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Paul Sparks,
Sino-Canadian International College, Guangxi University, Online English Lesson Plans, Lesson Material and Ideas
for Reading Lessons...
Reading: Slang Words and
Phrases
Lesson Objectives: The purpose of this lesson
is to improve understanding when reading native English.
Slang Words:
Slang words are common words used to mean other things. For example "A
Quid" means "One pound" in English money. Slang is also
nicknames or common phrases.
A - Z of common Slang Words:
airhead:
stupid person. "He can sometimes act like an airhead!"
amigo: friend (from Spanish). "I met many amigos on
holiday."
ass (1): bottom. "I fell on my ass on the ski slopes."
ass (2): an unworthy and hated person. "I cannot be friends when you
act like an ass."
awesome: great and impressive. "The holiday was truly awesome!"
ball (1): a fun time. "I really had a ball at the party."
ball (2): a testicle. "After getting kicked in the balls, his voice
seemed much higher."
bang: a very powerful thing. "Disneyland is really a bang!"
barf: vomit. "My dog barfed all over the carpet."
beans: money. "I've worked for this company for ten years, but I still
don't have beans."
beat: tired. "I'm really beat because I was awake all night."
beemer: a BMW car. "He wants to buy a beemer when he makes more
money."
biggie: something important. "I was hoping to get my homework
completed, but it's no biggie. "
biker: a motorcycle rider. "He used to be a biker until he got into a
serious motorcycle accident."
bitch (1): a very unpleasant woman. "My boss can be such a bitch
sometimes."
bitch (2): complain. "Stop bitching and finish your homework!"
bitchy: moody. "I like my friend, even though he can be really
bitchy."
bod: body. "He/She has a great bod!"
bonkers: go bonkers: crazy. "If he works too hard, he sometimes goes
slightly bonkers!"
booboo: a mistake. "I made a booboo on the last question of the
exam."
booze: alcohol. "The party was fun, even though there wasn't any
booze."
boss: excellent; great. "The party is totally boss!"
bread: money. "Can I borrow some bread?"
brew (1): coffee. "Every morning he needs a fresh cup of brew."
brew (2): beer. "Do you want another brew, dude?"
bull: bullshit; lie. "That's a bunch of bull!"
bullshit: lie; dishonesty. "I don't like people that bullshit me"
bushed: extremely tired. "I'm completely bushed."
butt: the buttocks. "Stop sitting on your butt and help me wash the
dishes!"
cheesy: cheap; outmoded. "Why are you wearing such cheesy
clothes?"
cool: excellent; superb. "This is totally cool!"
couch potato: a person who watches too much television. "Why did I have
to marry such a couch potato?"
crap (1): something worthless. "My furniture is a bunch of cheap
crap."
crap (2): excrement. "Yuck! I stepped on dog crap!"
crap (3): falsehoods and lies. "I've had enough of your crap."
deck: to hit someone. "His wife almost decked him when he returned home
with lipstick on his shirt."
dicey: unpredictable; risky. "Gambling is a dicey occupation."
dirty: offensive; pornographic. "Stop looking at the pictures in that
dirty magazine!"
dorky: strange; peculiar. "If you keep acting so dorky, you'll never
get a girlfriend!"
dude: a male. "That's really cool, dude!"
dinosaur: something old or out of date. "I'd love to surf the Net, but
unfortunately my computer is a dinosaur."
el cheapo: something cheap. "Since I don't make much money, I always
purchase the el cheapo brand."
evil: great; excellent. "Your car is really evil!"
fab: fabulous. "That is really fab!"
flaky: unpredictable. "I waited four hours for my flaky friend to show
up."
flashback: sudden memory. "In Little Tokyo I had a flashback to my days
living in Japan."
flick: movie. "Let's go out tonight and watch a flick."
freebie: something that does not cost money. "My trip to New York was a
freebie."
French kiss: kissing with the tongue. "She is always trying to French
kiss him!"
geek: someone who works too hard, more intelligent than usual, slightly
unattractive. "Bill Gates is kind of a geek."
get it: to understand something. "Sorry, but I just don't get it."
get naked: to completely relax and have a good time. "Let's get naked
tonight!"
glitch: flaw. "There must be a glitch in this software."
go bananas: go slightly mad. "This project is causing me to go
bananas!"
goof (1): a silly and foolish person. "What a goof you are!"
goof (2): make a mistake. I really goofed on the test today."
goof up: make a mistake. "Oh no! I really goofed up!"
goofy: silly. "Kids always make me feel goofy!"
grand: one thousand dollars. "He's making over a hundred grand a
year!"
grass: marijuana. "Have you ever smoked grass?"
grub: food. "Where's the grub?!"
grubby: not clean. "I always feel grubby in the morning."
guts: courage. "It took a lot of guts to ask his boss for a
raise."
hickey: a love bite on the skin. "Wow! Is that a hickey on your
neck?"
hip: sensible; informed. "He really tries hard to be hip."
hooker: prostitute. "You'll find a lot of hookers in the red light
district."
horny: sexually stimulated; in the mood for sex. "Red wine seems to
make my boyfriend horny."
hot (1): popular. "He is really hot now."
hot (2): sexy. "Wow! she is really hot!"
humungous: really big. "American supermarkets are humungous."
hyper: overly excited. "Children often get hyper when they are
tired."
icky: unpleasant. "The food is really icky in the school
cafeteria."
I'm outta here: I'm leaving; I'm departing. "Sorry, but I'm outta here,
dude."
in: fashionable. "Ray-Ban sunglasses are really in now."
jam (1): trouble. "If you're in a jam, I promise to help you."
jam (2): improvise (musically). "I'd love to jam with Bon Jovi!"
jerk: stupid or annoying person. "How could you go out with such a
jerk?"
john: toilet. "Where's the john?"
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."
killer: something exceptional or great. "Wow, your boyfriend is
killer!"
knock: condemn. "Don't knock it unless you've tried it."
knockout: beautiful woman; handsome man. "She is a knockout!"
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."
lip: cheeky talk. "My students are always giving me lip!"
loser: a bungling and worthless person. "Why are you dating such a
loser?"
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."
neat: cool; great. "Isn't my new car neat?"
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."
nuts: testicles. "Don't ever kick me in the nuts."
okay: decent. "My boss is an okay person."
OK: decent. "He is an ok person."
pad: someone's home. "Can I sleep at your pad tonight?"
party: celebrate. "Let's party tonight!"
party animal: someone that loves parties. "He 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."
piss: to urinate. "My dog pissed on me!"
pissed off: angry; upset. "I'm really pissed off with you."
plastered: drunk. "Why does he always get plastered?"
pot: marijuana. "It's easy to buy pot in the big city."
pro: someone who's good at something; professional. "She's really a pro
at golf."
psycho: crazy person. "Stay away from that psycho!"
puke: vomit. "Alcohol makes some people puke."
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 this racket for fourteen
years."
rat: a despicable person. "I thought I loved you, but now I know you're
really a rat."
rear: 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. "This class is really rocking!"
rug rat: a child. "He has a couple of rug rats at home."
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!"
solid (1): really good; cool. "This 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."
stoned (out): drunk from drugs or alcohol. "I'm really stoned (out),
dude!"
suck: to be bad and unacceptable. "That song really sucks!"
thou: thousand. "I need to borrow a hundred thou."
threads: clothing. "My wife spent $900 on new threads."
ticker (1): the heart. "My grandfather has a bad ticker."
ticker (2): a watch. "Wow! That's a really cool ticker!"
totally: really; completely. "That's totally awesome, dude!"
umpteen: many; countless. "I've asked you umpteen times to show me the
money!"
uptight: nervous; anxious. "Why are you so uptight?"
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"
whiz (1): someone who shows a special talent for something. "Einstein
was a whiz in Physics."
whiz (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"
yank (1): bother; harass. "Stop yanking me, okay?"
Yank (2): a Yankee; an American. "He is a Yank."
zip: nothing. "I don't know zip about you."
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