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  • (upbeat electronic music)

  • (whispering to self)

  • Okay.

  • (clears throat)

  • (breathes loudly)

  • - Hello, everyone!

  • And welcome back to English With Lucy.

  • I have a cold in,

  • oh my god, it's September!

  • (laughs)

  • I thought it was August.

  • Okay, 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 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

  • 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 just want

  • to thank the sponsor of today's video, italki.

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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."

  • 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 tired,

  • and this is a phrase that I use all the time.

  • Oh my god, I am knackered.

  • I am exhausted.

  • 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

  • is really important.

  • You don't want to go telling people you're absolutely naked.

  • You want to be knackered.

  • (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.

  • So if someone says,

  • "Do you want to go to the cinema tonight?"

  • Then 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 expensive

  • and quite a challenge actually.

  • But 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 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.

  • One quid, one pound.

  • Two quid, two pounds.

  • 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."

  • So I would say maybe,

  • "Oh, that's pants. (groans)

  • "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.

  • 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, normally male,

  • but sometimes female, bottom half underwear.

  • So if I'm saying something is pants,

  • it means it's rubbish.

  • 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 would be a bit upset.

  • Because a lot of work goes into them.

  • I don't expect everyone to like my videos,

  • but at least appreciate the effort.

  • 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 slang phrasal verbs.

  • And this phrasal verb is "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 one's knickers in a twist."

  • (laughs)

  • 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 hairs.

  • 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.

  • Is there any Americans watching this?

  • Can you confirm that for me?

  • 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

  • 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 it to a man,

  • 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

  • go to was Tiger Tiger.

  • There was always a great selection there.

  • So yeah, we always used to go out on the pull

  • (laughs) to Tiger Tiger.

  • I would never go back.

  • Actually, never say never.

  • With the right group of people,

  • it would be good fun (laughs)

  • 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."

  • 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.

  • (gasps)

  • "I can't believe that.

  • "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,

  • 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.

  • Right, that's it for today's lesson.

  • I hope you enjoyed it.

  • I hope you learned something.

  • Don't forget to check out italki.

  • All of the relevant information is

  • in the description box below,

  • as well as the link that you can click on.

  • I get loads of good feedback about italki,

  • so I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

  • Also, don't forget to connect with me

  • on all of my social media.

  • I've got my Facebook, my Instagram, and my Twitter.

  • And I will see you soon for another lesson.

  • Muah! (claps hands)

  • (upbeat electronic music)

(upbeat electronic music)

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