T-learning # Idiom
Speak Like a Native

an old banger

Choose the correct definition a, b or c.

a) a dented car with a lot of rust with little or no paint on it

Well done! That’s the right answer.

This expression ’an old banger’ is used to say when a car or vehicle is old and damaged.

French translation

un vieux tacot

How NOT to translate : *une vieille saucisse

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Examples in context

’Clegg admits he drives an old banger despite telling the rest of us to buy an electric car which is ’not quite right’ for him’

Nick Clegg today admitted he drives an old banger, despite telling everyone else to buy an electric car.
The Deputy Prime Minister this week insisted owning an electric car is ‘no longer a dream or an inconvenience’.
But now he has confessed to driving a second-hand Ford Galaxy, grumbling that he cannot find a greener alternative to carry his family brood.

The government unveiled a £500million fund to put more spark into lacklustre electric car sales and allay motorist’s fears about their batteries going flat.
It will also extend the £5,000 taxpayer subsidy encouraging drivers to buy the vehicles and introduce new measures to make cities more electric car friendly.

The Daily Mail, 1st May 2014

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’Do’s and don’ts of getting rid of your old car’

I have only ever owned two cars, and a thief relieved me of the last one. So when it came to saying goodbye to my defunct 13-year-old Alfa estate, lying abandoned with a dead battery outside my house since November, I realised I had no idea how to actually get rid of a vehicle. Could I sell it? Scrap it? Give it away?

Gumtree is another option. Its chief advantage is that advertising is free (although it will encourage you to pay for premium services) and clearly the site has lots of old bangers like mine for sale. But again, with just days to go before I risked being clamped for failing to have a tax disc, I decided against.

The Guardian, 14th February 2014

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Everyday usage

That old banger looks like its straight out the scrap yard.

I’ve just bought this car, but my dad says its such an old banger and not worth much.

b) an old and grumpy person

Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.

c) a loud noise

Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.


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