Colloquialism Thesaurus (Different ways people say the same thing)

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drewag

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novicewriter

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:) That's a nice idea. If you don't want to do all the work, yourself, there are other websites where others have already done the work, giving lists of British English or Australian words, including slang, translated into American English. There are also lists of Irish, Spanish and Italian slang words.

For example: (there are other web sources with lists of British English words to American English)

https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/words_list/british_american.htm

British English to American English
https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/words/be-ae.htm

Australian to American English
https://www.fionalake.com.au/info/translations/australian-american-words

There's a list of current teen slang:
https://netsanity.net/teen-slang-parents-guide/

If you're looking for American slang, the University of Massachusetts made a list:
https://www.umass.edu/ipo/sites/default/files/slang.pdf
 
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drewag

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:) That's a nice idea. If you don't want to do all the work, yourself, there are other websites where others have already done the work, giving lists of British English or Australian words, including slang, translated into American English. There are also lists of Irish, Spanish and Italian slang words.

For example: (there are other web sources with lists of British English words to American English)

https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/words_list/british_american.htm

British English to American English
https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/words/be-ae.htm

Australian to American English
https://www.fionalake.com.au/info/translations/australian-american-words

There's a list of current teen slang:
https://netsanity.net/teen-slang-parents-guide/

If you're looking for American slang, the University of Massachusetts made a list:
https://www.umass.edu/ipo/sites/default/files/slang.pdf

Cool, thanks for those resources! They should help!
 

WeaselFire

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Huh. I ain't never did see such a thing afore now.

Not sure it's of actual use to me, but it is a unique perspective, thanks.

Jeff
 

Harlequin

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Hrm. I love the ambition but I feel like this is a vast project.

There are an awful lot of dialects, dozens and dozens *just* within the UK. My heart quails at trying to guess how many are in Australia, let alone America, and we're not even out of majority-English speaking countries yet (if you get as far as Asia, Singapore English is an academic area of study all on its own just about).

Branching out from there you start getting into pidgins and creoles and so on.
 

Helix

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Adding to what Harlequin said, you've also got emotion. F'rinstance, depending on context, an Australian man might greet another with anything from an effusive 'How are ya going, you old bastard?' to a nod and a tight-lipped 'mate'.
 

drewag

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Hrm. I love the ambition but I feel like this is a vast project.

Agreed, but it doesn't have to be exhaustive to be useful.

Adding to what Harlequin said, you've also got emotion.

Ya, if this takes off, I'd love to add some extra attributes on each phrase. Probably "subtext". Also perhaps some way to categorize them based on what type of people normally say them. I'm sure I'm being to ambitious here, but it will be something I will add to over time (and hopefully others will as well). Basically, whenever I brainstorm how a character of mine might say something, I do it in this document.
 
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