THE LINGO colloquial English:If you want to understand English spoken in the streets, you have to understand the English slang. On this page you will find the essential

jargon.

  - Ace: excellent, perfect.- Awesome, great.-Char /cha:tea.-Cheesy: cheap, with little taste.-Chicken:coward.-Ciggy: cigar.- Cool: excellent, super, cool.-Couchpotato:someone who seesa lot of television.-Doodle: something that is easy,no problem.-Dynamite: with power,excellent.-Dinosaur: something old fashioned.

- Evil: perfect, excellent.- Getit:understand something.-Goofy: parallel.-Hanga left, turn left.-Hangaright:turn right.

- Makewaves: cause problems.- Mate: friend-Mickey-mouse: unimportant;wasting time.-Nut: rare orcrazyperson.- Pigout:eat a lot.- Screwup:make a mistake.-Yank: American.- Zero, unimportantperson.

PRONUNCIATIONThe most notable differencesbetweentheEnglishof Englandand theUKregions(Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) and the major foreign countriesand continentswhere thisrootthis language: Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, etc. andthe successor countries ofthe former coloniesinWest and EastAfricaand India, are as follows:Accent1 .-The wordshave two syllablesor more after themain emphasisin the U.S.havesecondaryaccentare notinBritain.In some cases,accentuated inU.S.A.a syllableother than the onecarrying theBritishaccent.Thischange of emphasisis also seenbyU.S. influence in theEnglishof England.INTONATION2 .-U.S. Englishspoken ataslower pace anda moremonotonousthan in England, partly due to the lengtheningof vowels.

VOCALIZATION•

3 .-Many of theBritishaccentedshort vowelslongstretchesin the United Statesand someinBritishaccentedvoice andis heardmore clearlyin the U.S.,very remarkablepeculiarityofAmericanEnglishisnasalizationof vowelsbefore and afternasal consonants. Theindividualmembersare also differences.As forconsonants, the voiceless consonantbetween two vowelsusuallyprettybackground musicin America.TheRwritten infinal position aftera vowelor betweenvowels and consonants,is largelymuted inBritain, but is often pronouncedin the United States. Also insyllablefinal positionofthis pronunciationnoteR.

• aerial• anticlockwise• aubergine• autumn• bankholiday• bank note• bill • biscuits • block of flats• bonnet

• antenna• counterclockwie• eggplant• fall• nationalholiday• bill • check• cookies• apartmentbuilding• hood

• boot• braces• built-in wardrobe• capitalise• caravan• caretaker• car park• carrier bag• catalogue• cellar

• trunk• suspenders• walk-in closet• capitalize• trailer• janitor, custodian• parking lot• shopping bag• catalog• basement

• centre• chat show• chemist• cheque• chips• colour• conscription• corn• courgette• cul-de-sac

• center• talk show• druggist, pharmacist• check• French fries• color• draft• grain• zucchini• deadend

• currentaccount• defence• district• diversion• dual carriageway• engaged• engine driver• estate agent• ex-directory• firstfloor

• checking/savingsaccount• defense• precinct• detour• dividedhighway• busy• engineer• realtor, real estate agent• unlisted• secondfloor

Differencesin English -Spelling andpronunciationBritish Englishhas a tendencyto respectthe pronunciationof many wordsof 

French origin. Americansoftentake awaypoints"that are notnecessary", and usually do not respect thepronunciation of wordsof French 

origintogiveapronunciation more"American". Here are someexamples:

• British English                 American EnglishColourColorCentre                                   CenterHonorHonourAnalyseAnalyzeFulfillFulFilCheck                                   Check (noun)Tyre                                       TireLabor                                    LabourFavor                                    Favour