10 Common British English Slang Expressions Phrases

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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

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