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Today we are talking about phrases that British people commonly use in everyday conversations
and this was a video idea that was suggested to me by someone in the comments, I can't remember who
it was but thank you very much if you commented for this video, here it is! So, I had a little
think about the kinds of phrases that I hear a lot in everyday conversations. I live in Britain, I've
lived in Britain all my life and these are some of the things that I hear a lot, so if you want to
sound like a native British speaker, if you are planning to move to Britain or if you are just
interested in how people in Britain talk, this is for you. Little disclaimer, obviously Britain
is a very big place, I live in the West Midlands, which is a place in Britain but obviously if you
go to Wales, if you go to Scotland, if you go to Northern Ireland, if you go to Cornwall, if you go
to Manchester, you will hear different phrases and different slang words, these are just some
common ones that I think a lot of people, no matter what part of the UK you're from,
I think a lot of people will use these, but obviously the UK is a big place, okay? So
you are about to hear a little conversation between me and Bez and in that conversation,
we are going to use a lot of common phrases. After you've seen that I will quickly talk
them through with you so that you understand how to use each and every one. Okay, let's go.
Those three years of actor training that me and Bez had have not been wasted. Okay, so let's start
with the very first thing you heard and that was alright, alright? This is a very common greeting
in Britain, it means hello, it means how are you, it means oh look it's you! I haven't seen you in
a while! It means lots of different things, it doesn't always mean 'are you alright?' It
doesn't need an answer, if I say to you: alright? Normally the common response is: yeah, alright!
It just means hello, it's really weird. Okay and the next common phrase you heard was long time no
see, we say this if it's been a long time and you haven't seen someone and we just say it like that,
you don't need to put any words around it, it's just long time no see. Then we had: I'm sound,
which is another way of saying I'm good, I'm happy, all is well in my life, I'm sound. We
also heard: can't complain, which means things are fine, you know? I can't complain about my life
because there's nothing to complain about. Then you heard: in a bit, we can order food in a bit,
it just means in a little bit of time, I'll see you in a bit, see you in a bit, I'll see
you in a little bit of time is all that means. Then, you heard: to be honest, this is a really,
really common phrase, it's just something we might put at the beginning of a sentence or at the end
of a sentence just to exaggerate the fact that you are being honest, you're saying something true,
so in this context: I'm not too hungry, to be honest. You know? If I'm being honest with you,
I'm not actually that hungry, people use this one a lot. Then we had: probs,
which I use, I don't know how many other people use it, but I definitely use probs, um, instead of
probably, sometimes, I don't always use it. It's a bit of a young person, kind of slang,
so use it if you want to but it's not an overly used thing, it's just something that I say so
I thought I'd put it in. Then you heard: good shout which just means good idea, good shout,
yeah, good shout, that's a good idea! Then we had: a weight off my mind, if something is a weight off
your mind or a weight off your shoulders, some people might say that, um, it just means that the
worry has gone, you know? The worry, the stress that you have had has gone, you know? The weight
has been lifted, so you might hear people say it's a weight off my mind, it's a weight off my
shoulders or they might just say it's a weight off, you know? Oh we sold the house, so that's
a weight off. Then: we had pain in the ass, if something is a pain in the ass, it's annoying,
it's stressful, it's just not something you want to do, it's, it's, oh it's irritating,
it makes you angry, it's just, oh, frustrating, a pain in the ass. Or, if you want to be family
friendly, you can say a pain in the neck, because arse is kind of a little bit of a swear word,
it's not a very big swear word, it's like a tiny one. I think I watched Home Alone the other day
and Home Alone is a kids film and in that they say 'ass', which is the American version of arse,
so it's not a huge swear word but it's a little bit of one, so if you don't want to do that teeny
little swear word, I would just say pain in the neck. Okay, then we had: light at the end
of the tunnel, if you see a light at the end of the tunnel, you see the end, you see the good
result of something, you are nearly finished with something that's hard or stressful or scary,
you're nearly done and you can see the ending, it's so close, I'm nearly there! Then we had:
faff, I love this word, faff is a great word, it just means something that is hard, it's something
that requires a lot of effort, a lot of time, it's a faff, moving is a faff, it's stressful,
it takes a lot of time, it's hard, it's annoying, it's stressful. Faff. Without a doubt is another
really common phrase I hear all the time, it just means, you know, without a doubt,
I don't have any doubt, there's no doubt in my mind that this is true. Then, I included:
tell me about it and this is a bit more American, actually, you know, like tell me about it, it's a
bit more American and it just means like, I agree with you, oh I completely agree with you, tell
me about it. But I think, you know, as American movies and American tv shows become more popular
over here, I think a lot of people in Britain do say it, it's something you do hear over here,
so I thought I'd put it in, so tell me about it just means I completely agree with you. It's just
one thing after another, this means that lots of stressful, hard, negative things are happening.
It doesn't stop! Then we've got: all being well, which just means, all being well, if everything
goes well, this will happen, so all being well, I will have a new job in 2022 or all being well,
we will take our dog home from the vet tomorrow, so as long as everything goes well, as long as
everything is okay and goes to plan, this will happen. Then we had: to switch off, if you switch
off from life, switch off from house moving stuff, switch off from work, it just means you completely
take your brain away, you completely stop thinking about it, you distance yourself from it,
you don't think about it anymore, it's gone. Then we have the word: nightmare,
something is a nightmare, this is something that we say a lot over here, oh it's a nightmare, oh
moving house was a nightmare, it just means it was horrible, like a nightmare, it was terrible,
oh it's just, it's just a nightmare looking after seven cats and two dogs, it's horrible.
Then we had: when it rains, it pours which just means when bad things happen, it really happens,
you know? When you have some bad situations in life, it feels like it really happens, it's really
bad, it's not just a little bit of bad, it's like, oh that's terrible! When it rains, it pours. Mate
is super common in Britain, we use it to refer to someone, oh you alright, mate? How you doing,
mate? Or we might use it, like in this sense, as a sympathetic word, so we might say, oh mate,
mate I'm so sorry, oh mate, I'm really sorry. Then we had: bound to be something good around
the corner, though. So if something is bound to be, it's like surely, surely that's going
to happen in the future, surely, it's bound to happen, it's gonna happen, definitely,
surely. Around the corner, if something is around the corner, it's in the near future.
So if you imagine you're walking, just around the corner there's going to be something really good.
Then we had: we can only hope, which is a phrase you would use if you don't have a lot of hope,
really, you know? You don't think something is going to happen in the future, you might say oh
we can only hope, you know, I don't think it's going to happen, but I can at least hope! Then we
had the word moping, if you mope it just means you feel a bit sad for yourself, you complain a lot,
you're just a bit: my life so hard, I'm moping. And finally, we had: just the usual, you know,
if someone says to you: how's life? What are you doing at the moment? They might say: ah, just the
usual, like just the same, everything's normal, my life's the same as it usually is. And there
we have it! If you have any questions about those phrases, leave them in the comments down below,
I hope they were useful to you. If you enjoyed this video, please give it a like. If you want to
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