A Korean student's efforts to decode London street slang into plain English have become an internet smash hit.
The Facebook star, who posts videos translating slang under the name Korean Billy, has released a video in which he explains the meaning of “roadman dialect words” – including “mandem”, “bare” and “safe”.
His "London roadman slang" video has been viewed over 600,000 times on Facebook less than a day after it was posted.
He explains: “Safe normally means ‘not in danger’, right? But in roadman dialect ‘safe’ means cool.
“So when you went to say that something is cool, you’ll say ‘that’s safe, fam’”.
The South Korean, whose real name is Seong-Jae Kong, has garnered a huge internet following for his videos mimicking an array of accents from across the UK.
He became interested in British dialects while studying at the University of Central Lancashire as an exchange student in 2015.
In it, he explains to fans the meaning of phrases such as “you’re so bait, fam. You ate my chicken nuggets init?” and “allow it! That joke was bare dry, fam!”
He says: “As London is a multicultural city, there are quite a few dialect words in London. And especially today we’re going to talk about London street slang words or so-called roadman dialect words.”
He begins with “mandem”, saying “this word looks a bit strange, right?”
He goes on to explain that “mandem” in fact means a male friend or a group of friends, before providing example sentences.
He clarifies: “When someone says oi! Mandem! That means they’re calling a friend.”
The three-and-a-half minute clip, in which Korean Billy stands in the foreground and words pop up behind him, delves into many words such as “dry”, “bare” and “bait”.
He ends by saying: “I know my accent is not perfect but I hope this helps you understand some roadman dialect.”
He has also created videos explaining popular slang terms used in Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow.
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