Most British Expressions EVER! - Learn British English

Today we are doing five of the most British things you can ever say

So if you simply want to improve your English vocabulary

or if you want to learn some expressions to annoy Americans with

because they won't understand it

then you chose the right video to watch

these expressions are still very commonly used

they're not old-fashioned, so you can still use them and it sounds great

you're talking to a friend

Your friend wants to ask what are you doing today?

and you want to say "Ahh just the small things"

I'm going to buy food I'm going to wash my hair

I'm going to post a letter

those small things

you can say

"Ah, just bits and bobs"

"Bits and bobs" literally means "small things"

You can also say

what are you doing today?

bits and bobs

or

odds and sods

It just means those little things nothing really important

If you're getting married today, you're not doing bits and bobs or odds and sods

that's a big thing

unless it's your sixth marriage that year

maybe for you it's odds and sods

so it could be small actions but it could also be small things for example:

You're at your friend's house you're so hungry

You really want to eat something big a pizza donuts I'm talking real food!

but in their fridge there's only ketchup, mustard, half an onion

This is not real food, so in this situation

to answer the question "Do you have any food?" "Not really just bits and bobs. Just odds and sods"

the ketchup, the mustard, the mayonnaise, the half an onion.

Those are not big things they're just small things

"Bits and bobs" or "Odds and sods"

Question 1: Tell me in the comments What's in your fridge?

and if they have no food you might get very angry

in this case your friend might say "Don't get angry!"

In a very British way, we'd say this...

"Don't throw a wobbly! It's fine!"

To "throw a wobbly" means to do this

You're very loud you're shouting you're aggressive

you're throwing things

"What no pizza what kind of friend are you!?"

You're throwing a wobbly

If your friend wants to be more specific and say "Stop being aggressive"

We would change that word to

"Shirty" to be shirty with someone means to be aggressive with them

to be confrontational with them

"Stop being so shirty, we can go out for pizza we'll put pineapple-

"Don't throw a wobbly! we will not put pineapple on the pizza!"

Question number two for the comments: Tell me when was the last time you threw a wobbly?

When was the last time someone got shirty with you?

You know those times when you have so much work to do? You have to finish that essay

you have to finish that report that bit of work that you must do

but then

but then you find those videos of cats getting brain freeze

and you've wasted an hour of your time

when you're wasting time, you're doing nothing productive

this is when we say

to "faff around" / "faff about" or to "Fanny around" / "Fanny about"

you can mix them it doesn't matter they all mean the same thing

of course the sentence would be "he's faffing around / he's fannying about"

"I've just been faffing around for the last hour watching cat videos!"

Question 3 for the comments: What do you like to do when you faff around?

If it's your birthday and your friend says "Oh no I forgot your birthday!"

but then!

They didn't really forget your birthday

they were just joking

in the British Way we would change "joking" to...

"wind up" "I'm just winding you up I didn't forget your birthday I got you a puppy!"

so wind-up means to tease, to play a joke on someone

to make fun of them a little bit in a friendly way

however it does have a negative meaning too

so be careful with the context for example

if someone annoys you, you could say "Ugh! She really winds me up"

Again this means they annoy you, so be careful of the context

that is bad, she annoys you

This one is kind of good, friendly, jokey

I'm just winding you up, I'm teasing you I'm joking with you

so be careful of the context

Question 4 for the comments: "Who winds you up in the bad way?

And when was the last time you wound someone up or someone wound you up?

"Wound" is the past tense

Let me know in the comments

and finally these two have a plan to get married, they're very much in love, but!

That plan goes wrong

when you have a plan and you think everything will be great

but then something happens and the plan goes wrong

that plan or this relationship

went pear-shaped

and this applies to any plan

so for example you have a holiday plan

and for some reason you can't do the holiday

The holiday plans went pear-shaped

So finally question 5, in the comments tell me

When was the last time your plan or your relationship went pear-shaped and why?

I want to hear about it tell me in the comments

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To see an example of a relationship going pear-shaped because they don't understand each other...

Click here

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