www.GlenCroucher.com
Home - Grammer - Everyday English - Film vocabulary - Stuff - Song vocabulary - Private English lessons
24 hour party people
The latest craze - The newest fad. A strong interest in something that usually only lasts a short time
The late - Dead (The deceased) ( Used before a name or husband/ wife etc)
'' The late Tony Wilson''
Barbed wire - A strong wire with sharp points on it (used for keeping people out of private property)
Cheerio - Goodbye
Hang gliding - A sport where you fly, holding onto only a metal frame covered with cloth
To swear - Use bad (offensive) language
''There's no need to swear''
Audience - The people watching a concert / gig etc
''There are only 42 people in the audience''
A gig - A music show / concert
Bonafide - Real, genuine
''That's Martin Hancock.he only bonafide genius in this story''
Gingernut - A (bad) nickname for people with orange hair
Anarchy - A situation where people do no obey rules or laws
''Anarchy in the UK''
I don't know about that - Said when you don't agree with something someone has said
A class act - A quality band / performer
Wanker - Masturbator / idiot
Watch / mind your language - Don't use bad words / Don't swear
- 'The Stranglers'. Amazing. Class act, that.
- They're shit
- Bunch of wankers
- Watch your language!
Venue - The place where an organized event takes place
To be about to do something - To be going to do something very soon
''I'm about to open a live music venue''
A dump - A place that is very dirty and rundown
Shite - Shit
- It's a bit of a dump, isn't it?
- It's not Las Vegas, is it''
- Dog shite everywhere
Kids - Children
To nick - To steal
To be sure - To be certain
- You don't think those kids will nick the car, do you?
- They're not gonna nick the car
- Are you sure?
A till - The machine or drawer where money is kept in a shop
To do the till - To add up the money at the end of the working day and the shop is closing
Grubby - Dirty after being used and not washed
- It's a bit grubby
- Yeah, I know it's grubby but we can get it cleaned up
Telly - Television
- I really miss your programme so I thought to get it back on telly
To go off with / To be off with - To leave somewhere ( usually used when you don't know where the person is going)
- You seen Linsey?
- She went off with Howard
Bodyclock - Used to talk about getting old.For example,being in your 30's and thinking that you must have a baby before it's too late
Dead - Very
- It's dead fucking simple. (if) You don't like us, you fuck off. (if) I don't like you, I'll fuck off
To make something stand up in court - For something to be legally right / that can be proven to be true in a court room
A contract - A written signed agreement ( A recording deal for a band)
- I'm not sure that would stand up in court
- What more do you want? He's just written a contract in his own blood
A racket - A loud noise
Drumming - The music made by a drummer
As such - Exactly (as the word / sentence is usually understand)
Quite frankly - 'To be honest ' (phrase) / 'To tell the truth' (phrase)
To bore the arse off somebody - 'the arse of' would mean something similar to 'alot'
- Stop that horrible racket, please!
- What's wrong?
- Nothing was wrong with the drumming as such.It's just that people have been playing like that for about 20,000 years and quite frankly it's boring the arse off me
A rattle - A small noise made by hard things (that are loose) hitting against each other
The roof - The top part of a building
Rubbish - Very bad
- Listen to it in the car
- It'll sound rubbish in the car
- We've got to see what it sounds like on a normal radio
Crap - Shit
Though - However / But
- Look great, don't they
- Sound crap though
Rubbish - Waste material.Things you don't want anymore
Collapse - (in business etc) to fail suddenly / completely
Gravedigger - A person whose job is to dig holes in the ground and put dead bodies in them
To bury - To put a dead body in the ground
To refuse - To say 'no' to doing something
- More chaos in the public sector as mountains of rubbish fill London's West End and nurses bring hospitals close to collapse. Now gravediggers in Liverpool are refusing to bury the dead
Straight up - Seriously
Top-class - Among the best
A knocking shop - Brothel / A cheap hotel used as a brothel
Suits me (fine) - To be suitable / Useful
- You're gonna tour America
- Fuck off
- I'm telling you now.Straight up, you're gonna tour America
- Are we gonna be staying in top-class hotels?
- Actually you're in knocking shops & I'm in 5 star hotels
- Suits me fine
Alright - Hello
To be in - To be at home
Spliff - Marijuana
- Alright! Is he in?
- No.He's at Granada.I've got a spliff going.You wanna come in?
To hang - To be killed by putting a rope around the neck and allowing the body to drop downwards
Well - Used to show surprise
Bloody - A swear word used to emphasize a statement
Bugger - Idiot / naughty person
- He's hanged himself.He was found at his home this morning
- You're joking. He's dead? Well, the stupid bloody bugger
To beat around the bush - To talk about something for a long time without mentioning the main point
A straight question / answer - An honest and direct question / answer
- Don't beat around the bush, Linsey. I'm gonna ask you a straight question. I want a straight answer
A low point - A bad time ( feeling unhappy,depressed etc)
Obviously - Easily seen or understood
- This is a low point for me obviously
Incident - Something that happens / happened
- This is a true incident
To be harmed - To be damaged / hurt
A reconstruction - A copy of something that really happened in order to show it and let the facts be known
- Obviously this is a reconstruction. No pigeons were harmed in the making of this film
Creativity - The ability to make new things using skill or imagination
Abatoir - A place where animals are killed for food
A budget - A plan of how to spend an amount of money over a particular time
In total - When you add 2 or more numbers or amounts together
A grand - 1,000 pounds
- So how much has come out in total from our music budget?
- 700 grand
Untalented - Not having natural skill or ability
What a joke! - said when you can't believe something
Refuge - A safe place.Protection from danger, trouble, death etc
- Jazz is the last refuge of the untalented. Jazz musicians enjoy themselves far more than anyone listening to them. It's like theatre.It's what you do when you can't get a gig
To pick on somebody your own size - To start an argument or fight with someone who's not alot smaller than you
Chap - Man / Boy
Lead singer - The main singer in a band
- No band ever survives the death of their lead singer
A (record) sleeve - The paper cover of a record, CD etc
Indie - Rock music released on small independant record labels
- It's dance music and it's rock music.It's got that indie guitar sound
On a good day - At his / her best
On a par with - Of equal quality,level,standard etc
- Sean's lyrics on a good day are on a par with WB Yates on an average day
Out of tune - Not tuned ( Not the correct sounds of notes)
Tuning - The way an instruments strings / keys are set
E - (2 meanings are used in this dialogue) 1. The musical note 2.The drug Ectasy
He's your man - He's the right man / suitable for what you want
Sort you out - Give you what you want ( usually about drugs)
- Somebody's out of tune
- Who's out of tune?
- Marty, can you give me an E
- Yeah, he's your man. He'll sort you out
A rave - A large party held outside or in an empty building where people dance to house music etc
- This is it. The birth of rave culture
Canal - A deep cut made into land so that boats can travel along it or so water can flow to an area where it's needed
For fucks sake! - Said when very disappointed about something
Fuck all - Absolutely nothing
- We can't get fuck all done
Out of shape - Not physically fit
Although - However
To threaten somebody - To warn somebody you will hurt or kill them if he doesn't do what you want
- You can't threaten me anymore, Martin. You're a big man but you're out of shape....Although you could sit on me
Label - A company ( Record company)
- Factory Records, that's my label
Considering - Used for introducing a surprising fact
- I think Sean Ryder is on a par with WB Yates as a poet
- Really?
- Totally
- Well, that's amazing considering everyone else thinks he's a fucking idiot
Supposed to - To be expected to do / have to do something
- I was supposed to get the train but I didn't. I went by car
Crowds - Large numbers of people in one place
Drug dealers - People that sell drugs
Atmosphere - The mood or feeling of a place or situation
Fuelled by something - Something that makes someone feel an emotion (anger, happiness, interest etc) more strongly
A gun - A weapon used for shooting bullets
- There was only one problem with the Hacienda (club). It never made any money. There were crowds and a great atmosphere but it was all fuelled by Ectasy, not alcohol, and we didn't sell E's at the bar. So we were spending money on the building, the staff, the DJ's, the sound system but most of the money went to the drug deslers and guess what - They didn't give the money to us. They spent it on clothes or cars or girls or guns. Especially guns
To put things into perspective
- Death puts things into perspective
Gear - Equipment / things, belongings
To run out of something - To have no more of something
- Every week we sent over money to pay for the studio & Nathan used it for drugs instead. When the cash ran out they stole the recording gear , then they stole the furniture, then they sold their clothes
Contact:[email protected]
Last updated March 2006
web design by Glen Croucher,2006