Whats the nick like here. Is there air/con?
Work?
What time is bang up?
Can you get gear?
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can you get English tutoring?
hmmā¦I might drop in my resume. 
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Seriously, can you please translate your post for those of us who donāt speak whatever language you are speaking? If you are asking about prison life, I am wondering if you are doing academic research or if you are planning some great āheistā in which case you just want to know what your future life will be like?
Many faces are here on the run. Doing bird here may not be pleasant if you are unlucky enough to get collared.
Surely nobody would live here for long out of choice?
Put down the crack pipe, palā¦ 
Youse guys shoulda button ya lip. Donāt get the screws wise.
PS The watch will be ready at midnight, gramma.
Not 100% on topic, but this series of short articles is worth a read for those who want some insight into life within the walls of a southeast Asian jail.
Of all the places in the world to hide and āblend in,ā why would any westerner chose an asian country? Get real.
And people stay here a long time because they like itā¦duh!
ya i heard prisons in taiwan arent like the s&m clubs over in the middle east
British slang translation service:
nick=prison
bird=time/a prison sentence
bang up=locking up time (?)
gear=drugs
collared=caught
NO, One doesnāt need to have had direct experience to knwo these terms.
Actually, I have met a few people here in Taiwan who are on the run from criminal charges in their home countries. This islandās a good place to sort of drop out of the real world.
Southpaw saved the day.
Wow, mod lang, I learn something everyday. I would have never even thought of Taiwan if my college roommate wasnāt from here! Why on earth would a westerner pick this as a place to hide when they could blend in so much better in Europe, South America, Mexico, Canada, or the U.S.? Amazing!
Or knowledge of British English. This is where context clues come inā¦surely most of us can read above 6th grade-level and guess the meanings of words without needing it to be spelled out for them. Or at least one hopes soā¦
ImaniOU,
I am not certain if you are being serious or not but if you are, I would love to know how someone is suppose to be able to fiqure out such terms as
gear=drugs
bird=time/ a prison sentence
nick=prison
etc.
Cāmon, I really wonder how many very, very well-educated Americans, would be able to understand the meaning of those terms? We donāt use them in the USA, as you know, so how would I or any other average non-Brit be able to fiqure it out from the context Jonah first gave?
Whats the nick like here. Is there air/con?
Work?
What time is bang up?
Can you get gear?
Really, all one needs is a 6th grade education to fiqure out that post? Really? Honestly, I donāt think so at all and I have a graduate degree. I would not have been able to fiqure out what these terms mean at all without some translation help, so I am curious how you were able to do it?
Topic name: Prison life. The nick, one could guess is a reference to prison, especially since in the same line thereās a question about air-con. One assumes that only places have air con and this person is asking about prisons. Bang up: bars bang. Heās asking for time. One could guess heās asking about a certain time of the day when bars are involved. He could mean waking up or lights out. Doing birdā¦sounds like doing time. Jail bird. One could guess that doing bird has something to do with getting put in prison. Collared: getting grabbed by the collar when caught doing something wrong.
Then again, I confess I have learned different dialects of English because I know that while they are the most plentiful, Americans are not the only people who speak English. Itās helpful as an English teacher to know different dialects since learners tend to have learned from many different people, especially here in Taiwan with its high turnover of English teachers. But by 6th grade, most proficient readers are able to make inferences on unfamiliar words using the context in which it appears.
I have friends who speak British, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, and American English so I have made myself familiar with terms in the more common colloquialisms. I guess it was presumptuous to assume that other Americans living abroad would do the same. 
Damn, I hate it when I use big words.
I am kind of confused by what you have written here. I thought you said you were, and anyone with a 6th grade education would, be able to figure out the post based on the context. Now you are saying you āhave made myself familiar with terms in the more common colloquialisms.ā Well, which is it please? Did you figure out the terms from friends or from the context? If the context, then I still congratulate you on your very good reading ability. If it was due to friends, then I say your original post about the context is not true.
I have heard the term āthe nickā before, but Iāve heard ānickā mainly to refer to stealing things. To nick something. The rest was conjecturing. Did I completely understand the post, no. But I was just trying to get the gist. If I were planning to respond then I would have made more of an effort to understand the words than just guessing the meanings. I read modern British literature and have never used a dictionary to ātranslateā it. I just guess the meaning. Granted there is much more context there than here, but British English isnāt exactly a foreign language where you need to learn the meanings of all the words to understand a few. If it were an American using slang, I donāt think non-American English speakers would be demanding a translation.
Besides, there are British slang dictionaries online if you were hard-pressed to know the exact meanings of things.
Aw, blarg it all. Can this whole bloody conversation be bumped to the flame forum, mods?
Aw, blarg it all. (Hey, youāre right. I have no idea what this means but I guess it means something like āDamn it.ā Am I right?) Well, why do you want this conversation placed in the flame forum? Is it because you are entirely disgusted with the thought that an educated native English speaker could be so dense that he doesnāt understand British slang, especially when it is so easy for you to understand? My understanding is that the flame forum is not to be used when people are simply having a discussion. Perhaps, like with British slang, you could humor me and tell me exactly why you think this conversation belongs there?
Come on Imani! You must be having a bubble! I was only trying to clear up what that idiot was trying to say! Iām British and I can tell you that in my experience most non brits canāt follow this kind of slang very well. Other than those such as yourself whoāve spent a significant length of time on the Sceptic-Isle, only Aussies (and perhaps Kiwis) come close. I remember one time in the presence of 2 or 3 rough looking chaps who were talking about ādoing birdā over a beer: āyeah, once I did this birdā¦blah blah blahā¦locked upā¦blahā¦screwā - I had never heard this term in that context before and
I thought they were talking about doing women- another use for the term bird.