Box Your Ears

Hi everyone! :)

The other day I was watching (a re-run of) The Ellen Degeneres Show in which she compared knowledge with Hugh Laurie on each other's slang. Below is the video :)

Well, actually I think that as people who watch a lot of American shows, we're quite used to the American slang like 'awesome' or 'sucks', or even 'badonkadonk' for that matter :P

I found out that I am at lack of knowledge with the BRITISH SLANG. I mean, we are supposed to use British English as it is the standardized version of English, so why not we learn the slang too, in order to be good communicators (and not embarrassed when we misunderstand)? :)

1. Well let's take CHIN WAG first. For starters, I'm sure if you were to say "Fancy a chinwag?" to a random Malaysian, they'd either a) stare at you long enough for their eyeballs to fall out; of b) start imagining you actually wagging your chin at them.

(I'd probably be the latter but that's besides the point)

CHIN WAG, as he says in the video, means to talk or chat


2. Next, GIVE US A BELL. This clearly does not mean someone wants you to give them a bell. Well, not necessarily. You never know if people do really ask for bells randomly.

It basically means to give me a call. Bell is probably due to people saying 'Give me a ring' in which a phone 'rings'

So please, do not go overseas and end up sitting around not knowing where to find a bell just because you don't understand


3. NANCY BOY / NANCY means someone who is being pathetic [for example, a NANCY BOY would cry because the cookies he baked didn't turn out right]

It can also mean a gay man. I doubt you need further explanation on that.

So if someone calls you a NANCY BOY, don't be too quick to see it as a compliment for being such a good detective. No way in heaven that an English man (or woman, for that matter) is talking about Nancy Drew when they call you a NANCY BOY.


4. When someone says that something is PEANUTS, it's to say that something is cheap. Yes, I know that in the Malaysian culture, PEANUTS means easy. However, for these English people, it means cheap.

Oh the origin of this word is from the saying 'if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys' meaning that if you give a small salary, then you would definitely get less skilled workers.


So do you feel enlightened? I sure was when I read through part of the list. :D

You can find more words with their meanings in;
The Very Best of British; and also
British Slang and Dialect [fun trivia]


p/s: Box Your Ears means a slap around the head for misbehaving