16 Classic British Expressions, Idioms and Phrases and their Origins.

hi and welcome back to love English I'm Leila and in today's lesson I want to share some very British expressions expressions that are classic in the British English language expressions that have got a certain amount of history to them they're not new they are old and by using some of these expressions you're going to help yourself sound more native maybe a little bit more sophisticated you're going to find new ways to express yourself in English and of course you're going to be able to understand native speakers these expressions idioms and phrases are really strange some of them you might be able to understand them through a clearer context but I wouldn't be surprised if you were totally confused so let's get started today sixteen classically British vintage sophisticated strange expressions idioms and phrases that we commonly use in English so you might want to get that cup of tea Earl Grey of course and get ready to learn don't forget you might want to take notes there are sixteen of these expressions right so we've got our tea and we're pretty comfortable I'm sat on my sofa rather than having a blank screen behind me just because I find it a little bit more comfortable and I'm gonna get started let's have a look at number one now number one don't worry if you're a horse lover this isn't literal to flog a dead horse now vlog is kind of an old way to say beat it's not very nice you wouldn't want to flog someone but essentially when you flog a dead horse you are beating a dead horse not literal don't panic what it actually means is to waste your time your effort on something or someone when you're not going to get any results you might be trying to get somebody interested in an idea or an activity oh come on it's gonna be so much fun if we go for a swim in the sea no I really don't fancy that you are flogging a dead horse there so it's when you are wasting your time you're making an effort and you're not going to get any benefits or results from it now the history the first record of this expression was heard in 1859 in houses of parliament there was a written record of the politicians at the time debating and someone used the expression you are flogging a dead horse or something to that effect so there you can see just how old this expression is and it is quintessentially British you're unlikely to hear it in the US so remember next time you feel like you are doing something or trying to convince a person to do something or to agree with you you might say well I guess I'm flogging a dead horse here if you're speaking with a native person they are going to be massively impressed number two this expression that dates back as far as the 14th century and was first written in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales so some of these expressions do of course come from literature and some of our greatest writers a fish out of water essentially means and this is one that maybe you could guess that you're in an uncomfortable or unfamiliar situation so when she traveled to America to start her new life she felt like a fish out of water to be in a situation where you feel uncomfortable or maybe just unfamiliar it's something new something you're not used to so can you think of a time that you felt like a fish out of water did you go to a party where you didn't know anybody did you start University or a new school or go and travel to another country what kind of situations have you been in where you felt like a fish out of water number three was first recorded in around 1738 by an anglo-saxon satirist I don't really know who they are I'm not going to go into too much detail on that just that the expression is pretty old so this expression a sight for sore eyes you're a sight for sore eyes essentially means that you are pleased to see someone that they are a welcomed or pleasing sight now of course sore eyes painful really sounds like you would not be happy to see them but no it is referring to being happy and pleased to see somebody and usually in a situation where you didn't expect to see them so somebody comes around to your house and you hadn't expected them to visit you might say well you're a sight for sore eyes a pleasant a pleasing sight that was kind of unexpected expression there before is often confused even by native speakers thinking it should be for all intensive purposes it's not intensive it is for all intents and purposes for all intents and purposes now this expression you might find a little bit more difficult to use to use it in the correct context essentially it means in a practical sense in a very important respect meaning almost or almost completely so let's have a look at an example to help you escape from the prison was for all intents and purposes impossible getting my grandmother to use Netflix was for all intents and purposes highly unlikely to happen so there I've given you two examples of how we use that rather unusual expression now how far back in English history can you find this expression well in fact it goes all the way back to the reign of Henry the a that yes 15:47 was the first record of this expression being used and its origins come from English law for all intents and purposes in fact it's still an expression you're likely to hear used in English law for all intents and purposes number five as keen as mustard as keen as mustard now mustard is a condiment you can get English mustard pretty strong French mustard that yellow condiment you might have on the side of a roast dinner or in a sandwich with meat I'm not the biggest fan but hey whatever you like now as keen as mustard if you recognize that adjective there I am keen keen to do something it means that you're very enthusiastic and eager she was as keen as mustard to start University he was as keen as mustard to go traveling now this expression is a little bit more uncertain but the earliest recording of this expression is around 1640 in literature they usually are however it could be that it originates from the Keen mustard Factory so the first mustard Factory in 1747 was owned by Keane & Sons so there we go a little bit of history to do with food for you number six is a really lovely expression that you'd probably hear from your grandmother if she was English certainly heard it from mine look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves look after the pennies and the pounds full look after themselves so any guesses what this might mean if you take care of small amounts of money then you'll end up saving a lot so it's a little bit of advice that you might hear from your grandmother now the origins of this expression it's sometimes thought that Benjamin Franklin an American president actually coined this phrase however this is usually disputed the origins of which we think are thought to be around the late 1600s or early 1700s in British Parliament basically the Chancellor of the Exchequer was thought to say take care of the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves which really for somebody that was in charge of the country's money not a bad way to think so British politics thought to be the origins of this expression not my grandmother number seven a little birdie told me a little birdie told me now this expression actually dates back as far as the Bible so it's pretty old one of the oldest and it basically means I've heard from somebody you're not telling them who told you but someone's told you something that maybe was a secret maybe was something that you weren't meant to know but you could say a little birdie told me you passed your exam a little birdie told me you were engaged so you've had something that might be unknown to others a little birdie told me it's not a bad thing it's not quite like they let the cat out of the bag which means they've revealed a secret they shouldn't have it's simply I've heard from someone and in fact even Shakespeare used this expression in some of his place number eight to spend a penny this is quite a famous expression and if you didn't know it's actually referring to going to the toilet for a whiie not the other thing so basically this expression comes from a time where to use public toilets you need it to pay a penny nowadays if you go to Waterloo station it's like 50 P to go for a pee so it's pretty expensive but if you want to say in a nice way oh I just need to go and spend a penny and you're saying I need to have a wee which when you're in public might be a slightly nicer way to say it and certainly if you use this expression with a teacher or a native friend they will be massively impressed that you know to say spend a penny oh I really need to spend a penny I'm drunk so much tea so number nine eighteenth-century horse-racing eighteenth-century horse-racing not a topic I'm very familiar with but essentially where this expression originates a turn up for the books a turn up for the books this is an unexpected stroke of good luck for something to happen that gives you good luck that you haven't thought was going to happen so it was a turn up for the books that she decided to help out with the party it was a real turn up for the books that he came round just when I needed him number 10 a bit more of a negative expression here to have a fly in the ointment very strange a fly in the ointment again another expression that comes from the Bible the King James Bible and essentially it's referring to something or someone being a problem spoiling a situation causing issues in a situation that otherwise could have been very positive so for example I'm really looking forward to going out someday the only fly in the ointment is that we have to take my mother-in-law not my mother-in-law I love my mother-in-law I imagine some of you have got mother-in-law's that are a bit of a pain in the bum we're all going out for dinner tomorrow night the only fly in the ointment is I haven't got a babysitter yet who's gonna look after the kids so there you go a situation that could be positive but there's something or someone that's causing a problem a fly in the ointment number 11 to eat humble pie humble is referring to kind of being modest not thinking yourself so amazing wonderful so when you eat humble pie you're not actually eating a pie at all or anything you're basically having to apologize or to admit faults where you may have done something wrong or said something wrong now this expression comes from the 14th century where apparently when nobility the aristocracy killed particularly deer they would leave the heart the liver the disgusting stuff inside for the servants for the humble servants so the servants that were poor and didn't have kind of a little wealth or anything really so to eat humble pie comes from of that those times number 12 pardon my french pardon my french this expression basically means that you're apologizing for saying something wrong or swearing essentially it's not French that you're saying if you're swearing but you're suggesting that it is sounds a bit strange really does so if I swear and I say oh pardon my french or if I say something rude pardon my french then I'm apologizing in a way for what I've said this expression it comes from the 19th century where we used to take a lot of words from the French language include them in ours and try and sound a little bit more sophisticated because of course French is a lovely sophisticated language so pardon my french implies that you swore in another language but you didn't everyone knows it's not French so it's a weird expression number 13 a storm in a teacup a storm in a teacup an overreaction to a small or unimportant event so essentially it's a small problem but it's a storm inside the teacup I don't have a teacup I have a mug this is a mug teacups are a prettier they look like this so a storm in a teacup is an overreaction to something that really isn't very important you might say my friends have fallen out because they decided they didn't want to go to the same place on holiday it's just a storm in a teacup they'll sort everything out soon so it's a small unimportant argument that will probably like most storms blow over so now this expression actually originates from 52 BC so this is probably the oldest expression that I'm sharing with you it actually originates from a latin phrase that essentially means a storm in a teacup in american english they would use the expression a tempest in a teacup a tempest in a teacup but for us it's a storm in a teacup number 14 probably one of the best expressions here hanky panky hanky panky hanky panky is referring to kind of not bad behavior but usually sexual in nature mischievous behavior dishonest or shady activity but like I said nowadays hanky panky if you say oh we had a bit of hanky panky or were you up to a little bit of hanky panky you're referring to something sexual it's more commonly used in this way it was first recorded in 1841 in a London magazine so there you go it's pretty old and still sometimes used but perhaps you haven't heard of it we use it but not commonly usually in a kind of funny joking way a little bit of hanky-panky not a lot of younger generations would probably use it but you might hear it in films number 15 to see a man about a dog I'm just going to see a man about a dog this is a euphemism for excusing yourself from a situation perhaps you're at a party or you're in the office and everyone's talking and you might say just got to see a man about a dog now you're not actually going to see a man about a dog but essentially you're concealing you're not telling people the real reason you need to go whatever reason that might be you might have a doctor's appointment or I don't know something more personal and you don't want to share it so you could say I'm going to see a man about a dog it implies that you don't want to tell people what you're doing or where you're going now this expression actually comes from the 1800s and was first coined by an Irish playwright so maybe the Brits shouldn't claim that one will give that to Ireland I'm going to see a man about a dog very strange number 16 pot calling the kettle black you could literally say it like that to someone pot calling the kettle black essentially this means you're being hypocritical you're accusing someone of having a negative characteristic which you yourself have so for example if I said to my friend wow you really spend too much money on clothes well pot calling the kettle black I'm essentially telling them something criticising them for something that I myself do now this expression we think actually originates from Spain and I think you guys still use this expression however obviously from the days when we used to have pots and kettles and they were both black it kind of makes sense you're saying that someone's different but in fact you have that same quality in common so can you think of anyone but you could say pot calling the kettle black has anyone being hypocritical and accused you of something that they themselves do comment below and let me know in fact comment below and try and use a few of those expressions and remember it's all about putting it into a context we need to understand and use it in the correct situation they were pretty advanced expressions so don't worry if you need a little bit of practice using them and of course keep watching this week because we have got a lot of lessons to help you sound super British and really advance your English thank you so much for watching take care and I'll see you next time on love English

Channel: Love English with Leila & Sabrah

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Keywords: Love English with Leila & Sabrah, Love English with Leila & Sabrah YouTube, YouTube Love English with Leila & Sabrah, learn English, love English, English, English expressions, English idioms, English phrases, common expressions, British expressions, British idioms, british phrases, phrases to sound smart, expressions to sound smart, classic British English, very British English, origins of idioms, speak like a native, vintage british expressions, British English

Id: 9pnjSteoB5c

Length: 17min 18sec (1038 seconds)

Published: Sun May 17 2020