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Secondary education

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Anyone up for helping me crowdsource current teenage slang, please?

38 replies

DoggerelBank · 25/01/2023 18:10

I'm helping Ukrainian secondary school kids with their English, and they want a 101 on the slang their peers are using. Anyone able to contribute some must-know words for survival in a south-east England secondary? Better still, ask your kids?
For example, current teenage words/expressions for:
great
terrible
tired
angry
upset
excited
attractive
disgusting
an idiot (You ...!)
a strange person
a clumsy person
a swot
You did it really well
You did it really badly
Don't interfere
Romantic relationship stuff (swerving anything too 'adult' in content as there'll be some 11 and 12 year olds in the group)
Language related to gossip (Spill the tea ...?? etc)
Or anything else that would be useful to a young person who's mostly learned English from a school coursebook and a host family without kids.
Many thanks for any help you can provide! My own kids are older, so I'm not sure the slang they use is stiil relevant in schools now.

OP posts:
Bunnyannesummers · 25/01/2023 19:03

It’ll be dependent on your area surely?

tiktok would be a good place for this

CircleofWillis · 25/01/2023 19:05

Why not add some local children to the group who can explain and demonstrate how various terms are learnt.

ReamsOfCheese · 25/01/2023 19:06

They'll pick it up from usage in normal conversation as the meanings will become obvious. And from reading books aimed at their age, they tend to have colloquialisms in them. There's no one-size-fits-all answer to this. It literally varies from one school to the next.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 25/01/2023 19:16

They'll blend in seamlessly with the locals with a combo of cunt and fuck off. The rest will come to them as they hear it.

DoggerelBank · 25/01/2023 20:50

Well, they've most of them been in the UK for 9 months and friendships with local children are super hard. Wouldn't it be lovely if they could just pick slang up seamlessly. Unfortunately that isn't happening. It's more that the native speakers say stuff they don't understand, they ask what it means, and the native speakers laugh at them for not understanding.
@CircleofWillis Organising some teens to come along and help would be lovely, but so much admin involved even if we could find willing volunteers. Not sure I've got the bandwidth at the moment, but definitely worth considering. Thanks for the suggestion.
@Bunnyannesummers Thanks, yes. I'll try braving Tiktok...

OP posts:
ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 25/01/2023 20:52

Drip is the word for clothes. As in ‘new drip’ meaning new clothes.

Also ‘slay’ to mean amazing as in ‘Taylor Swift is slaying’ says my 16 yo Dd……. All the bloody time.

Stokey · 25/01/2023 20:55

Nice things are "aesthetic". When you think two people should be together you "ship" them.
Agree with "slay". Everyone seems to be a "bestie" ....

IwishIwasSupermum · 25/01/2023 21:04

Attractive people/things are ‘leng’, that’s about the only one I’ve picked from DD, maybe the other is ‘sic’ - means great, they like it! Not the most pleasant expression! If I think of anymore I’ll pop them on.

dontknowwhatisbest · 25/01/2023 21:08

Agree with aesthetic and slay, hear that a lot from my teens.

Rizz (sp?) seems to mean being attractive to the opposite sex - "he's got rizz"

dontknowwhatisbest · 25/01/2023 21:09

"oh my days" seems popular as well, which I rather like!

Dominicains · 25/01/2023 21:12

Creps - shoes
peas - money
dank - tasty (food)
peak (for you) - bad luck
allow - let someone get away with something
chef up - stab

can you guess where I work?

Dominicains · 25/01/2023 21:13

I have lots of drug related slang too but probably not what you want to share with them!

burn - tobacco

edwinbear · 25/01/2023 21:17

I’m still on very basic level SE London slang so possibly not the best to help. Things I have heard are:

You wot G ?! Seems to translate to what you proposing is frankly absurd. Frequently the response to a suggestion he might like to do his homework/get off the PlayStation/his phone.

Fam - I believe is a term of endearment, see ‘whats up Fam’ as a greeting to his mates.

Cuz - as above.

Blud - also as above.

I can recommend Urban Dictionary online. I use it frequently.

ConstanceAlways · 25/01/2023 21:19

Does this help at all? www.sassymamahk.com/parenting-slang-terms-tweens-teens/

MirabelMax · 25/01/2023 21:20

Fresh trim for new haircut

Easy dub for easy win

Do they still use Stan for when they are a fan of something?

edwinbear · 25/01/2023 21:20

This thread might also help.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4122155-Teen-Speak-Translation-Thread-2021

titchy · 25/01/2023 21:28

p's for money (p from pence I assume)
Ends for your local area - as in 'what did you do at the weekend' 'Just hung round my ends'

Camdenish · 25/01/2023 21:30

Oh, oh, may I join in!

Some of the cuz and blud stuff is Roadmen ( man?, am unsure of the plurality, singularity…). This is looked down on by some teenagers, but looked up to by others. I’m unsure how you tell but I think Roadmen wear puffas and female Roadmen still wear skinny jeans. The point being that even within a small area the slang may be different depending on the tribe.

I have been forbidden from saying peng. I think it means you fancy someone sexually. So maybe leave that one.

Yes to aesthetic being used for something that looks nice.

Sorry, I am not as much help as I thought I could be.

Outfor150 · 25/01/2023 21:34

titchy · 25/01/2023 21:28

p's for money (p from pence I assume)
Ends for your local area - as in 'what did you do at the weekend' 'Just hung round my ends'

Pounds, I think - Ps. Not pence.

BeBesideTheSea · 25/01/2023 21:35

In terms of potential for friendly local teens without you having to do all the admin - how about hooking up with a local Guides / Scouts group. The structured activities might help and definitely not going to make fun of them for asking about slang - not the Guides/Scouts ethos.

Phos · 25/01/2023 21:36

Bet appears to be a substitute for yes.

edwinbear · 25/01/2023 21:45

Roadman - courtesy of Urban Dictionary (I’ve deleted some of the unnecessary swearing because well, I’m not a roadman)…

A roadman is the definition of a boy(12 year old) - Adult (30 years old) that comes from the United Kingdom ( Mostly England) who deals drugs, smokes weed and cigarettes with their gang.

Roadmen also know the in´s and out´s of their town and will likely have a place to hang about with mates ( friends ) which will probably be a place in the public to act hard as fuck.

The younger "roadmen" are kids who like to make it seem their life is rough as fuck but when they get home they cant decide which bathroom to use because there are so many. Or which car daddy should drive to work in.

They patrol the streets at night wearing cheap clothes ( Hoodies, Puffy jacket, Beanie, Adidas tracksuits, shitty white shoes and maybe a knife ).
Roadman Slang:

Fam
Bruv
Init
Blad
Cuz
Peng Ting

Some uses:

"Feds wanna lockup init"
"Init Blad"
"She over there is a peng ting mate"
"Hows your mans been cuz?"
"Hows the peng ting bruv?"
"Fuck the opps"

DoggerelBank · 25/01/2023 21:46

Thank you, everyone. The suggestions and the links are great!
@BeBesideTheSea Good thinking about guides/scouts. I'll see what I can do on that front. Would be so great if there were some kind young people who could boost their confidence rather than knock it back.

OP posts:
edwinbear · 25/01/2023 22:04

www.tiktok.com/@eyepatchbb/video/7123635954509860102

Worth a watch - Roadman Peppa Pig goes swimming.

Reminded me of:

Pussyore - Chicken, scardy cat
Donny - alpha male

Hedjwitch · 25/01/2023 22:10

Newest from DS is " shan" or " pure shan" which means hard done by or disappointed. In his case he had thought he was going to be dog sitter of choice for dd2 but she asked dd1 instead which was pure shan man, as he had been looking forward to it.

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