40 Everyday British Slang Words and Phrases | Essential English Slang

Do you know what it means if someone says 'they can't be asked' if you need some bog roll? any ideas if someone's chuffed, how do they feel? and if the party was dead... does that mean it was a success or a bit of a failure? well if you don't know what some of these words mean then this lesson is going to be very useful indeed today i'm going to share what i think are the 40 most essential slang words in British english i will stress that many of these words that i'm going to share with you today are more British, although there's one or two Americanisms that might creep in there. Yes today is all about slang, it's been a while since we've dedicated a lesson to slang but today i want to share essential slang. Slang that i would use. Slang that you would hear on the street in television series, soap operas, down the pub. Yes these words are a part of our day-to-day English but they're not the kind of words you're going to get taught in a book or maybe even at school so if you want to learn what it means to be chuffed, knackered, bonkers, or if something's a bit manky! then you'd better keep watching! Welcome back to Love English, let's get started with the lesson! Right back to slang let's have a look at some very simple alternatives to saying yes, no, no problem, bye sorry, thanks and of course hello! Number one and actually i didn't realize when i used this word once with one of my students that they wouldn't understand 'nope' instead of no you can say nope and it is kind of that's it , nope. I don't want to do it or I don't like it have you done your homework? NOPE! again it's informal, it's slang so be careful when you use it, it can sound a little bit rude and as a second alternative to NO there is nah... nah... Do you fancy going to the cinema tonight? Nah not really, So nope or nah! In the same way we could say yes or yeah hopefully some of you have heard YEAH before and realized it's slightly more relaxed form of yes but did you know you can also say 'you bet' 'you bet' so this is a great very enthusiastic way of saying yes. Have you done your homework yet? YOU BET! Number three two alternatives again to sorry. Now the first one i'm going to give you SOZ. SOZ I would say is very informal very much spoken or in a text message I personally would not use SOZ it sounds a bit strange to me but you may come across it yourself and certainly in a text message might be more common however i am more likely to say my bad , my bad this essentially means my mistake and yes before some of you start commenting below my bad is more American but as always the American language has heavily influenced British English and so you will often hear my bad, my bad. Did she break that vase? soz! my bad! four, would you mind going to the shops and getting some milk? yeah, no biggie, no biggie. meaning no problem no problem again very common i would probably even use this in some situations and you will certainly hear it a lot in informal English. Number five and this is so simple but really often used cheers cheers an alternative to saying thanks when i get on the bus i often say cheers or get off the bus cheers to the driver and of course you will hear it being used when you're clinking glasses making a toast but in this context it doesn't mean thank you cheers in informal situations can mean thanks thank you and if you want to be super lazy you could always use just two letters tar tar works really well in a text message but also when you speak tar for doing the washing up i was way too lazy this evening to do it now hello there's nothing wrong with it perfectly acceptable of course all of these words are what i'm trying to do is give you a broader vocabulary and also help your comprehension particularly when you're listening to native speakers so instead of hello a lot of native speakers will often say hi or higher higher whether that's in a text message an email higher is more informal hi is quite neutral but again more common in informal situations certainly in an email it would be informal now buy or goodbye absolutely fine little bit boring instead why don't you say see ya see ya see you later see ya or a great one that you might not know it is an acronym ttfn ttfn any ideas what it could mean probably not tatar for now not so commonly used but certainly some members of my family do use this ttfn tata for now try putting it in a text and seeing if anyone understands you'll be surprised how many english people natives do know this but i don't think you guys would okay those were the very simple words that i wanted to give you some slang alternatives for now moving on to a range of vocabulary pay attention if it is a verb you will see a v if it is an adjective you will see a d j if it is a noun n or an adverb adv so pay attention to that code because sometimes i forget to say whether it's a noun a verb or an adjective but it's important you know what form the word is in because it helps you know how to use it now i think these and x3 are some of my favorite slang words in british english asked asked essentially when you say i can't be asked i can't be asked it means i can't be bothered i'm too lazy have you done the hoovering yet today oh i can't be asked really do i have to number nine any idea what a bog is no i'm not talking about a swamp i'm talking about somewhere in your home or indeed many buildings hopefully the bog is the toilet that's right it's a very informal word for toilet so if you ask someone could you tell me where the bog is you're asking in a very informal way can you tell me where the toilet is not the best thing to do in a restaurant but if you've got an english teacher she might have a little bit of a laugh a chuckle to hear you say bog on the same theme number 10 bog roll any ideas what this might be honey we've run out of bug roll yes if you've guessed toilet paper you are right this one actually reminded me of a very funny situation where a student of mine misunderstood bog roll i think somebody explained it to him as ass paper um we never say ask paper it's funny but it's just not english so bog roll would be as informal as it gets really and again not to be used in a restaurant in formal situations at work just as a laugh with friends perhaps bog roll eleven if you want to call someone crazy in fact we have a lot of words slang words for crazy in english then you could say bonkers bonkers she is absolutely bonkers she was up till two o'clock dancing at the disco last night crazy bonkers so a great word to use to describe somebody that's a little bit yeah crazy you can use it in a kind of friendly non-aggressive way to say to someone oh my goodness you are bonkers what did you want to do that for it doesn't necessarily mean that you're calling them mentally unstable it can just be about their behavior or their choice so depending on the situation your tone of voice it's not necessarily offensive number 13 a word that you will come across a lot when describing children cheeky cheeky now your cheek is actually this this is your cheek but cheeky is actually meaning a little bit naughty not in a bad way usually in quite a funny almost sweet way but when you say someone is cheeky you're saying it in a playful way wow he was a little bit cheeky last night asking you for a dance she is such a cheeky monkey always asking for chocolate when she comes around so a little bit naughty again in a playful way it's not rude it's not impolite it's simply saying that someone's a little bit naughty number 14 to be chuffed or you might hear the phrase i am chuffed to bits simply means i am happy i am really really happy i was chuffed when i heard that they'd got engaged i am so happy for them i was chuffed to bits when i got my exam results they were all a's so chuffed happy informal not rude not impolite but very commonly used number 15 you guys know this one a cuppa a cuppa fancier cuppa have you had a cuppa oh i'm dying for a cuppa yes a cup of and it is always ladies and gentlemen tea you would not use copper to talk about coffee or water or anything else it is purely about tea and usually traditional british tea you wouldn't say a cuppa and have a herbal tea you could say herbal tea but copper is that nice strong british brew so fancier cuppa be careful number 16 and 17 sound very similar and the meaning is not that different so be careful how you use them and make sure you understand the difference cushy cushy cushy simply means to be easy her new job seems rather cushy she doesn't have to do much at all just type a few emails now cushd is sometimes used in a similar way but what it actually means is excellent excellent i've got a new job and they pay me loads of money wow kushty so cushy and cushy but i do think that sometimes people kind of use them interchangeably so don't worry too much if you do make a mistake with these cushy comfortable easy without many demands whereas cushy is usually referring to something being excellent amazing now this one is a great one because if you get the pronunciation wrong which many people do then you could use the slang alternative comfy comfy meaning comfortable comfortable comfortable comfy so comfy me is comfortable that's it oh my bed is so comfy in the hotel kushty number 19 dead yes we know that dead usually means not living any longer but in this case it means quiet there is no one the bar was dead last night there was no one there because the weather was so bad people didn't want to go out number 20 dodgy dodgy this is a very common slang word and it essentially means that someone or something is not trustworthy if we're talking about a person it means they're not a very trustworthy person he seems a bit dodgy i'm not really sure about him but if you say that something is dodgy it could mean that perhaps it's not working very well or you think it might break the car seems to be a bit dodgy at the moment so i'm taking it easy number 21 a dog's body a dog's body a person who takes care of menial boring tasks particularly ones that people don't want to do so if you say that someone is a general dog's body it means they do all the boring uninteresting unpleasant often jobs pick up your own toys i'm not your dog's body number 22 if something is a drag it means that it's rather tiresome boring or troublesome oh it is such a drag doing homework after school i just want to sit and watch some netflix now number 23 is actually one that i would commonly use to say that something is amazing fantastic fab fab do you fancy having lunch tomorrow oh that would be fab i'd love it so fab meaning fabulous but actually probably more commonly used by women rather than men you can of course use it whatever your gender but i would say that this is more commonly used by us girls if you want to describe someone as being maybe a little bit unreliable you're not sure whether you can rely on them to turn up on time or to do what they say they're going to do you could call them flaky the adjective or a flake yes it's simply a way of describing a person who's unreliable perhaps changes their mind quite a lot for example he promised to be at the meeting yesterday i can't believe what a flake he is number 25 when you want to express that you are very very disappointed gutted gutted i was so gutted about my exam results i worked really hard so to be very very disappointed number 26 what is that in the fridge oh it's well manky manky means disgusting so if you say that i've got a manky finger it might be because you know when you've trapped your finger in the door and it goes black and then the nail falls off it's really manky it means disgusting have you cleaned the bathroom it is so manky please give it a clean so manky adjective meaning disgusting number 27 if you are feeling a bit miffed it means you're irked you're disappointed i was so miffed i missed out on the tickets to that concert i really wanted it to go she was a bit miffed that he didn't turn up for her date on time honestly why couldn't he just text number 28 to murder murder now it doesn't mean that you're gonna kill someone i could murder a burger right now oh my goodness i'm gonna murder that chocolate bar when i get home meaning devour eat in a rather enthusiastic way to murder doesn't mean you're going to kill anything just means you're going to devour to eat something quite quickly quite enthusiastically number 29 a lovely expression when you want to tell someone that maybe they've been a little bit silly maybe foolish you could say oh you numpty you numpty of course i would help you why didn't you ask you're such a numpty so it's not offensive if you say it in that way and in fact it is quite a gentle way of saying someone's been a bit foolish a bit silly you numpty now i did say there were a lot of slang words for crazy and nutter is one of them one that we would frequently use you are a bit of a nutter sometimes why did you stay out drinking till two in the morning nutter so meaning crazy that's it again it's not really offensive you could say it to friends in a kind of joking way but nutter is one like bonkers we would commonly use in english number 31 a kerfuffle kerfuffle if there is a kerfuffle it's describing an argument or commotion something's going on there was a real kerfuffle when someone tried to jump the queue and didn't go to the back of the line so an argument or commotion a kerfuffle this is very very british i don't think you would have this in american english so if you do hear the noun kerfuffle being used then you know they are talking about an argument or a commotion something happening some kind of disturbance and often it's used by somebody who doesn't like arguments or commotions or problems like this oh what a kerfuffle can't they sort this out in private 32 you know this one be careful of the pronunciation it is not naked it is knackered knackered simply meaning tired i have such a busy day at work i am knackered knackered and did you know that there's also a cockney rhyming slang phrase for knackered being cream crackered i am cream crackered i really need to have a rest and get to bed early cream crackered or knackered enjoy 33 to kid no i'm not talking about children the slang for children no i am talking about the verb to kid i'm kidding or you're kidding me if you kid you are joking basically you're not serious you're kidding me she spent how much on that car oh don't kid with me are you serious so to kid is to joke to not be serious and often it's used when we're asking if somebody is serious are you kidding me are you kidding me 34 a little bit more offensive but probably a little bit softer than calling someone an idiot a pratt he was a total pratt when we were out last night he drank too much and was rude to everybody i was so embarrassed 35 if you think someone is a bit pathetic a bit of a loser you could call them a sad ass a sad ass or even a shadow a shadow this is quite offensive so please don't use it to somebody's face maybe you see someone trying to hit on a woman desperately looking for a girlfriend and you might say god he's a bit of a shadow or he's a bit of a sad ass meaning he's pathetic desperate in this case so sado or sados don't say it to their face it is rude 36 shag both a noun and a verb you can have a shag or you can shag someone basically sex very commonly used in british english americans probably don't know what it means but you need to it's going to be used in i don't know films television series and you probably want to know if someone's talking like this in a pub in a bar so shag the slang word very popular slang word for sex 37 an alternative to knackered or cream crackered is shattered almost rhymes shattered i was shattered after having the kids all day they completely wore me out so shattered to be very very tired 38 this is a great one to be starkers i was completely starkers when the postman came to the door i couldn't answer to get the package so starkers means naked no clothes on we also have an idiom an expression in english to say in your birthday suit meaning naked because you were born naked your birthday suit so starkers or in your birthday suit there's an extra one there for you now if you are very poor you've got no money you've got to the end of the month and you're waiting to get paid you might say i am skint i am totally skinned i can't afford to go out tonight sauce so skint i have no money i'm very very poor very commonly used in english you need to know what it means try using it in a sentence below skint oh the opposite i've just thought of this one is minted minted if you say someone is minted you're saying that they are really really rich so mark zuckerberg is minted because of facebook very rich what would you rather be minted or skint i know which i'd choose now we are nearly there two more to go to take the piss or to take the mickey to take the piss or to take the mickey out of someone you can say are you taking the piss are you taking the mickey or are you taking the piss out of me are you taking the mickey out of me meaning are you ridiculing are you trying to mock me to humiliate me in some way the kids were taking the piss out of the mass teacher because he had no hair they kept calling him baldi so to take the piss or to take the mickey again be careful how you use this because if you accuse someone of taking the piss out of you of taking the mickey then it can seem that you're being aggressive but of course if they are taking the piss you need to tell them and finally tosh tosh very british meaning rubbish not true nonsense i couldn't do my homework last night so it was too difficult oh tosh of course you can do it i know you've got a brain in there so there we have it now i was going for 40 i've definitely gone over 40 slang words but hopefully some of those will be brand new to you and again i have chosen slang that i think we use on a daily basis that you will hear in films television series and of course out on the street if you come to visit us in the uk now do make sure you try and use those slang phrases of course if you comment below and share some sentences using slang and again personalize it make sure it's referring to your life give real examples thank you as always for watching and let me know if you'd like some more slang expressions we've got a lot in british english take care bye

Channel: Love English with Leila & Sabrah

Views: 315,980

Keywords: Love English with Leila & Sabrah, Love English with Leila & Sabrah YouTube, YouTube Love English with Leila & Sabrah, learn English, love English, English, British slang, English slang, slang phrases, British slang words, English slang words, slang expressions, essential slang, learn English slang, british idioms, everyday slang, slang words

Id: 1XLEC52dwnE

Length: 24min 51sec (1491 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 07 2020