Barbara Brotman wrote a fun article on slang used by the younger generation. In all fairness, some of it really isn't all that new, such as "I'm good" when saying "no thank you," or "weed" for pot. However, a few of them were new to me, such as "pre-gaming" or "slow your roll" or "sexiled," though they're all fairly easy to figure out.

However, I found this particularly funny:

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Slang can be pesky that way, as I found out years ago during a semester abroad when I dated a gentlemanly young man in London. After the two of us visited a museum one day, he said goodbye and added, "I'll knock you up tonight." Who knew that meant he would telephone?

When the phrase was common in England, "Knock you up" to me meant you'd call around and knock on someone's door.

Although the US meaning of the expression was known, it would never have been used in UK English. We had other phrases for the unfortunate accident of causing unwanted pregnancy, of which "in the club" was probably the most common.

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"I'll knock you up tonight." Who knew that meant he would telephone?

As Richard said, it meant he would knock on her door. He's have said "I'll ring you up" if he was going to telephone her.

Yes, Kalleh, her vocab is all over the place. Though some slang comes and goes in cycles, it seems like she's mixing in her own childhood: e.g., weed. And bad meaning good? That is so unhip and grandaddily that I must catch some kip. And, yes, I have only heard knock up used by Britons to mean to knock on the door of one's room or house.

In the 19th and 20th centuries there was a man whose job it was to knock people up and he was called (would you believe) a knocker-up.

Primarily a denizen of the northern industrial towns, his job became redundant when alarm clocks got cheap enough for ordinary working men and women to buy.

There a tale here: http://www.cottontown.org/page...id=1291&language=eng

There was a young lady in Crewe
Who was asked, "Can I call you to screw?"
"No, you can't," she replied.
"Your request is denied.
I've been knocked up by better than you."

I'll leave it to you to decide if she was American or British.

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I'll leave it to you to decide if she was American or British.

I suppose that depends on whether she lived in Crewe, Cheshire, England or Crewe, Virginia, USA.

Or if she was an expatriate.

...from a 45-ish-year-old Playboy cartoon:

A very pregnant woman, crossing the street, looks up from her magazine at the truck that has just screeched to a halt inches from her. The driver, irate, leans out the window and hollers, "Hey lady -- you can get knocked down, too!..."

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...