South Florida slang comes in a few varieties—Hip-Hop lingo, Cuban influenced, and those who are outside looking into this quirky state.  The students of all 4 South Florida TALK School locations have voted on the slang you’re most likely to hear in the state.  Sure, South Florida slang can vary by city and even neighborhood, but the listeners in Fort Lauderdale know their South Beach speak too!

South Florida Slang Words and Phrases

“Have a good one” a friendly way to say “goodbye–have a nice day”

“Hola”  “Hola Mama”  “Bienvenita”  all 3 are “hello”, the addition of “mama” is a bit of a leering “hello” to a girl/woman

“Oye”    that’s “hey” as in “hello” it’s a super shorthand for the Cuban phrase: “?oye que bola?” or “hey, what’s up?”

“Acere”  this means “pal”, “buddy”, “friend”

“Dale” you can thank the singer Pitbull for this—apparently, he says it A LOT!  It usually means “bye”, but can also mean “come on” or “hurry up”.

“Bih”  a person, place, or thing:  “what’s up with that bih?”

“Jit”  usually a kid, but it can be anyone younger than you—“Jit” made a move on my sister!”

“Vibin/vibing”  is  “chillin” everywhere else—so kickin’ back and relaxing

“Slide”  to invite over/to come over/to go over to—“slide” on by my haaz after class.” (Haaz=houseJ)

“Bap”  an obsolete or broken thing, usually something tech

“Sleep”  to be missing out on something—“You are ‘sleepin’  –  that club is hot!”

“Buss/bussin” good food, great food, DELICIOUS food!!

“Florida bath”  basically you’re getting clean in a pool, not the shower!

“Florida Happy Meal”  a pack of ‘smokes’ (cigarettes), a 12 pack of beer, and lottery tickets

“Floridabulous”  super cliché, trashy, weird, and without reason

“The Florijority”   Florida has decided many contentious elections, and landed on the not reeeally open-minded end of things—“The Florijority showed up and pulled the lever!”

The students of all the South Florida TALK School locations agree that “have a good one”, and “hola” are the slang you’ll hear most often.  The other, more particular, Florida slang takes a minute to get the hang of—especially the Cuban influenced slang because the pronunciation is specific.  Eavesdrop on some conversations, and practice on your “acere”.  Slang adds flavor to your spoken English.