Winning English - Mastering Idioms, Slang, and References

Everyday slang - Gotta • Kinda • Watchya • Gimme • and more

Oct 29, 2020

I’m going to shake it up for today’s newsletter. Instead of focusing on idioms as I usually do, I will focus on several ways native English speakers change their everyday speech compared to written speech.

Photo by Alexis Brown on Unsplash

See, I couldn’t avoid an example of a slang word, even in the introduction! “To shake it up” means to do something in a new way that doesn’t fit the usual pattern.

Let me tell you a little story. The other day, I opened the door to leave the house. My wife asked, “Whatchya doing?”

“I gotta go to the grocery store”, I answered.

“It’s kinda cold, “ she said. “You might need a coat.”

“Whatchya” is a common way English speakers pronounce the phrase “what are you”. “What are you doing” becomes “whatchya doing”. Sometimes it’s pronounced “whatya”, too.
“Gotta” is a common way to say “got to” or “am going to”. So, I could have said, “I am going to the store” or “I got to go to the store”, although the first one is better English than the second.
Sometimes English speakers will say “hafta” instead of “gotta.” “Hafta” means “have to”. “I have to (I hafta) go to the store.”
“Kinda” is often said instead of “kind of”. “It’s kind of (kinda) cold”.
Sometimes English speakers will say “sorta” instead of “kinda”. “Sorta” substitutes for “sort of”. “It’s sorta cold out there.”

Back to the story. My wife continued. “Wait. Wanna go the department store, too? I need some things there. I’ll come with you. Gimme a minute to find some coupons I have. I can save some money.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’m gonna sweep the garage while I’m waiting. Lemme know when you’re ready. Ain’t no rest for the wicked!”

“Wanna” is a spoken substitution for “want to”.
“Gimme” means “give me”.
“Gonna” means “going to”. Note the difference between “gonna” and “gotta”. “I gotta go” can mean “I am going to go” or “I have to go”. “Gonna” is only “going to”, so you have to add the verb “to be” and say “I am gonna” or “I’m gonna”.
“Lemme” is a spoken way of saying “let me”.
“Ain’t” substitutes for “isn’t”, the contraction of “is not”.
“Ain’t no rest for the wicked” is an idiom. I couldn’t resist giving you at least one. It comes from a similar sentence in a version of Christian Bible. It means that evil people will never be at peace. But it’s often used in a humorous way to mean you have a lot of work to do.
Note that the “no” in “ain’t no” means “any”. “Ain’t no” means “isn’t any”.
“Ain’t no rest for the wicked” is a very common saying. It even is used in some popular songs.

Thanks for reading Winning English! Please make sure to listen to the podcast version today, too. It will help you to hear these words pronounced. Talk soon!