40 American Slang Words and Phrases You Need to Kn.docx

1、40 American Slang Words and Phrases You Need to Kn40 American Slang Words and Phrases You Need to KnowJust because American English is so common worldwide does not mean that English speakers of different dialects cant still confuse one another with slang and local terms. American English speakers an

2、d British English speakers both have usages that confuse, and amuse one another. Accents alone can sometimes be enough to form a language barrier, despite the fact that in the U.S., a British accent might be treated as either sexy, or comical depending on the persona its attached to. Below is a list

3、 of common American slang word and phrases that our English-speaking comrades in Great Britain might have trouble wrapping their heads around. 你需要知道的40个美国俚语的单词和短语美国英语在世界范围内如此普遍，但并不意味着，讲不同方言的英语国家仍然会混淆，当地的与别人的俚语。美国说英语的人和说英语的英国人都有不同的混淆和相互逗乐的用法。口音本身有时足以构成语言障碍，尽管在美国，英国口音可能被视为或性感或滑稽，主要看说话的人。下面是一个常见的美国俚语词汇

4、和短语，我们在大不列颠的讲英语的同志可能会有困难。American Slang Words and Phrases: Bail Intransitive verb for leaving abruptly. Feeling blue; have the blues A feeling of depression or sadness. A buck Slang term for a the American dollar. By the skin of (my/your/his/her) teeth just barely. Creep (n.) An unpleasantly weird/s

5、trange person. Couch Potato A lazy person who spends the bulk of their time engaged in things that can be done while sitting on a couch. Cram To study feverishly before an exam typically done after neglecting to study consistently. Crash To abruptly fall asleep, or to show up without invitation. Dow

6、n to earth And adjective for practicality and lack of pretense. Drive up the wall To irritate. For Real A proclamation of honesty. Going Dutch When each person, usually in a dating scenario, pays for his/her own meal. The cold shoulder A metaphor for deliberately ignoring someone.美国俚语词语：Bail 保释不及物动词

7、为突然离开。 Feeling blue; have the blues 沮丧或悲伤的感觉。 A buck 美元/1美元 By the skin of (my/your/his/her) teeth 仅仅勉强. Creep (n.) 一个令人不快的很奇异的/奇怪的人. Couch Potato 一个懒惰的人，把大部分时间花在可以坐在沙发上做事情（看电视）. Cram 平常不学习，考试前疯狂学习. Crash 突然入睡或没有邀请而出现. Down to earth （形容词）实用的和率真的. Drive up the wall 使烦恼. For Real 诚实的宣告. Going Dutch AA

8、制付账. The cold shoulder 对人冷漠. Give a ring To call someone on the telephone. Hyped (adj.) A very excited state. Hang out To casually gather together or spend time with someone in a social manner. Jack up An abrupt increase, typically in the price of something. Knock To speak negatively, to disparage,

9、to badmouth. Lighten up To relax and take things too seriously. Typically stated as an appeal to someone who is acting uptight. Pass the buck To deflect responsibility onto someone else. Piece of cake A metaphor to describe something that is easy or effortless. Pig out A metaphor for binge eating. P

10、lead the fifth References the fifth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allows a witness in court to refuse questions on the grounds that they risk self-incrimination. Screw up To make a mistake, i.e. mess up. Sweet An adjective that describes something that is good, or nice. Tight An adjectiv

11、e that describes closeness between competitors, i.e. a tight competition.Give a ring 呼叫某人. Hyped (adj.) 非常激动的状态. Hang out 以社交方式随意聚在一起或与某人共度时光. Jack up 突然增加, 通常在某物的价格上. Knock 说话消极, 贬低, 坏话. Lighten up 放松和对事情过于认真。通常表示为向某些人行为紧张提出上诉. Pass the buck 把责任转移到别人身上. Piece of cake 比喻容易或轻松的东西. Pig out 比喻暴饮暴食. Ple

12、ad the fifth 引用了美国宪法第五修正案, 允许法庭上的证人拒绝问题, 理由是他们有可能自证其罪. Screw up 犯错误, 如搞砸. Sweet （形容词）描述好的或好的事物. Tight 描述竞争对手之间亲密关系的形容词, 即激烈的竞争. Trash Can be used as an intransitive verb for destruction. e.g. “He trashed the car.” Uptight Stuffy, persnickety, the opposite of relaxed. Wrap (something) up To finish or

13、 complete something.Zonked Completely exhausted.Here are some of our favorite American slang words: Pants CLOTHING RETAILERS TAKE NOTE: The Brits say trousers The American default word for the article of clothing that covers the legs and pelvic region seems pretty general and innocuous to English sp

14、eakers in the U.S. To the actual English, however, pants is the primary word they use for underwear. And while American cinema and television typically writes the word knickers for underwear into the vocabulary of British charactersthats probably just for comedic effect since pants wouldnt induce an

15、y responsethe most common British word for underwear really is pants. Americans tend not to notice how often they refer to their so-called pants until someone from the U.K. joins their ranks. Once that happens they begin to notice restrained snickering every time pants are referenced in a polite con

16、versation.Trash （不及物动词）可用作破坏物的。例如： “He trashed the car.”Uptight 闷, 挑剔, 对面放松. Wrap (something) up 完成或完成某事.Zonked 完全耗尽.这里有一些我们最喜欢的美国俚语词: Pants 服装零售商注意: 英国人说 裤子 .。在美国, 覆盖腿部和骨盆区域的服装的默认词汇对于美国的英语演讲者来说似乎是相当普遍和无伤大雅的。然而, 对于实际的英语, 裤子 是他们用来 内衣 的主要字眼。美国电影和电视通常会在英国字符的词汇中写上 内裤 这个词, 这可能只是因为 裤子 不会引起任何反应-最常见的英国内衣词真的

17、是 裤子 。美国人往往不注意他们是如何经常提到他们的 so-called 裤, 直到有人从英国加入他们的行列。一旦发生这种情况, 他们开始注意到克制窃笑每次 裤 被引用在一个礼貌的谈话。 For the birds Imagine how this phrase must sound to someone who doesnt understand that it refers to something that is substandard in some respect. Is it a bag of seeds or some kind of yard ornament referenc

18、e? The Brits sometimes use the word bird, to refer to women, in the same way Americans use chicks. So, maybe it comes off like reference to girlishness. Who knows? Bought the farm ”I didnt know he wanted to move to the country,” is how a British person might respond to hearing this phrase. At this p

19、oint bought the farm, is a general reference to untimely death. However, the phrase originates from WWII-era military accidents involving unreliable aircraft crashing into rural European countryside properties resulting in damages for which the U.S. government was responsible to pay, thereby, buying

20、 the farm, so to speak. For the birds 想象一下, 这个短语对于那些不明白它指的是某些方面不符合标准的人来说, 应该是怎样的声音。它是一袋种子还是某种庭院装饰品的参考？英国人有时用 鸟 这个词来称呼女人, 就像美国人用 小鸡 一样。也许它就像是女孩的参考谁知道呢？ Bought the farm 我不知道他想搬到乡下去, 英国的人怎么可能会听到这个词。在这一点上 买了农场 , 是一个一般的提法过早死亡。然而, 这句话起源于二战时期的军事事故, 涉及不可靠的飞机坠毁到欧洲农村地区的财产造成损害, 美国政府负责支付, 从而, 购买农场, 这样说. Jonesin

21、g To want, crave, or desire something intensely, and its noun form, joneser, (a person who wants or craves something intensely), isnt always apparent even to Americans. The Oxford Dictionary associates this words slang usage with Jones Alley in Manhattan, a haven for drug addicts in the 1960s. The u

22、nsavory drug culture connotations continue today. However the definition of joneser, has been broadened among some circles to include describing a person whose character is found wanting, i.e. lacking, as opposed to someone who simply wants something desperately. Take a raincheck This is an American

23、ism that dates back to the 1880s and references the practice of giving baseball game ticketholders a pass to a game that must be rescheduled due to weather. Its commonly used as a metaphor for postponing or rescheduling a meeting between people to some later date that is more convenient. Spill the B

24、eans British English speakers might pick up on the use of the word spill, as a metaphor for divulging. But spill the beans, might be obscure enough for them to assume a more specific connotation, which they are not aware of. Needless to say, spill the beans, is an American idiom for divulging secret

25、 information that dates back to the very early 1900s.Jonesing 想要, 渴望, 或渴望某种强烈的东西, 而它的名词形式, joneser, (一个渴望或强烈渴求某种东西的人), 甚至对美国人来说都不明显。牛津字典将这个词的俚语与曼哈顿的琼斯胡同联系在一起, 这是二十世纪六十年代毒品成瘾者的避难所。令人厌恶的药物文化内涵今天继续。然而, joneser 的定义已在一些圈子中被拓宽, 包括描述一个人的性格被发现, 即缺乏, 而不是一个人谁只是想要的东西拼命。Take a raincheck 这是一个可以追溯到十九世纪八十年代的美属主义,

26、它引用了给棒球比赛人一个传球给一个必须因天气而改期的游戏的做法。它通常用作一种比喻, 用来推迟或重新安排人们之间的会议, 以便于以后的某个日期。 Spill the Beans 英国的讲英语的人可能会利用 溢出 这个词来比喻泄露。但是, 洒下豆子 可能会让他们更清楚地认识到更具体的内涵, 而他们并不知道。不用说, 洒豆, 是一个美国成语泄露秘密信息, 追溯到非常早的1900s。 Shoot the breeze An idiomatic phrase for killing time with idle chit-chat, shoot the breeze probably stems fr

27、om old-west imagery, either cinematic or anecdotal in origin, in which men with nothing but time and ammunition on their hands shot their guns at no particular target. John Hancock Although obscure associative references are a favorite form of Cockney slang, its unlikely that an English person would

28、 have any idea who John Hancock was. The reference would escape them. The name John Hancock became synonymous with a persons signature because his was one of the more flamboyant signatures on The Declaration of Independence. Monday morning quarterback Because quarterback is an on-field leadership po

29、sition played in American football, which the British have no interest in, and because Monday morning references the fact that most NFL games take place on Sundays, this is a doubly obscure metaphor. While Americans understand that the phrase references the practice of criticizing something after-fa

30、ct-with the advantage of hindsight, an English person would find this phrase totally meaningless.Shoot the breeze 消磨时间的惯用语 闲聊, 微风 可能源于古老的西方意象, 无论是电影还是轶事, 在没有什么特别的目标的时候, 只有时间和弹药的人在手上开枪射击。John Hancock 虽然晦涩的联想引用是一种最受欢迎的伦敦佬俚语, 但英国人不太可能知道谁是约翰. 汉考克。参考将逃脱他们。约翰. 汉考克的名字成为了一个人签名的代名词, 因为他是独立宣言中更华丽的签名之一。 Monday

31、 morning quarterback 因为四分卫是一个在球场上的领导地位, 在美国足球, 英国没有兴趣, 因为星期一上午提到的事实, 大多数 NFL 游戏发生在星期天, 这是一个双重晦涩的隐喻。虽然美国的理解是, 这句话提到了批评某事的 after-fact-以事后的优势, 一个英国人会发现这个短语完全没有意义。 Ride Shotgun Another phrase taken from Old-West folklore, riding shotgun is a statement of both position and statusa sort of second-in-command support position who works from a prefer