Binge drinking in Britain
As a seasoned traveller, Maciej Dakowicz was keen to get a few snaps of local life during his stay in Britain.
His resulting picture album, however, could do with an X certificate. Taken over a series of Friday and Saturday nights on the streets of Cardiff, the Polish student's images provide a shocking insight into alcohol-fuelled debauchery in the Welsh capital.
The unique collection is aptly named 'Cardiff At Night,' and includes a photo of a man walking across a street, his face and shirt covered in blood.
Another captures a reveller seemingly passed out next to a pool of his vomit.
First taking up photography in 2003, Maciej has travelled to over 20 countries but says he has never encountered anything like the scenes he recorded here.
Hungry: Nightclubbers enjoy fast food amid mounds of rubbish after a night on the town
Benched: A woman holds court with four friends
Just resting: One party-goer slumps against the wheel of a police van
Get a room: A kilted man and his lover share a kiss among the burger wrappers
'This vibrant nightlife was completely new to me, and that's why I started photograph it,' explains Maciej, originally from Bialystok in North East Poland.
'Everywhere I go i like to take pictures of the people and surroundings. I had never seen such scenes in Poland or any other country I had visited before.
'But what I have seen in my time in the UK has been something completely new to me.'
The images come at a time when Britain's binge drinking culture is under scrutiny.
Pretty in pink: A reveller hikes up his skirt and hops over a barrier during a late night out
Soft landing: This rugby fan takes a tumble into a pile of discarded take-away cartons
Midnight snack: A punter enjoys some late night food, but his friend seems exhausted by the very thought of it
Oh what a night: This dustbin seems the perfect place to catch your breath on a rowdy night out
Earlier this week the Home Office announced plans to introduce a mandatory code to crackdown on all on 'all you can drink' style promotions.
The plans followed a recent study by Cardiff University based on data from 49 A&E departments across England and Wales.
The study cited binge-drinking as one of the main reasons for the first rise in hospital admissions for violent attacks in seven years.
Usually venturing into Cardiff city centre on a Saturday night, Maciej has photographed an array of characters from wild stag and hen parties to students letting their hair down.
However, despite the often good-natured antics, Maciej is sometimes taken aback by the levels of drinking involved.
Forty winks: One man picks a spot for a nap - right next to an overflowing dustbin
Wake up! A woman tries to rouse a sleeping man
Late debate: Two young women huddle together in a draughty-looking bus stop
The leaning tower of rubbish: A man carefully balances a pizza box on top of an overflowing bin
'They say that British people know how to party and have fun, but sometimes they don't know when to stop,' says Maciej who moved to the the Welsh capital from Hong Kong in 2004 to take up a a PhD in Computer Science at the University of Glamorgan.
'It seems that here in Cardiff everybody is out on the weekend nights - hen and stag parties and vibrant groups.
'People drink a lot and they drink fast, so they get drunk very quickly.' Yet despite some examples of excessive behaviour, Maciej says there is a lot of fun and good humour on the streets of the Welsh capital after hours.
Golden days: There's no age limit on a night out
Bloodied: An injured man staggers across the street
Ending in tears: A girl consoles her friend as they perch on a littered pavement
How do I look? Two men enjoy a show from a scantily-clad clubber in the early hours
'People are usually friendly and we often have a good laugh,' he says.
'Many people like to pose to photos, but I prefer natural looking images, so I tell them to be natural, and then they often make funny 'natural' poses.
'My favourite picture is probably the guy in this pink hat climbing on the railings, because it is such a surreal scene.
'He saw me with my camera after I took this photo and laughed out loud, he seemed like a nice guy.
'I hope he is not too mad at me now, after this photo became so popular.'
Not so innocent: Two girls dressed in Heidi-style outfits take a breather while the police look on
She's got some front: A hen party gets saucy for the camera
First aid: A bleeding reveller is tended to on the street
Pub crawl: A man makes unsteady progress as he crosses the filthy pavement
Slang
lang: How do young Brits speak?
Language changes all the time. New words and phrases appear and evolve. The words and pronunciations used by young people in the UK can be radically different to those used by adults. Living in a multicultural society has an effect on language, especially on young people, whose friends are often from a mix of backgrounds. TV and music also have a massive impact on the language of the young. Often UK singers will even sing in American accents without realising.
Young Brits use lots of language that you usually can’t find in most dictionaries. These highly informal words and expressions are known as slang. It is not possible to come up with a complete list of modern British slang. By the time the list was completed, it would be out of date. New words come and go like fashions. However, here are a few examples:
* Safe!, Sorted!, Sound!, Cool! or Wicked! mean That’s good or, I understand.
* Instead of using different tag questions like …isn’t it?, …can’t you? or don’t they?, people use innit (e.g., It’s hot here, isn’t it? = It’s hot here, innit!, He can dance really well, can’t he? = He can dance really well, innit! or They always say that, don’t they =They always say that, innit.).
* Instead of saying very, really or completely use well (e.g., I’m well tired or You got it well wrong!).
* Whatever means I don’t care (E.g., A: But the teacher says we can’t leave until we’ve finished. B:Whatever. I’m going).
* He’s fine or He’s fit both mean He’s good looking. Fine and fit can describe a boy or a girl.
* A hoodie is a young person who wears a jacket with a hood (after all, it rains a lot in the UK). It is a negative term and suggests that the young person might be interested in committing a crime.
If some British people use language like this then it’s no surprise that some students say that even after years of studying English they still can’t understand native speakers. But perhaps learners should not worry about communicating with native speakers so much. Research commissioned by the British Council shows that most of the English spoken in the world today is spoken between non-native speakers of the language. In fact, when we think about “International English”, there is no such thing as a native or non-native speaker.
So how important is it to understand these slang words and expressions? If you watch films or TV in English, read magazines in English, chat online in English or are interested in English song lyrics then understanding slang can be very useful. You probably won’t see any slang in your English exam though.
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