Monday, February 23, 2009

Skeen!

The majority of London school kids speak a form of pigeon-English that might very well annoy me to death someday. Apart from the obvious dropping of the letter 't' in words, and the substitution of 'd' for 'th' sounds, they have developed an amazingly annoying vocabulary to barb me with as well. Here are just some of the words you should know:

Bare - very, many.
Init - (silent 't') meaning 'isn't it'; used compulsively at the beginning and end of sentences.
Long - a lot of effort for no reward.
Bruv - mate.
Blud - mate.
Skeen - I see, or I understand.
Screw - to stare contemptuously at someone.
Safe - describes someone or something that is good.
Blank - to ignore someone who is talking to you.
Butters - (silent 't') - ugly
A-LLow it - please, or let it be.
Swear down - believe me

So here goes:

Init blud I saw dis fiwlm da uvver nigh' an i' was BARE long - I was like, a-LLow i'! Da girwls in i' was so bu'ers too dat I wann'ed ta be SICK bruv, SWEAR DOWN!

An' init afterward I saw Fuad out da front an 'e juz blanked me bruv - swear down! Swear down. So I juz screwed 'im, yeah, I fought 'e waz safe dough init. Skeen!

Maybe it takes practice.

1 comment:

Sweet Olive Press | Helen said...

Sigh. I guess it's just the Queen and the Oxford types giving all these Americans the impression that Brits sound intelligent...