Overseas Briefing The foreign language of British-English

Author: H. Kay Merriman

Whilst studying Shakespeare and Journalism at "the most creative college in the U.K." this semester, I have successfully resigned my Middlebury prepster status for that of a hipster, developed a nasty second-hand smokers' cough, watched multiple British professors mock Sarah Palin during lecture and picked up a few foreign phrases that I would love to hear used in the States.

A brief guide to London student slang that I hope to hear in Freeman (Is that where all the Proctor kids have gone?) when I return:

* "You alright?" - Their equivalent to our "how are you?" still catches me off-guard every time. It is a question of self, really. Am I alright? Do I look like I'm alright?

* "Knackered" - This adjective goes a step beyond "tired," but doesn't sound as whiny as "exhausted." Use it as a euphemism for "hungover" and you will still sound sophisticated.

* "I couldn't be bothered" - As a catch-all reason for why something was not completed, the phrase encompasses everything from "I was too knackered" to "I just didn't feel like it." My favorite is when it is used to describe someone else, as in: "My flatmate said she would clean the kitchen, but she couldn't be bothered." The statement makes it seem as though British students lead terribly important lives.

* "Fit" - For a solid week, I thought that my new friends were only attracted to athletic people. Then, I realized that this term can be employed to describe the attractiveness of everyone from rugby players to art students without using the two words forever tainted by Paris Hilton: "That's hot."

* "Proper" - It somehow can characterize anything from an outfit to a physical or mental state, as in "That guy at the club last night was proper fit." Use it in exchange for "legit" and sound more, well, proper.

* "Taking the Piss" - Dry sarcasm, the British sense of humor at its finest, is often diminished to this phrase. Act offended because of a comment and a good-hearted Brit will respond, "Oh, I'm just taking the piss out of you." Unfortunately, this phrase can prove quite confusing when you are looking for someone and they actually have gone to "the loo."