Slang & Vocabulary: Slang that I Won't Learn from Dictionaries

Image from kingdomofstyle.typepad.co.uk

In August 2009, I posted an article titled News & Vocab: Foul Language targeting Female, in May 2010 I wrote Vocabulary: Men's World, then in October 2011, I produced Vocabulary: A Helpless Man Sponge Naitard, that is almost like one article a year. Wondering if I will post some more a bit more frequently?

It is one of my habits to look around in the dictionary at times and I found some words that I have never heard of but said to be popular by the Cambridge Dictionary, let's give it a go and see what they offer.

I DON'T blindly learn new words as some words are pretty redundant, so old-fashioned words are filtered out and new words are reinterpreted by me.

House Husband
Image from custommaid.biz

In my opinions,"New Man" sounds very much the same as "house husband" to me and I don't feel like learning "New Man" just to replace "house husband" because the latter is so much easier to remember. In a sense that "housewife" is enough and "homemaker" sounds redundant in a way that it doesn't show any wit in its creation.


A "bit of rough" sounds to me that it is literately referring to physical labour, people who need to work using more muscles than brains, so I don't know how that is applicable to the dictionary's definition if the boyfriend is from an upper class and the girlfriend is from a middle class. Just doesn't sound so right even in the reverse case.

Stuck-up
Image from hellaemo.com

A "God's Gift" to me sounds very positive and prestigious and so it is understandable when it is used negatively by someone who tastes sour grapes, but then when a person really is jealous of another, will they be so nice with their wordings and call them "God's Gift"? I doubt it! Even in the case of backstabbing. And the dictionary offers "Lady Muck" as the female version, well maybe, but wouldn't a "stuck-up" be even more direct?

A Suit
Image from askmen.com

A "Suit" doesn't sound negative to me at all! And I do think that this is very confusing considering almost everybody who works in a bigger and more proper company wears a suit, then how aggressive or disapproving can this word sound when one person calls another a "suit"? More ironically, what if the person who said it actually wears a suit himself? Really want to learn some words to describe business people, why not read my other entries such as Business Vocabulary: The Cogs -- The Boss Group, The Law Group, The Cash Group, and The Sales Group?

WAG
Image from footballtournaments4u.com

Dictionary also says a "footballer's wife" is, in short, a beautiful extravagant married woman. I totally disagree with this! True, being big-spending and beautiful are what some footballers' wives behaves like, but this doesn't imply to any other married women!!! Also, the proper slang is not even "footballer's wife", it is "WAG"!!! People who watch football games on TV or read football news know this word! "WAG" is a short form of "Wives And Girlfriends" and it is specifically used to describe these footballers' lovers!

Lady Gaga
Image from cache.interscope.com

Talking about "Lady Muck", comparing this to Lady Gaga, I think "Gaga" is an even more popular word! The name Lady Gaga came from the singer's love of a song "Radio Ga Ga" by the band Queen [1].

Radio Ga Ga by Queen
Image from Wikipedia

But gaga is also a word with meanings, 1) unable to think clearly because of old age, 2) having strong but temporary love for someone.

Looks like we have to be careful what we learn from dictionaries.

Vocabulary:
New Man -- (n) [C] Mainly UK a man who believes that women and men are equal and should be free to do the same things, and who does tasks and shows emotions that were traditionally considered only suitable for women
house husband -- (n)[C] a man who stays at home and cleans the house, takes care of the children, etc. while his wife goes out to work
homemaker -- (n)[C] mainly US a woman who manages a home and often raises children instead of earning money from a job
bit of rough -- UK humorous someone, usually a man, from a lower social class than their sexual partner
God's Gift -- (n)  [U] disapproving If you say that someone thinks or behaves as if they are God's gift (to someone or something), you mean that they believe that they are better than anyone else
Lady Muck --  [S] UK informal disapproving a woman who thinks she is very important and should be treated better than everyone else
sour grapes -- If you describe someone's behaviour or opinion as sour grapes, you mean that they are angry because they have not got or achieved something that they wanted
stuck-up -- (n)[C] a person who thinks they are above the rest
suit -- (n) [C often plural] informal mainly disapproving a man who works in an office and wears a suit, especially a man with a high position in a company who is considered not to have human feelings and good ideas
footballer's wife --  (n) [C] or humorous a beautiful woman who has a rich husband and does not work, but spends a lot of time buying expensive things and taking care of her appearance
extravagant -- (adj) spending too much money, or using too much of something
WAG -- (n) plural "Wives And Girlfriends" of the footballers
gaga -- (adj) informal unable to think clearly and make decisions because of old age; senile;
[after verb] having a strong but usually temporary love for someone





Resources:
News & Vocab: Foul Language targeting Female @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2009/08/news-vocab.html

Vocabulary: Men's World  @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/05/vocabulary-mens-world.html

Vocabulary: A Helpless Man Sponge Naitard @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2011/10/vocabulary-helpless-man-sponge-naitard.html

How To Spot A Gold Digger @ Askmen.com
http://www.askmen.com/dating/doclove_100/138_relationship_expert.html


Business Vocabulary: The Cogs -- The Boss Group @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/05/business-vocabulary-cogs-boss-group.html


Business Vocabulary: The Cogs -- The Law Group @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/05/business-vocabulary-cogs-law-group.html


Business Vocabulary: The Cogs -- The Cash Group @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/06/business-vocabulary-cogs-cash-group.html


Business Vocabulary: The Cogs -- The Sales Group @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/06/business-vocabulary-cogs-sales-group.html

[1] Lady Gaga @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Gaga

Radio Ga Ga @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Ga_Ga
http://www.lyrics007.com/Queen%20Lyrics/Radio%20Ga%20Ga%20Lyrics.html

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/topics/kinds-of-men/
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/topics/kinds-of-women/
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/new-man
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/house-husband?q=house+husband
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/homemaker
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/bit-of-rough
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/god-s-gift
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sour-grapes?q=sour+grapes#sour-grapes__1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/lady-muck?q=lady+muck
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=stuck%20up
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/suit_4
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/footballer-s-wife
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=WAG
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/extravagant?q=extravagant+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/gaga_1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/gaga_2