Welcome back to love english I'm Leila and today i think i've got a rather controversial
lesson today we are looking at around about i think 27 or 26 British insults creative
and unusual ways to insult people whether that's saying that someone is well stupid crazy
unattractive I feel very bad I'm a terrible teacher or indeed a little bit mean with money
these are some really useful expressions that you definitely will come across in english
particularly when you're speaking with native speakers and of course
they might be a few that you'd actually need to use if you ever came to the uk
so let's be careful how we use these expressions i have been very careful not
to include anything that is racist classes sexist or homophobic because that's just
going too low and not correct at all these are fun witty entertaining insults
that you could use in a joking way and certainly avoid doing to people's faces so i do not want
to get anyone commenting on here anyone's mom or dad saying what are you teaching my children um
please don't do that please don't go and use any of these expressions with your parents
but use them in the right way you know in your own language you wouldn't just go up to somebody
and call them stupid so without further ado one of the most controversial lessons i have ever created
let's see what you think right now if there is someone in your life or perhaps a colleague
maybe even your boss and you get so frustrated you want to say that they are stupid they're an idiot
they're foolish even you could use some of these rather creative words instead number one muppet
muppet no i'm not talking about our friend kermit over here but i am actually referring to this uh
in the sense of saying that someone is being a bit stupid now i will say that this is quite a
gentle not polite certainly but a gentle humorous way to say someone is a bit stupid or not been
very clever so you might say oh you mop it you've walked in a puddle look at all your clothes
so definitely you can use it with kids don't be a muppet of course i can lend you 10 pounds
again you can use it with a colleague a friend it doesn't mean that you're telling them they're
stupid you're saying don't be silly which is a bit more gentle and i'm happy to help you so
muppet doesn't have to be rude at all nice gentle expression to be used with the correct intonation
remember intonation is key if you tell someone you are a muppet then clearly you're angry you're
rude you're agitated oh you muppet then you can hear that we're being much more gentle and we're
trying to encourage them to maybe ask for help or think a little bit more carefully next time
number two and i think this is rather creative but probably less commonly used nincompoop
nincompoop the more old-fashioned version of this would be ninny ninny so very british very unusual
again because it is old-fashioned and slightly weird in its pronunciation it's not going to be
too strong and too insulting she was a bit of a nincompoop last night and forgot to lock the door
oh what an income poop of course you can ask me for help you minnie so again how you say the
word what context you are using it makes all the difference but generally speaking not too strong
not too harsh number three i would actually use this quite a lot and i would say now we're
starting to go into the realm of the slightly more rude and offensive tweet tweet if someone is a
twit they are stupid they're an idiot what a twit i can't believe you spilt that drink all down you
number four numpty numpty a little bit like muppet actually and i would say a little
bit more uncommon um i think maybe older people might use this expression but certainly i don't
use it i would potentially use it with children oh you numpty come here what have you done now
um but i wouldn't necessarily use it with adults very much but very very similar to muppet numpty
numpty he looked like a right numpty after making that mistake in the meeting
right five six and seven definitely verging on rude and insulting number five pillock pillock
ruder than twit possibly so if you call someone a pillock you're saying they are stupid and an
idiot what a pillock did you see how he was driving number six particularly insulting
and insulting someone's intelligence if you say that someone is a bit gormless you're not
only saying that they're really quite stupid but you're also kind of imagining an expression of
someone that looks like they're just not all there they're not particularly awake so i might say
sometimes not always i've got a few gormless students in the class they don't seem to be
paying attention now number seven this is a bit of a add-on actually because it doesn't necessarily
mean idiot or stupid in fact it doesn't it's referring to somebody that doesn't have any
friends who's lonely something that someone might use in a playground a horrible child maybe
calling someone a billy no mates a billy no mate so this is someone that's a loner that doesn't
have friends uh it's sad really but you could also use it in a very joking way really no mates what
are you doing sat by yourself come and sit with us come on so it's not too strong but obviously
depending on the context it's definitely something that would have been used when i was at school but
that was a little while ago now so they might have some newfangled slang for that but essentially it
means someone that doesn't have any friends really no mates mate being a friend now if somebody
is a bit unattractive okay i can make some faces for you it's one of my favourite things to do
if somebody is unattractive or at least if you want to say that they are unattractive first of
all you're not a very nice person if you want to say that someone is unattractive because of course
beauty comes from within and of course very often it's in the eye of the beholder a nice phrase for
you there a nice proverb but essentially if you do feel that you need to insult somebody's appearance
think very carefully about how you do it where you do it and don't do it to their face but some
of these expressions are used really when we want to say something in the heat of the
moment when we're angry when we're frustrated or we're saying in a joking way but certainly not
to people's faces because nobody wants to be told they are ugly and unattractive so let's have a go
number eight minga minga often referring to a woman as many of these lovely expressions are
um basically a minga is someone that's very unattractive and disgusting gross okay
so she is such a minger i don't think she's even washed her hair today not very nice you're a
horrible horrible person if you use it minga number nine a great expression for somebody
that looks actually not necessarily ugly but maybe rather miserable okay a bit like that all right so
they're miserable they're grumpy and it shows on their face you could say and i do like this it's
more idiomatic a face like a slapped ass she's got a face like a slapped ass what is wrong with her
so essentially you're saying that someone is unattractive because they are essentially
miserable they're unhappy and it comes across in their personality now moving
on to more idiomatic expressions referring to people being not particularly clever we have
a lot of very creative expressions for you one of my favorite being they're not the sharpest
tool in the box they're not the sharpest tool in the box meaning they're not particularly clever
and remember with idiomatic expressions unlike the nouns i've previously given you idioms can
actually be much softer more gentle and not going to say polite but perhaps a little bit more
sensitive so someone's not the sharpest tool in the box you're saying
they're not particularly intelligent now if you say somebody is a bit thick between the ears
all right much stronger not really polite or sensitive at all you're saying someone is really
really stupid thick between the ears now sticking with thick thick obviously being the opposite
of thin thin if the paper's thin it's like that if it's thick it's like that
when we use thick it's also referring in a slang informal way to someone being stupid
so the next expression as thick as a plank or as thick as two short planks
very insulting very strong someone is stupid he is as thick as two short planks he completely put the
furniture together wrong thirteen a little bit softer a little bit like we would use
muppet daft is a brush daft as a brush daft is a nice way to say someone is a little bit silly
stupid not too strong but if you say daft as a brush you're saying someone has been a bit stupid
she's as daft as a brush there's no common sense but absolutely lovely girl number 14 the light's
on but no one's home the light's on but no one's home this essentially is an expression referring
to someone being there talking awake but clearly the brain is not very engaged so the lights are on
but no one's home now the next half crazy okay someone's a bit mad a bit bizarre not as normal as
the rest of us and we don't want to say crazy or mad we have got some great idiomatic expressions
to suggest in perhaps a more creative way that someone is a little bit um
so number 15 a few sandwiches short of a picnic a few sandwiches short of a picnic okay so a picnic
is when we go out we have sandwiches and we go down the park but if you're missing a few of them
apparently an expression meaning you are crazy there we go very common definitely one that i
would use definitely one that most native speakers would use number 16 stronger much stronger
if they're off their rocker off their rocker now i'm not sure if this is actually referring to
a rocking chair so if you're off your rocker like a rocking chair moving back and forward
you look a bit crazy don't you um but if someone is off their rocker they are just they're crazy
like the old lady next door with all her cats she's completely off her rocker that'll be me in a
few years time actually now number 17 i originally would have thought as mad as a hatter came from
the story alice in wonderland where there was a very mad hatter he was referred to a mad hatter
but no in fact this comes further back in english history and apparently hatters people that made
hats men that made hats actually used a process that included mercury in the creation of their
hats and that in itself does turn you a little bit crazy so as mad as a hatter referring to
i guess in victorian times i'm not sure a process in which hats were made that used mercury and made
the maker the hat maker crazy so the mad hatter as mad as a hatter have you met her boyfriend
he's as mad as a hatter lovely yeah but definitely a few sandwiches short of a picnic
number 18 a lovely expression as mad as a box of frogs now frogs individually are probably not very
mad but imagine having a big box of frogs that's pretty crazy isn't it so this is an idiomatic
expression if someone is as mad as a box of frogs they're just jumping everywhere and totally crazy
number 19 you could also say someone is not the full ticket or much older english less common
now not the full shilling right shilling is old english money so that's why it's very dated not
the full ticket or not the full shilling meaning they don't seem to be completely
there they might not have a lot of common sense or when you're talking to them it might seem that
they're a little bit in their own world so they're not the full ticket number 20 to 25 are referring
to people that are not generous with money that want to keep the money all to themselves and don't
like sharing essentially they are mean now i've got quite a few expressions for this and of course
there's always someone in the family whether it's your uncle your gran or maybe even your dad
who's a little bit mean with the money so again be careful because they're probably not going to
be any more generous with you for using this language with them but you might want to say
he's a bit of a penny pincher to pinch is this action okay you can pinch your skin but if a
penny pincher meaning you're really trying to keep hold of every single penny to be careful with your
money so he's a little bit of a penny pincher and doesn't like spending very much on presents
so number 21 if someone is a cheapskate then you'll probably get the idea they are cheap
they don't like spending a lot on anything so you might say oh he's such a cheapskate he's always
choosing the cheapest thing on the menu number 22 tight fisted this is a fist okay now if you
squeeze it really hard it's tight and of course what does that imply that there's money inside the
fist so someone is tight-fisted they're holding on very carefully to their money 23. a lovely noun to
refer to somebody as being a scrooge scrooge now of course scrooge actually comes from the
christmas carol charles dicking's novel so if someone is a scrooge they are someone just like
scrooge who doesn't like to share his money with anybody 24 very creative maybe a bit more unusual
but certainly very british a skin flint a skin flint he is such a skin flint he wouldn't even
lend me five pounds for lunch what is wrong with him number 25 a little bit more vulgar of course
americans would say ass but in british english we say ass and if we say someone is a tight ass
well i've already explained tight fisted so you can kind of imagine what's going on there
yes if someone is a tight ass they're just clenching because they don't want to spend
any money don't be a tight ass guys be generous now i'm going to add to that you can also say
as tight as a duck's ass as tight as a duck sauce i don't know why we're choosing ducks
in particular i haven't noticed that they've got particularly tight asses
but there we go that's the expression that's the idiom guys and one that you would definitely
hear commonly used so what is number 26 my favorite expression ever and this is referring
to somebody who is completely disorganized and has just made a mess of everything if you say
someone cannot organize a piss up in a brewery it is slightly more vulgar slightly ruder
but essentially you're saying someone can't even organize themselves or a group
of people to get drunk in a pub okay a brewery is where they actually make the beer the lager
and a piss up is basically where people get together they have a party and they get very drunk
very english expression often used very nicely when we're referring to politicians
ah i don't think that british prime minister could organize a piss up in a brewery if he tried
and there we have it guys controversial sometimes verging on rather rude and definitely insulting
but some very common expressions you will hear in english in british english spoken
commonly maybe even written and definitely in television films uh television series
these kind of things so why not comment below don't name any names i don't want to know who's
a tight ass in your family or if you've ever dated a minger but you can of course comment
and use some of these expressions telling me a little bit about some of the people you know
maybe just disguise the names change the names or the people that you're referring to and again
be careful when you use those expressions and how thank you very much for watching i
look forward to seeing you soon with lots more idioms slang and crazy british expressions bye