Guest Post by author Stephanie Abbott plus a book feature
As part of my getting re-acquainted with all things literary, which I’m hoping to use to ease me back into writing, I volunteered to be part of a Book/Blog Tour for an author I’ve found and fallen in love with recently – even if her writing is a bit unconventional. 
I hope y’all will give her the chance she deserves and also fall in love with her writing.
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English Lingo
Compiled by Stephanie Abbott
England and America are two countries separated by the same language. – George Bernard Shaw.
Here’s a fun little glossary for those who might find English usage “across the Pond” amusing:
- Fag: a cigarette. Respectable usage: “I just need five minutes to suck on a fag.”
- Cider: a mild-to-moderate alcoholic drink currently more popular than beer in some parts ofEngland, especially with underage girls.
- Pouf: a soft place to sit, e.g., an ottoman. Also, a male homosexual.
- Slag: an unattractive and or dirty woman of ill repute.
- Wank: how a male pleasures himself. Common insult: “You wanker!”
- Sacked: Fired.
- Footballer: a professional soccer player and (usually) national hero.
- Football Hooligan: someone who uses his or her support of a sports team to bully, insult, or physically threaten those who support other teams.
- Panda cars: black and white police cars.
- Rent boy: male prostitute.
- Page Three Girl: A beautiful topless female featured in a British newspaper as a sort of daily confection, like horoscopes or the crossword puzzle.
- Dog-end: a cigarette butt.
- Row: argument, loud quarrel.
- Mate: friend.
- Detached house: a house unattached to any other, with a surrounding yard. In some parts of urbanEngland, most homes are “flats” – one-level apartments – or “row houses,” each dwelling literally attached to the next. For some people, the ultimate middle-class status symbol is a house that doesn’t touch either neighbor’s.
- The Tube:London’s underground subway system.
- Tosser: person who masturbates. More commonly, a despicable person.
- “Gagging for it”: desperate for sex.
- Bugger off: go away
- Flannel: a washcloth
- Ginger hair: red.
- Gastro-pub: a bar that serves food.
- NHS: National Health Service, universal healthcare inBritain.
- A.A.C.D.: AmericanAcademy ofCosmetic Dentistry, because “American” denotes a white smile and cash up front.
- Top-Drawer: the best.
- Take the Mickey: to make someone feel like a fool.
- Open University: education open to all adults seeking career training or self-improvement.
- Ward sister: head nurse.
- Top yourself: commit suicide.
- Pudding: any dessert.
- “In the club”: pregnant.
- Scarper: run away. Also known as “doing a runner.”
- Screw: prison guard.
- Winging: whining, complaining.
- Pensioner: senior citizen, also called an Old Age Pensioner, or O.A.P.
- “Put you in the picture”: fill you in.
- Petrol: gasoline.
- Braces: suspenders.
- Dustman: garbage collector.
- Boxing Day: traditionally December 26th, the day when service people – post carriers, dustmen, etc – are presented with a gift of money.
- “Early days yet”: too soon to tell.
- Lady Day: March 25th, Mary’s Feast of the Anunciation.
- Doolally: insane.
I think the above sample proves we have a way to go before we comprehend our English cousins. For more about the similarities and difference between our language, please check out three of my favorite reference books: British English A to Zed, 3rd Edition, by Norman W. Schur; Watching the English by Kate Fox; and The Anglo Files by Sarah Lyall.
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Here’s a small sampling of Stephanie Abbott/S.A. Reid’s literary works, for those of you who would like to read more about her works.
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Past Lives Series - Rachel written by: S.A. Reid
The silver Porsche must have been doing eighty when it hit black ice. I couldn’t swerve, couldn’t get out of the way. There was nowhere to go as the Porsche whipped around, skidding toward my little car. Headlights rushed toward me, flooding my windshield, obliterating the night. And then I was someplace else. A home that once belonged to me. A place I’d loved, the only safe refuge in an increasingly dangerous world. I recognized my surroundings – Belgrave Square, London. But not modern London, with its funky cars, punk rockers, and Virgin Mobile billboards. No, this was Victorian London. Cobblestone streets, iron fences, gaslights glowing through thick yellow fog. And I was myself again, my former self …The memory stream jerked, flickering like an old zoetrope camera. Images flew by, pulling me deeper. Past the big oak tree shedding its leaves … past the front step whitened by a maid each morning … past the red-lacquered door with lanterns glowing on either side … Beyond it all – wallpapered foyer, brass spittoons, coat rack, maid and butler – I saw myself.
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Protection by S.A. Reid
When Gabriel MacKenna enters Wentworth Prison in 1931, he promises himself two things: never to be buggered and never to turn prison queer. Tough, smart, and ruthless in a fight, he quickly makes a name for himself inside. But Gabriel is serving two life sentences. And life is a very long time.
Enter Joey Cooper. Trained at Oxford as a physician, the young doctor is innocent of prison culture and too handsome for his own good. Joey cannot hope to survive Wentworth without protection. And protection is just what Gabriel MacKenna offers. At a price…
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Something Different written by: S.A. Reid
Unhappily married Michael Maguire decides to do something different. Setting out to hire a female prostitute, Michael instead finds blue-eyed, beautiful James Campbell. Tempted in ways he never imagined, Michael embarks on a sexual adventure with a rent boy from London’s East End. No form of pleasure is off the table. Not even love…
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Ice Blue written by: Emma Jameson
Anthony Hetheridge, ninth Baron of Wellegrave, Chief Superintendent for New Scotland Yard, never married, no children, no pets, no hobbies, and not even an interesting vice, will turn sixty in three weeks. With the exception of his chosen career, too sordid for his blue-blooded family to condone, his life has been safe and predictable. But then he meets Detective Sergeant Kat
e Wakefield – beautiful, willful, and nearly half his age. When Hetheridge saves the outspoken, impetuous young detective from getting the sack, siding with her against Scotland Yard’s powerful male hierarchy, his cold, elegantly balanced world spins out of control. Summoned to London’s fashionable Belgravia to investigate the brutal murder of a financier, Hetheridge must catch the killer while coping with his growing attraction to Kate, the reappearance of an old flame, and the secret that emerges from his own past.
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Author Stephanie Abbott
About the author – Stephanie Abbott is the face behind the popular pseudonym, S.A. Reid. Well-known for her “real and likeable characters”, she also writes paranormal fiction (a new series titled Past Lives is currently being penned), fantasy, and sci-fi. Additionally, she also pens cozy mysteries as Emma Jameson.
For more information about the Orangeberry Blog Tour!
Be sure to check out Stephanie’s other pages:
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Thank you, Stephanie! For giving me the opportunity to showcase your works on my blog. And for the glimpse into the differences between American English and British English. That was very cool!
Good luck with your newest book, Something Different. 
