British Turns of Phrase or Expressions?
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Anonymous
| I'm always jarred by "takin' the piss out" when used in casual conversation. I've heard and read complaints in Britain that there is becoming a common drift towards a working class accent all over the country--with everyone turning the "th" into an "f" sound and genally speaking with a Yorkshire accent. It used to be you could practically tell which street a person lived on in Liverpool and now everyone has a "scouse" accent? |
Anonymous
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Help me with this one -- cheeky.
How would you define that? |
Anonymous
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“Telling someone off” doesn’t mean what it does in the US. It means telling on someone.
“Rubbing it out” means erasing “It’s catching” means it’s contagious “She’s poorly” means she’s sick “She’s sick” means she’s throwing up “You ok?” Means hi I’m not actually British, so don’t quote me. I’m still learning too. |
Anonymous
That's a southern Mass/Boston expression--we probably brought it from Britain. |
Anonymous
They love the word brick a brack too. Brikabrak? |
Anonymous
Bold/rude/disrespectful |
Anonymous
| OP it is grammatically correct. It's based on whether you see a country as an 'it' or as a 'they'. People are viewed as competing in the sports, not the country, per se. |
Anonymous
| Carry out or to go is called take away. |
Anonymous
| Fancy a shag |
Anonymous
Brilliant! (lol) I mean, thanks! |
Anonymous
Haha, yes, that explains the looks I’ve gotten talking about baubles! |
Anonymous
I thought the meaning was “less severe”? They say it about birds, for example! |
Anonymous
| "Tosser" is a bad word to call someone... |
Anonymous
Yes. It's more of a sly, quick-witted disrespect shown to one's superiors rather than bold rudeness. The whole concept of 'superiors' and 'manners' is so much more rigid there than here--so going against those boundaries I think one has to be more oblique and clever about it. And so 'cheek' feels like a person making a subtle zinger at someone in a postion of authority--not overt rudeness, which is really frowned on there, in my experience, anway. |
Anonymous
Yep. I believe it means "f*cker". So yeah, really vulgar. I mean they don't even really say motherf*cker. It's only North Americans that say it. |