New York Slang and its Learning by Students

Learning a language isn’t only about grammar structures, words, phonemes and so on. It is learning and finding out more about the culture and the people who speak that language. With English, there is definitely more than one country that speaks English, the most famous versions of English are British and American. Today let’s focus on the American one and a geographic subset. A lot of teenagers are interested in American culture … and slang.

What’s the number one city associated with the US? Of course, it is New York City. It’d be an exciting cultural insight for your teenage students to learn NYC slang. Let’s look at some slang words.

1. «The City»

Probably when seeing the word, you would think it’s about all of New York City. However, to New Yorkers it refers exclusively to Manhattan, an island that is part of New York City when they say “The City”.

Example: A: I’m going to go to The City on the weekend

B: Nah, I’d rather stay in Brooklyn

2. Schmear

And this isn’t usually simply a schmear but a bagel with schmear. A plain boring bagel. And this is your wholesome bagel with schmear.

If you ask for that, you’ll be served a bagel with a good amount of tasty cream cheese on it. Did you know that New Yorkers are real fans of bagels? People say New Yorkers live on pizza and bagels.

And some chiefs believe that you must never ever toast a fresh bagel.

3. Bodega

This word also exists in the Spanish language. There it means “a wine shop or a storeroom». Of course, in New York “bodega” means something very different. It is a style of tiny grocery stores, often on a corner of a street. In fact, “bodega” is a lot more than just an ordinary convenience store.

The rent for one of these tiny stores is at least $6,000 a month to much, much higher rents.

Example: I always go to this bodega on my lunch break to get a can of Coke.

4. Babushkas

In New York, if you’re walking around and the cold wind is blowing your hair around, you might want to stop and find a babushka. And if you don’t like your babushka, just get rid of it and find the one that you like. That’s right, in New York it’s perfectly legal to buy and sell babushkas, in fact, it happens every day,no questions asked. Sounds too shocking especially for Russian speakers but in New York “babUshka” (second syllable is stressed is a headscarf)

Example: I wanna go to the thrift store to get a couple of babushkas for sale.

5. To get on line

This word is mainly associated with doing things on the Internet, because according to Cambridge Dictionary “Online products, services, or information can be bought or used on the internet”. When New Yorkers say “on line” what they actually mean is “staying in line” or in a queue. Anywhere else in the country you get in line.

Example: People waiting on line for free pancakes

Example: New Yorkers don’t like to wait on line and you dare not jump the line or cut in line, especially in New York.

6. «The Train»

When you are in New York, don’t ask for the metro or subway, instead, ask for a train. «Where can I catch the train?» Yes, that’s what English-speaking New Yorkers call subways, metros or undergrounds.

Example: Is there a Train near here?

7. Pie

In most of the United States, this may mean apple, pecan, cherry or any kind of fruit baked in a crust. In New York, a pie can only mean one thing: a pizza. Strange enough? Well yes, but there’s one more interesting name for a pizza.

8. A Slice

Okay, we all know what “a slice” is but what if I told you that it is only about pizza. New Yorkers say “want to get a slice?” when they specifically mean “a slice of pizza”

By the way, normally the usage of articles doesn’t apply to “a slice”, it’s always said with an “a”.

Example: Can I get a slice?

9. Schmutz

And after you finish your pizza it’s a good idea to check in a mirror to see if you have a little schmutz on your face.

The Yiddish word schmutz (pronounced SHMUTS, with a “u” as in “put”), also spelled shmutz. It means «dirt,» «filth,» «grime,» or «rubbish.»

10. Flying rats

Flying rat is a term New Yorkers sometimes use to refer to those pesky loud obnoxious street pigeons whose droppings seem to be everywhere.

As a visitor it’s probably best not to tell New Yorkers and other Americans the North American continent didn’t have any pigeons until some clever immigrants imported the birds from Europe. And it all took off from there.

11. Uptown, Midtown and Downtown

These terms can be very confusing to a tourist or someone new in New York. There is an interminable controversy between locals who has a better part of the island. Today we won’t go into this debate, let’s just look more closely at different sections of Manhattan.

Manhattan is an island, the streets on most of the island are laid out in a grid pattern.

Uptown means north of where you are standing, and downtown means south of where you are standing

According to Wikipedia, Uptown Manhattan is the area above 59th Street; Upper Manhattan is the area above 96th Street. Downtown Manhattan is the area below 14th Street; Lower Manhattan is the area below Chambers Street. Midtown Manhattan is the area between 34th Street and 59th Street.

Looking from Midtown towards Downtown

12. The Village

When New Yorkers use this word always with a definite article, they are referring to Greenwich Village. It’s a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.

There is also a section of the village called «the East Village»

13. Schlep

Simply put, to schlep is to get from point A to point B with some effort.

Now here is a bigger explanation: Many New Yorkers don’t own cars as it is not necessary for living in the city. Which means that every time they want to get around in the city, they have to go through a challenge. Choosing the right subway station, then transferring at the right place, getting into a cab packed with people. The entire exciting adventure is called “schlepping”, NYC is legitimately considered schlep capital of the world.

Example: I can picture you schlepping around the city.

14. Jersey

If in New York they tell you, you are or anything is from Jersey, Jersey refers to the State of New Jersey located to the west across the Hudson River is a bad thing because usually Jersey is a mildly derogatory term, our lower class, less educated neighbors.

Example: Are you from Jersey? Your accent is really odd.

15. Stoops

They are steps on the front of a house or an apartment.

A linguistic note: stoop is a Dutch word borrowed from the word stoep with the same pronunciation.

Stoep logically means “stair”.

Example: I’ve been sitting on the stoop the entire evening waiting for her.

16. Grill

No, it doesn’t mean to cook something on the grill. As a slang term, it means to stare at someone very closely and attentively for a long time

Example: Hey, you. Stop grilling me like that!

17. The One

There’s nothing romantic about this word. It is not the love of your life but simply a train line. It is a red line on the map

Example: How does The One run?

When we teach a language, our mission is actually to get learners engaged and interested in the words. Learning slang is a great way to do it. Hopefully, this material will help you and your teenage students in this linguistic adventure.