20 interesting things British people say (and what they really mean!)

- What do British people (popping sound)

really say,

when you ask them,

"How are you?" (popping sound)

Let's find out in this video

about interesting things British people say.

(upbeat music)

- Hello, it's Keith, (computer sound)

from English Speaking Success,

and if you didn't know,

I also run the website,

"Keith Speaking Academy." (computer sound)

Go and check it out,

especially if you're studying for IELTS Speaking.

Now today,

we're going to look at some interesting things

that British people say,

including some phrases that you may think you understand,

but you probably don't.

I have two warnings though, right?

The first one is,

if you are an IELTS student,

please do not use these (whip sound)

in your IELTS Speaking test, right?

Mainly because a lot of this is slang,

and you shouldn't use slang in IELTS Speaking.

Informal English, yes.

Slang, no.

And a lot of phrases are just very British,

so even Americans and Canadians often don't understand them.

So really,

these phrases are for fun,

for entertainment,

not for your IELTS preparation.

I think they'll also give you some cultural insight

to how British people think as well,

which is always interesting. (snickering)

So, the second warning,

I'm gonna tell you later.

I think one of the best ways (whooshing sound)

to get familiar with these phrases

and to understand the meaning,

is to watch and watch

lots of videos,

TV series,

movie clips,

to help you hear,

get exposed to the language,

but also see the context.

I'll be sharing with you later,

a mobile app,

it's a video app.

It's actually called,

"Woodpecker Learning," (whip sound)

which is fantastic for this.

It gives you access to lots of videos,

so you can get exposed to all sorts of language,

especially British English,

and get familiar with these phrases and the real meaning.

More about Woodpecker Learning, later.

Right now, (whip sound)

let's get into some

interesting phrases. (exhales)

For now, let's have a look,

first of all, at greetings.

That question I asked at the beginning, right?

A classic greeting question,

"How are you?"

Now I know your textbooks say,

"I'm fine, thanks, and you?" (laughing)

But most people don't say that,

most of all in Britain.

The most common answer is,

"Yeah, not bad,"

which sounds a bit negative, right?

But actually,

for British people,

that's good.

You know?

It's quite a positive thing.

"How are you?"

"Yeah, not bad."

The thing is,

most British people don't want to be very emotional, right?

They don't want to open up,

so we choose answers that are quite flat,

and very, you know,

without expression or emotion.

"How are you?"

"Yeah, not bad."

And also we have,

we use the negatives a lot.

So especially with people that you know, right?

You may also say,

"How are you?"

"Mustn't grumble."

To grumble is to complain.

"Mustn't grumble."

"How are you?"

"Can't complain." (snickering)

Right? (thud)

Things like this.

"How are you?"

"Same old, same old."

All of these basically sound very flat,

but they're not negative.

They're slightly positive,

but just without emotion. (snickering)

The other interesting thing is,

of course,

when you know somebody in Britain,

you often don't say,

"How are you," right?

A more common greeting actually,

is just, "All right?

All right."

And the answer would be, (thud)

"All right." (laughing)

So we're walking down the street, right?

And we bump into each other,

and I go,

"All right?" (popping sound)

and you go,

"All right." (popping sound)

You have a little nod of the head, right?

"All right." (laughing)

That's the most common question,

and it's easy to answer cause it's the same word.

Now on this note about negatives,

like, "Not bad," right?

We use this a lot in other contexts as well.

For example,

if you've just read a book or seen a film,

and your friend asks you,

"Well, how was the film?"

"Yeah, not bad,"

or "Yeah, not bad, actually."

So really,

this is quite positive.

It means, "Pretty good,"

or, "Good,"

even though it sounds negative.

However,

if we say, "It was quite good,"

then it's not good.

It's negative.

"How was the film?"

"Uh, it was quite good."

Yeah, so not very good actually.

Notice the stress is on, "Quite," right?

"It was quite good."

That means that it's not very good.

So another important thing to notice, right,

is a lot of this does depend on the intonation

and the emotion that is there, right?

That's also an important thing.

And it depends on the context,

who you're speaking to,

but I'll try and give some guidelines as we go along.

Let's move on.

Okay, now let's move on,

and look at the context of maybe work or study,

talking to colleagues or classmates,

and bosses and teachers.

Okay, now the first one.

Imagine the situation, right?

You've done a presentation (whooshing sound)

to a group of colleagues or classmates.

You've given them your ideas,

and at the end you stop

and you're waiting for their feedback.

So suddenly, (whooshing sound)

your teacher or your boss stands up

and says, "Very interesting.

Well, that was very interesting."

Notice the intonation is quite flat,

and you think, "Wow, great!

They loved it!

They're really impressed with me!"

But I'm afraid, (snickering)

it means, "That was terrible,

really bad, very boring."

Oh dear!

If they thought it was really great,

there would be lots of emotion and other words.

It would be,

"That was really interesting.

Fantastic. Great.

You did a really good job!"

Right?

But if there's only,

"Well, that was interesting.

Very interesting,"

and that's it,

very flat,

then you know you're in trouble.

You've done a terrible job. (laughing)

You're fired. (laughing)

You know,

it's not gone very, very well.

This use of, "Interesting," right,

meaning the opposite,

we use in different contexts.

If you're cooking for friends (whooshing sound)

and you give 'em a nice meal,

and you say, (whooshing sound)

"How's the food?" (popping sound)

and they go, "Yeah,

interesting." (popping sound)

Now what that means is, (snickering)

I'm afraid,

"It's not very nice,"

but because I guess British people in particular,

want to be quite diplomatic, right?

We're not gonna say,

"Oh, it's too salty.

Oh, it's not very nice.

No, I don't like this."

That's far too direct.

We're much more likely,

we'll say,

"Oh yeah. It's interesting," (laughing)

which means really, "I don't like it."

So look out for that one.

So I guess the second warning, (whipping sound)

as I mentioned earlier, right?

It does depend on intonation,

and the context,

to get this right.

Let's have a look at another situation.

Imagine you're in a meeting with your boss or your teacher,

and you're talking about something,

and the boss, right, (whooshing sound)

is telling you,

"Dah dah, dah dah, and then there's this,

and then there's that.

Oh, and by the way,

dah, dah, dah, dah, dah."

Now you may think, (whooshing sound)

"By the way," right,

is kind of just adding something extra.

It's not important.

No.

In British English,

"By the way,"

means, "The most important thing is coming."

So when you hear, "Oh, and by the way,"

it's the really important thing, right?

So your boss may say,

"Well, I want you to do this.

I want you to do that and that,

oh, and by the way,

make sure it's done by tomorrow morning."

That's the most important thing.

So when you hear, "by the way,"

open your ears.

Listen up.

Be careful.

It's really important.

Another similar word,

"Anyway," right?

"Anyway."

"Anyway," in the middle of a conversation

is basically,

"Let's change topic.

You're boring me.

I'm not interested.

Let's talk about something else,"

but it's a nice diplomatic,

simple way of doing it.

And British people understand the code, right?

If we're talking,

and imagine, right?

I'm in the pub,

having a pint with my friend,

and I'm going,

"Ah, my work is terrible. (whooshing sound)

I mean, you know,

my boss has got me working like a slave.

I'm snowed under.

I just don't know what to do and,"

my friend says, (whooshing sound)

"Anyway,

should we get another drink?"

What he's really saying is,

"Shut up.

This is boring.

I'm not interested.

Let's talk about something else."

So if you're in a conversation with British people

and you hear, "Anyway,"

that's the flag to tell you,

they want to talk about something else.

What you're talking about is not as interesting

as you may think. (snickering)

Let's move on.

Right, let's look at the topic of, "Socializing."

So I'm thinking about, you know,

meeting up with friends,

or especially maybe classmates

if you're at university,

or colleagues if you're working,

and making new friends.

So when you've made a new friend

and they're British, right,

often the British person will say something like,

"You must come over for dinner.

You must come over for dinner."

Now you may think,

they're inviting you to their house for dinner.

No, they're not.

All they're doing,

in a very polite way,

is they're saying, "Goodbye."

That's it. (laughing)

"You must come over for dinner."

What you don't do,

is you don't say, "Oh great,

I'm free at the weekend.

How about Saturday,

six o'clock?" (snickering)

Because the British person will go,

"Why are they doing that?"

"Well maybe,

let me check with my husband, wife,

boyfriend, girlfriend, dog, cat,

and I'll give you a call,"

and they won't. (snickering)

The thing is, right,

is you just,

it's just a polite way of saying, "Goodbye."

The answer,

of course is, (popping sound)

"Sure that'd be great." (popping sound)

And that's it, nothing more.

Next,

if you've been out with

new friends (whooshing sound)

or you've met some friends,

and you've been out for a drink, for example,

again, very often,

the British person, at the end,

will say something like, (whooshing sound)

"We must catch up again sometime.

We must catch up again sometime."

Now you may think they mean,

"This was great.

Let's do it again next week or soon."

However,

that may be true,

but it may not be true.

It doesn't mean that.

It's just a polite way of saying, "Goodbye."

(TV static sound) (laughing)

The British are mad,

completely mad.

How do you understand that?

(TV static sound)

"We must catch up again sometime."

- So of course you don't say, (popping sound)

"Well, yes, next Wednesday, six o'clock?"

No, you say,

"Yeah, that'd be great." (popping sound)

Full stop. Right?

(laughing)

So imagine the context,

you've finished class,

or you've finished a meeting with colleagues

or, you know, new other classmates,

and a group of them say,

"We're gonna go down the pub for a drink.

Do you want to come?"

The British person may say,

"I might join you later."

Now you may be thinking, "Okay, that's good.

They will come later."

No. (snickering)

If a British person says, "I might join you later,"

that means, "There's no way.

I'm not coming out with you."

It's a no, (laughing)

but it's a polite way of refusing, right?

It's very hard to say,

"No, I'm not gonna come,"

because the other people may be offended

and think they're unfriendly.

So a nice way of doing this politely, is to say,

"I might join you later.

I might join you later."

So when you hear that,

don't wait for the British person to come later

because they're most likely not coming.

Great,

and a final note is all about the word, "Cheers,"

cause when you're out socializing,

you often hear people,

I know this is tea,

but imagine it's a drink in the pub,

"Cheers," right,

and you make a toast.

However, in British English,

"Cheers," also means, "Thank you," right?

Imagine a British colleague says,

"Can I just borrow your phone?

Great. Cheers."

And your thinking,

"Cheers?"

It just means, "Thanks."

In Northern England we also say, "Ta."

"Can I just borrow your phone?"

"Ta." (snickering)

"Cheers,"

"Ta," all meaning,

"Thanks," in British,

English.

Okay, let's move on.

Right, let's take a break. (whooshing sound)

Let's have a fruit snack break.

(snickering)

Oh, no,

actually that's a bad idea. (laughing)

Peach, that'll get very, very messy.

Instead, (thud)

let me tell you about a great mobile app,

"Woodpecker Learning." (whooshing sound)

The other day,

I was watching some old,

"The Late Show," videos, (whooshing sound)

with James Corden.

He's a British presenter on an American TV show.

And I found a few of them in the Woodpecker app.

And it was great fun because I think the great way to learn

about British culture,

or American or Canadian culture,

is through TV shows,

sitcoms,

and films.

And I think these are a great source of entertainment,

but great cultural insights.

The Woodpecker app,

it collects together,

there are over 300,000 videos

that are brought in from YouTube,

but there are three things I like about Woodpecker.

The first one is,

that you get the transcript,

as you can see here, right? (whooshing sound)

The second one, (distant pop music)

is that you can isolate a phrase

and get it to repeat,

again and again and again.

And that helps you practice pronouncing it,

like this one.

- [Corden] How are you?

- How are you? - Good.

- Yeah, good. (applause)

- [Corden] Welcome.

- How are you?

- [Corden] How are you? - Yeah, good.

- Yeah, good.

- How are you? Yeah, good.

Amazing, right?

Good for your pronunciation.

Number three,

is that if you don't know a word,

like, "Carpool,"

you can press it

and it pops up with the definition.

Look at that.

Absolutely fantastic.

It's a great tool,

great learning tool.

- Great for enjoyment (whip sound)

and cultural insight.

Go and check it out,

"Woodpecker Learning."

The links are down below.

Great. (whip sound)

Now, let's talk about being polite.

You will have noticed,

in a lot of the previous examples,

that we've talked about,

how British people can be polite or diplomatic,

indirect,

so we use different,

I was gonna say, "Language,"

different phrases or a code,

to be polite.

One of the most interesting words in British English

is, "Sorry,

sorry,"

and it has so many different meanings,

and often we overuse it.

But for example,

we use, "Sorry,"

if you didn't hear something and you want them to repeat it,

"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."

"Sorry?"

Means, "I didn't catch that.

Can you repeat it?"

"Sorry?"

The other meaning of, "Sorry," can be,

"I want to interrupt."

So you're in a meeting.

People are talking and you go, "Sorry,"

and it just means, "Can I interrupt?

Can I say something?

Sorry.

Sorry, can I just say something?"

(snickering)

And of course, "Sorry," is used to apologize.

So if you're walking down the street,

and you bump into somebody, (thud)

"Bum, oh, sorry,"

it's to apologize.

The funny thing is,

with British people,

if somebody bumps into me,

I still say, "Sorry,"

right? (laughing)

So somebody's walking,

they bumped into,

"Oh, sorry,"

but they bumped into me!

Why am I saying, "Sorry?"

It's mad.

British, you know?

Really a sorry nation.

(laughing)

Let's move on.

In this next section,

let's talk about things going wrong.

(laughing)

Now normally,

if you hear a British person say,

"That's brilliant,"

then it means, "It's very good," right?

So, "I've passed my exam. That's brilliant!"

Very, very good.

However,

if I say,

"Well, that's brilliant."

It actually means, "Oh no!

What a disaster!

That's terrible!"

It's the intonation that tells you, right?

"Well, that's brilliant," right?

"Keith, I'm sorry, but I've just

broken your phone." (popping sound)

"Well, that's brilliant."

It's not good, right?

It's negative.

Or for example, I dunno,

I'm working on my computer and,

"Ah, my computer's just broken!

Well, that's brilliant!"

Now you may be listening,

thinking, "Why is he happy?

His computer's broken."

Of course, he's not.

It's a negative thing.

It's, "Oh dear, that's terrible!"

It means the opposite of what you may think.

It's very much about the intonation,

very flat,

and you can get that meaning.

Another word that sounds positive,

but is often,

has a negative meaning is,

"It's fine."

So again, a friend comes up to me and says,

"Oh Keith, can I borrow your phone?

Cheers.

Ooh, I'm sorry,

I've just broken your phone!"

"It's fine."

The British person says, "It's fine,"

and the friend may think,

"Oh, that's good.

It's okay.

He doesn't mind."

The problem is,

I do mind and I'm probably a bit angry,

but again,

I don't want to express the emotion too much.

So I'll just say, "It's fine,"

with quite a serious face,

and you understand,

that it's not fine.

Again, context is all important, right?

It's a little bit to do with what we call the,

"The stiff upper lip."

It's a very traditional, British thing.

"The stiff upper lip,"

means that in times of disaster,

you stay strong and you stay unemotional, if you like.

It's fine, (forced laughing)

but it's not.

Behind you, you're like in a disaster.

Your brain is going, "Oh my God,

no, what am I gonna do?"

"It's fine."

So let's move on.

- Great, so listen, (whooshing sound)

I hope that you've enjoyed this video

and found it,

not interesting,

but you know,

really interesting.

If you have,

please do subscribe. (computer sound)

Turn on the notifications

to find out about future videos.

And remember,

you can download

the Woodpecker app (whooshing sound)

from the link (computer sound)

down below in the description,

and start binge watching,

so you can learn more about British culture,

improve your pronunciation,

and build your vocabulary.

Take your English up to a whole new level.

It's been great fun, (whipping sound)

making the video.

You know, we should catch up again soon sometime.

No, really,

like, how about in a few minutes,

in the next video?

Excellent. Good.

Look forward

to seeing you there. (snickering)

Take care my friend.

Bye-bye.

(upbeat music)