Catch my drift?

[Take_It_Easy]

I heard the following saying in an American movie just right before.

"Catch my drift?" Does that mean: Get me, or understand me?

Can I use this in live speech, or is it too informal ?

[Luschen]

Yes, you have the correct meaning. I think it's fine to use. Everyone will know what you mean, but it sounds a little bit dated, like the 1970's. Catch my drift?

By the way - to me, "take it easy" has that same 70's feel - in a good way!

Take it easy; catch my drift?

[Take_It_Easy]

Yes, I do =) As for me take it easy is pretty common to use, I spent 2 years in the UK where it was frequently used to say as 'Bye'.

That must be right what you are saying! I heard this in a movie, and the thread of the movie was in the 40-50-60's.. So is it an American idiom? I wanna use it as I got hooked on American phrases nowadays.. The only thing that I'm concerned about is none native speakers are not gonna understand me - and I have only a handful of native Americans around me! What do you think?

[Beeesneees]

'Take it easy' is often used as a parting statement instead of 'goodbye', but not 'Catch my drift' which means 'do you understand me' just as much in the UK as it does in the US. It's not specifically American, though it originated there.

However, the written term 'gonna' is incorrect.
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Cheers m' dears!

[Take_It_Easy]

What do you mean about it? Is it incorrect to use 'gonna' in written English?

[Beeesneees]

Yes, it's incorrect. There is no such word.
You mean 'going to'.
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Cheers m' dears!

[Take_It_Easy]

Despite this, almost everyone uses it! Same with ain't wanna, and 'ppl' make many more shorts etc.. and these terms can be found in all the languages.. I just feel that, it is a more natural way of speaking English. However It was said several times that it's very odd from a none native speaker's mouth, but I just don't care. When I learn a language I wish to learn everything from formal to informal... everything.

[Torsten]

As Bev pointed out 'gonna', 'wanna', 'ain't', etc. are not used in standard written English and they are also not used in many standard situations in which you communicate on a professional level. As for 'American phrases' I don't think there are many phrases you can call 'American' or even 'American English'. Most idioms are just English, neither very American, Canadian, British or Irish.

TOEIC listening, photographs: Working in the garden

[Beeesneees]

[Take_It_Easy]

There's no one told me yet using 'gonna be' is unnatural in written English. Believe me I've learned English for ages.

I have many native speaker friends who make shorts when they are on community sites. They type ' I gonna b there, or ' I dunno' 'Really dnt wana go out in ths weather' You might not visit these community sites often enough.

[Take_It_Easy]

[Beeesneees]

It's totally incorrect and this is a forum for learning English.

Take a look at this, especially the last part about chat/SMS style writing.
http://www.english-test.net/community/index.html#How_can_I_improve_my_writing_skills
I suggest that if you want to improve your English, you should use correct English when you write.

Also, you need "doing" nor "doin'".
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Cheers m' dears!

[Beeesneees]

[Torsten]

I totally agree with you, Bev.

TOEIC listening, photographs: Appliance shopping

[Take_It_Easy]

I don't think that, I'd have typos or serious mistakes. I didn't even make lot of shorts in my threads of the Forum. Besides I've been a member of this site for a quite long while. I just used 'gonna' instead of going to, cause in informal situations I allow myself to use shorts like that.

All in all I do not think that, I should work a lot on my written English. I passed an IELTS exam last year with a band of 6.5. I got band 6.5 for my written and 7 for my spoken English.

I totally agree with that, people shouldn't use slangs or too urban phrases on this forum, because We reflect a bad example to the learners. It has only happened to me once I used a short.