Lesson
ABATTOIR n. 1. A slaughter house which processes meat for human consumption.
ABBREVIATION Abbreviations form their own subset of a language. Examples of some of the more common abbreviations are given here.
ADAM'S ALE n. 1. Water.
AIRER n. 1. A collapsible outside clothes line apparatus for drying clothes. A CLOTHES HORSE is a kind of drying rack.
AIRSCREW n. 1. Propeller. A-LEVELS n. 1. An exam which is the second part of the General Certificate of Education needed in order to attend the university. These are generally taken at age 18.
ALLOTMENT n. 1. A vegetable garden plot. These are typically owned by some sort of government authority and citizens may simply apply to use one. As in, "We've an ALLOTMENT over on Garden CLOSE". These are also called "cooperatives". ALLOTMENTS have been available for a very long time. For example, residents of the village of Colden Common, HANTS, could obtain an ALLOTMENT in 1855 for a fee of three POUNDS a year. These same ALLOTMENTS are used today and cost four POUNDS yearly.
ALSATIAN n. 1. German shepherd dog.
AMBER n. 1. Yellow (when said of traffic lights). In Britain all traffic lights go: Green, AMBER, red, red and AMBER, green. Note: An AMBER GAMBLER is one who is yellow/green color-blind (taken from road safety advertisement).
AMERICAN DINNER n. 1. A potluck dinner.
ANORAK n. 1. Hooded coat. Parka.
APPROVED SCHOOL n. 1. Now known as COMMUNITY SCHOOLS, this is a place where children who are removed from the custody of their parents are brought.
ARBROATH SMOKIES n. 1. Haddock which has been smoked over a hardwood fire, as opposed to, for instance, a KIPPER - which is typically herring that have been "kippered" (a salting-and-cold-smoking process). A BLOATER is similar, but is smoked whole and has a more "gamey" taste.
ARROWS n. 1. Darts, as in, "How about a game of ARROWS ?".
ARTICULATED LORRY n. 1. A semi truck. This is almost always shortened to ARTIC (pronounced AR-TICK with the emphasis on the second syllable).
ATHLETICS n. 1. Track and field.
AUBERGINE (o-ber-jean) n. 1. Eggplant.
AUNT SALLY n. 1. A person at a carnival game that you throw sponges etc. at. This is often generalized to be anyone that is commonly castigated or insulted. To quote a BBC radio broadcaster: "Well, you know, the Post Office is everyone's AUNT SALLY".
