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

one time I was told that I was "more fun than a bag of wet mice" I still don't know how I should have taken that.

Sometimes, although I didn't hear it often, living in a metropolitan area. (Well, Morgantown, which is WV's major college town, and thus about as metropolitan as can be expected in WV.) Mostly, it was used ironically or facetiously, but that's evidence that /some/ people must have been using it, or noone'd be aware of it at all. QED.

We always used the terms 'smalls' (if they were your siblings) or 'gnomes' (if they were someone else's).

Instead of 'the boondocks', you could also say 'the sticks', or 'BFE' (as in "way out in BFE" - stands for 'bum-f#ck Egypt')

Some more terms to describe something you like: groovy, awesome, killer, crescent fresh (shortenable to just 'crescent' or even 'cress'), wicked, keen, neat, neat-o, kick-ass (also "that kicks ass!" or "that totally kicked my ass!"), hot, cool, bad, and bad-ass. Actually, '-ass' can be added to just about anything, as a strengthening modifier.

Something you don't like can either 'suck' /or/ 'blow', and in some cases even 'bite'.

'Not' can be used to sarcastically negate something you've just said: "I really like that hat you're wearing... NOT!" The term 'psych' is related (though out of fashion, I think), and is used in a more tricksy fashion: "Hey, I like that hat you're wearing." "Really?" "Sure... psych!" My mother reports that in the late 50's - early 60's, you would use "over the left" in the same fashion. "I like your hat... over the left!"

Another term to be very cautious of:

In urban and inner-city areas, you might hear young black people calling each other 'n****r'. This is _only_ an acceptable term for you to use if you yourself are black! Usage of the word 'n****r' by non-blacks is EXTREMELY frowned upon, and can result in physical violence in many places.

here's some more
Later-this is used now instead of saying goodbye often times by younger people, mostly 20s and teens. It is an abrv. of "See You Later".

Pissoff-leave me alone

when i think of some other ones i will come back

It just occured to me I remember hearing the term "yonder" and "britches" quite a bit.

"Honey, where are my britches."

"Over yonder, on that table there."

"I'll fetch my coveralls while you go fetch the younguns"

That would be a typical conversation in many households. Maybe.

Actually where I am originally from people refer to those sweet carbonated beverages as tonic. A habit I kicked in college and now call them sodas. What about the word bubbler for a thing which one drinks water out of in a public place. I thought it was just I who said that and then I met someone from Wisconsin who says it too. Anyone else?

In Idaho, it's pronounced "pisser." I've never heard the "wicked pisser" or "wicked f***in' pisser" variations before.

I believe I heard the French referred to as "frogs" once, but don't ask me where, or what the origin is...

So, do you folks in Louisiana pronounce it "Loo-eez-ee-anna" or "Loo-see-anna"??

Closely related to "piss off" is "f*** off"
Then there's "jerkoff" "jackoff" and "jagoff" which are used as insults.

The French are often referred to as 'frogs' by the English. I don't know an accurate definition of where the term comes from, although I have heard a number of different descriptions. I understand that the French don't like being called frogs (although one of the stories I heard said that the term originated in France). I also understand that, a long time ago, a lot of fun could be had by addressing a Frenchman as 'Monsieur Le Kermit'. This was back in the days before the French saw The Muppet Show, and hadn't a clue who Kermit was. It wouldn't work now.

It's hard for me to think of Kermit as an insult. I mean, he's just so damn cool!

"Il n'est pas être facile vert."

I've got a funny feeling that this isn't correct French, but it's some years since I did French at school so I could be wrong. (It has been known, but only occassionally!)

It's probably not entirely accurate, I got it from altavista's babelfish engine.

I love the word 'Bitch'. Very flexible. I live in California, and use Bitch regularly for when stuff goes wrong ("What a bitch."), people ("She's a bitch."), complaining, ("Stop bitching at me!"), some really close friends have used it teasingly ("Yep, he's my bitch". Gotta be careful, can be offensive in many place), something weird yet sorta cool ("That's some cool bitch-ass shit"). Which brings up how complicated slang is. In some places the combination of swear words in such a fashion is for negative situations, yet can also be used for positive when said properly and in context, depending on where. Damn, slang is weird.

Dude is also very flexible. Whether a person, way to start a conversation ("Dude, oh man, it was...."), or exclaimation ("DUDE!"). I've been prone to using 'dude' and 'all' excessively. Habits die hard.

I resisted using the word 'dude' for a long time, because it was so annoying in the early 90's when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were popular. Everywhere you went, you heard ten-year olds saying 'dude' and 'awesome' every third word, and it drove me nuts. I couldn't stop myself using the word 'awesome' (though I tried), but I took solace in the fact that I never used the word 'dude'. This was my badge of honor (such as it was).

And then about a year ago, the Sifl & Olly show came on the air, and quickly became a favorite. And soon I started catching myself saying 'dude'. And now I can't stop. Damn!

This is so hella funny, all these english people trying to figure out slang that even some of us Americans dont know! It's all most informative, even though part of it is wrong. And has any body noticed that when writing cursive (swear words)we usally write out the full word and and every elce puts @*^#%, but with letters so you know there saying. But it's still really funny.

I used dude sparingly. A bad habit. 'Awesome' I only used in proper context of the dictionary definition. Ah, Sifl and Ollie... damn fun show. 'Least you didn't begin carrying around sock puppets like some people I know.