Heeee. Fun.
The all-in-one Consolidated Grammar Thread Page 7
Quote: Marc P @ April 27 2010, 2:35 PM BSTThings like - 'who caught the squeal? -' which maybe I made up lol. And Johns instead of punters, that kind of thing.
I'd put down your book as it seems it'd make no sense at all.
I'm sure contextually it would be perfectly clear. 
My sister and I used to use a lot of Hip hop slang around the house, back in the '80s and '90s. Back then we were mostly being ironic, but these days many people under 40 use the same words in their everyday speech.
Quote: catskillz @ April 27 2010, 5:02 PM BSTMy sister and I used to use a lot of Hip hop slang around the house, back in the '80s and '90s. Back then we were mostly being ironic, but these days many people under 40 use the same words in their everyday speech.
Yeah, they be trippin'.
That's whack, yo.
For real.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ April 27 2010, 5:08 PM BSTFor real.
Fo' real surely?
Fo' shizzle my nizzle.
We even had a pet budgie called B-boy. For those that don't know, B-boy is the original New York name for a Breakdancer.
So trill.
Quote: PhQnix @ April 27 2010, 1:11 PM BSTFor the increasingly dull record: The Oxford English Dictionary does not have any record of the expression 'urgh' though it does have an entry for 'ew'. It does however have a record of 'ugh' describing the word as a "proprietary name for a type of sheepskin boots". It probably doesn't have a record for either 'urgh' or 'ugh' because those are in fact guttural sounds rather than complete words.
From the Cambridge online dictionary
Definition
ugh exclamation /ʊx/, /ɜː/
used to express a strong feeling of disgust (= disapproval and dislike) at something very unpleasant
Ugh, I've got something horrible on the bottom of my shoe!
Ugh, I'm not eating that!
Quote: PhQnix @ April 27 2010, 1:11 PM BSTYes 'ew' has American roots but I don't see how that is any different to all the words you are using which have Latin, French, Teutonic, Hispanic, Arabic or German roots. In fact it's almost exactly the same thing. In fact it is exactly the same thing.
It's not the same thing. As I said before. It is a foreign word replacing an extant English word. It was not coined to describe something that had no defined term. It's a bit like Truck replacing Lorry.
It's usage is an oddity in English because like 'Urgh' or 'Ugh' it is an onomatopoeiac word. This is my chief reservation about using it. It's usage is imitative of American culture rather than growing out of the language and culture of the UK.
Let me try to get this straight. 'ugh' is pronounced 'ew'? Or is everyone just upset that 'ew' is replacing 'ugh' (pronounced 'ug'???)
Or is it pronounced 'erg'
Quote: deckard @ April 28 2010, 1:58 AM BSTLet me try to get this straight. 'ugh' is pronounced 'ew'?
There are many ways to pronounce words, of course. You should hear the variation we achieve with 'mud'.
Generally, I think of 'urgh' as being something between 'errrrr' and 'orrrr', with the last '-gh' being optional, but rare in my part of the country (south east). It is basically the sound of puking.
Quote: deckard @ April 28 2010, 1:58 AM BSTOr is everyone just upset that 'ew' is replacing 'ugh' )
Not everyone is upset, and those who are, have their own reasons. 'Ew' is definitely a recent import, and probably came via TV shows (or 'programmes' as we call them...), and so it is understandable that it might seem like an invader. Personally, while I am aware that there is an argument to be made for retaining our existing cultural identity, the language is constantly changing anyway, and always has done. What's more, I've found that very often a deeper examination reveals that what we Brits disdain as US imports, originally came from Britain anyway.
Quote: deckard @ April 28 2010, 1:58 AM BSTLet me try to get this straight. 'ugh' is pronounced 'ew'? Or is everyone just upset that 'ew' is replacing 'ugh' (pronounced 'ug'???)
Or is it pronounced 'erg'
Here's the pronunciation in a different Chumbawamaba clip, in which ugh is uttered several times, after gentle gibing of the German audience with an Elton John wind-up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJMWAlabO38