English Slang Expressions: Yo, What Up Cuz?

Is your English dry and boring? when you speak, does it sound like you’re reading an English textbook?

Using slang and colloquial language will make your English much more diverse and even a bit more interesting. In this video, you’ll learn some common slang expressions used in American rap and street culture.

please help your “friends” by writing down any other interesting expressions they may have missed in the video. remember, you can read along with the transcript below.

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transcription

what’s up friends? this is chad from real life tv and i was here, resting in my crib and i thought i should do an episode of real life tv explaining some amazing slang expressions. oh yes!!

Alright guys, in this episode I’m going to show you some expressions that are obviously slang expressions and almost all of them are American slang expressions. so I think most of these expressions probably come from African American culture and maybe some South American culture and it’s kind of weird because I’m Australian and I’m explaining this but these kind of expressions are prevalent all over the world obviously through media and stuff like that, so here we go.

no

The first expression you’re going to hear a lot is aint, aint. so it’s not like, “I’m not going there.” and aint is another way of using the verb to be. i am not, he is not she not, we are not, and this is a way of saying but aint is used for everyone. Not me, not you, not him, not her, not us, not them, not everyone is on this case. so when you want to say i’m not, he’s not, you can say i’m not. I’m not going there, I’m not going to see that movie, I’m not going to do my laundry, I’m not going to the party, he’s not going, she’s not going.

fine

aight means well. ok so you can use this if someone asks “hi, how are you today?” “I, I’m fine, everything is fine.” everything’s fine. and you can also use this at the end of a sentence. someone could say, man, I’m going to go hang out in the park, okay? so that means you’re asking, is it ok if i go there? it’s okay? all good? I’m going to go there, okay? how is your mom? it’s okay? is she okay?

hello

I’m going to greet you. holla comes from the word holler spelled h-o-l-l-e-r but everyone writes it h-o-l-l-a. I’m gonna give you a holla, if you need anything just holla. holla means to shout, I mean that originally the word is to shout to shout. Nowadays we yell to say you’re going to call someone, I’ll give you a hello, maybe even a message, or if you need something just hello, just give me a hello. Gimme, gimme, a holla hey, if you need anything, just give me a holla.

relax

relax! like I said at the beginning of the video, I’m just chilling in my crib. chillin is a way of saying relaxing. Yo, what are you doing tonight? just chilling in my crib.

crib

cradle is another way of saying my house, my home. the original use of a crib is actually a baby crib, where a baby sleeps is called a crib.

cruise

Hey, I’m just hanging around here today, guys, hanging around. cruisin just means that everything is relaxed, everything is fine. maybe you are having a very easy day, you are just browsing. you’re going to hear people use this a lot when they’re walking down the street, maybe they’re driving in their car, strolling down the streets of angels. I think I’ve heard that in some rap song before. I’m just cruising the streets of L.A. it means that you are simply driving a car that is going to different places, nowhere in particular. I’m just browsing!

really

Seriously, you know what I’m saying? for real is often pronounced for-real. I really? this means that you are asking if that person is serious, is what you said real, me for a real man? really? that shit is real.

what’s up

I know you all know the famous expressions what’s up, sometimes wazup, with a zzz sound, but now you’re going to hear a lot of people saying wat up, wat(d) up. what’s up, what’s up, friend? what’s up friend? what happens because?

boy

these are all the other descriptive names you can call your slang using friends. you can say dawg, not dog but dawg and you add a little accent it’s like dawg, wazzup dawg? what’s up friend, what’s up friend? sorry for my bad american accent by the way guys. again dawg is actually a positive thing, it’s a sign of affection to your friends, if I call you dawg, you’re my dawg, you’re my homie.

friend

homie is what I used at the beginning of this video. I said, how are you friends? a homie is a friend again, i don’t know where these words come from, i hear them a lot and i don’t know why we say them, but you’ll hear them all the time.

because

because, help me because, give me a roll because. because it’s short for cousin, again, he’s not actually your cousin, he’s usually just your friend.

g

g, how about g? I g really? g is short for gangster, again I can use that for my friends, the person doesn’t have to actually be a gangster. you can use this between friends, yow to g?

fo sho

another that is similar to fo real, fo or fo real, we can also say fo sho, it’s like f-o s-h-o, fo sho, yo fo sho. It’s like sure, hey, do you want to go to the party tomorrow? sure, or fo sho. Do you know what I’m saying?

You know what I’m saying?

You know what I’m saying is when you ask for confirmation if that person is understanding your words. so you’re gonna hear people say it real quick, know-im-saying, know-im-saying, hey, know-im-saying. you’re going to hear people say this all the time, especially on American television.

bounce

And the last expression I’m going to teach you is to bounce, because right now I’m going to bounce. bouncing means, you know, bouncing a basketball, but in this case it means you’re going to go, man, I’m going to bounce. Do you know what I’m saying?

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Alright, I’m going to bounce right now, but just so you know, this vocabulary, these slang expressions are used today. they’re not used in everyday English, they come from a specific cultural group, I mean you can use them whenever you want, but you just have to know when to use them, what they mean and, you know, have fun with them. Like I said, I’m from Australia, I don’t really use these expressions in a serious way, but I can use them in many cases joking with my friends and having fun with the language.

thanks so much for joining me today guys, don’t forget to subscribe to real life tv in the corner, and if you have any ideas for another video, something you really want to learn and let me do. a video about. just write a comment below and, you know, even if you have any questions about today’s video, again just ask the question in the comments below and I’ll try to get back to you ASAP, oh yeah!

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