Ellen Vs Hugh

[Bara]

See? Two nations divided by a common language.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYmrg3owTRE

[niaru]

Haha! I love Hugh. And Ellen, too.
You know this one, of course: Helen and Hugh

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKA82LFA-RQ

[ZenRider]

Hahaha, I think I guess better on the British slang then the American.

[Bara]

;D

"Of winnowing...." En Francais???

What about 'chuffed to little mintballs'? There's a clue ine first clip..
Now Claire needs to add some French slang!

Who knows where these things come from? We're back to Cockney rhyming slang ...

Who knows what body part 'Plates' mean?

[niaru]

Plates...lessee....Abdominal muscles?
lol

French slang, oh la la, it is so rich and varied and layered, I wouldn't know where to start! But here:

There is the "verlan" (= l'envers) , for a start, in which you take a word and flip it backwards: so a "femme" would be a meuf, and a "fête" would be a teuf, and a "pourri" (= corrupt) would be a ripoux, etc. etc. Very disconcerting for students, lol!

Then there's the regular slang...flic for cops, taf for cigarette et al...and some expressions have tons of slang equivalents: "Let's go" (On s'en va in regular French) could be: On se casse. On s'arrache. On se tire. On met les voiles.

and then there's the very vulgar stuff.

And it keeps changing over the years!

[Bara]

Unfortunately we do know les flics, up here in Shetland. Rogues.

[niaru]

Ya but Plates? Plates?

[Bara]

Feet. (Plates of meat). The thing about the Cockney rhyming thing is that they use the NON-rhyming bit.

So 'Wife' - is 'Trouble'. (Trouble and strife). I'm not a Cockney, (neither is Dick van Dyke!!) So I don't understand their thinking, but having lived in London for 3 decades, I can understand the slang. You'd never survive a London taxi drive without it.

Niaru, the only rude French slang I know, I believe translates as 'white chicken'. I still don't understand it. "Merci, Jean-Marc!"