Spirit of the Season

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Spirit of the Season Page 12

by Cate Dean


  cupboard - any closet in the house

  en-suite - bathroom is attached to the room and not shared

  fell - hill, mountain or high plain (Lake District and Pennine Dales)

  first floor - second floor (our first floor is the ground floor in England)

  flat - apartment

  gallery - balcony

  gangway - aisle in the theatre

  gaol - jail – pronounced the same

  garden - the entire yard, not just the flower or veg beds!

  heath - open land with low growing plants and vegetation

  High Street - the main street or road in a town

  licenced restaurant - restaurant with a license to sell alcohol

  lift - elevator

  listed - protected historic building

  loft - attic

  London School of Economics/LSE - well-known university in London

  lounge - living room

  mews - stables built behind 17th-18th century London houses, now converted into modern dwellings

  newsagent - similar to our convenience store

  off-licence - liquor store

  pitch - playing field

  public footpath - right of way path on private land that gives walkers the legal right to travel, also known as public rights of way

  public school - private school, i.e. Eton

  stalls - the best seats in the theatre, close to the stage

  state school - public school

  theatre - live theatre

  to let - to rent

  towpath - trail or road along the river, originally used to tow boats

  Transport

  bonnet - the car hood

  boot - the car trunk

  call - as in call at the station, rather than stopping

  caravan - a trailer - and the cause of many a tailback

  car park - the parking lot

  cat’s eyes - road reflectors

  clearway - section of road where it is illegal to stop

  coach - a long distance bus

  diversion - a detour

  dual carriageway - divided highway with a minimum of 2 lanes in each direction

  flyover - the overpass

  ford - low water crossing

  gearstick - the stick shift

  give way - yield

  hand brake - the parking brake

  lorry - a truck

  motorway - the freeway

  petrol - gas

  return ticket - a round trip ticket

  roundabout - a traffic circle

  service areas - freeway rest areas (also called motorway rest areas or MSAs)

  single ticket - a one way ticket

  sleeping policeman - a speed bump

  slip road - an entry or exit ramp

  subway - an underground walkway

  tailback - what we refer to fondly as a traffic jam

  taxi rank - a taxi stand

  Tube/Underground - the subway

  verge - grassy edge of the road

  way out - the exit

  zebra crossing - (rhymes with Debra) the crosswalk

  English slang, or what did he just say?

  all agog - excited - I’m all agog!

  bloody - less offensive expletive - not bloody likely!

  Bob’s your uncle - there you go, that’s it!

  brilliant - magnificent, excellent

  cheap as chips - inexpensive

  chuffed - delighted, pleased

  codswallup/codswallop - nonsense (I’ve seen several spelling variations of this one - they all mean the same thing, a load of nonsense)

  dicey - risky

  donkey’s years - ages, a long time

  full Monty - the whole thing, going all the way

  gander - to take a closer look at something - take a gander at that!

  give over - stop, give me a break

  gobsmacked - shocked, amazed, speechless

  hen night/hen party - bachelorette party

  homely - homey, cozy

  hump - to carry something heavy

  just a tick - just a second

  loads - lots – as in I use this word loads of times!

  mean - tight fisted, stingy

  natter - to talk incessantly, go on and on

  nick - to steal, take without permission

  knackered - exhausted

  knock up - to be woken up - please knock me up at 7 am (I had a B&B proprietor ask when I would like to be knocked up in the morning - fortunately I knew what she meant!)

  over the moon - ecstatic - he’s over the moon about it!

  pear-shaped - gone wrong, become a disaster

  pissed - drunk (not something you want to say to someone of new acquaintance!)

  put a sock in it - shut up

  rubbish - nonsense

  skive - to avoid responsibility, as in skiving off work

  snog/snogging - kiss, kissing, making out

  sod off - piss off, get lost

  sorted - fixed the problem, worked things out

  spend a penny - go to the bathroom/loo

  splash out - spend far too much money!

  stag night - bachelor party

  suss out - figure out

  taking the mickey - making fun of someone

  whinge - (rhymes with hinge) to whine or complain in an exceedingly annoying fashion

  wonky - unstable, crooked

  Yank - American

  Spirit of the Season

  Maggie Mulgrew Mysteries Book 3

  Cate Dean

  Copyright, 2017

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission of the author, except for use in any review. This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, locales, and events are either pure invention or used fictitiously, and all incidents come from the author’s imagination alone.

  About The Author

  Cate Dean has been writing since she could hold a pen in her hand and put more than two words together on paper.

  She grew up losing herself in the wilds of fantasy worlds, and has had some of her own adventures while tromping through the UK, and a few other parts of the world.

  A lover of all things supernatural, she infuses that love into her stories, giving them a unique edge.

  When she's not writing, she loves cooking, scaring herself silly in the local cemeteries, and reading pretty much anything she can get her hands on.

  There - I got the official biography out of the way. I love to write, and yes, I have been doing it most of my life. I've made up stories in my head for as long as I can remember, and I am thrilled to be able to write them down and share them with you.

  I love writing different types of stories, and jump from fantasy, to mystery and paranormal, then over to romance and YA. So many genres, so little time...

  If you want to be the first to know when the next book is released, or be in on some fun, exclusive contests and giveaways, join my list here: http://catedeanwrites.com/join-my-list.

  You can learn more about me and my books at my website: http://catedeanwrites.com

  I look forward to meeting you. :)

 

 

 


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