday."

solid (1): really good; cool. "Dave's ESL Cafe is totally solid!"

solid (2): consecutive. "It's been raining for seven solid days."

specs: eyeglasses. "I didn't know that you wore specs."

split: to leave. "Let's split from here now."

spunk: spirit. "She might be small, but she's got a lot of spunk."

street smart: knowledgeable about city life. "Since Dave is from Los Angeles, he's very street smart."

suck: to be bad and unacceptable. "That song really sucks!"

thou: thousand. "I need to borrow a hundred thou."

ticker (1): the heart. "My grandfather has a bad ticker."

ticker (2): a watch. "Wow! That's a really cool ticker!"

tints: sunglasses. "You have to wear tints in California."

totally: really; completely. "That's totally awesome, dude!"

to the max: maximum. "I studied to the max."

turkey (1): failure; flop. "Thank goodness that Dave's ESL Cafe is not a turkey!"

turkey (2): dumb person. "Turkeys are not allowed to work for this company."

turn-off: something that repulses a person. "Bad breath is a real turn-off."

umpteen: many; countless. "I've asked you umpteen times to show me the money!"

unlax: relax. "Dave needs to definitely unlax with his family."

vanilla (1): plain. "She drives a vanilla car."

vanilla (2): Caucasian. "The Midwest is too vanilla for me."

wad: roll of money. "It's dangerous to carry a big wad in your pocket."

wasted: killed. "A lot of people get wasted in the streets of New York."

wheels: car; motorcycle. "If you want to live in Los Angeles, you've got to get some wheels"

whitebread: plain; boring. "Dave's ESL Cafe is definitely not whitebread!"

whiz (1): someone who shows a special talent for something. "Einstein was a whiz in Physics."

whiz [offensive] (2): to urinate. "I really have to take a whiz."

wimpy: weak. "Don't be so wimpy!

winks, get some: sleep. "I really need to get some winks"

Conclusion.

In this paper we have tried to reveal the essence of slang in modern linguistics. 
So, slang is multifunctional. First of all, it gives an ironic effect - is in the way of word formation it is designed specifically for slang. Thus, one could argue that the slang - it is an integral part of American speech. 
 
Slang makes speech more concise, specific, emotionally expressive, and also serves as a sign of membership in a particular social environment. A significant difference from the jargon of slang is slang sensibility, a tendency "compactness" in the word, as well as the fact that slang, "caters to" the most narrow circle of people.

 

 

 

Bibliography

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