Page 196 - English Vocabulary In Use upper intermediet and advance

Exercises

Replace the slang words which are underlined in the sentences below with more formal
equivalents. If the meaning is not given opposite, then it should be possible to guess what it
is. Notice that some of the words have a slang meaning which is different from their
everyday meaning.
1 The newsreader on TV last night seemed to be pissed as he was reading the news.
2 He's quite a nice bloke really.
3 I've got a terrible belly ache - I think I'd better make an appointment with the auack.
4 Her dad was furious when he learnt he had to wear a penguin suit to the wedding.
5 Can you lend me some && till tomorrow?
6 I know there'll be plenty of nosh but do we need to take some booze to the party?
7 Have you got wheels or shall we call a taxi?
8 I'm dying for a cuppa. I haven't had one since breakfast.
9 Can I use your loo, please?
10 I was absolutely gobsmacked when she told me she was leaving.

Match the statements on the left with the responses to them on the right.
1 How was the party? Let's take him home.
2 What does that guy Sure. I'll keep my eyes skinned.
3 He's getting legless. He's in the nick.
4 Keep a lookout for the pigs. It's in a drawer, over here.
5 Where's the dough? He's a cop.
6 Where's her hubby? Let's go for a run in the motor.
7 What'll we do tomorrow? Wicked!
A particular well-known kind of slang is Cockney rhyming slang where an expression is used
in place of something that it rhymes with.
Example: trouble and strife = wife apples and pears = stairs
How would you translate the Cockney rhyming slang expressions in the sentences below?
1 Let's have a butcher's (short for butcher's hook) at your homework.
2 Just look at those Gawd forbids playing football!
3 It's on the Cain and Abel next to the phone.
4 What a set of Hampstead Heath!
5 She'll get him to the lean and lurch by hook or by crook.
6 Have you seen my titfer? (short for tit for tat)

Another common way of making slang words is by using short forms or loosely pronounced
forms of ordinary words. Thus fab is a slang form of 'fabulous' and hubby is a slang form of
'husband'. Can you work out the meanings of the following underlined slang words?
1 He's my fella. 3 It was a freebie. 5 I took a sickie.
2 Let's have brekkie. 4 He's a brickie. 6 Let's have a barbie.

English Vocabulary in Use 191