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Fave Britishisms
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Growing up in a colonized country, and learning British English, I have had to adapt my ways to make sure I belonged in deep south US. But this post is a reminder for me to use all these fun ways to talk about life with my 5 y old!
Question – on Ted Lasso when they would yell OY at someone to get their attention – is that a thing? I also love “give us a …”, like the royal WE. Loving all the comments – thanks everyone for the glimpse into British-isms!!
Oy! Is definitely a thing.
As a Brit living abroad (NZ) I feel seen and have loved reading all the comments! I find Americans’ love of Britishisms so charming. Sometimes I feel homesick, and mum-sick (my family lives across the world from me) so I’ve taken to keeping a Note of all my mum’s favourite idioms. One of my favourites from our area in the North of England is “shy bairns get nowt” (shy kids get nothing) meaning speak up, “clear as mud” meaning not clear, “like pulling hen’s teeth” meaning something impossible and “fiddlesticks” as a polite way of saying fuck in front of kids :D
same here! I’m transplanted into Canada.
Apparently those phrases are considered as collocations and kids don’t get taught fun idioms during school here.
I genuinely miss my English education experience after my kids started school. It’s nothing alike between British primary vs North American elementary.
Shall we start the kids Tea? Grab some squash for the kids!
I went to grad school in London, where I was one of just two Americans in my entire program, and also spent half my junior year there. Naturally, I picked up several of these–and also things like “takeaway” rather than “takeout” and “lift” rather than elevator–and when I got home, there was a terrible period in which people looked at me like I was insane or affected or suchlike and I had to–with great sadness–retrain myself to say “underwear” rather than “knickers.” But when I talk to myself, in my head, I’m still saying “whilst” and my kids do all know that a baked potato smothered in cheese is a jacket potato!!
It doesn’t have to be smothered in cheese to be a jacket potato, dearie!
We watch Escape to the Country all the time, and at first it used to really throw me that Brits say “homely” to mean what an American would call “homey.” My husband is Australian, and he didn’t understand why I was splitting hairs over these two words because they also say “homely.” I had to explain that to an American “homely” means so plain as to be ugly. So hearing all these people describing cute old stone houses as “homely” sounded so negative to me even though I knew they meant it in the “homey” sense!
My six year old had a little boy in his preschool class from England. My southern son, born and raised in Virginia, (who, no, has never watched Peppa Pig) still says “a bit of…” in such an adorably British way. People always comment on it and never believe me that it’s just from the influence of one friend when he was three years-old. Children are sponges!
I’ve picked up so many from my British-American boyfriend. Of course chuffed and whilst and many of the others listed here, most especially saying the h in herb to make a point when we cook dinner.
But some not mentioned: Mega for very, as in he “mega fancied” me (gah!). Wee for little. Waffling for rambling. Biscuits for cookies. And we eat toast in all forms, often.
Wait. What do Americans call being knackered?? And 2 weeks??
Tired, exhausted, fatigued…
Biweekly
Loving this!
Yes, dropping the “h” in herbs must be particularly irksome because that is one of the few times someone has been compelled to correct my accent – with advise in the same breathe on how to properly say basil – “baah-sil”.
My kids say “reckon” a lot more than I think they would if they were growing up in the states. Like “I reckon football (soccer) practice starts at five today.”
Hearing your kids pick up a different accent than your own is interesting. They definitely say adult with the emphasis on the first syllable – AH-dult. Also when they ask questions, they end with more of a down intonation, than raising pitch at the end.
And seeing the comment about how “zebra” is pronounced differently reminded me that our alphabet here is “A to Zed”, not “A to Zee”.
I haven’t entirely figured out how a “jumper” is different from a hoodie, or a cardigan or a sweater, etc., but my kids know exactly what type of clothing qualifies as a “jumper” or not.
And in case anyone needs to know what “Macca’s” is from a prior comment..it’s what my kids’ “mates” call McDonald’s down here.
I picked up all my favourite Britishisms from reading Sophie Kinsella’s novels. She sadly passed away last month and I realized I don’t know of any similar authors. Does anyone have any recommendations for other British novelists in the same vein? I read enough Serious Literature – I need something funny, bright and optimistic like her books to break up all the darkness. Thanks in advance if you do!
Do you read Marian Keyes? Irish rather than British, but brilliantly readable with that comforting tone I used to love about Sophie Kinsella books.
Thanks so much! I will check her out!
Jane Green!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DT5NkvUgHY1/?igsh=OWkwZTZ0MnB3Nnhj
Brits know where it’s at!
Jersey love
Oh crumb, I love these :)
Faffing around! Stop whinging! She’s having a bit of a wobbly!
– my in-laws
Omg my British dad is always telling us to stop faffing about hahaha
I love the word “whilst”. Every time I read it in a comment, it makes me smile
My daughter and I enjoyed “Make haste!” repeated often during Pride and Prejudice (BBC version)
This made me laugh. Mr. Collins! My fam quotes “Shelves in the closet, happy thought indeed!” from the same whenever we’re talking about living space updates.
My American household is a big fan of the word numpty to describe family members goofball behavior.
One of my favourites is “sense of humour failure” as a self-deprecating (or cheerful yet mildly derogatory) way to describe having an emotional tantrum or losing your temper in a trying situation.
My company has a few offices in the UK, so I work closely with lots of Brits and have picked up some fun British-isms – that my kids love
– lurgy
– sticky wicket
– getting stuck into it
I love “jacket potato” – a Brit I met in college would shorten it to “jacket” (“I could make you a jacket for lunch?”) and I now often find myself telling my kids to put on their jacket potatoes before we leave the house!
I had a Liverpool friend who used to say her mouth was like “the bottom of a birdcage” when she was thirsty! Lol I could not stop laughing at that. I mean, the accuracy.
Growing up my (Irish) American Dad always used “torch” for flashlight and “petrol” for gas, among other tiny mundane things and I thought everyone did. (That was not the case in my tiny CT town).
By far my favorite term, though, is Dippy Eggs! Soft-boiled eggs and soldiers are my number one way to eat eggs and Dippy Eggs just sounds so fun!
More of a Bridget Jones-ism than a British-ism, but I love saying “I’m going to Bedfordshire” when I leave my husband in front of the TV at night
Hehe the best
Same, same! I loved it in print in the book, and I love the way Renee Zellweger delivers the line in the movie; I swear I hear it in her voice before I say it myself (in hopefully my normal voice!)
To my parents it was ‘going up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire’.
Love it! But one correction, we would never say grocery store. I would say ‘I’m off t’shops’, here in West Yorkshire :)
My Scottish friend from on the West coast North of Glasgow would probably say she was off ta get some messages.
Right! I would say I’m just popping to the shop!
The shops here in London too!
I love an older expression; I don’t think it’s used much anymore? (Brits, weigh in….)
When insulting someone, calling them “A big girl’s blouse”, as in “you’re a big girl’s blouse!” It makes no actual sense which is why I love it; it’s completely silly.
I still say this but I am 60! I don’t think my adult children would use the expression though.
It means that the person is a bit wet.
I lived 20 years in the UK as a dual Brit-Canadian and I picked up all the slang without realizing (not the accent, sadly). So when I moved back, it took time to fade away. I still say BALLS or blx (haha) when annoyed. It’s so much more expressive. Also loving hearing my proper Canadian colleagues use the word wkr because they saw it on TV and not me suggesting they go use the word with our British colleague and get his reaction ahahahahaha
As a Canadian, I’m not a fan of North American entertainment. I watch almost exclusively UK and Australian tv. So my vocab is sprinkled with these super fun words and it makes me happy to hear others do as well!
When I am listening to British audiobooks, it shows in how I conjugate my verbs. So I say “I would have done,” instead of “I would have.” Is that a real thing?
I think departing with “Cheers” is just about the most friendliest thing one can say! I love it! I wish I could say it all the time but my Bay Area community might find me obnoxious.
My Argentinian husband loves to imitate my British dad and say “cheers” whenever we’re leaving somewhere haha
My husband works for an American company , in the London office. At one point they had to send an email round to both London and NY offices to ask people to avoid using the word “quite” as it has different meanings in UK Vs US English. The company does a lot of time sensitive trades so misunderstandings can be costly.
I am English so “quite” is a modifier. “Quite good” is not as good as “good”.
As i understand it, Americans use it as a synonym for very. So quite good is better than good.
The final complication is in the UK we can sometimes use it as knowing understatement…so mentioning that someone is “…quite annoying” can often mean OMG they are driving me mad why won’t they shut up aaah
oooh, good to know. I use ‘quite’ quite often in the American sense and didn’t realize it means the opposite in the UK!
Emily Blunt has discussed this issue and said in British parlance, quite good means just OK.
And yet the reality is that if a Brit says something is “quite” good, it actually means they think it’s crap but they’re too polite to say it 😂
The exceptions being “quite right!” As in, “quite right, old boy”, which means you are spot on about something (and not that you are just a little
bit right about something, as one might expect). But then it’s all about the tone of the sentence and whether the ‘quite’ is emphasised/stretched, or punchy!! This is quite fun, isn’t it!
From the wonderful TV series Vera, the amazing Brenda Blethyn, “mind how you go pet ” usually with a bit of of tsk and sarcastic care. What she means is you’re skating on thin ice and I’m watching you and you’d better watch your ass. Lol. Brilliantly useful phrase.
I like the Scottish word “haver,” which means to waste time talking, like kind of yammering on about nothing. Yes, that’s what The Proclaimers might do to you before they walk 1000 miles to fall down at your door.
Not to nitpick but you would be going to “the shops” not the grocery store ;)
10000% but why do we never say store to mean shop, I wonder. The only possible context I can think of is in the ratio industry, when talking about bricks and mortar, e.g. John Lewis has 70 stores across the UK.
*Retail industry!
Lala, I’ve always assumed it was a leftover phrase from an era where one really did go to “the shops” — when you had to go to several small businesses or to the street full of small businesses, in order to get your household goods.
Was talking to a Brit who didn’t want to “tart up” their house for sale and it took me out. Tarting up puts me more in a Bridget Jones frame of mind than home sales, haha.
What on earth do you call a fortnight then?!?
Two weeks’ time. LOL
And what do you call a jacket potato?
Two weeks 😅
East coast US: I just say “in two weeks”? Or maybe “not next week, but the week after” if I meant to emphasize the future-ness of the date. I know what it means, wouldn’t be confused if someone used it, but fourteen days is not a unit of measurement I use often.
Two weeks
We just call it two weeks. It’s a lot less fun!
Americans say “two weeks” instead of fortnight. Fortnight definitely sounds cooler!
Shall we also bring back sennight?
Kate – We don’t have jacket potatoes (in PNW anyway). We have baked potatoes and twice baked potatoes, but the jacket potatoes appear to be something in between.
I had to do an internet search to figure out what they are! Now that I have recipes, I’m thrilled to try them. I love the idea of the lil’ potato wearing it’s lil’ jacket.
@Peach a jacket potato is just a baked potato. They’re the same! Twice baked doesn’t really exist in UK. -American married to Northerner
Just an FYI re: knackered, it’s not terribly polite. Like, it’s not rude but if King Charles asked you how you are, you wouldn’t tell him you were knackered even if it were the case. Its origins are… NSFW in nature. Like you’d be knackered after a night of rambunctious fun with a new lover (or a long-standing one, I suppose). It might have lost a bit of that connotation over time but just so you know!
I would 100% tell King Charles I was knackered if he asked me. I am knackered!
I’m here to back Deb up. My British husband, very politely, let me know ‘knackered’ had a specific tone / sexual reference and that I needed to take care before I used it in all contexts.
The etymology of ‘knackered’ is from the ‘knacker’s yard’ which is where horses would go to be killed. So to be knackered is to be so tired you’re only fit to be put down. I’ve never considered it impolite to use in any scenario, formal or informal, but this perhaps might say more about the company I keep…
Going to side with the not-impolite view on this one; Australians use many of these expressions too and “knackered” is one you’ll hear all the time at work or gym or sports etc, meaning dead tired- from the knackery which is where they put horses down, as someone already said. Now, there’s another term that begins with a B that is also british (and Aussie) slang for tired that is a lot more sexual in its origins that maybe falls under that “use with caution” category…
I would argue that knackered used to be considered more impolite than it is these days, like a lot of curse words that have lost their bite. Also I don’t consider it sexual. Despite the connotation of knackers ha
Both my brother and sister live in London, so we travel atleast once a year to UK. Once when I was visiting and was watching my niece playing with her friends, I thought, I had stepped into Peppa Pig World, lol. A few of favorite ones are, “Brilliant”, “Cheerio”, “oopsy- daisy”.
For a while after a lot of Sarah and Duck watching, my son exclusively referred to our yard as the front garden and I loved it so much!!!
Australian programming but my nephew says “straightaway”- learned from bluey!
I came with one more! A friend texted me yesterday wondering if it was “a bit cheeky” of her to ask to borrow my trifle bowl to make dessert to take to a friend’s. Like a bit bold, or sorta pushing the boundaries a little bit.
Yes, this American in New Zealand made trifle for Christmas Day lunch in her very own trifle bowl. :-) of course happy to share with said friend.
“Cheers!”
Love this! As an English person I have to correct one- we would never call it ‘winter break’, it’s the school holidays or more specifically, the Christmas holidays/Easter holidays/Summer holidays. Then the shorter week-long school breaks are called ‘half term’ (because they occur halfway through a school term, or as you guys would call it, a semester).
The phrases used to describe school calendars is so different and therefore so confusing. My American brain keeps trying to make “half-term” be a quarter of classes snuck in between semesters. (Like a January term some colleges on semester have.) It cannot wrap around that a half-term is a vacation week. A term is when you HAVE classes, not when you take a break from them! hahaha! No amount of logic will apparently convince it otherwise.
Haha, someone beat me to it! A fellow Brit
EXACTLY
Taskmaster season 19, Fatiha El-Ghorri adding “innit” to every sentence 💘
BRUV!!
👌
One of my favorite things about COJ is the UK-coded sparkles!!
Those are English-isms, on the whole. We tend to refer to ourselves according to where we come from in the UK. England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. For a fairly small island nation, we tend towards the specific.
I agree we refer to ourselves as Scottish, Irish, Welsh or English but i think we have a fair bit of common slang. I’m Scottish and use chuffed and knackered all the time!
I find it interesting that Americans use the phrase “British accent” when someone has an English accent. But then specify the region if it’s Scottish , NI etc.
As an American living in New Zealand, love all of the above and can relate. (Hearing the “t” in fillet particularly drives me crazy.) But after years of living here, I sometimes call the trunk of the car the boot, and even sometimes pronounce aluminum and garage like the locals. I still chuckle when my 10 year old daughter asks for a “rubber” (eraser). And I wished someone had told me sooner than about year at work talking about my beloved fanny pack all the time how crass that sounds here – it’s a “bum bag” because “fanny” is impolite slang for a woman’s front side private parts. Haha.
A 10 year old asking for a “rubber.” That would make me chuckle too!!
Haha as kids in Aus in the nineties we loooooved to sing the theme song to the Nanny for that reason. Essentially; SHE WAS OUT ON HER VAGINAAAAAA!
My fave Britishism (which Australians do too) is the prefix You, said a particular way, followed by any noun to be a specific kind of insult. My fave recent one “you wet matchstick”. Haha best!
My favorite: “having a lie-in”! It is so charming, but the first time I (from the US) heard it, I had to ask my friend to repeat themselves a few times – my brain kept picturing a “lion” and couldn’t process it! :D
What the heck do you call a lie-in? Sincerely, a Brit :)
@Amy Webb: “Sleeping in” or “sleeping late” or “hasn’t gotten up yet.”
I lived in London as a child, and moved to the US as a teenager, so these are very familiar to be but not something I commonly say myself after being in the US for 20+ years. I’m also fond of the mild kid-friendly slang from my childhood, like saying “blimey” or calling someone “daft.”
“Blimey” is such a great word. You don’t need to grow up with it to find it satisfying.
I suppose the US version is “fudge” or “H, E, double hockey sticks” (which, amusing as it is, is far too long). Neither hit quite the same, though.
We’re big believers in “pants” as a mild oath over here.
My favorite is a “duvet day”- a day where you spend all day in bed/on the couch/etc.
My two faves, one from GBBO and one from Downton: “wobbly” and “what is a weekend?”.
Yess! The Dowager Countess threw some zingers. Loved that reply and the way she said “week END”
How about baking some fillets (hit that hard t)? Americans are NOT charmed by that one!
I have never done that. What does it mean?!
See THM, above! Like fillet of fish… Americans say it the French way, “fill-ay”.
I (American) have watched so much Downton Abbey and British cooking shows that I now say “fill-ette” instead of “fill-eh” in my head.
Don’t get me started on ‘erbs. We bear grudges for *centuries* so it’s Herbs, napkins, lavatory/loo, etc.
I’m confused! Is “fillet” not a slightly different word and meaning from “filet”? So different pronunciation too? Fillet is a verb to remove bones from say a fish, filet refers to a cut of meat…Aussies say “fi-lay mignon” for filet mignon, but we do indeed say “fillet-o-fish” for the horror burger on the Macca’s menu and as a kid I actually ascribed it to being an American joint, that’s how they must pronounce it! But maybe because two vowel sounds (ay and o) next to each other is hard to say?!
Reading this whilst I’m meant to be making therapy notes from this week, but I’m too knackered. From your loyal British reader – I feel seen!! Also I remember the first time I said ‘fortnight’ to an American friend and got the exact same response.
I could google this but what do Americans call a fortnight? All of these phrases sound familiar in Australia..
I do remember saying prepone (opposite of postpone) and the person being simultaneously confused and impressed 😄
Anen, we don’t have a word for a two-week time period. It’s all just weeks: one week, two weeks, three weeks, etc. “Two weeks from today.” “Week after next.” “I’ll be in town for two weeks.”
@Anen, I think they just say two weeks,
Americans just call a fortnight… “two weeks” :D
My favorite is when GBBO contestants say “I’m chuffed,” when they win Star Baker. So British!
Yes yes! And those who are gobsmacked! Love it. And I adopted “bits and bobs” just because…
Yes! I say chuffed all the time! I said it in a meeting with my British boss this week and he looked so surprised… I watch a LOT of British TV, lol
“Bits and bobs” is one of my favorites! Also the word rubbish. I lived in South Africa for three months a decade ago and I still pronounce Zebra the SA way (rhymes with Debra) because it tickles me.
Gobsmacked! My favorite! I look for excuses to say it.
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