Thread: Toodle-oo, or Common American phrases :)

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

These phrases are given as the equivalents of the expression "Give me five!":
Slip me some skin! (hmm...)
Give me (some) skin! (sounds like somebody is cheering girls in the strip-bar )
Skin me! (it's just scary, I wouldn't say this to a stranger, he may turn out to be a serial killer. No need to plant any ideas... )

Are they used? Do YOU use them?

The only one I've heard (or used myself) is the first one, and that was just to be funny. The others are possible, I guess, I mean, I'd know what they wanted if smb said that to me, but I can't picture it happening. They're all just black slang from the early '70s. I doubt very much if anybody has talked like that for 25 years.

Yeah, that dictionary is only useful as a source of humor.

Originally Posted by Matroskin Kot

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

These phrases are given as the equivalents of the expression "Give me five!":
Slip me some skin! (hmm...)
Give me (some) skin! (sounds like somebody is cheering girls in the strip-bar )
Skin me! (it's just scary, I wouldn't say this to a stranger, he may turn out to be a serial killer. No need to plant any ideas... )

Are they used? Do YOU use them?

The only one I've heard (or used myself) is the first one, and that was just to be funny. The others are possible, I guess, I mean, I'd know what they wanted if smb said that to me, but I can't picture it happening. They're all just black slang from the early '70s. I doubt very much if anybody has talked like that for 25 years.

Yeah, that dictionary is only useful as a source of humor.

The above quotes are very 1970s: only the first one is of any good and only then is it slang and unique to the non-white gangs of USA.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Man, they should ban this dictionary!

They won't:
"This book is a MUST...
...I plan to give this book to each of my students as a course completion gift this term. I love it. They will too."
http://www.amazon.com/review/product/08 ... ewpoints=1

Originally Posted by xRoosterx

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

Only if you are a foreigner!

My girlfriend, немецка, will say certain things that are grammatically correct and sensible but completely unorthodox ways of saying things. Then, I'll ask her where she heard that and tell me that her dictionary has it listed under 'Common Phrases'.

Только не "немецка ", а "немка" должно быть-).

Originally Posted by Scrabus

Originally Posted by xRoosterx

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

Only if you are a foreigner!

My girlfriend, немецка, will say certain things that are grammatically correct and sensible but completely unorthodox ways of saying things. Then, I'll ask her where she heard that and tell me that her dictionary has it listed under 'Common Phrases'.

Только не "немецка ", а "немка" должно быть-).

Ах, однако. Спсб.

Я думаю, что это довольно нормально, особенно среди людей постарше, но_может раздражать на личном уровне...

После "но" не может стоять запятая (если только сразу после него не стоит вводное слово или что-то ещё, что выделяется запятыми).
Лучше сказать "среди людей постарше", а то получается, что есть старые люди (мы, что ли? ) и более старые. Ещё можно сказать "старшее поколение".
"На личном уровне" тоже не говорят, но я сразу и не придумаю, как это по-русски, если я вообще правильно поняла это выражение.

Around 1997 I heard someone say that Hillary Clinton would always say "Okie dokey, artichokey" when she talked to people in the White House. In general, this is not the sort of thing adults say unless they are trying to be childish.

"Okie dokie" is fine to use once in a while if you are being casual. Americans are casual most of the time, so it's usually fine to say it here.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

After numerous of Olya's questions I decided that I need to brush up my 'everyday' English a little bit, too.

But some examples at the very beginning made me cringe:

- See you later.
- After while, crocodile.
and
- After while, Mary.
- Toodle-oo.


Should I trust this dictionary?

It would be hilarious to hear a Russian say "after a while, crocodile!"

And to my knowledge it's "after a while, crocodile." "After while crocodile" sounds like a Russian messing up the articles.

I would say steer clear of this; it's something you might say on the schoolyard - "After a while crocodile!" the response being, "See you later alligator!"

Another one is, "See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!"

"Toodle-oo" sounds like a kind of British thing. Or maybe what the giant Caterpillar says to Alice in Alice and Wonderland. I mean, you can say it jokingly...but if you've got an accent and you're young, people are going to simply think you don't know any better and they'll laugh at you.

Yeah, young guys do say "slap me some skin," but I haven't said or heard it since the 90's. It's kind of gone by the wayside, like "talk to the palm 'cause you ain't my mom/the bomb." I mean, I might personally whip a phrase like that out as kind of an ancient artifact which we can all appreciatively mull for the sheer novelty of it, and reminisce. It doesn't sound bad, either, like that crocodile crap, it's not childish so I'd say you could get away with it.

"Skin me" is just daft. Just wait until you find the psychopath who takes it literally.

I would say "Give me a five" or "Show some respect/love" (with your hand out - although this might come across as rude if you're not careful). That stuff never goes out of style. Or you can pull the "up high, down low, too slow!" bit, whereby you evade someone else's high five.

But yeah, trash the dictionary. There're better ones out there. I'd recommend looking at Borders, Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com. They have all kinds of ESL stuff in addition to idiom and slang dictionaries.

Originally Posted by Trzeci_Wymiar

Another one is, "See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!"

Oh, that's, like, so 1992.

Thanks. Trzeci_Wymiar. I enjoyed your post.
And I've already dumped this dictionary and now I use another one. It's quite decent, I think. At least it doesn't make to burst into laughter every 5 minutes.

Anyone who says "Show some respect/love" and expects you to give them a 'high five' needs to go **** a woodchipper.

It would be hilarious to hear a Russian say "after a while, crocodile!"

And to my knowledge it's "after a while, crocodile." "After while crocodile" sounds like a Russian messing up the articles.

I would say steer clear of this; it's something you might say on the schoolyard - "After a while crocodile!" the response being, "See you later alligator!"

I agree that it makes more since to say "after a while crocodile" and in any other context you'd say "after a while" but in the case of this expression it really is just "after while crocodile."
Regardless, it's definitely not something to say unless you're ten years old. (But I agree, it would be hilarious to hear a Russian say that just because it would be so cute)

I wasn't aware that many people still asked for high fives but if one were to do so, I think you would just say "High five" or "give me a high five." Even better, I'd just stick my hand out in the high five gesture and hope the other person caught on. (And if they don't you can always say "don't leave me hanging" but that's a little silly and I'd only say that in jest.)

"Give me five" is used (never heard "give me a five").

Anything with "slide" is VERY 70s. I'm thinking of THE WIZ's "Slide some oil to me..."

I wouldn't say it unless you followed it with "groovy" or "Dyn-o-mite!"



I still use the croc and gator bit with my parents. I don't know why. Sometimes I wish I were 5 again....