As you continue to improve your English, you’ll want to become familiar with slang. Slang is a type of language which is informal. It’s more common in speech than in writing. Because slang is often restricted to a particular context or group of people, it can be tricky to use at times. Some slang words or expressions are a fad, while others are limited to particular regions.

In this post we’d like to share some expressions and English slang words with you that will make you sound more fluent, while keeping it to expressions that you will find useful in most of the English-speaking world. We will warn you about expressions whose usefulness is more limited and explain where and why you might only find them useful in certain contexts and places.
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19 Common English Slang Words to Help You Sound Fluent
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Some alternatives to ‘how are you?’

“What’ve you been up to lately?”

‍You can use this to say “How’ve you been?” or “how’s it been going?”

Many formal textbooks only teach new learners of English to say ‘how are you?’ or ‘how do you do?’ But because you’ll be engaging with people in natural settings, you’ll want understand people when they greet you in a variety of ways.

When you learn to use ‘have been’ you are showing your ability to speak in the present perfect tense, so you’ll be able to show off your English ability and sound more fluent. Notice the expression ‘to be up to’. This is an example of a phrasal verb. A phrasal verb is a verb followed by an adverb or a preposition. In this case, the verb is followed by two prepositions.

English is full of phrasal verbs which act as idiomatic expressions. Some of them are forms of slang as well. Because “what have you been up to?” can also sound a bit suspicious, so you’ll want to pay attention to intonation to make sure you sound interested in the other person and not suspicious that they’ve been doing something mischievous.
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Some alternatives to ‘goodbye’

Now it’s time for an example of what you might say when you depart somebody’s company. Here are some examples:

• Have a good one.
• Take care.
• Catch you later.
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‘Have a good one’ and ‘take care’ are not as casual as ‘catch you later’.  ‘Take care’ is not so much a slang expression and although it implies a sense caution and safety, it is a common way to say goodbye to somebody. ‘Have a good one’ is more casual than ‘take care’.
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Phrasal verbs and slang

We often use phrasal verbs to create slang. Here are some examples:

‍'Stay or keep clear of [insert here].'

‍This means to avoid.

You use it to tell somebody to keep one’s distance from something because of danger. For example, “Stay clear of the tracks when the tram approaches.” You can also say ‘Keep clear of the tracks when the tram approaches.’

‍'To pig out.'

‍This means to eat too much in a short time.

To binge on food. Pig is usually a noun and it’s rare to use it as a verb. In this context we are using ‘pig’ as a verb and as you see, ‘to pig out’ is a phrasal verb. “They went to an all-you-can-eat buffet and pigged out.”

‍'To make fun of.'

‍This means to tease or to mock.

“It’s not polite to make fun of others.”

‍'Have a go at it.'

‍This means to try.

“I’ll have a go at it.”

You might use this expression especially if somebody is trying something for the first time.

‍'You’re all washed up'

‍Another way of saying, 'you’re history, you’re a has-been, you’re a thing of the past.'  

This is another example of a phrasal verb.
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Slang verbs

English is full of examples with verbs that are slang expressions. Here are some of our favorite examples.  

‍'To mince words or to mince one’s words'

‍To disapprove of indirectly.

You may hear people say ‘don’t mince words’ when they want the other party to openly and directly express their opinion, even if it is negative.

‍'Pull a fast one.'

‍This expression means to trick somebody.

‘Don’t try to pull a fast one (on me)’ means don’t try to trick me. The ‘on me’ at the end is optional.

‍'To bail'

‍This means to leave or abandon a place or a situation.

You can use it casually at a party, pub or event as in ‘let’s bail’ meaning that you want to leave because you don’t like the atmosphere. Normally ‘bail’ is used in English to release somebody from jail before trial, with money that the government holds to assure the defendant will return to court to stand trial.

‍'To give the cold shoulder'

‍This is when you avoid contact with somebody.

You stop communicating with them and you ‘give them the cold shoulder’.

‍'To drive up the wall'

‍This means to drive one crazy.

‘This talk show drives me up the wall’ means you have strong feelings against it.

‍'To get your tail down here.'

‍Come over - a casual way to invite somebody, with a sense of some urgency.
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Descriptive Slang

'Rookie.'

A newbie, a new recruit, somebody new to a field or profession. Somebody without much experience. This word is likely  a short version of the word recruit.

‍'Up one’s sleeve'

‍This means that somebody has a strategy, secret reserves, or contingency plans. It likely comes from poker language, when a cheater had an ace hidden in a sleeve to exchange with another card to create a winning hand. You could say ‘he’s got something up his sleeve’ when you’re confident that he’ll be able to work his way through a difficult situation.

‍'Bells and whistles'

‍When something has the latest technological features. Rather than specify exactly what features make something top quality, you can say that it has ‘all the bells and whistles’.

‍'Gut feeling'

‍A gut feeling is intuition. You have a gut feeling that may be positive or negative about something. You might hear people say ‘follow your gut feeling’ This means that they recommend you pay attention to your intuition.

‘What does your gut feeling tell you?’ means they are asking you about your strongest intuitions and instincts about something rather than asking about your conscious reasoning on a matter.
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English Slang Words in the UK vs in the USA

We’ll conclude with a couple of examples of how English slang words differs between the US and the UK.

‍'My bad.'

‍Use this to say you made a mistake or you were wrong. The older generation doesn’t use this slang and it’s much more common in North America, since it likely originates in admitting a mistake on the basketball court. So it’s a good example of how slang can be limited to a certain generation and geographical location.

‍'Zonked (US) / Knackered (British)'

‍Exhausted. We couldn’t resist ending this post with an example of how sometimes people from the US and UK might need to clarify what each is talking about. Because US slang can be different from UK slang, you’ll want to make sure to learn the English slang words of the people you’ll have contact with the most.

Rype has a post on the 23 most common English idioms, which will help you continue to learn to sound more fluent when you speak English. You can also start with a private language lessons trial at Rype.