h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

American slang is everywhere. One of the most common and popular (at least in the 80's) is the word "dude". When looked up in the dictionary one discovers that a dude is a castrated male horse, which may be confusing for visitors if on a Southern California beach, where it is still a popular term among the surfer set, and they hear people calling each other dude. Dude is used as a term of friendship, a nickname of sorts. When one sees ones friend the reaction is "Dude!!! What's up?". This is not implying that your friend is either castrated or a horse, but rather it is a convenient way of never having to know anyone's name but still appearing cool. One of the best examples of Dude usage is the movie "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" where I believe they use this word often.

This also leads to the sometimes annoying idea of the phrase "What's up?". This phrase is a question and it refers to the current state of the person you are speaking to. It is also a way to ask what events may be taking place, either at that present moment or sometime later in the day, as in "What's up for tonight?" "Nothing, dude, we just gonna catch a movie.". It may also be used as a way to inquire after someone's state of being as in "What's up with Bob, he's been acting like an idiot.", "Nothing's up with Bob he is just a tool.". It is not to be taken literally, the person asking does not usually want to know what is above them, unless however, it is followed by the word "there" and then it may mean above them. There are some variations on the phrase such as "Wassup?", or even "'Sup?", both of which have the same meaning as the aforementioned "What's up?".

I will let someone else explain the meaning of the word tool in that context.

Oh and I must include my favorite phrases regarding a person's lack of intelligence. There are several choices my favorites are: "Not the sharpest tool in the shed" and "Not the brightest bulb on the tree". Both of these are used in a derogatory manner and are meant to imply that a person is lacking in sufficient smarts enough to understand the jokes being made or what is being asked of them. Of course if the phrase really does fit them, they won't understand the phrase either but at least you will get a laugh. Most recently "Not the sharpest tool in the shed" has appeared in a song by a group called SmashMouth. The song is named "AllStar".

Um, on the subject of American slang, I think visitors to America should be careful to use the word "fag". I believe in England it means a cigarrette, or a torch used for lighting a fire. In America, it means a homosexual male. So um, just incase people didn't know that already, be careful about using it in America...

There are lots of words like that in our language. Does any one know if there is actually a meaning to the phrase "homie g funk?" or is it just a nick-name thing like 'dude'?
Another interesting bit of American slang is 24-7, which stands for 24 hours a day,7 days a week. it is used in the context:" he is at her house 24-7" or alot.

OK, here's one in return. American visitors to Britain should be careful about saying 'You look pissed' to some one. In the States it means fed up or annoyed. In Britain it means drunk, although some people are aware of the American meaning. In Britain some one is 'pissed off' if they are fed up or annoyed.

...which reminds me of that classic, "he's one taco short of a combination plate", first said within my hearing by Robin Williams.

Another excellent example uttered by someone I consider to be a true comedic genius......(Robin Williams)

Another confusing one is the phrase "lucked out." Back in (approximately) the 1940's this meant "ran out of luck." Today it means the opposite. Thus my parents and I use the same phrase with completely different meanings.

...and I forgot what I've always assumed was the first and original phrase in this little sub-section, "he's a few cards short of a deck."

Americans use the word "dude" the same way Brits and Austrailians use the word mate. And we generally only use the word mate when discussing animal husbandry. When discussing American slang it is important to remember that it's a HUGE continent and in different parts of the US it's almost another language. One of my favourite bits of American slang is "hella" it's Californian and not used where I live. It's used for emphasis like "very" for example "hella cool" or "hella rad" "Rad" is really used my people in California. For a long time I thought most Californian slang was a big TV cliche but they really use it.

One of my favorite slang terms is used, as far as I can tell, only in southwest Missouri. The term is yunz (yuh-nz) is stands for "all of you". It is used similarly to the slang term y'all. I have a bad habit of using yunz and anytime that I travel out of the area it always confuses people that I say it to. So I will warn anyone traveling to the tourist trap known as Branson, MO to be warned that you have a good chance of hearing this term on your vist

Catch yunz later

In parts of the Northeast region "yunz" would be translated as "yous", mostly in New York City, Jersey area. Also made me think of the use of the words "like" and "all". In California people place all in sentences randomly "He said I was fat and so I was all No way and he was all yeah and I was all you suck." whereas in the Boston area where I am from we use like "He said I was like fat and I was like No way and he was like yeah and I was like screw you." Also there is a Bostonian term "pissa" that I do not know if it is used elsewhere. It is used to describe something bad "I was going to go see Bob but my car had a flat. boy is that a pissa." Also if you add the word "wicked" before it, it becomes even worse, "It was a wicked pissa when you dropped that bowling ball on my toe." and if something is really really horrible or someone is especially rude, you can escalate it to include a swear word "wicked f$#%^n' pissa". YOu get the idea.

I think someone more southern than I (I only lived there for 4 years) should explain y'all, which is a particualrly useful word.

"Hella" is of African-American origin, I believe, the original phrase being something near "there are a hell of a lot of". The fun part is in its variable usage:

"They's hella fine ladies in this place"
hella=a lot of...

"Hella fine ladies in this place"
hella=there are a lot of...

And undue emphasis should be placed on the first syllable.

Along with the horrible pronounciation "Missour-uh" of the state's name, icky slang and dialects about in Missouri. The Midwest lazy mouth responsible for words like "fer", "yer", and "gonta" (for, your, and going to) has corrupted local businesses' names as well, resulting in a convenience store chain named "Git 'n' Go," and the restaurant Lambert's, Home of "Throwed" Rolls. Shouldn't that be "thrown"? Ugh.

Pissa: not used solely in Boston, but they pronounce it differently. Elsewhere it's "pisser," meaning something that could piss you off.

Dude: I never heard of the horse reference, but it makes sense. Texan cowboys started using the term to describe people from the city, hence the dude ranch; a ranch for city dwellers to visit. Californians took the word that Texans meant as derogatory into a badge of pride, they'd prefer being from the city, so anyone who wasn't a dork was a dude. Or dudette.

Tool: yet another of millions of euphemisms for the male sex organ. If you're ever in doubt as to what a slang term means, and it's derogatory, it's a safe assumtion that it's one of these.

A few that deal with temperature:
Cool: being a good thing, it refers to your temperament (keep your cool, man), or is just a positive adjective (this site is sooo cool).
Hot: strangely, although it is the opposite of cool, this is also a good thing. Usually describes something sexual; a passionate night (a hot date), or a member of the opposite sex (a hot chick).
Chill: used by itself, or appears as "chill out," this refers to temperament again. It is a directive to maintain your cool (chill, dude), or as a verb describing doing absolutely nothing (we're just chilling out).
Random similes: More of these are born every day, and there are so many, it's impossible to make a comprehensive list.
....like old people f@#$: means you're doing something very, very slowly
....like a bat out of hell: you're doing something very quickly
And comments on:
Heat: hotter than a whore on nickel day.
Cold: colder than a well digger's rear in January.
Happiness: happier than a pig in slop.
Idiocy: sharp as a bowling ball.
And more on idiocy; someone can be described as...:
A few bricks shy of a load.
A few cards shy of a deck.
A few french fries short of a Happy Meal.

Another few additions to this great sequence of phrases... a few sandwiches short of a picnic. A bottle short of a six pack, a horse short of a rodeo, etc, etc, etc...

Another classic one is when English (and some Americans) say hey "root for their team". In Australia root means have sex, maybe I have a strange mind or something but everytime I am talking to someone and they use this phrase (which happens quite often considering that I am currently in the UK) I always picture all the fans up in the grandstand at a Soccer match half naked and shagging whilst singing the team song at the top of their voice...I promise, I am perfectly sane.

Sharp as a bag of hair.
Dumb as a bowl of mice.
Dumb as a box of hammers.