hello everybody and welcome back to love
English I'm Sabra and today I have a
lesson for you on 20 very British
expressions now these are going to help
you guys because if you watch British TV
or things like that you're going to hear
these expressions all the time and they
are things that we use here in Britain
on a regular basis
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love English fun so make sure you have a
good brew of British tea at the ready
and let's get started okay so number one
number one is I'm stuffed I'm stuffed
and this means I'm very very full if you
say I'm stuffed I'm really full I think
they use this in America as well that
this is more commonly used in England to
be stuff to be very full to have eaten
lots of food perhaps too much food this
is very relevant for this time of year
as it's nearly Christmas and it's the
time of year when people tend to over
eat a little bit and so they do get a
little bit stuffed next one number two
is
and gutted I'm gutted gutted means very
disappointed very disappointed
the literal meaning of the gut is to
remove the insides from something
usually an animal or a fish to gut it to
remove their guts that inside our guts
are our insides so if we say we feel
gutted we feel like somebody's removed
our guts obviously not that extreme but
we feel very disappointed we might say
I'm gutted that that boy or girl never
rang me and gutted or I'm gutted I
didn't get that job something like that
you are gutted number three I love this
expression this is to be in a pickle to
be in a pickle now pickle you can see
pickle here it's a very British food it
is fruit or vegetables that we put in a
jar with sugar and vinegar and some
other things and we leave it over a long
time and the vegetables will ferment and
over time this will become pickle when
we say we are in a pickle it means that
we are in a tricky situation we are like
the vegetables that have been covered in
sugar and vinegar in a pickle means we
are in a difficult situation a bit of a
tricky situation going through our
finances I'm not sure but it seems that
we may be in a little bit of a pickle
dick right number four is it's mental or
saying something is mental we often say
this as a replacement to crazy if we
think something's really crazy we can
say ah that's mental or it's such a
mental situation meaning it's really
crazy it's a mixed up situation that's
mental we use it all the time but do
bear in mind guys it's not a formal word
so you wouldn't say at a job interview
ah I've just had so much job experience
it's mental that would not sound very
good so it's for informal situations
that it's very very common mental that
one I'm telling you number five number
five is give me a vowel give me a bow
this means get in touch with me or give
me a ring it comes from the old days
where when you went into a hotel or
anything like that or any kind of
official
place if you wanted attention you would
ring a bell there wasn't phones in those
days so on the reception there would be
about when ring and you would get the
attention of somebody so give me about
number six to be in a mood to be in a
mood in a mood means that you are in a
bad mood mood can mean a good mood or a
bad mood how you're feeling but if we
say somebody is in a mood this means
they are in a bad mood
so if I said Leila's in such a mood I
really don't want to speak to at the
moment she's in such a mood this means
she's really in a bad mood when Leila's
in a bad mood it's a little scary just
kidding I love her really number seven
these are two very British words which
we use all the time when we're surprised
about something they're informal but
you'll hear them all the time they are
crikey crikey I can't believe the
weather or crikey
can you believe the bad news again about
brexit the other one is limey blimey
again very common we might say Oh blimey
I just can't believe what a long day
I've had to or blimey you heard the news
about our colleague she's run off with
the boss so you leave the word that
you're here all the time in films let's
look at a quick clip of these in films
now
[Music]
whiny Irish got himself a rogue bludger
if you wanted to pop by sometime that
might be nice
mark nice
[Music]
right
crikey
number eight this is a very British
expression we use it still sometimes but
it's not as common as it used to be I'm
sure some of you have already learnt it
actually it is to pull someone's leg
meaning to play a joke on them or to
tease them to joke with them to to laugh
about them
this can be in a harmless way or it can
be in a mean way it depends so to pull
someone's leg for example if I said to
my boyfriend can't see you tonight I'm
meeting my new young lover and he said
what what's your new young lover
what what's happening and then I said oh
don't be silly I'm just pulling your leg
meaning I'm just joking I'm not serious
to pull your leg I would say the phrase
that we use more than this today is to
take the Mickey to take the Mickey
again to joke with somebody to tease I
could say I'm just taking the Mickey I'm
only making a joke now people are not
sure about what the origin of to pull
someone's leg is people think it might
have been in the old days particularly
Victorian times when people wanted to
rob somebody so thieves were trying to
steal something from someone they might
pull their leg to surprise them and make
it easier to steal something from them
so that could be the origin of this
quite famous British expression Point
Break or bad boys - which one do you
think I prefer no I mean which one do
you want to watch first you are pulling
my leg okay next one number nine I love
this expression because this is
something I always do it is too faff
around to around and this means to
procrastinate to waste time doing silly
things before you do the things that you
have to do so if you are a person who
around before you go to work you
might go on your phone for a while you
might start to tidy up you might worry
that you need to check things like check
it all the windows of shots you don't
quickly do things you've battleground
you spend your time doing perhaps not
that useful tasks before doing the
things that you really need to do are
you a person who around if you are
do please leave me a comment below
I would like to know if there are other
people out there that are like me number
10
lost the plot I've lost the plot what
she's lost the plot he's lost the plot
if we lose the plot we lose track of
reality maybe we do something a little
bit crazy or a little bit silly but we
can use this expression just to tease
somebody we could say what why are you
saying that you've lost the plot and it
doesn't necessarily mean that they have
lost the plot the plot is the story for
example the plot in a play is the story
the plot in a film is the story so if
we're saying some of these Lots the plot
we mean you've lost sense of the story
lost sense of reality number eleven is
that's rubbish or that crap very very
British expressions particularly crap
these mean that something is not good we
say it was a crap there are more with a
crap day or crap whether we mean it's
not good and rubbish so this is slang
it's definitely slang you would not use
it in a formal situation but they are
very common and we use them quite a lot
what a crap movie or oh what a crap day
the web has been terrible or what a
rubbish day do you make sure that you
say the pronunciation of crap correctly
because it is a pop sound at the end not
above and I've heard some Arabic
speakers and Asian speakers saying oh
that was crap crap is the animal with
the pizzas crap is the British word so
do you make sure that you're saying it
correctly you don't want to say oh what
a crab movie number 12 this is a very
British verb it is to Nick something to
Nick something
this is slime really footage steal for
example we might say I nicked my
sister's pen we can say huh did you Nick
my notepad I was just using that it
means to steal now if you are a gambler
if you like playing poker you may be
familiar with this expression it is that
somebody or something has had their
chips or his or her chips if we say oh
you're not going to get another date
with that girl now you you messed up
you've had your chips meaning you've had
your last chance you've really
here it would mean that you've ruined it
you will not have another chance
just like player who has given their
last chips or who has been defeated in a
game has had their chips if they're not
getting any more chips it's over for
them if we say you've had your chips
it's over for you
for example you're trying to get a job
you don't get the job you can say arc
you've had your chips I think that other
person's going to get it really sorry
you've had your chips on that one number
14 this can be a confusing expression
but I'll do my best to explain it to you
it is the bee's knees it's an idiom if
we say somebody or something thinks they
are the bee's knees this means that they
have a very high opinion of themselves
they think they are the best if they
think they are the bee's knees for
example you might say actually think
she's the bee's knees just because she
went to Oxford can use this in a
positive way as well we can say oh she's
just the bee's knees isn't she she's
just fantastic at what she does or he's
just fantastic what he does he's the
bee's knees so we can't also use it in a
positive way but quite often we do use
it in a negative way saying that
somebody has a high opinion about
themselves because you could be the
ugliest sad sack on the planet but if
you're in a rocking band you're the
cat's pajamas man you're the bee's knees
bee's knees and the bee's knees you're
gonna be the most popular guy in school
trust me number 15 is to take the
biscuit to take the biscuit now this
means that you are being rude or
offensive in your behavior and you have
gone too far with something so if
somebody has done something which you
consider to be a bad thing and they've
gone too far in their behavior you can
say this just takes a biscuit meaning
they've gone too far with this for
example if someone borrows lots of money
from you and promises they'll pay it
back and then they don't you can say
this just takes the biscuit
but you promised they'd pay it back it
takes the biscuit they think the origin
of this expression comes from when games
were played and a cake was given us the
prize and if somebody who didn't deserve
the prize took the cake you could say
believe it they they took the biscuit
they took the cake okay number 16 these
are quite easy ones and later and I have
actually talked about them before in our
video on slang words British slang words
which you can see up there these are
words to say that we are tired and they
are shattered and knackered shattered
and naked we say shattered or I'm knock
it you're very tired
number 17 this is so British and I've
said this so many times in my life it is
I'm not being funny but we use the word
funny in England to mean if somebody is
being a bit rude to us or a bit
offensive and so we can say I'm not
being funny but before we want to say
something negative so we might say I'm
not being funny but could you just move
your stuff off my desk
I really just need a clean clean desk do
you mind if you move your stuff off my
desk
so we're saying something negative but
the other person was saying I don't need
to be rude but so funny can also mean
rude or offensive it doesn't just mean
funny as in ha ha it also means that you
could be rude or offensive or a bit off
with someone a bit not as friendly as
you normally are so if we say ah she was
really funny with me I mean she was
really off with me she wasn't nice to me
as she usually is so this is a way that
we would say don't mean to be rude but
actually I need to say something to you
I want you to look after them don't lose
them yes Lauren I'm not being funny when
I've seen you say what you got on number
18 quite a common one this one
this is a spanner in the works a spanner
in the works if there was a spanner in
the works oh we often talk about a
spanner being thrown in the works this
is that something unexpected or
surprising has come into the situation
if you think about a spanner looks like
this and if you threw that into a car
engine or if you threw that into
machinery it would cause it to be
disrupted in some way so that is what
the the thing that comes into the
situation when we talk about this does
it disrupts it or confuses the situation
for example imagine
you're looking for a new job and you go
through lots of interviews and you think
that the job you really wanted you
didn't get it but then you go for
another job and you think this is almost
as good and you're about to accept it
and then the other job that you didn't
think you'd got to come back to you and
say actually we want you this is
throwing a spanner in the works is
unexpected but in this sense it's
unexpected for good but you might still
have a difficult decision to make you
might think oh I don't know which job to
take now do you have an equivalent guide
in your country for a spanner in the
works if so tell me below how do you say
it number 19 very British expression it
is to head somewhere to head somewhere
it means to go somewhere we're thinking
our head goes there to head somewhere
for example we might say I'm heading to
work now or I'm heading off means I'm
leaving I'm heading off phrasal verb to
head somewhere means to go somewhere
again quite informal but we use it very
very frequently I'm heading to work I'm
heading off I'm heading out to meaning
I'm going out all of those we will often
hear in British conversation number 20
the last one we've got there number 20
is that mint or something is mint
that's mint this means something is
amazing or fantastic we say oh that's
mint or it's in mint condition we mean
it's in perfect condition we can say my
new car is mint it's in perfect
condition even though it's second-hand
for example it's a mint condition we can
say that experiences are mint
oh that's mint I can't believe that you
want some money wow that's mint so we
can say it as well meaning things are
fantastic thank you very much for
watching everybody I do hope this lesson
will be useful and that you can start to
use or at least understand some of these
British expressions don't forget to go
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below do please leave me a comment below
trying to use any of these in a centre
or tell me what the equivalent is in
your language and very curious to know
thank you very much for watching
everybody I hope you have a mint day I
hope you're not too knackered after this
lesson and I'm sure that you're all the
bee's knees thanks a lot guys bye-bye
you're the bee's knees but you do take
the biscuit sometimes