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hello everyone and welcome back to
english with lucy i have a cold in oh my
god it's September I thought it was
August ok I have a cold in September
which actually isn't that bad but I am
suffering so if my voice sounds strange
or extra sexy then you know why I sound
like a smoker you know why yeah I've got
a really bad cold but I'm here and I'm
ready to do the lesson with you so I
thought my voice sounds wintry so I make
myself look all summery ready for the
summer you didn't have this year today I
thought I would do a video about some
British slang phrases expressions and
idioms so today I'm going to give you a
lovely long list of the phrases that
I've thought of recently and I'm gonna
give you some examples and I'm gonna
make sure that you really really
understand them so that you can use them
in your daily life as well some of them
are going to be quite informal so you
might not want to use them in English
exams but if you're visiting the UK or
America I focus on British English here
but
many of these are relevant for American
English as well I'm just gonna call them
British English expressions to make sure
that anyone who wants to learn British
English knows that this video will help
them quickly before we get started I
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lesson now the first phrase is something
that I might have mentioned in a
previous video but I feel like it's
really really important an extra
important because yesterday I met with a
friend and she told me a really funny
anecdote so the phrase is to be
knackered now this is informal it could
be considered slightly rude so be
careful where you use it not in
professional or educational situations
but maybe around friends and perhaps
family to be knackered means you're
exhausted or really really tired and
this is a phrase that I use all the time
oh my god
I am knackered I am exhausted the reason
I wanted to mention it is because a
friend was talking to me I think she
went on a date or something with an
Italian guy and he said to her after
work oh my god I am absolutely naked
naked obviously means you have no
clothes on so I just want to reiterate
the fact that the pronunciation of naked
naked is really really important you
don't want to go telling people you're
absolutely naked you want to be
knackered I thought that was so funny
and she said she did correct him very
very nicely so good on her okay
the next phrase is to be skint to be
skint if you are skint you are in a poor
financial situation you have no money or
nearly no money so if someone says do
you want to go to the cinema tonight and
I'd say I can't sorry I'm absolutely
skint it means I can't afford it I'm in
a really difficult financial situation
and oh my god I had to use that phrase
so frequently when I was at university I
had no money being a student in London
is really really expensive and quite a
challenge actually but it it did inspire
me to work very hard so that I could be
financially stable one day in the future
very colloquial not rude but it's it's a
slang word and it'll be really
impressive if you can use that around
British people on the other hand number
three to be quids in
now quid is a slang term for a pound
one quid one pound two quid two pounds
ten quid a tenner ten pounds a tenner or
a fiver is more slang money slang for
you but if you are quid in it means you
are suddenly in a good financial
situation so maybe you placed a bet at
the weekend and you won and now you are
quids in you've suddenly got lots of
money so it's normally used to
congratulate people so if somebody wins
a competition and they win a hundred
pounds I'll say wow your quid then well
done the next one is to be pants so I
would say maybe ah that pants yeah
the show was pants now in American
English pants means trousers but in
British English pants means underwear I
have a video about the differences
between American and British English you
can look at it up here oh that's the
watch I lost I hopefully next hour it
will do that again so I can find it yeah
so if we say something is underwear when
I say underwear I mean like male
underwear I mean like boxers or briefs
normal email but sometimes female bottom
half underwear so if I'm saying
something is pants
it means it's rubbish really really bad
so it's quite a good way of saying that
you didn't like something in a kind of
jovial sort of way it's not very harsh
but then again if somebody called my
videos pants I'd be a bit upset I would
be a bit upset what goes into them I
don't expect everyone to like my videos
but at least appreciate yeah yeah so
it's not so modern it has been used for
many years
so don't expect to be all down with the
kids to be down with the kids is to be
young and modern by using to be pants
but it's a good phrase that you will
hear fairly frequently in the UK now the
next one is actually a phrasal verb but
it's a slang phrasal verb so if you
didn't think that phrasal verbs could
get any worse they can we have flaga
phrasal verbs and this phrasal verb is
to swear down to swear down if I say I
swear down I did not eat your last pizza
slice I'm saying I swear on my heart I
promise you on my dog's life that I did
not do that okay so it's basically a
longer way of saying I swear I swear to
you I swear down the next phrase is to
get ones knickers in a twist so if I say
to somebody don't get your knickers in a
twist
it's normally aimed at females it means
don't get flustered don't get agitated
something that happens to all of us I
can't find my phone oh I just pulled one
of my own hair I can't find my phone and
I need to leave and I'm getting in a
flap I'm getting flustered agitated I'm
fussing my boyfriend might say to me
don't get your knickers in a twist Lucy
just calm down and look for it I think
the Americans might say don't get your
panties in a bunch but I'm not sure if
there are any Americans watching this
can you confirm that for me I've seen it
online I have researched it but I've
never I've never heard an American say
it right so this is normally said to
females because obviously we wear
knickers but when it said two males it
can be slightly more offensive although
it can be offensive to women depending
on how you say it but sometimes it's
just affectionate but if you say to a
man it can be used to imply a femininity
if you know that the implication of
femininity towards a man is going to
annoy him further so yeah try not to use
it in a patronizing way the next one to
throw a spanner in the works to throw a
spanner in the works so you might be
doing a task and then you might say oh
that's throwing a spanner in the works
it
event something from happening smoothly
so I could be putting up a picture with
a hammer and the hammer breaks and I'll
say no that's thrown a spanner in the
work there I was happily hammering away
the picture was going to be up in five
minutes but now the Hammers broken so I
have to go out get a new one you get the
picture the next one is to do with going
out this one is to be out on the pole to
be out on the pole if you are out on the
pole it means you are going to go out
with the intention of finding a romantic
partner it means you're looking you're
actively looking for somebody so when I
was single I sometimes used to go out on
the pole in London with my girlfriends
and the place that we always used to go
to was Tyger Tyger there was always a
great selection there so yeah we always
used to go out on both the Tyger Tyger I
would never go back there actually Never
Say Never with the right group of people
it would be good fun especially on a
Wednesday the next phrase and I know for
sure that this is used in America as
well you have got to be kidding me
you have got to be kidding me it means
you have to be joking you must be joking
and it can be used in two ways it can be
used to express anger or disbelief I
can't believe that you've got to be
kidding me
or if something's really funny you've
got to be kidding me
and so I hope you appreciated my acting
skills that I was never that good at
drama at school the next phrase is one I
think when used correctly sounds really
really good and it is rightly so and
it's a nice little thing to add on the
end of sentences it means quite rightly
correctly everyone's worrying about the
pizza getting burnt and rightly so there
is smoke coming from the kitchen you
know it means with reason the smoke is
coming from the kitchen
and rightly so and rightly so right
that's it for today's lesson I hope you
enjoyed it I hope you learnt something
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