Within this blog...

Interests, Pastimes & Hobbies

Saturday, February 26, 2011

USA: Speaking the American Way

It is not an admittance of poor English language skill but an introduction to new words/ slangs / way of saying and how they are used in a foreign land - the USA.


  1. Nuke it                       : heat it
  2. Chap stick                  : 'chopstick' was what AS first heard. "Put some 'chopstick' on your lips?!" She later learnt that Chap Stick is a popular lip balm brand in the USA.
  3. Pooh...                      : blowing through closed lips simultaneously with rolling eyes to express disgust.
  4. Way-- back                : notice the word 'way' being stressed
  5. Real s l o  w...            : notice the word 'slow' being stressed
  6. So good                    : spoken as  (eyes closed)'so! (and then eyes opened!) good!'
  7. Hmm  mm                 : Don't really know the exact spelling but this 2 humming sounds can be used for yes/affirmation or the complete opposite - no/objection. It's a matter of the intonation used in order to mean what you meant. All in all, to AS, it sounded like baby vocabs used when encouraging him/her to poo-poo. The same goes to the way you pronounce 'I can' and 'I can't' in the USA. It's a matter of intonation.
  8. I know!!                   : It may sound rude to anyone not used to the way it's being used in the USA. Apparently, it's widely used accompanied with a wide smile to mean 'Exactly,I agree with you!' 
  9. Awesome!                : Yes, I'm sure you've heard of this a lot in American conversations.
  10. Sweet!                      : Sometimes, people get bored of using Awesome over and over again and they use a different vocab.
  11. Nice! I like it!            : and when they get tired of 'Sweet!' too.
  12. Good job, buddy!     : widely used when encouraging a kid over his/her effort though no matter how small it is in the American society.
  13. 8-ish                         :  8 something... (of time)
  14. Flour                         : which sounded a little funny the first time AS heard the American pronunciation - 'flower'
  15. Semi (as in half)         : it's 'seh - mai' to them.



No comments:

Related Posts with Thumbnails