California Slang Shortlist

For those of you interested in informal English, spoken rather than written English, here is a shortlist of slang used everyday in California.  Note: The bold below indicates a stress.

adj.=adjective
adv.=adverb
n.=noun
v.=verb

    1.  lame (adj.) : boring, stupid, uninteresting

• Our camping trip turned out to be really lame because it rained the entire time.

    2.  swell, break (n.): surfing place or spot, group of waves

• My favorite break during the summer is in Del Mar.
• That swell was huge yesterday!

    3.  mellow (adj.):  relaxed, calm,

• My dog won't bite you--she's super mellow. 

    4.  sketchy (adj.): dubious, suspicious, weird

• I don't ever go to that neighborhood at night because it gets really sketchy.

   5.  awesome (adj.): great, wonderful, incredible

• The weather in California is awesome all year round. 

   6.  gnarly (adj.): crazy, unbelievable, amazing (Note: Gnarly can be good or bad.)

• There was a gnarly car accident yesterday at the cliffs. (bad)
• The waves here were totally gnarly yesterday after the tsunami hit Hawaii. (good or crazy)

   7.  dude, man (n.): guy (or more rarely, girl), used mostly between men

• Dude!  I can't believe you haven't seen that movie...
• Hey man, what have you been up to lately?

  8.  stoked (adj.): happy, excited 

• I'm so stoked--I just found out that I passed the bar exam!!!

  9.  totally (adv.):  absolutely, completely, or it can be used to answer yes

• + I'm totally into this new website that I found online--it has all sorts of information about traveling in Costa Rica.  Have you seen it?  (Note: to be into something means to really be interested in something).      
• + Totally!  I was the one who showed it to you!  Remember?  

10.  whatever (adv.):  It doesn't matter to me; Either way is fine for me; I don't care.

• +Do you want to go to cook at home or go out?
• +Whatever.  You choose...I worked all day today, so anything is fine with me.