Language lovers from other parts of the world are big fans of these phrases and idioms.
Lets not beat around the bush here: Americans have a way with words.
Theres also a lot of weirdly body-specific Americanisms.
Wevereallygot a thing for legs: That idea has legs, Break a leg!
That cost an arm and a leg.
See what they had to say below.
I begin to picture myself hanging somewhere until Im attended to.
Thats a bit funny.
I have never heard a Brazilian put those two words together.
My first impression was that it reminded me of the Australian version of the word heaps.
We use heaps to mean a lot of or very, so hella is like the American equivalent!
Its short, concise and to the point, which is what Australian slang is all about.
I think its really cute.
The reason I like it is the unexpectedness: We usually determine cleanliness by visual signals.
Additionally, squeaking may well be my favorite onomatopoeic word, which means a word that represents sound.
Mice and other small rodents squeak, and I have always liked mice.
I always leave with a smile on my face.
And its a phrase that is so synonymous with Americans, too.
The second bonus is that it gives me the image of chocolate cake in my mind.
This phrase is reassuring and yummy at the same time.
I heard it in the movie High School Musical and I was confused.
It sounds like something negative but it has a positive and a motivating connotation.
I just found out that this action has a name:verbing.
Verbing does not exist in my native language (Brazilian Portuguese).
What I like about verbing is that it makes communication easy and to the point.
I remember an anecdote from about 10 years ago when I had just moved to NYC.
I passed by two young women on the street and overheard one of them saying, They bullshitted me.
Thats when I realized that any noun could be turned into a verb.
Langhammer
Take An L
I like the phrase Take an L for Take a loss.
Its an easy way to summarize a crappy situation.
For Aussies, shortening things is always our preference, so this phrase is perfect!
Its also a bit more reminiscent of street slang, which is more colloquial, friendly and relaxed.
Hatfield
Under The Weather
I use it every time Im ill.
Especially in work correspondence, it feels like the most professional way to communicate an illness.
When I first heard it I loved it.
It has a nice ring to it.
I remember noticing someone doing that on Twitter a few years ago and thinking, Oh, thats clever!
Zaykovskaya
Take A Chill Pill
I once worked in an office with American colleagues and a micromanager.
Our manager was always super stressed and micromanaging every task we did.
One day, one of our colleagues asked this manager to take a chill pill.
This was the first time I heard of this expression, and I found it so cool.
I wrote it down and read on to see whether that would turn out to be something important.
When I finished the book, I looked it up on the Internet and giggled.
Why would people associate the front seat with a weapon?
Is that really a habit, people riding with shotguns?
