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Are You Speaking My Language?: The Secret Words and Habits of 100 Modern Tribes: from Taxi-Drivers to Trainspotters, Barristers to Baristas, Hairdressers to Hell's Angels
Are You Speaking My Language The Secret Words and Habits of 100 Modern Tribes from TaxiDrivers to Trainspotters Barristers to Baristas Hairdressers to Hell's Angels Author:Susie Dent jack brew (Army) making yourself a cuppa without making one for anyone else — bert (trainspotter) someone who simply sees trains as a way of getting from A to B — VIP (doctor in A&E) Very Intoxicated Person — Kate Moss (golfer) a shot that's a bit thin — pickle-stabbers(fashionista) sharply pointed high heels — little brown job (twitcher) any bird th... more »at can't be definitely identified
disco rice (bin men) maggots
crotch watch (flight attendant) the walk through the cabin carrying out a seatbelt check
Have you ever wondered why hairdressers always ask you where you're going on holiday or how ticket inspectors discreetly request back-up? What about cabbies' Knowledge, what rhyming slang really means, or how a magician's patter works? We are surrounded by hundreds of tribes, each speaking their own distinct slanguage of colourful words, jokes and phrases, honed through years of conversations on the battlefield, in A&E, backstage and at ten-thousand feet in the air. Here, at last, is a witty guide through the linguistic minefields that surround us all.
Susie Dent - Countdown's one-woman Bletchley Park - has spent years interviewing hundreds of professionals, hobbyists and enthusiasts and has created an idiosyncratic phrasebook like no other. From the freemason's handshake to the barista's guide to what your coffee says about you, Are You Speaking My Language? takes us on a whirlwind tour of Britain's tribes, decodes their secret languages and finds out what really makes them tick. English will never be the same again.« less