"That seems a bit iffy!" | English vocabulary

- Have you ever received one of those strange emails

that goes like--

- Good afternoon, we haven't received your last payment

for something.

Click down below to pay right now,

or we'll close your account in the next 24 hours.

- Yeah, that email has nothing to do with fish,

but you can't trust it, right?

When you can't trust something, you say,

hmm, I don't trust it,

that seems fishy.

So in today's lesson,

we're gonna learn all of that fishy, dodgy, iffy vocabulary.

(upbeat music)

All right, first the word dodgy.

In a formal way,

you could say unreliable, dubious, untrustworthy,

and basically it means a situation

or person that you can't trust.

For example, if this guy wants to sell you a phone,

but he's a bit strange, like--

- Do you wanna to buy a phone?

- Maybe.

Can I check that it works?

- Oh no, no, no, no.

Trust me, trust me.

It works.

It's fine.

- But I can't test it?

- No.

- That guy is dodgy.

You can't trust him.

Dodgy, he's dodgy.

Also the phone too.

You don't know if the phone is stolen, if it works or not.

The phone is dodgy too.

I bought a dodgy phone off a dodgy guy,

and it's not working.

- You did what?

Idiot.

- And not just people and things,

an area could be dodgy.

So if you come to London,

don't go to the dodgy areas.

That's easy to say,

where would be a dodgy area in London?

I don't know.

To be honest, you're not gonna have any reason

to visit a dodgy area.

So if you come to London, don't worry,

you pretty much won't visit any dodgy areas.

But if one day you are walking in a dodgy area,

you'll have to keep your wits about you.

You have to keep your guard up.

Both of those expressions mean

to be careful with your surroundings,

to be careful with your things,

to make sure no one takes something that you own,

or make sure no one attacks you.

For example, you don't know this about me.

I lived in Columbia for a year,

and all of my Colombian friends were like--

- You're gonna live in Columbia for a year?

You're definitely gonna get mugged.

- Definitely.

- Definitely gonna get mugged.

- Keep your wits about you.

- And never fall asleep on a bus.

- I'm not gonna fall asleep on a bus.

- Don't give papaya, they will steal your phone.

- Papaya?

By the way, Colombians,

you say don't give papaya,

(speaking in foreign language),

something like that,

anyway, that means keep your guard up.

And I did.

I kept my guard up.

And to be honest,

I felt much safer there than some places in England.

Everyone was super nice to me.

I never fell asleep on a bus.

I always kept a good eye on my money and my phone.

So just Colombians,

you have an amazing country and amazing people.

Love it.

But let's imagine that you are walking through a dodgy area,

and you get that feeling, you know, like Spiderman,

where you're like, ooh, something's weird.

Something is fishy.

Now we're describing your feeling, not the person,

not the situation.

I'm feeling wary,

or I am wary of something or someone in this case.

For example, I'm on the streets, I'm using my phone,

someone on a moped can come past,

steal my phone and ride off.

Boom, I've lost my phone.

So in London I'm always wary of people on mopeds.

When I see them,

I'm always more careful with my phone,

my money and my things.

This is an actual problem we have here in London

so if you come here,

keep your wits about you when you're on the streets,

on your phone,

especially if you see people on the mopeds.

It's a big problem.

This is actually a very common crime that we have.

So remember that wary, pronunciation, wary,

that's your feeling.

I'm wary of people of mopeds.

I'm wary of this type of thing,

but how can you describe that person that's acting strange

or looks strange?

Something about that person you don't trust.

You can say this.

Of course you can say dodgy,

but you can also say

that dude seems a bit sketch or sketchy.

Both ways are fine.

We use both words.

Sketch, sketchy, it doesn't matter.

He looks sketchy.

He seems a bit sketch.

Or even,

shady.

Shady is a really good word too.

For example, do you remember that,

was it Beyonce or Destiny's Child,

the one she's calling her boyfriend,

she's like if you're alone,

why aren't you calling me baby?

You're acting kind of shady.

♪ Ain't calling me baby ♪

♪ Acting kind of shady ♪

"Say My Name," that song.

You're acting kind of shady.

So you can look shady, act shady or seem shady,

sketchy or dodgy.

They're all good.

Dodgy, I would say is more English than American.

But again, it doesn't matter too much

so don't worry about that.

Feel free to use whichever word you like.

Another example from my life,

not London, this time in New York,

I was walking out of my hotel

because I wanted breakfast,

and then I saw a guy on the opposite side of the street

just looking straight at me.

And as I was walking,

the dude kept looking at me like,

he did not look anywhere else, but directly at me.

And I'm like this dude is acting pretty shady,

I'm just gonna walk the other way.

So I did.

I kept my guard up.

I put my hoodie up.

I thought that would help.

I don't know why.

And I kept walking, but then he started to follow me.

So I started to walk faster.

He started to walk faster.

So then I started to run,

and the dude ran after me.

So I just ducked into a hotel until he left.

It was the weirdest thing ever.

And then right after that,

remember this is breakfast,

I'm hungry.

I went to get a bagel.

I remember this bagel.

It was egg and cheese, so delicious.

So I'm walking along, eating my bagel.

It's amazing.

I'm not paying attention to anything.

I'm not keeping my wits about me.

And I walk into a dodgy area.

Remember I chose a different way from my hotel.

So in this dodgy area, five dudes,

I swear to God, five dudes stopped me,

and they was like,

"You got something in your pocket for me?"

And my stupid London idiot head reacted without thinking.

"Yeah, no mate."

So stupid.

The dudes were like "No, what,

"you want me to stab you?"

Mate, I promise you, you've never seen anyone

run so fast while holding a bagel in your entire life.

Of course I didn't drop the bagel,

it was like the most delicious thing ever.

But yeah, like that whole experience,

I don't think New York is necessarily unsafe.

There are definitely a lot of dodgy areas,

a lot of sketchy people.

But keep your wits about you

and you're fine.

Not like I didn't.

And finally, a really British thing that we say is iffy.

Of course it comes from the word if,

but when something is iffy, again,

another adjective.

It's iffy, you can't trust it.

That looks iffy to me.

For example, if you want a piece of gum.

Oh, do you have gum?

Can I have some.

- What?

Yeah.

- I don't know, would you trust this bit of gum?

That's very iffy.

So when you don't trust something,

you would say, mm mm

I don't know that seems iffy to me.

Or that seems a bit iffy to me.

Remember that to say a bit

something is really, really common.

What else could you,

oh, okay.

If you're coming to London

and looking a place to rent,

be careful of the rental sites,

because usually you have to look on websites

to find a place to rent,

but there's a problem.

Most of those websites have legit postings

and iffy postings.

So I guess my advice would be

if it looks iffy,

it is iffy, don't trust it.

Just keep your wits about you.

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Wow.

That's a lot of vocabulary

and stories from my life that you didn't ask for.

Sorry about that.

But I wanna hear your stories.

Have you ever walked through a dodgy area?

What type of behavior from your exes

or from your current boyfriends or girlfriends

do you find shady, sketchy, iffy?

Yeah, those stories are always the best.

Let me know in the comments.

Practice this new vocabulary.

Also this lesson is included

in the ultimate English e-book.

You can get it on my Patreon,

The link is in the description.

And I'll see you in the next class.

(gentle music)