Un Lun Dun (52 page)

Authors: China Mieville

BOOK: Un Lun Dun

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

C
HINA
M
IÉVILLE
is a two-time winner of both the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the British Fantasy Award, as well as the Locus Award and several other honors. He is the author of
King Rat, Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council,
and the anthology
Looking for Jake.
He lives and works in London.

Glossary

Bin / Dustbin:
Trash can / garbage can.

Bog off:
Go away.

Bollard:
A little post to divert traffic on a road; a traffic cone.

Class-mark:
The numbers on the side of a library book.

Climbing frame:
A jungle gym.

Comprehensive:
A school for children aged 11 to 16 or 18.

Do a bunk:
Run away.

Estate:
Several big apartment blocks—a housing project.

Git:
Unpleasant person.

Knackered:
Exhausted.

Lairy:
Cheeky and aggressive.

Manky:
Disgusting.

Minging:
Dirty/smelly/unpleasant.

Mobile:
Short for “mobile phone”—a cell phone.

Nutter:
Somebody acting crazy.

Quite:
When Americans say something is “quite good/bad/etc.,” you mean it is “very” good/bad/etc. When Brits say it, we sometimes mean it in just the same way—but then sometimes we mean something is only “fairly,” or “moderately,” or “kind-of-but-not-extremely” good/bad/etc. It can be confusing.

Rubbish:
Trash / garbage.

Rum:
Strange.

Sarky:
Sarcastic.

Scrum:
A confused situation involving lots of people.

Shtum:
Silent.

Soft (“Don’t be soft”):
Foolish.

Take the Michael:
Mock, make fun of.

Tarmac:
What they make airport runways out of, but we use it to describe normal roads, too.

Tower block:
Big apartment block.

Yonks:
A long time.

ALSO BY CHINA MIÉVILLE

King Rat