Learn American English slang: extra, cringey (or cringy!), basic. Listen to the new podcast on slang: https://rachelsenglish.com/podcast/002-american-english-slang/
and be sure to subscribe to the new podcast! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/conversation-pronunciation-learn-english-rachels-english/id1260073690?mt=2
See the whole Summer of Slang series here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrqHrGoMJdTROsSGD_NkOae8QSuVur8ZI
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Video Text:
It’s the summer of slang and today we’re going over the terms ‘extra’, ‘cringey’, and ‘basic’.
This summer, we’re exploring American slang. Today we’re going over some terms that you don’t want anyone saying when they’re referring to you.
‘Extra’ means trying too hard, over the top, excessive, maybe a little dramatic. Doing more than what the situation calls for. Often a little inappropriate. Like, if someone’s laughing really hard at all your jokes, and it’s unnatural and too much, your jokes aren’t that funny, you might say, ‘He’s so extra’.
Or, if someone wants to go to the doctor because she has a little cough, you might say: ‘She’s so extra.’
She doesn’t need to go to the doctor. It’s a criticism.
Okay, cringey. Like ‘on fleek’, which we went over in video 1, this is not a real word in American English. Cringe is, cringed, cringes. But ‘cringey’, turning this verb into and adjective, is not in most dictionaries yet. Cringey, which can be spelled one of two ways, means, embarrassing to look at or see. Full of awkwardness. An adjective describing something at which you might cringe.
For example, if there is someone who is very awkward hard to carry on a conversation with, and you’re trying to talk to them, your friend my say, I saw you trying to talk to John. Cringey.
Or, she tripped in the hallway and then started crying. It was cringey.
Or, if someone’s really nervous and doing a terrible job with his presentation, you might say, this is cringey.
And, finally, basic. If someone or something is basic, it’s uninteresting, uncool, boring, very mainstream.
Should I come to the party? No, it’s basic. I’m leaving.
What do you think of Megan’s new boyfriend? He’s kind of basic.
Hopefully no one calls my videos basic. If they do, I know I need to start thinking of a more interesting approach to teaching English.
These are all two-syllable words with stress on the first syllable. Extra, Cringey, Basic. They all have that DA-da feel.
Have you ever heard these terms used? Challenge: put one of them in a sentence and put it in the comments below. Don’t be basic. Try it!
Want to learn lots more slang? Click here to see all my summer of slang videos.
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