Wait, What Does That Mean?!

Think you know what people are really saying? Fifteen countries are about to prove otherwise.

465 multiple-choice questions on the slang, sayings and everyday expressions that trip up outsiders - with the real story behind every answer.

An Australian tells you they're heading to the servo this arvo. A Dubliner says the craic was ninety. A Jamaican greets you with wah gwaan. A Londoner tells you to use your loaf.

Same language, supposedly. Completely different instructions.

Then there are the countries where you don't even get the illusion of a head start. A German who says he only understands train station. A French speaker with a fat morning ahead of him. A Korean reacting to good news with a word that used to mean jackpot. Every non-English entry comes with a literal, word-for-word translation - so you can see exactly how far the words sit from what they actually mean.

FIFTEEN COUNTRIES, THIRTY-PLUS QUESTIONS EACH

Ten English-speaking: United Kingdom · United States · Canada · Australia · New Zealand · Ireland · South Africa · Singapore · India · Jamaica

Five in their own language: Germany · France · Spain & Latin America · Japan · South Korea

From Cockney rhyming slang and Aussie shorthand to Singlish, Jamaican patois, Japanese youth slang and Korean internet expressions.

WHAT MAKES THIS ONE DIFFERENT

Most slang books are lists. This one is a quiz - and every answer comes with the story behind the word.

• 465 multiple-choice questions across 15 countries
• Answers and origin stories printed on the same page - no flipping to the back, no losing your place
• Literal translations for every non-English term, so the joke lands even if you don't speak the language
• Honest about disputed origins instead of inventing folklore. Where nobody actually knows where a phrase came from, this book says so
• Dip in anywhere - no country assumes you've read the one before it

PERFECT FOR

Trivia nights and pub quizzes. Long car journeys. Travel prep before a trip abroad. Language lovers and word nerds. Anyone who's ever nodded along to a sentence they didn't understand.

And it makes an easy gift - for the friend who collects odd facts, the relative who's impossible to buy for, or anyone who's spent time abroad and come back with vocabulary nobody at home recognises.

Some of these you'll get instantly. Some will feel like a trick. A few will make you say the words out loud just to check whether they sound any more sensible that way.

They usually don't. That's rather the point.