(whispering to self)
Okay.
And welcome back to English With Lucy.
(laughs)
Okay, I have a cold in September, which actually
isn't that bad, but I am suffering,
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 wintery,
so I tried to make myself look all summery,
ready for the summer that I 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 phrases that I've thought of recently.
And I'm gonna give you some examples
and I'm gonna make sure that you really
understand them so that you can use them
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 just want
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Right, let's get on with the lesson.
Now, the first phrase is something that I might have
mentioned in a previous video, but I feel like
it's really important, and extra important,
because yesterday I met with friend
and she told me a really funny anecdote.
So the phrase is "to be knackered."
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 tired,
and this is a phrase that I use all the time.
The reason that 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."
(laughs)
And naked obviously means you have no clothes on,
so I just want to reiterate the fact that
the pronunciation of knackered
You don't want to go telling people you're absolutely naked.
(laughs)
I thought that was so funny and she said
she did correct him very nicely, so good on her.
Okay, the next phrase is "to be skint."
If you are skint, you are in a poor financial situation.
You have no money or nearly no money.
"Do you want to go to the cinema tonight?"
Then I'd say, "I can't, sorry.
"I'm absolutely skint."
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.
Being a student in London is really expensive
and quite a challenge actually.
But it did inspire me to work very hard
so that I could be financially stable
Not rude, but it's a slang word, and it would 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.
Ten quid, a tenner, ten pounds.
A tenner, or a fiver, is more money slang for you.
But if you are quids 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 100 pounds,
I say, "Wow, you're quids in, well done."
The next one is "to be 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.
Oh!
Hopefully next hour it will do that again so I can find it.
Yeah, so if we say something is underwear,
I mean like boxers or briefs, normally male,
but sometimes female, bottom half underwear.
So if I'm saying something is pants,
So it's quite a good way of saying that
in a kind of jovial sort of way.
It's not very harsh, but then again,
if somebody called my videos pants,
Because a lot of work goes into them.
I don't expect everyone to like my videos,
but at least appreciate the effort.
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.
And this phrasal verb is "to swear down."
"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
The next phrase is "to get one's knickers in a twist."
(laughs)
"Don't get your knickers in a twist."
It's normally aimed at females.
Something that happens to all of us, I can't find my phone.
Oh, I just pulled one of my own hairs.
I can't find my phone and I need to leave
I'm getting flustered, agitated, I'm fussing.
"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,"
Is there any Americans watching this?
I've seen it online, I have researched it.
But I've never heard an American say it.
So this is normally said to females
because obviously we wear knickers,
but when it's said to males, it can be
Although it can be offensive to women,
But sometimes it's just affectionate.
it can be used to imply effemininity
if you know that the implication of femininity
towards the man is going to annoy him further.
So yeah, try not to use it in a patronising way.
The next one "to throw a spanner in the works."
So you might be doing a task, and then you might say,
"Oh, that's thrown a spanner in the works."
It prevents something from happening smoothly.
So I could be putting up a picture with a hammer
and the hammer breaks, and I'll say,
"Oh, that's thrown a spanner in the works."
There I was happily hammering away.
The picture was going to be up in five minutes,
but now the hammer is 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 pull."
If you are out on the pull, it means you are
going to go out with the intention
of finding a romantic partner.
It means you are actively looking for somebody.
So when I was single, I sometimes used to go
out on the pull in London with my girlfriends
and the place that we always used to
There was always a great selection there.
So yeah, we always used to go out on the pull
With the right group of people,
The next phrase, and I know for sure
that this is used in America as well,
"you have got to be kidding me."
It means you have to be joking.
And it can be used in two ways.
It can be used to express anger or disbelief.
(gasps)
"You've got to be kidding me!"
Or if something's really funny.
(laughs) "You've got to be kidding me!"
So I hope you appreciated my acting skills there.
I was never that good at drama at school.
The next phrase is one, I think when used correctly,
sounds 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,
There is smoke coming from the kitchen.
You know, it means with reason.
The smoke is coming from the kitchen.
Right, that's it for today's lesson.
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