Korean Job Discussion Forums

[periwinkle]

I saw this corner on an EBS program, and they taught some very obscure idiomatic expressions (IMO). I'm wondering how many of you British folk say (forgive me- I don't remember the expressions precisely), "Don't act the giddy goat", or "Don't get potty."(?) Correct me if I got these expressions wrong. Now, I've read tons of books by English writers, and I have British friends. Never once have I heard those expressions. Frankly, I was surprised that these expressions were being taught. I've used some obscure Korean idioms, and I've received some really strange looks!

What obscurities have you guys come across in English or in Korean?^^

[Wangja]

Wow, they are old. "Giddy goat" was common enough and "potty", as in slightly crazed or silly, was current when I was at primary school.

Perhaps a bit like the American "swell".

[periwinkle]

I figured they were out-dated. I think EBS would do better with a slang corner or something along those lines. No wonder there is a problem w/English proficiency here, eh?

Mods: Please move this to the teaching forum!

[Panic Button]

They are competely old fashioned expressions. Shows how much and how fast language changes.

In a few years it will be just as old fashioned to sy "innit", innit? I don't reckon they'll ever teach "innit" in Korean schools though, innit?

[Wangja]

Oh, perhaps I should have added that not only are they very old-fashioned, they are too "jolly hockeysticks" language.

PB: "innit" - shudder. Maybe it will become old-fashioned amongst the lower orders. But beyond "The Sun" level, it will never have been used, except in jest.

[Swiss James]

[kangnam mafioso]

what's some other "brit speak" that is used more regularly among expats in the ROK that might be confusing for north americans?

knackered and take the piss come to mind.

[eamo]

"I'm pissed!".... Doesn't mean I'm angry. It means I'm drunk.

"It's all gone Pete Tong"......Rhyming slang. Pete Tong(Brit DJ) = wrong.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I don't quite get the concept of teaching slang. It's useless for 99.9% of the students here, changes by the month and is country-specific. Wouldn't time be better spent getting students up to speed on standard English and let the friends of the students who do go abroad teach their new found friend slang over a beer?

[thursdays child]

My students know this brit idiom:

"You're/it's doing my head in!'

Not a very charming expression or very grammatically correct - but they respond to this expression well and know 'teacher's' on the edge!

[Wangja]

Properly pronounced it's

"... doin' me 'ead in".

[ilovebdt]

[periwinkle]

[Satori]

Sweet as a nut guv, Safe son, Sound as a pound, Sorted...

[waggo]

[quote="eamo"]"I'm pissed!".... Doesn't mean I'm angry. It means I'm drunk.

Where Im from it means both.