AMERICAN SLANGS

ABOUT AMERICAN SLANG

American slang is different from British slang because of the evolution of American English ...

When the pioneers living in the new world had children, they taught their children to pronounce words the way they were written, in order to keep things simple. This was the first break from British English.

As the nation grew, so did its own casual variety of the English language, which was influenced by cowboys, sports, the building of the railroad, the card game of poker, African-American culture, immigrants, natives, etc.

The words of this website are not bad words or swear words - they are common American slang words that are acceptable in any conversation

AMERICAN SLANG ADJECTIVES

1. awesome (or wicked) = amazing

That was an awesome movie.

That was a wicked movie.

2. beat = tired

Sam is beat today because he didn't sleep much last night.

3. blue (or down) = sad, depressed

Mary is feeling blue because her cat died.

Mary is down because her cat died.

4. brainy = very intelligent, like a genius

Sue always does well on tests because she's brainy.

5. broke = without money

Lou spent all his money at the casino so now he's broke

6. fishy = suspicious

Mrs. Smith thought it was fishy that her neighbor had so many visitors at night

7. hammered = drunk

Jim had nine beers so now he's hammered.

8. hot = sexy or stolen!

= sexy

Sam says his new girlfriend is hot.

= stolen

That stereo is hot!

9. hungover = tired from drinking too much the day before

Al's bachelor party was last night. He's really hungover!

10. loaded = rich

Many people who live in Beverly Hills are loaded

11. nuts (or nutty) = crazy

That lady keeps talking to herself. Do you think she's nuts?

12. on cloud nine = very very happy

Chris just won a million dollars so he's on cloud nine!

13. super = great

Tom is a super singer.

14. ticked = angry

He's really ticked because his friend had a party but didn't invite him.

15. upbeat = positive

Theresa is very upbeat

16. ace = to finish something easily, with success

Tammy aced her math test!

17. boogie = to dance

Rick likes to boogie for hours!

18. check out = to look at, watch, examine

We're going to check out that new movie tomorrow after work.

19. chicken out = to lose the courage to do something

Mary was planning to enter the car race but then she chickened out.

20. gab = to chat

Amy likes to gab on the phone with her best friend.

21. grab a bite to eat = to go out to a restaurant

I'm hungry. Let's grab a bite to eat somewhere.

22. kick the bucket = to die

John's neighbor just kicked the bucket!

23. lift = to steal

While Bob was on the train, someone lifted his wallet.

24. take off = to leave

Ann took off before the meeting was announced.

25. snooze = to sleep

I snoozed on the bus for a few minutes this morning!

26. whine = to complain

I wouldn't want to work with Chris because he always whines about everything!

27. He who laughs last laughs longest!

= the person who plays the last joke (trick) has the longest laugh!

Bob made fun of Lou's pronunciation but the next day, Lou put a toy snake on Boob's chair.

Bob thought it was real and screamed when he sat on it. Lou thought it was really funny. He who laughs last laughs longest!!!