Thread: Teach me some Russian slang

Originally Posted by Demonic_Duck

And I'll teach you some English slang. I don't particularly want to learn any мат words unless they're of particular interest for some reason, it seems that most of the slang Russian words I know are мат

Anyhow, this morning I feel like I have каша в голове due to drinking too much last night, so I can't think of much English slang, so I'll just post this:

"Let's have a butchers at those knock-off handbags you was trying to flog"
You might hear someone talking like this in East London.

• butchers = short for "butcher's hook" = look (this is from so-called "cockney rhyming slang", which replaces words with other words that rhyme with them)
• knock-off = fake
• you was = you were (a grammatically incorrect colloquialism)
• to flog = to sell

Translation: "May I please have a look at those fake handbags you were trying to sell?"

Having seen the "knock-off handbags", our young cockney gentleman might exclaim:
"those are the dog's b*llocks!"

You might think this is an insult to the craftsmanship put into creating such fine pieces of fakery, but it is in fact a compliment. No-one quite seems to know how the phrase "the dog's b*llocks" came to mean the best of the best, but it does.

Hope you learnt something new today

Demonic_Duck, great thread idea! It's important to note that your examples are British English and not American English.

If you were to say "Let's have a butchers at those knock-off handbags you was trying to flog" no one would have clue what you were saying and in most cases no one knows what "b*llocks" means here in the US either... unless of course they watch Housewives of DC!

Knock-off- yes, that one I believe is more universal and it can also mean to quit something (work, studying, bothering me) "Let's knock off work early and catch a movie"

To make a pass at & to shoot (smb.) down... those too work here in the US just fine

Now, "Luddite" that is a new one to me. Maybe Scott or Chaika have heard of this?

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Now, "Luddite" that is a new one to me. Maybe Scott or Chaika have heard of this?

"Luddite" isn't really a slang word, it's simply an uncommonly used word in English.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Luddite
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Luddite

Originally Posted by rockzmom

If you were to say "Let's have a butchers at those knock-off handbags you was trying to flog" no one would have clue what you were saying

Here's a guessable (I think, although I hadn't guessed) one, from a book I'm reading:
"We down another pint, then call a Joe Baxi."
Any idea about a Joe Baxi? (rhyming slang)

Originally Posted by E-learner

Here's a guessable (I think, although I hadn't guessed) one, from a book I'm reading:
"We down another pint, then call a Joe Baxi."
Any idea about a Joe Baxi? (rhyming slang)

After a little bit of Googling, I discovered that Joe Baksi was an American heavyweight boxer in the 1940s. His name became famous in the UK after he beat British champions Freddie Mills and Bruce Woodcock in 1946, and people began using "Joe Baxi" as rhyming slang for "taxi."