A lot of the things we used to take for granted are now seeming very special, such as when meeting up with friends again as the coronavirus lockdown starts loosening up and we begin returning to work and school. I realize this may not be happening quite yet where you live, but it will hopefully start in the coming weeks or by mid-summer at latest. 

There are a lot of English slang words and idioms commonly used in informal speech, so let's take a look at a few of those today. Let's start with a phrase I used in the first sentence of this lesson: 

Again, this assuming your opponent plays perfectly, but we'll take that for granted.

Caption 20, Numberphile - Connect Four

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"To take something for granted" means that you presume something automatically, without really thinking about it. When that something is not as you expected, you are surprised.

Let's start with some different ways that people greet each other besides the standard "hello," "good morning," "good afternoon," and "good evening." 

What's up?

Caption 29, English with Annette O'Neil - Ways To Say Hello

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How's it going?

Caption 30, English with Annette O'Neil - Ways To Say Hello

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What's happening?

Caption 31, English with Annette O'Neil - Ways To Say Hello

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All of the above questions are rhetorical, which means that people are usually not expecting you to tell them your life story or about real problems you might be having! Usually you just answer "fine," or "not much," or "I have been busy" or something simple like that. Note too that sometimes "what's up" is slurred into "'Sup," "what up," and similar variations.

Howdy.

Caption 46, English with Annette O'Neil - Ways To Say Hello

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"Howdy" is just a colloquial or casual way of saying "hello" that originally came from the more formal question "how do you do?". You can see from the bold letters where the word came from!

If you haven't seen each other in a long time, you might say something like "it seems like forever" or the odd-sounding "long time no see!" This last phrase, meaning "we have not seen each other for a long time," is thought to have come from the basic English first spoken by immigrants to North America over 100 years ago.

When meeting up with your friends for the first time in a long time, please remember to keep safe according the local rules of where you live. But also remember to enjoy yourself as we begin to have more social interactions again into summer!

Further Learning
Watch the entire conversational video series on Yabla English by Annette O'Neil and test your comprehension using the Yabla Flash Card Game.

Yee hah, partners! There are a lot of common slang usages in American English that come from the Wild West cowboy days. I am pretty familiar with them as I grew up in Idaho, one of the most rural states in the USA.

Howdy, Yabla friends. Much of America's history is pioneer history.

Captions 1-2, Traveling with Annette - Deadwood

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"Howdy" comes from shortening "How do you do," and though it originally came from England, it's still commonly used in the American West instead of "hello."

Giddyup! If the supply doesn't meet the demand

Then go out and get more than you will need

Giddyup! If you are tired of playing a losing hand

Captions 21-23, Damn Glad - Giddyup!

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"Giddyup," also written as "giddyap" and "giddy up", is an expression that comes from a command given to a horse to go faster. It's still used today to mean "let's go" or "hurry up." 

This is called a saloon.

Caption 26, Tumbili - Boat Tour--Inside

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A saloon is, as used in British English in the video above, a "salon" or "dining room." It's important to distinguish between British and American English, because in cowboy slang, a saloon is a bar! You'll see "saloon" written on the sign of nearly every bar shown in Old West films.

Who's that old dude? -Oh, that's JJ, our grandpa.

Caption 12, Karate Kids, USA - The Little Dragons

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"Dude" is still commonly used used to mean "man," as in the above video. But to call someone a "dude" in cowboy slang is a sort of insulting term for somebody from the city who is not familiar with country life. Luxury hotels that have ranches and include horseback riding among available activities are called "dude ranches."

Further Learning
Watch the video on Yabla English about Annette's visit to the Wild West town of Deadwood. Then see if you can find out the meanings of some other cowboy expressions such as "city slicker," "tenderfoot," "pony up," "in cahoots," and "yonder."

This lesson is Part III of a series. Let's continue discussing some of the ways that words are shortened in casual speech in American English that are not used in formal writing. "Colloquial" means "casual" as opposed to "formal," and a "contraction" is just the shortening of words.

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Hey, my little old friend, whatcha gonna do?

Caption 12, Royalchord - Good Times

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We discussed in a previous lesson that "gonna" is a contraction of "going to," thus "whatcha gonna do" is the colloquial equivalent of "what are you going to do."

'Cause you feel like home

Caption 5, Adele - When We Were Young

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'Cause I've been by myself all night long

Caption 9, Adele - When We Were Young

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'Cause nobody told me that you'd be here

Caption 19, Adele - When We Were Young

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Normally the word "cause" is either a verb or noun, meaning the reason that something happens ("What is causing the problem? What is the cause of the problem?"). But in this case with the apostrophe in front of it, it is just a contraction of the preposition "because."

If you had a life we'd ask you to sorta give that life up.

Caption 38, World's Toughest Job - #worldstoughestjob - Official Video

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Like many contractions, you can probably easily guess from the sound that "sorta" is a contraction of "sort of."

Lotsa, bands playing there, like, pretty much every night of the week.

Caption 25, Turn Here Productions - Belltown, WA

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The contraction "lotsa" is short for the informal "lots of" or "a lot of," meaning the same as the more proper "many," but without even saving any syllables!

C'mon man. -Fallen off over and over and over again.

Caption 30, Chris Sharma - World's best rock climber

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You may not even notice when somebody says "come on" quickly in speech, but it's good to know how the contraction is written as well!

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Further Learning
Watch this video on Yabla English to learn about more contractions, and search the videos on Yabla English for more examples of these colloquial contractions used in a real world context.

This lesson is Part II of a series. "Colloquial" means "casual" as opposed to "formal," and a "contraction" is just the shortening of words. Let's continue discussing some of the ways that words are shortened in casual speech in American English in ways that are not used in formal writing.

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So, lemme just show you.

Caption 53, Get the Dish - DIY Hatching Chick Deviled Eggs For Easter

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Lemme recharge it, OK?

Caption 17, Hemispheres - The Amazing Cell Phone

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"Lemme" is an informal contraction of "let me."

I dunno, it's kind of like they don't have any…

Caption 55, Ed Sheeran - Interview with Ellen DeGeneres

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“Dunno" is easy. It combines the words "don't" and "know,"

and it is a response word used to express confusion.

Captions 27-29, English with Annette O'Neil - Colloquial Contractions

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The next contraction is a bit more difficult: 

I gotcha, I gotcha, OK.

Caption 21, Plain White T's - Visit the VEVO Office

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Similarly, the colloquial contraction "gotcha" isn't a grammatical superstar.

It combines the words "got" and "you,"

and is used to express casual assent.

Where's the button just to make one espresso? Gotcha.

Captions 21-26, English with Annette O'Neil - Colloquial Contractions

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"Gotcha" is a colloquial contraction of "to get" something, in the sense of "to understand" something. If you say "I gotcha," it's a colloquial way of saying "I get it" or "I understand you." 

Nine times outta ten there's no manual on these things.

Caption 12, Motorcycle Masters - Birmingham Alabama

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Get me security, get him outta here!

Caption 46, People's Choice - Kaley Cuoco Opening

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"Outta" is an informal contraction for "out of." It's also common to hear the expression "I'm outta here!" for "I am leaving," which is what I'll leave you with for this lesson!

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Further Learning
Watch this video on Yabla English to learn about more contractions, and search the videos on Yabla English for more examples of these colloquial contractions used in a real world context.

The topic above looks a bit complicated, but it's actually quite easy. "Colloquial" means "casual" as opposed to "formal," and a "contraction" is just the shortening of words. So let's talk about some of the ways that words are shortened in casual speech in American English. 

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In American English, the colloquial contractions you'll hear most often are:

"kinda" [kind of], "wanna" [want to], and "gonna" [going to].

Captions 8-9, English with Annette O'Neil - Colloquial Contractions

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These words are just casually spoken contractions of "kind of," "want to," and "going to."

I just kinda stay away from all that. It's not part of my life.

Caption 77, Ask Jimmy Carter - Interview with Cameron Diaz

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You do wanna keep your resume to one page.

Caption 4, Job Hunting - 4 Resume Do's & Don'ts

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You also do wanna highlight the results, the experiences.

Caption 16, Job Hunting - 4 Resume Do's & Don'ts

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What are you gonna [going to] do with it when you grow up?

Caption 8, A Charlie Brown Christmas - Snowflakes

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You definitely do not want to use these kinds of informal words in formal writing, for instance when applying for a job! 

There's another similar contraction that you will commonly hear among native speakers of American English: 

I'll talk to ya later, Mick. I gotta go.

Caption 32, A Mickey Mouse Cartoon - Goofy's Grandma

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I mean, you show up and your hair's gotta be in place and the lipstick has to be right.

Caption 43, Nicole Kidman - Batman Forever

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The conjunction "gotta" derives from "got to" or "have got to," in the sense of "have to" or "must". A more formal version of the sentences above would be "I have to go" or "I must go," and "Your hair has to be in place" or "Your hair must be in place."

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Further Learning
Watch this video on Yabla English to learn about more contractions, and search the videos on Yabla English for more real world examples of these colloquial contractions used in a real world context.