10 British Words That Confuse Americans

British English can be super confusing.

And it's not just Americans that don't understand

us, it's the whole world. That's why today I'm here to reveal the meanings of ten very

British words. All that is coming right up.

Hello and welcome to Eat Sleep Dream English, if you haven't met me before my name is Tom

and I teach fresh modern British English so you can take your English to the next level

and achieve your life goals. Now before we get going guys, remember to hit that subscribe

button, hit that notification bell so that you don't miss a single lesson. I put new

videos out every Tuesday and every Friday. Alright, let's kick off with number one, builder's

tea. This is a colloquial phrase we use to talk about a strong cup of tea. Now when I

say strong I mean not a lot of milk, ok? So it's quite dark in colour. Traditionally builders

are known for liking their tea and I guess they would normally have it quite strong so

it's become a phrase. So 'do you want a builder's tea?' means do you want a cup of strong English

breakfast tea. It doesn't get much more British than number two. Cheeky. Now it's used in

a modern context to suggest that something is impromptu, it's kind of spontaneous. Maybe

you do it quickly but not in a rush. You do it quickly and maybe it's a little bit naughty.

So we put it in front of activities so for example if I said 'let's go for a cheeky pint.'

So a cheeky pint would be going for a quick alcoholic drink. The idea here is that it's

spontaneous, I've just thought of the idea, oh let;s go for a cheeky pint. It's quite

quick, we're not going to be in the pub all day or all night, it's quite quick. And maybe

it's a little bit naughty, maybe it's something that we shouldn't be doing. So yeah let's

go for a cheeky pint. You might hear someone say 'I'm just going to pop out for a cheeky

fag.' Now fag in British English is a slang word for cigarette. So I'm just going to pop

outside for a cheeky fag, so an impromptu quick cigarette. There's a restaurant in Britain

called Nandos, very popular. They sell chicken and the phrase 'let's go for a cheeky Nandos'

has become like a phrase in itself. It means a quick, naughty, impromptu Nandos. Yeah very

British, let's go for a cheeky something. So put cheeky in front of a noun or an activity

and you are basically British.

Number three bants. This is a short form of banter. Now banter or bants if you prefer

is playful teasing conversation with someone that you are familiar with, usually someone

that you are familiar with. And you are teasing each other, you are making jokes about each

other. So if your friend's football team just lost you might say 'oh your team lost, your

team is rubbish.' It's not in a mean way, it's supposed to be jokey, playful, teasing

as I said. If your friend just got a really bad haircut you might say 'oh mate did your

hairdresser cut your hair in the dark.' Something like that, usually it's more funny than that.

So banter is just when you are playfully joking with people. As I say it's usually with your

friends or work colleagues. It could be with someone you that have just met, it's possible,

having banter. So the short form bants also exists. Example sentence 'There's been a lot

of bants at the office today.' Now guys remember these words, a lot of these words are very

colloquial, very sort of informal slang language so perhaps you might not want to use all of

these phrases or these words and bring them into your English. It might sound strange

but it's great for understanding for when you are in Britain or when you are watching

British television or listening to British music, you can understand what they are talking

about. So whether you use them in your English or not, that's up to you but yeah be warned

that this is really colloquial stuff we are talking about here. And so for example with

banter or bants, I probably would say banter but I wouldn't say bants, I wouldn't shorten

it down. So maybe you might want to use the full form and not the shortened form. Number

four is a word that is in the dictionary but I don't use it because I think it's a bit

rude. So the word is chav. It's an insulting word to describe a poor uneducated person.

I don't like it, I don't use it, I think it's just really really rude. However, it's a word

that's in the dictionary and it's a word that you will see written, you'll hear said so

it's important to know in some respects. So chav, so describe someone as a chav, they

are poor and uneducated in your opinion. As I said guys, be careful with that word because

it's not the nicest. On the other end of the social spectrum you've got a toff. Again this

is a slightly derogatory or insulting way to describe a very posh person. Someone that

comes from the upper-classes and you are saying it in a derogatory way. So 'that guy is a

toff' you are saying he's a posh person, that he is from the upper-class but it's in a rude

way. So you've got a chav at the lower end of the social spectrum and a toff at the other

end, both equally kind of insulting. Now by now guys you know that in Britain it rains

most of the time. So we need umbrellas and we have shortened the word umbrella down to

brolly. So if someone ever says to you 'have you got a brolly?' it means have you got an

umbrella? Very important in Britain. A brolly. This one is a great word, chock-a-block. I

enjoy saying that word, say it with me guys, chock-a-block. Now this means super busy,

crowded, congested, chock-a-block. So you are trying to drive to work and the road is

full of cars and traffic, you could say 'the road is chock-a-block' you can't get down

it, it's too busy, too many people, too many cars, chock-a-block. Number eight I think

is borrowed from Australian English up the duff. Up the duff means to be pregnant. Now

it's a bit impolite guys so don't go around saying 'you are up the duff!' to someone that

you don't know because yeah it is a bit rude. So it's very informal, colloquial way to say

someone is pregnant. So an example sentence 'Did you hear Karen is up the duff?' It means

did you hear Karen is pregnant? As I say use that one carefully. This one is more of a

phrase than a word but it's used so commonly in British English, are you having a laugh?

Now we use it to challenge something that someone has said or done that we think is

strange or stupid or wrong, we would say 'are you having a laugh?' So let's say someone

bought a t-shirt for a lot of money and they said 'oh yeah I got this new t-shirt, it costs

me a hundred pounds'. 'Are you having a laugh? a hundred pounds? Are you having a laugh?

Like, are you kidding? Like, you did something stupid, are you joking? Now I don't know why

my voice goes very high whenever I say 'are you having a laugh?' My voice seems to go

quite high. Are you having a laugh? It doesn't have to go that high, it can be normal, ok?

Are you having a laugh? And finally in British English we've got lots of words to use to

describe someone that we think is an idiot. There are a wide variety. There's one in particular,

a mug. This was popularised by the TV show Love Island in 2017. I mean it existed beforehand

but it became much more popular afterwards. If you call someone a mug you think they are

stupid, they are an idiot. Super super slang that one super slang English. Maybe another

version would be a plonker. There was an old TV programme called 'Only fools and horses'

where they used the word plonker pretty much every sentence. So you've got mug, plonker,

wally as well. If you are a wally, you are an idiot. These are of course insults, not

too rude, they are not the rudest words you could say but they are rude so don't go around

calling someone you don't know a mug because they will get offended.

There are loads of ways to call someone an idiot in English, different varieties around

Britain so if you know any pop them in the comments below. Guys I hope you enjoyed that

little tour through the crazy world of British English. Now of course there are hundreds

of other phrases, words that we could look at and I might make a little course, a little

English course about British English. So if you would like me to do an online course about

British English vocabulary, slang, expressions, colloquialisms let me know in the comments

below alright. Just tell me 'Tom make that online course' and I will make it for you.

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until next time guys this is Tom, the chief Dreamer, saying goodbye.