Slang and Colloquial Terms 5 (For B2/C1 level students)

Dear ELT community,
Here´s EPISODE 5 of SLANG AND COLLOQUIAL TERMS HEARD IN AMERICAN MOVIES AND SERIES (For B2/C1 level students), which features an innovative learning experience (EXERCISE 1).

This time we´re gonna focus on the following 10 terms:

BELLY BUTTON  –  TOP-NOTCH  –  CRANKY  –  OUT OF ONE´S LEAGUE
FALL GUY – DROP THE BALL – BONER – SCUMBAG – FIRST OFF – GET REAL

I – MEANING/EXPLANATION + EXAMPLE SENTENCES

1. Belly button: navel

Ex.: “That girl over there has a piercing in her belly button. Check it out!”, Ryan told Billy.

2. Top-notch: very high in quality; excellent; first-rate

Ex.: “I love the top-notch service at this hotel. It feels great staying here.”, said Rhonda to a friend.

3. Cranky: easily annoyed; moody; irritable

Ex.: “I find it hard to put up with Sabrina´s cranky husband. He seems to be always in a bad mood.”, said Anna to her friends.

4. Out of one´s league: too good, rich or expensive for someone; not right for someone

Ex.: “I know Stephanie is probably out of my league, but tell me, do you think she´d turn me down if I asked her out?”, Gary asked Tony.

5. Fall guy:theperson who gets the blame for a problem or someone else’s mistake; scapegoat

Ex.: “I won´t let Jason be the fall guy for the manager´s mistakes again. I don´t think it´s fair.”, said Stacy to a coworker.

6. Drop the ball: make a mistake; fail

Ex.: “Oops! Looks like I dropped the ball on this one. Sorry, my bad!”, said Bart to his friends.

7. Boner: an erection; a hard-on

Ex.: “I think Stacy is the hottest girl here. I get a boner every time I look at her.”, said Julian to his friends.

8. Scumbag:a low, worthless person; someone who is very unpleasant and dishonest

Ex.: “Can you believe that scumbag tried to hit on my girlfriend at the party?”, Nicholas told Mick.

9. First off: first of all; before anything else

 Ex.: “Well, first off, let´s about the ongoing project.”, said Mr. Harris at the beginning of the meeting.

10. Get real:be realistic; wake up to reality; don´t be naive

 Ex.: “Do you really expect to win a lot of money on the slot machines? Get real!”, said Howard to Luke.

II – EXERCISE 1:  REWRITE THE SENTENCES IN A MORE COLLOQUIAL WAY  (10 SENTENCES)

1. “Do you know if something´s the matter with Janice? She´s been irritable all day.”, Norman asked a coworker.
2. “I couldn´t stop looking at her cleavage and you know, it gave me an erection.”, Bart told his friends.
3. “Michael had nothing to do with what happened. He was just the scapegoat.”, explained Evelyn.
4. “Do you really think he´s gonna fall for such an old trick? Don´t be naive!”, said Jeff to a friend.
5. “I don´t think Jake´s reliable. He failed every time we depended on him before.”, Roy told Mark.
6. “Jessica told me it hurt a little to get a tattoo around her navel.”, Barry told Randy.
7. “First of all, I´d like to apologize for what I said last night.”, said Darrel to Miranda.
8. “I´m so tired of dating worthless guys! I wish I could meet someone decent for a change.”, said Elizabeth to a friend.
9. “You will make your father very proud if you are accepted at a first-rate university, you know that, don´t you?”, Melissa´s mother told her.
10. You´re not the first one to tell me she´s too good for me, but I have a major crush on her and I kind of feel she likes me too, so I´m gonna go for her anyway.”, Richard told George.

III – EXERCISE 2: MATCH THE COLLOQUIAL TERMS WITH THEIR DEFINITIONS (10 TERMS)

A. Scumbag       B. Fall guy       C. Get real       D. Belly button       E. First off

F. Drop the ball     G. Cranky     H. Top-notch     I. Out of one´s league     J. Boner

1. Easily annoyed; moody; irritable ____
2. First of all; before anything else ____
3. An erection; a hard-on ____
4. Theperson who gets the blame for a problem or someone else’s mistake; scapegoat ____
5. A low, worthless person; someone who is very unpleasant and dishonest____
6. Too good, rich or expensive for someone; not right for someone ____
7. Navel ____
8. Be realistic; wake up to reality; don´t be naive ____
9. Make a mistake; fail ____
10. Very high in quality; excellent; first-rate ____

IV – KEY TO EXERCISES

I– Rewrite the following sentences in a more colloquial way

1. “Do you know if something´s the matter with Janice? She´s been cranky all day.”, Norman asked a coworker.
2. “I couldn´t stop looking at her cleavage and you know, it gave me a boner.”, Bart told his friends
3. “Michael had nothing to do with what happened. He was just the fall guy.”, explained Evelyn.
4. “Do you really think he´s gonna fall for such an old trick? Get real!”, said Jeff to a friend.
5. “I don´t think Jake´s reliable. He dropped the ball every time we depended on him before.”, Roy told Mark.
6. “Jessica told me it hurt a little to get a tattoo around her belly button.”, Barry told Randy.
7. “First off, I´d like to apologize for what I said last night.”, said Darrel to Miranda
8. “I´m so tired of dating scumbags! I wish I could meet someone decent for a change.”, said Elizabeth to a friend.
9. “You will make your father very proud if you are accepted at a top-notch university, you know that, don´t you?”, Melissa´s mother told her.
10. You´re not the first one to tell me she´s out of my league, but I have a major crush on her and I kind of feel she likes me too, so I´m gonna go for her anyway.”, Richard told George

II – Match the colloquial terms below (A–J) with their definitions (1–10).

1. G       2. E       3. J       4. B      5. A       6. I       7. D       8. C       9. F      10. H