Those who are in the colloquial stage of learning a language often think about whether they need to know English slang. The answer is positive, since the correct use of such words significantly expands your understanding of foreign interlocutors. The first thing you need to understand before you start studying this topic: slang in English is not necessarily profanity, but also words that are used by people belonging to a particular profession or group: students, schoolchildren, computer scientists, musicians, etc.
Public Speech
In order to delve into the study of language jargon, it is necessary to determine its main sources. Youth slang in the English language was formed mainly due to immigrants, music, business, the underworld, computerization, among informal social groups and teenagers.
The compilation of such expressions does not have any grammatical rules. English slang denies the usual language norms. Nevertheless, it is necessary to know exactly how and in which situations one or another word should be used. Incorrect use of jargon can cause laughter, bewilderment or even resentment of the interlocutor.
The grammatical side of jargon
The tourist will instantly feel the difference between the live speech of the speakers and the standard rules from school textbooks. Abbreviations of some words and phrases are also considered elements of slang speech.
Let's consider some illustrative examples:
• going to turns into gonna;
• want - wanna;
• I'm (am I) - ama;
• yes (yes) - yep (American version);
• don't know (dunno);
• because (because) - cause (also serves as an independent word, which is translated into Russian as “reason”);
• betcha - to argue;
• dammit (short for damn it) - damn it;
• dreamboat - a beautiful person;
• gimme (American version of give me) - “give me”.
There are words that have both standard meaning and slang. For example, the expression bless you - “bless you” acquired the additional meaning of “be healthy”, which is used after sneezing. The well-known adjective cool (fresh, cool), which is now also translated by the words "cool", "cool."
Business communication has its own grammatical abbreviations, most of them we have known since school:
• Mr. - Mister;
• Mrs. - mrs;
• Dr - doctor;
• etc - and so on;
• eg - for example.
English slang in correspondence
At every step in Internet communication, various abbreviations are used in writing slang expressions. Let's look at a few acronyms of colloquial speech:
• U (you) - you, you.
• Lol (Laughing out loud) - the phrase “rzhunimaga” can be considered the Russian counterpart. This abbreviation will add notes of playfulness and carelessness to your message. To replace Lol, there is ROFL, which means that the interlocutor literally "rolls around on the floor because of laughter."
• The combination of letters BRB (I'll be back soon) is used in cases where you are forced to leave somewhere and cannot answer at this time.
• G2G (got to go - you need to go) is a good way to end a conversation before leaving the chat.
• Instead of writing a rather long in my opinion, you can briefly write an IMO and continue to write your opinion.
Differences between English and American Slang
The biggest misconception of Russian speakers is that people from Britain easily understand Americans. This is not so, since certain words of these two peoples have different meanings.
It is easier to communicate with the British in this regard. Most of them are very polite people and can literally apologize a hundred times for a household trifle or for something that they did not even commit. But if you are in America and hear the word sorry behind your back, do not rush to be enthusiastic: maybe there is a policeman behind you who is ready to write a fine for some offense.
Consider the meaning of some expressions:
• ass for an Englishman means an ordinary donkey, for an American it is the “fifth point” and a word that can be used to call a bad person;
• pissed - in the USA this word is called a displeased person, and in Britain - drunk;
• to shag in America means the verb “dance”, but if you try to invite a girl to dance in England with it, the consequences may be most unexpected;
• bloody is used by the Americans in the literal sense - bloody, in Britain this word is most often meant as “damned”, “damn”;
• the verb to table smth in the English language means “to discuss”, but if you say this in America, your interlocutors will understand that you want to postpone the conversation until another time.
Some tips
English slang, phrases and words of which are an important component of any language, is necessary to know, because you run the risk of not understanding half the conversation with your foreign interlocutor. Without knowledge of speech itself, the use of jargon is unacceptable, since illiteracy does not contribute to the infusion of a person into a particular company.
It is important to remember that youth slang is not a dictionary of abusive language, but the style of certain social groups. Using an unscrupulous “samizdat” with a dubious translation is highly discouraged. In the modern world there are a large number of dictionaries created by famous linguists who will become faithful helpers to anyone who wants to learn English slang.