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When was the last time you were a bit under the weather or off colour?

mean that you’re not feeling 100%, you’re not very well. It could be because you have a cold or some other minor illness.

I can't come to work today becouse I feel off colour

mean that you’re not feeling 100%, you’re not very well. It could be because you have a cold or some other minor illness.

A bit of grit might go in your eye.

small particles of rock, sand or salt. It’s often used to prevent cars or pedestrians from slipping on ice

This is the right term for one piece of dust. Normally dust is uncountable but we make it countable using the partitive

If you sprain an ankle your ankle swells up.

When parts of your body swell up they become larger probably due to the body reacting to something.

These are the parts that cover the eye. Upper eyelid and lower eyelid.

This is the hair above your eyes,

This is the part that has colour

Sometimes we see things out of the corner of our eye, or we get things stuck in the corner of our eye.

This is just the standard way to refer to calling work because you’re sick.

To throw a sickie To pull a sickie To take a sickie To do a sickie

These are all ways of referring to when you call work and tell them you can’t come in because you are ill. There’s also the suggestion that you might be faking it, if you use this expression (sickie).

if you can’t face Monday morning. This is something in Australia apparently.

Muffle your voice a bit to make yourself sound ill.

I’m not sure what to think about Phil. He seems a bit dodgy or something.

If something is dodgy it is dishonest and unreliable. It’s a very common word in British English. It’s slang but very common.

I hung him up and he called me back

This means to end the call by putting the phone down, or pressing “end call”

When I told her I thought we should break up she hung up on me.

This is when you’re talking to someone and for whatever reason you just stop the call suddenly. Maybe the person said something insulting

I called Paul but he didn’t pick up.

This one means just to answer the phone.

I don’t want to go out, it’s raining. Oh, don’t be such a wuss!

a weak or useless person. Someone pathetic.

Come on mate, you’re taking the piss now

make fun of someone” or “take the mickey out of someone”

I've been trying for months so it's time to let it go.

In this case to let something go means to choose not to punish or criticise someone.

1. That film was ace, wasn’t it!? 2. We went to this wicked theme park at the weekend.

These are both slang words very common to our generation. They both mean “great!” They’re both adjectives.

Driving in a car with you is always a hairraising experience.

This means frightening and dangerous, but exciting

To laugh out loud, To read out loud, To think out loud

If you do something out loud, it means you do it not just in your head, but so other people can hear you.

You might have to think on your feet a bit at the end of the presentation.

This means to just think without preparation, while you are doing something.

For example, learning a language is very challenging at the beginning, so there’s a steep learning curve at the start

A learning curve is a visual representation of the challenge of learning a new skill.

The games are so well designed that the learning curve is really short

To have a go (at something) To give something a try To try your hand at something

All of these things mean to try something you’re not sure you’ll be able to do, or something you’ve never done before.

I’m an avid reader.

someone who reads a lot

He reads two books every week - he is a real bookworm.

someone who reads a lot.

The book seemed a bit cobbled together.

Means put together badly as if it was done too quickly. So it means created quickly but badly. The phrase is used in a negative way, as a criticism.

If the book seems boring at the start, stick with it. It gets better after a while.

This means to continue doing something and not give up.

It absolutely infuriates me when people queue jump at the supermarket.

If you’re infuriated it means you’re really angry with something. Something infuriates you.

They really lay it on thick in these American dramas don’t they?

This means to add too much of something, in this case emotional depth.

Star Wars is full of hammy acting and dodgy dialogue, but I love it!

Normally we describe actors’ performances as hammy when they’re full of obviously fake emotion.

The documentary seemed so contrived. I don’t believe for a second that he met all those people by chance. I think it was all staged.

If something is contrived then it seems false and not natural. Fake. Created.

If you push the emotional angle in your story, it means you emphasise the emotional elements, probably to get an emotional reaction from the audience.

Arguably Star Wars is full of onedimensional characters who are either evil, brave, heroic, selfinterested and so on.

This is a negative expression, used to express criticism that something is too simple, lacks depth, lacks sophistication.

In the case of The Beastie Boys the gimmick was their style and attitude just being outrageous to attract attention.

A gimmick is an unusual and unnecessary feature of something, which is used just to draw people’s attention

Once upon a time McDonald’s was a bit of a novelty in the UK.

A novelty is similar to a gimmick in that it attracts attention, but it’s different in that it’s only interesting because it’s new.

This means “who cares?”I

Everyone thought the Beastie Boys would just be a onehit wonder.

This is a band that only has one big successful record. They have one hit and then they disappear.

Someone like David Bowie was ahead of his time

If something is ahead of its time it means it is doing the most advanced and innovative things before everyone else.

Paul’s Boutique is quite frenetic and frantic because the songs are very short and things move from one song to the next very quickly.

So it means doing things very quickly in a disorganised or stressed way.

Have you ever cracked up or burst out laughing in an inappropriate situation?

To crack up means to laugh uncontrollably.

Hit me up on facebook mate

This is a slang expression meaning to contact someone.

Pushing outwards means just making progress, making new deals, growing. But it also doesn’t mean anything.

if something is lined up it means it is organised and arranged,

It’s great to have you on board.

This expression means that you are part of the team.

We’ll stick that up the flagpole and see who dances.

If you put a flag up the flagpole you can communicate something to everyone.

We’ll stick that up the flagpole and see who dances.

this phrase means to suggest something to everyone and see who gives a positive reaction

this means to be trendy, or to be something that a lot of people are interested in at the moment

Everyone’s trying to take their English to the next level.

a common phrase to mean level up, get higher, more successful, make progress

This means “what drugs are you taking?” which means “You’re mad!”

My mixtape got chewed up in your walkman, man!

just means to completely chew something, or chew something until it is destroyed or damaged by the chewing.

But I don’t want to go to school! Well, tough. You’re going.

If you say this, you’re basically saying you have no sympathy for someone. You’re basically saying, yeah, life is tough sometimes, deal with it. It can be shortened to just tough.

1. Stop caning that cigarette. 2. Calm down a bit. I’ve been caning my data connection recently.

To cane something means to use it hard.

My phone’s in pretty good nick because I’ve been using this phone cover.

This means in good condition.(slang)