Slang Terms | Learn English at EnglishCafe

English is a living language and one of its pleasures is that it evolves and takes on new meanings for old words as well as taking in words from other languages. English as it is spoken today carries the mark of a lot of history. (Saxons conquered by Normans brought romance language to the mix for example) A lot of slang evolves as a way for one group to separate itself out from the general population--like a private code. "Cool" is like that--it came out of the Beats in the 1950's and has been in and out of favor as a phrase (seems to be back in as a general response meaning "I am happy with that" or "I agree with you" as in:
    Do you want to go to the mall?            Cool or I'm cool (with that)

    Sally just got into Harvard.               Cool!

Often a word is used with exactly its opposite meaning. Right now "sick" is being used in street dancing to mean "really good" "or fantastic" as in "That spin is really sick". It all depends on context in which the word is used.

Cool is a filler word for a lot of Americans. It can mean: yes, awesome, ok, good and many more things.

Examples: "Your outfit is really cool." = "I like your outfit."
"Let's go here for lunch, is that cool?" = "Let's go here for lunch, ok?"

In what meanings is the common word "cool" is used? I hear it very often with Americans:) Does it mean "fine or ok"?Or is there any other meaning attached to it?Would like to know other commonly used words like "cool".

Howdy essentially means "Hi." It comes from the late 19th and early 20th century. You'll hear it in a lot of old American Westerns (movies). Cowboys will frequently say, "Howdy Partner," meaning "Hi."

I met GeorgeC here after a long time and he wrote on my scratch pad "Howdy stranger". I thought he didn't remember me because he was saying me "stranger", but that happened to mean that it was a log time we havn't seen each other. It was quite confusing for me.

And, what does Howdy mean? something like how do you do???

We mix English and our native language tamil and create some slangs. For example, "Sothappifying". In Tamil, "Sothappal" means messing up. Sometimes while conversing in English, we mix the English and Tamil and create words like this.

"Hay Buddy! You are sothappifying everything." meaning, You are messing up everything. We call this as Tanglish also. Tamil + English :-)

That's very true, I hadn't considered the use of brands as names for common items. Xerox is also commonly used for copy, "I need to make a xerox of this report." In which case "Xerox" the name of a copier is being used as a verb for "to copy" no longer making it a proper noun.

P.S. I like that you're keen.

I consider myself keen on merging trends, but it is almost impossible to keep up with all the new American slang words and word associations. For example the word "cop" can also represent a "police officer". Or another example, people will associate brands with certain products (Bandaids for bandages or Kleenex for facial tissue or Ziplock for a plastic bag).