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
thanks for watching you can follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook
To see an example of a relationship going pear-shaped because they don't understand each other...
Click here
If you like that lesson click subscribe and I'll see you in the next video