Rebecca's British-American Dictionary: A practical guide to everyday slang

Don't get me wrong, I love my Rick Steves guidebook, but his British-Yankee Vocab. guide is NOT helpful. Some of the terms he includes are out-of-date or never used, and other terms are so obvious they're hardly worth mentioning ("the full Monty" is applicable to both those complaints). Rather than write up an extensive translation list, I'm going to define only words that I hear on a regular basis, or words that I legitimately had to ask about because I had no idea what they meant. Also, I'm excluding words like "bloody" and "lift" which most people already know.

Bear in mind that I spend 40 hours a week at a community center in Camden Town. Very few terms on this list are going to be droll BBC-style anecdotes, and some may only be used by working-class or teenage Brits.


cheeky: ...?
(I still don't fully understand what this means, and it isn't on Rick Steve's list at all! A co-worker described it as joking around and crossing the line a bit, but I've also heard it in contexts in which it means flirtatious, sly or even rude.)
i.e. "I can't believe she made fun of my sweater! She's so cheeky."

chips: French fries.
i.e. "Can I have some ketchup for my chips?"

crisps: chips
i.e. "I'll have a bag of Salt and Vinegar crisps, please." (I can usually keep those two straight until I start thinking about it too hard...)

cuppa: cup of tea
i.e. "I'll have a quick cuppa before the meeting."

fanny: vagina... not butt!
i.e. "If you want, I'll show you my fanny." (This was what the little girl in "Billy Elliot" said to Billy Elliot, which is the only time I can remember hearing this word, but it's an important one to tell people to save them embarrassment and confusion.)

first floor: second floor
i.e. "You're on the ground floor, floor 0, so go up one flight, because the loo is on floor 1." (I still find this confusing.)

fizzy drink: soda, Coke
i.e. "I'd like a fizzy drink with my crisps."

fringe: bangs
i.e. "I should get my fringe trimmed this week."

half-four: four-thirty
i.e. "Oh dear! It's already half-four and I haven't had my afternoon cuppa!"

in'nit: isn't it
i.e. "Beautiful day, in'nit?"
Note: This term is often used in contexts in which it doesn't really make sense.
i.e. "You've got blonde hair, in'nit?"

knackered: exhausted
i.e. "I've been up since half-six... I'm knackered!"
Note: This expression originates from Cockney: cream crackered.

oh my days!: oh my gosh!
i.e. "Oh my days, is it teatime already?"

shoot off: leave, head out
i.e. "It's 9:30, so I'm going to shoot off for the night."

subway: underground walkway
i.e. "Just walk down this subway, tap in your Oyster card, then get on the tube."

take-away: take-out, carry-out
i.e. "Is this to eat in or for take-away?"

tick: check mark
i.e. "Just tick the box next to 'female'"
Note: "Tick" is also used in the expression "just a tick," which means, "just a second."
i.e. "Wait just a tick while I get the door."

trainers: tennis shoes
i.e. "I can't wait to go for a run in my new trainers!"

trolley: backpack with wheels
i.e. "Do you want to bring the trolley to carry the sandwiches?" (Someone at work asked me something to that effect, and I said no simply because I didn't know what a trolley was. But I got so curious that I had to ask later.)

queue: line
i.e. "The check out queue at Pri-Mark was sixty meters long!"

quid: pounds, money
i.e. "My new ring from Portobello Road Market only cost two quid!" (True story.)

zed: the letter Z
i.e. "The code is c, d, e, zed."