51 Posh British Words | English Words Only Posh People Say

Hi and welcome back to Love English I'm Leila and today I have got a lot of vocabulary for you but in today's lesson I'm going to be sharing 51 words that are commonly used in posh British English yes that's right I'll be sharing the language the vernacular the syntax of the upper class in the UK now of course this is not only restricted to the posh upper classes if you want to boost your language level sound a little bit more sophisticated then simply using some of these words in replacement of others is going to help you sound more sophisticated a little bit more intelligent and will certainly help at university in business situations or formal gatherings where you may be socializing with some more sophisticated people and you want to make sure you feel confident able to express yourself in a way that gives a good impression that makes you feel like you have a fantastic grasp of the English language and of course by using these 51 words you are massively broadening your vocabulary and adding to your language range so if you'd like to know what it means to call a man dashing and a woman ravishing whether you should use dessert or pudding to sound posh which one is posh then keep watching because I am going to tell you all fifty-one words in British English to make you sound well posh right these first set of words are going to help you avoid using very really and so these are commonly used in English and some of these indeed are used in a more sophisticated way perhaps by more of the upper classes in the UK number one probably my favorite rather rather meaning fairly or to some degree it's rather hot outside today isn't it he was rather bored this morning in class I did notice number two a little more posh terribly terribly meaning very of course terrible usually means bad but when used as an intensifier terribly then we are simply saying more very so I am terribly hungry today it was terribly kind of you to help her number three this is confusing awful means bad but awfully can actually be a good thing he was awfully kind to me the other day it was awfully sweet of you to help me with my bags awfully not awful awfully with an adjective there will actually mean very and it does express a sense of real gratitude thinking you were being exceptionally kind or nice of course we can use it like very in the negative it was awfully rude of you to leave without saying goodbye he was awfully upset I wonder why so awfully very quite strong quite posh try using it next time instead of very number four jolly Jolly jolly essentially means very but we would stick to using it with good or bad that was a jolly good party last night it was jolly bad weather yesterday don't you think so jolly good or jolly bad you could also use jolly well jolly well you could use as kind of an exclamation making something stronger I am jolly well to tell your mother if you don't start doing your homework in class a little bit of a threat there too so jolly good jolly bad and jolly well very strong nice expression there jolly well number five this is in fact in replacement of completely or totally utterly utterly I was utterly disappointed when he cancelled our date she was utterly devastated when he cancelled the wedding so completely utterly this is essentially used usually with a stronger adjective Italy devastated I'm utterly confused by your behavior so a strong adjective add utterly and it's extra strong and a little bit posh now six and seven are intensifiers but they actually reduce the strength of the adjective so fairly and somewhat I was fairly convinced he was telling the truth I was somewhat concerns that she hadn't called for a while we don't want it to be too strong so we're just softening our language they're so concerned confused these kind of adjectives are weakened a little by these intensifiers it's not any less serious but of course in a posh situation maybe a formal situation you don't want to make things too strong too passionate so I was somewhat confused by your comments not I was very confused by your comments that could be a little bit confrontational maybe even rude so softening your language a little bit more posh and of course more polite and of course number eight quite quite now in American English quite does mean very it makes it stronger he was quite angry but in American English this means very in British English this actually softens rather than strengthened by very for example for example in British English these biscuits are quite tasty we were quite thrilled to hear the Queen's speech so quite a lovely replacement of very but again in a kind of more Vista cated and a soft away of course if you want to speak in a more posh formal manner then being polite and gentle it's actually a common trait of kind of the upper classes people that speak well right moving on let's have a look at some rather posh adjectives adjectives that you might not have heard of before but many of these are absolutely acceptable to use in dated a English so number nine splendid splendid what a splendid idea we had a splendid day together yesterday in the park the weather was beautiful the sun was shining the birds were singing it was splendid so splendid simply means wonderful very good number ten now this is quite posh if you use this adjective some people might think it's a little strange it is definitely associated with the upper classes but it's something you might hear in a Hugh Grant film for example so spiffing spiffing meaning very good excellent you did a spiffing job organizing the party he looked rather spiffing so very good excellent but really less commonly used in day-to-day English you only really want to use an adjective like that if you are talking to the Queen never know it could happen number 11 listen to my pronunciation marvelous marvelous how many syllables do you hear that three fine totally acceptable use this adjectives with two syllables and you're going to sound definitely a little more sophisticated so instead of marvellous try marvelous marvelous so we're shortening that middle syllable and of course marvelous does mean excellent amazing wonderful the dinner was marvelous everything was beautifully laid out and we had a lovely evening he behaved marvelously adverb there but still acceptable the dinner was marvelous he behaved marvelously number 12 glorious glorious meaning very beautiful impressive or enjoyable it was a glorious day we all had such a spiffing time there we go mix the adjectives together so glorious the wedding was glorious it could not have been better what a glorious home you have it's absolutely beautiful right number 13 a nice meaty one can get your teeth into the pronunciation stupendous stupendous it's kind of it's a nice it rolls off the tongue stupendous essentially meaning very large or very impressive they had a stupendous garden there were flowers everywhere the ball was stupendous we had a lovely evening dancing singing drinking it was stupendous it's a lovely posh adjective for you to try and use comment below and have a go another word that we could use to describe an activity an event or a situation that gives you great pleasure and enjoyment is delicious delicious now of course you know delicious to mean tasty the meal was delicious but in posh English we could use it in this new way so we could say the gossip was delicious it was enjoyable to hear it was interesting fun I have some delicious and gossip to tell you it's an overly exaggerated way of saying something is great so of course we could as well use it for people but it really is an exaggeration my friend Sarah is one of the most deliciously funny people you will ever meet so deliciously funny it's a great way to exaggerate something now two adjectives to describe people the first to describe a man dashing dashing meaning smart a active confident elegant I'd often that's how my male friends they look dashing if they're wearing a nice suit and tie you look dashing don't you today and for a woman ravishing ravishing she was absolutely ravishing in the red dress meaning attractive very beautiful but of course these are less common adjectives but great to use to sound more posh number 16 instead of amazing you could say extraordinary extraordinary he was extraordinary of course this simply means amazing very good wonderful fantastic it's a strong adjective the views from my hotel were extraordinary you could see the sea for miles every time I use them I try and do a little bit of a posh accent not that posh sabra much better at posh accents than me so extraordinary meaning Extra Ordinary but not pronounced like that so not everything in the land of the posh gentry is wonderful spiffing splendid extraordinary things are sometimes bad and we need some adjectives to describe bad things or situations so these adjectives are all negative number 18 atrocious atrocious meaning very very bad his homework was atrocious his behavior today after drinking too many beers was atrocious he was so rude to everybody so it is a very strong adjective music carefully when you want to describe something as being bad we could say the weather is atrocious but we would expect it to be raining very heavily extremely windy you can't go out a little bit of rain is not atrocious a strong adjective meaning bad abysmal number 19 exactly the same way it means extremely bad so bad the worst it could possibly be but abysmal does essentially mean it's a synonym of atrocious abysmal awful very very bad the service at the restaurant was abysmal I did not leave a tip 20 and 21 ghastly ghastly and make sure you do pronounce it with the AH ghastly and beastly easily again two adjectives meaning very bad or unpleasant often we'd use them to describe an unpleasant situation or even a person's behavior that wasn't particularly nice the weather outside was beastly or ghastly did you see how windy it was did you see her dress it was absolutely ghastly what was she thinking the way he spoke to her was absolutely beastly how dare he number 22 instead of saying someone is stupid or their idea is stupid or foolish you could use absurd absurd much more sophisticated way of calling someone stupid oh don't be absurd there is no way we'll get there in time if we leave now are you completely absurd how much money did you spend so absurd stupid foolish not particularly clever number 23 a lovely lowered that you might want to practice with me preposterous preposterous meaning totally unreasonable in a way that is shocking or annoying to suggest that we shouldn't have a holiday this year was absolutely preposterous it is totally preposterous that we only have a hundred and sixty-two thousand subscribers why don't you click Subscribe now and follow love English okay a few more adjectives now going off in different directions and adjectives that I was not aware of tight tight now normally we refer to clothes being loose or tight but tight in posh English actually means a little bit drunk inebriated intoxicated they've had a few too many whiskey's or whatever the posh people drink champagne so he was a little bit tight don't you think a little bit drunk I think he's a little bit tight too many beers if you ask me now really drunk in posh talk don't say drunk as a skunk nice idiom for you there but instead you would say blotto blotto I am totally Auto I have had so much champagne lovely day though extraordinary 25 CD CD this essentially means I'm not feeling very well so if you tell someone I'm feeling a little bit seedy then you're saying I don't feel very well simple as that okay we're halfway there and now we are looking at nouns super posh nouns so number 26 instead of saying I'm in trouble or I have a problem you can say I'm in a bit of a bind a bind so a bind means a problematic situation I'm in a bit of a bind you don't have ten pounds you could lend me for my glass of champagne I'm in a little bit of a bind and I could really do with some help now number 27 don't say that someone is boring but use of a noun what a or did you listen to him at dinner last night blah-blah-blah-blah-blah I did not listen at all he is such a bore so a bore means a person that is boring uninteresting number 28 you might say dessert ice cream sweets but the posh would refer to it as pudding pudding what did you have for pudding oh I had the most stupendous cheesecake if you say stupendous cheesecake that does sound a bit crazy but certainly you would say pudding in a posh situation 29 don't say PJ's PJs ah ah you need to refer to the whole word pajamas pajamas so I'm not putting my PJs on but I'm wearing my pajamas simple but that's the difference between the upper class and well me probably I'd say PJs what do I gotta say pajamas I think about that now Banta is a way of communicating that's fast witty funny I often banter with my students in class meaning we have quick funny conversations but the Porsche would not use the word banter oh no no no they would use repartee repartee make sure you hold the are a little bit there there was a lot of repartee at the party last night the champagne flowed and the conversation was witty and funny number 31 a room in your house where you sit watch television on your sofa and you might call this lounge but the posh no no they would say sitting room or drawing-room sitting room or drawing-room this is much more posh and sophisticated so Buckingham Palace there is no lounge there is a sitting room or a drawing room I don't know what the difference is it's the same thing it's just a Pasha word apparently 32 as I've just said we would say sofa not sette or couch 30 and couch is perfectly fine but the upper classes would sit on a sofa it's the same thing it's just a different word number 33 napkin Pass me the napkin could you pass me a napkin please not serviettes or I don't know tissue but no napkin napkin just after dinner napkin number 34 a helping no we're not talking about assisting somebody we're actually referring to a portion of food a serving serving so I had a very big helping of cheesecake it was a delicious yes helping a serving of food do you need to go to the toilet the WC the little girl's room the bathroom ah if you're in a posh restaurant you need to go to the loo or the lavatory lavatory these are the Pasha words to use when you're out in a nice restaurant and you need to go and take a tinkle yes you would go to the loo or the lavatory not the toilet or the bathroom could you direct me to the lavatory please personally I would use loo lavatory just feels a bit too old and dated so loo is a nice compromise number 36 this is a lovely word I think you could definitely use this yonks I haven't seen you in Young's I haven't seen you for yonks yes it means ages a long time so yonks is posh talk for a very long time right moving on exclamations whether you're frustrated annoyed we have an exclamation in posh English for you now of course for number 7 this is kind of in replacement of God which can be quite insulting for some people often people consider it to be blasphemy meaning insulting to God so instead of using this as a form of exclamation as a form of expressing your annoyance anger frustration or even surprise you can use gosh gosh oh gosh oh golly gosh there's a nice little phrase for you so it's a little bit more polite posh and you're avoiding kind of blasphemy which generally speaking is a good idea oh gosh that's wonderful news you're having a baby or negative oh gosh that's very disappointing you didn't pass your test oh no oh dear Oh God don't use those use oh gosh expressing your surprise or pleasure I say what a lovely idea let's go for a walk by the river I say expressing pleasure surprise it's a nice thing it's a positive exclamation 39 actually stolen from the Italians Bravo Bravo make sure you've got a bit of a posh accent with the are going on there bravo Bravo obviously if you're Italian you know it means well done and it means exactly the same thing in posh English they haven't changed the meaning they've simply stolen the word so instead of saying well done you can say Bravo now although in Italian Bravo would be directed towards a man Bravo would be directed towards a woman we don't really distinguish between masculine and feminine in the UK so Bravo for everybody well though old chap jolly good news number forty okay I know I said don't use God but actually this might be something you hear in a Hugh Grant film a posh British film or you might want to use it yourself god forbid god forbid essentially meaning please I hope not so god forbid she doesn't pass the exam what are we gonna do god forbid number 41 oh bugger oh bugger so this is again posh still a little bit rude it's almost swearing really but to say oh bugger is an exclamation when something has gone wrong or bad oh bugger I forgot the time I better get going there we go old bugger number 42 and 43 when you don't believe what someone has told you when you think it's ridiculous or untrue you could use what nonsense what nonsense don't use non sense nonsense okay or you could use this is quite posh and probably less commonly used in day-to-day English but it's fun poppycock poppycock he was talking complete poppycock I did not understand a word of what he was saying I think he was a little bit blotto likewise 44 and this is fun just the sound of this word I think is quite fun codswallop codswallop remember be careful with these exclamations if you respond to someone when you don't believe what they've said then it does sound quite rude if you say codswallop I don't believe you they are going to be offended it might be better not to direct the exclamations at people unless of course they are talking utter codswallop then tell them the government was talking absolute codswallop nobody believed a word they said right now when it comes to addressing people older gentleman and the posh sophisticated upper classes like to use one word in particular old old yes probably because they are old but perhaps it's a term of respect endearment in fact they would say old chap old chum old sport old being or old fellow yes in the upper classes men when they are talking with other men perhaps in their whisky and cigar club would say old fellow what have you been up to jolly good job old chap yes these are still expressions some of the upper classes might use when they are referring to each other I guess you need to know someone reasonably well to use these expressions now there isn't really an equivalent when we're referring to women but often darling darling would be a term that you would use when addressing a woman however men be careful in the UK sometimes using darling or sweetie if you're a man referring to a woman can be seen as a little bit offensive particularly in the workplace in professional environments so I might use darling to refer to a friend it shows affection a fondness for that person but for a man to use it be careful it doesn't always go down very well in the workplace I would perhaps avoid this unless maybe it's your wife or your girlfriend darling darling how are you darling you look ravishing darling now we can in fact use darling to refer to a person in an affectionate way meaning they're very sweet and kind your daughter is a darling she has been so lovely all day some of these kind or thoughtful right I can't believe I've done it that has been a little bit of a marathon we're at the last word 51 and I'm gonna end with this word cheerio cheerio yes it's also a serial but the posh would often use cheerio to say goodbye to whoever they were saying goodbye to so instead of saying bye good bye good night see you later you could say cheerio old chap have a spiffing day so there we go 51 words that you can use to make your English a little bit more sophisticated to sound a little bit more posh and of course we have plenty more lessons where that came from so if you are interested in sounding more sophisticated and posh in British English we've got some great lessons that you should watch right now thank you so much for watching have a marvelous day cheerio

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, posh words, posh vocabulary, upper class vocabulary, how to sound posh, English vocabulary lesson, learn advanced English vocabulary, advanced English vocabulary, advanced british vocabulary, posh British English, sound smart in English, words only posh people use, posh English

Id: 3GUUNulCras

Length: 27min 2sec (1622 seconds)

Published: Fri May 22 2020