British Slang

[Ermol]

That example seems perfectly fine to me. Use of 'mate' is very common indeed, usually though I hear it used most often as part of set phrases such as 'cheers, mate' or 'you alright, mate?' Though, in a weird way, you're more likely to refer to someone as 'mate' if you don't know them very well, or literally just met them. You could thank a postman or a shopkeeper by going 'cheers, mate'. It basically acts as a general fill-in for someone's name.

This is just what I notice anyway.

Mate, love, pet, used interchangeably depending on where you are geographically.

After learning English from textbooks and Hollywood films, I was really confused when I moved to England 10 years ago, Greater Manchester to be specific (NOT pacific!!!!). This thread would have been very useful back then.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Resurrecting this thread to ask our British members a weird question. We have a term in the States for attending an event solo, "going stag." Do you use this term in Britain, or something else?

 

[CupofJoe]

Resurrecting this thread to ask our British members a weird question. We have a term in the States for attending an event solo, "going stag." Do you use this term in Britain, or something else?

We do use "Going Stag" but it would seem [to me at lease] to feel a deliberate Americanism if used. I'd probably so "on my Tod" [which apparently has something to do with an American Jockey...

 

[Gryphos]

I've never heard 'going stag' in London, though I'm not sure if other parts of the UK might; I doubt it, though. I also can't think off the top of my head of any phrases to describe going on your own to an event. I suppose it wouldn't be out of place to say 'going solo'; that seems like something I can imagine saying.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

So instead of...

Alerich’s mouth pulled into a small smile. Maybe he could get himself uninvited from his own wedding and go stag with Fitz somewhere else.

I would write...?

Alerich’s mouth pulled into a small smile. Maybe he could get himself uninvited from his own wedding and go on his Tod with Fitz somewhere else.

Does that make sense?

 

[Gryphos]

How old are these peeps and whereabouts are they from specifically?

 

[CupofJoe]

My concern might be that "on your tod" [and I have no idea if it should be capitalised] does mean alone [from the cockney rhyming slang Tod Sloan - alone]. So it looks strange to be alone and then with someone at the same time...
And it does feel dated. When I read the words I get an image of Dell and Rodney from Only Fools and Horses in the 80s... which is probably when I last heard it used...
[You just know I'm going to spend too much time today looking up rhyming slang....]

 

[Gryphos]

Cockney rhyming slang in general has become a thing of the past, replaced in large part in London (and various urban centres) by MLE or 'Multicultural London English', which gets a lot of its colloquialisms from Afro-Caribbean roots. At least, this is the case for the younger generation; older people may well and do often still use a form of the Cockney dialect.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

How old are these peeps and whereabouts are they from specifically?

These guys are in their late 20's, from London and quite wealthy and well educated. Just before this they get into a quote battle between Shakespeare and Marlowe.

 

[CupofJoe]

If they are quoting Shakespeare and Marlowe [regardless of the period context] I don't think "on your tod" would work... Unless they were deliberately using the affectation of a cock-er-nee accent...

 

[SumnerH]

So instead of...

Alerich’s mouth pulled into a small smile. Maybe he could get himself uninvited from his own wedding and go stag with Fitz somewhere else.

I would write...?

Alerich’s mouth pulled into a small smile. Maybe he could get himself uninvited from his own wedding and go on his Tod with Fitz somewhere else.

Does that make sense?

What about just "head off with Fitz somewhere else" or "sneak off/go off/run off/etc..."?

FWIW, I'm a 40-something American native and "go stag" sounds extremely dated to me--I've heard it before, but generally from older generations and nostalgia havens like Archie Comics.



Sidebar: It's kind of amusing to me that "go stag" is an Americanism, but "stag do" (for bachelor party) is a Briticism.

 

[Mackilt]

On his "Tod" would be on his own so he couldn't go with Fitz.
"Maybe he could get himself ejected from the wedding and hit the town with Fitz" depends of course on where they intend to go.

What about just "head off with Fitz somewhere else" or "sneak off/go off/run off/etc..."?

FWIW, I'm a 40-something American native and "go stag" sounds extremely dated to me--I've heard it before, but generally from older generations and nostalgia havens like Archie Comics.



Sidebar: It's kind of amusing to me that "go stag" is an Americanism, but "stag do" (for bachelor party) is a Briticism.