17 British sayings foreigners won’t understand 

"You know your onions" is a gardening saying. Many years ago, all flower bulbs were called onions. So someone who knew his onions, could tell the difference between all the different kinds of bulbs, tulips, crocuses, daffodils etc. and was knowledgeable about growing them.

As a Brit, it's funny how we can almost have a whole conversation in front of a Canadian or American without them understanding a word if we want to 😁

"Nail your colours to the mast" comes from the days of sailing ships. Before a battle at sea, the fleet would run the national flag up to the top of the mast on a rope to show which country they were fighting for. To show that they were surrendering, they would "strike the colours", meaning lower the flag. To stop any ship surrendering, or to show that they were determined to never surrender, the crew would literally nail the flag to the top of the mast. Hence the phrase came to signify sticking to what you believe in and you're willing, literally or figuratively, to do battle with anyone who challenges it.

Dead as a doornail isn't related to coffins (despite it being commonly repeated), it's quite literally to do with nails using when making doors. They would commonly be hammered right through the wood, and then the sharp end would be hammered down flat. The doornail is "dead" because it cannot be used again - the act of folding it with a hammer would make it completely useless if you tried to remove and reuse it.

"Tighter than a gnat's chough" is another piece of traditional British wisdom...

You actually got more right than you seemed to realise.

''A nod is as good as a wink......to a blind horse'' is an album release by The Faces (featuring Rod Stewart).

Brit here. The last time I heard someone say "pip-pip" in real life was by an elderly gentleman in Cheltenham circa 1975 - the same old chap used the term "tickety-boo" and I don't think I've heard thayt since. There's a song called "Tickety-Boo" in the James Robertson-Justice film, Very Important Person. Most of them, though, I still hear fairly regularly - but I AM OLD!

I'm impressed by your efforts to solve logically things that often are illogical. If you had been born and raised in England you would have heard people from your parents generation talking to people from their parents generation and absorbed lots of this archaic language.

"Colours" is the traditional name for a military flag ( yes, I know it's plural ), both on land and at sea. So, "Hoist the colours" would be an order to raise the national flag on a ship, typically done using ropes. In a battle, if the ropes holding the colours up were shot away (resulting in the colours falling down), the colours could be nailed to the ship's mast, to show that the ship had NOT surrendered, which was commonly indicated by lowering the colours.

You are learning without realising you said done and dusted just like a natural, love your outlook on life

"Fine words butter no parsnips" - that's my favourite!

I don't see a comment on this, so I'll jump in. Keens is a brand of mustard. My mom used it (here in Canada) when I was growing up, but I'm sure its and English brand. Its mustard powder or fine ground mustard seed and is much hotter than the more common "French's" prepared mustard. Mom was from an English family and often cooked English style food. So, "keen as mustard" makes sense to me. Keep up the good work!!

The saying "pearls before swine" is actually to "cast/throw pearls before swine" meaning they're pigs, they won't know or appreciate what they are. Pip pip is quite a posh saying like pip pip old chap, and usually just men. My mum used to say to me when I was a kid and running about too much "sit down, you're like a witch on windy day" always made me laugh.

It's an old northern saying but" mutton dressed as lamb" means a very mature woman or even old woman dressed in the style of a much younger person.

Keen as mustard was an advertising slogan, Keen being a mustard brand. I think it was acquired by Colman later.

'Pearls before swine' comes from the Bible so it probably exists in other languages. You were never going to guess 'a nod is as good as a wink' without the full phrase. I got them all but I am British. :-)

These sayings come from long ago, some of the maritime ones like letting the cat out of the bag are quite shocking. or carrying the bride over the threshold are strange yet they all have a symbolic meaning. I like the fact that most of them have stayed with us and live on in modern language.

Never heard 'pip pip' but at the end of a telephone conversation or at a time of leaving my grandpa used to say 'toodle pip'. Unfortunately he is no longer with us so it isn't something our family hears now.

I honestly took for granted the extent to which these idioms are baked into our language. Wouldn't have even thought about many of these as being peculiar until hearing them in this context. Caught myself grinning from ear to ear when Alanna got one right! Another excellent educational broadcast, courtesy of A+N!

I was born and raised in the UK though I now live in Estonia. I comprehended and explained all quite easily - but I am 70 and I think that an advantage, as these sayings are mostly seen as traditional or archaic - much like myself!

These phrases are so familiar to British people. It would make a good test of how British you think you are. So common in books and films and many of them used daily in conversation.

There was a series on cable TV which made it to Channel 4 hosted by Tim Grundy and titled 'What's In a Word'. [5] The 'I bet he knows his onions' came from the Edwardian days of the head gardener who planned flower beds. All plant bulbs were called onions and had a specific shape depending on the flower that was produced from them. So, all he'd do is to take out a handful of bulbs from a paper bag without looking at the label, look at them and know what it was so then just threw them down in the area he wanted them to grow.

Codswallop is a bottle with a marble in the top to seal it. You had to wallop the marble to force it into the the bottle to get your lemonade or whatever out. Children would break the neck of the bottles to get the marbles to play with. So the bottles could not be reused. Hence a load of codswallop is a load of useless stuff.

Dropped a clanger is basically saying something out of the blue that s shocked or surprised people ,with effect

A stitch in time saves nine : So if you wait too long you may end up needing to do nine stitches rather than just the one you would have had to do in the beginning :)

This is fun, Alanna. I'm a native-speaker and have also been a teacher of English as a foreign language, but I had never heard the 'witch's tit' expression. I wouldn't worry about not knowing these idioms. I think they are lovely and poetic, but if you listen carefully to young people's speech nowadays you will realise that they do not use them at all and that they will soon have died out. It will be a terrible loss. You could also have put your foot in it and I could have cooked your goose, but the younger generation wouldn't know what you meant either. I have tried such expressions on teenagers and they have looked back blankly at me, as if I am speaking a foreign language!

There is a food item a Bedfordshire Clanger, looks like a sausage roll but can have various fillings, liver, meat, onions, jam. Buckinghamshire has a similar item called a Bacon Badger.

My Nan used to be a certain twitcher she would hid behind her net certains and always had something to say if someone walked past, I used to get so embarrassed and tell her to come away from the window. Now the memories make me smile.

Tickety boo generally refers to a person. "Are you well?" "I'm tickety boo thanks." one of my favourite phrases is "you're not as green as you're cabbage looking." I reckon I use at least half of those on a regular basis too. Great vid👍

All 17 here. A stitch in time saves nine dates back to the age of sail when sailors would be tasked with repairing sails by stitching them, and an officer would measure the stitching with a ruler to ensure that it had the regulation nine stitches per inch. If there were insufficient stitches, the sailor had to unpick the last inch and redo it. Over time it has come to mean fix a problem now while it is still small and before it becomes a much bigger problem later.

Alanna, that was so funny and brilliant. I laughed my ass off. I guess the North American equivalent of “knickers in a twist” is “Panties in a bunch” ? I’ve heard that in American TV shows and I guess it means the same thing? Anyway, that video was superb.

Flat as a witch's tit is the expression I've often heard (and used). It's often used in engineering to describe a very flat and level surface (of metal for example) or in gardening or sports use - a nicely flat lawn or sports pitch - especially cricket pitches. A billiard or snooker table should also be as flat as a witch's tit. A cheery goodbye often used is Toodle-oo, more than Pip Pip, at least here in the North. Also - Cheerio.

You gave a good description of most of these sayings, even if you didn't give the exact definition. Most of us know what they mean even if we can't give a simple explanation. Many people will often use the term, dead as a doornail, to describe batteries or electrical items that stop working.

Speaking as a 55 year old who has spent all 55 years living in the UK, all but 2 of these sayings are still in common use "pearls before swine" I have never encountered, likewise with "pip pip" although "toodle pip" with the same meaning I have heard but never used.

I use a variety of strange and unusual phrases "Let's go and 'tap the Admiral'" (To go and have a quick - sometimes illicit- drink), it goes back to the battle of Trafalgar when Nelsons body was put into a barrel of rum to preserve it for the trip back to Britain. However, upon arrival in Portsmouth it was discovered the barrel was half empty...and it's believed that the crew drank the missing rum (During Darwin's voyage to the Galapagos islands almost half the samples he took were destroyed after the sailors drank the ethanol from the jars used to preserve them). 'Lock, stock and barrel' -to get something wholesale - back in the days of musketry, a gentleman with suitable finances would buy a bespoke firearm. One person would provide the barrel, a locksmith would produce the firing mechanism and a cabinet maker would manufacture the stock (in fact the stock and grip are still occasionally called 'the furniture')- a gentleman of more modest means would buy an 'off the peg' rifle 'Lock stock and barrel'.

During the Battle of Camperdown, a sea battle between the Dutch and the British. The mast carrying the pennant of Admiral Duncan on his ship ‘Venerable’ was blown away by cannon fire. When a ship lowered its flag in a battle it was a sign of surrender. One of the sailors from my home city of Sunderland climbed up what was left of the mast and nailed the Admiral’s colours to it. He is commemorated in the city of his birth with a statue.

A bright few minutes to cheer up anyone’s day ….. thanks A……🤗

Great fun Alanna! As a Brit who lived in the US, I used to love to drop these into general conversation and watch the confusion spread.🤣. A couple of Americans who are now mates eventually stopped me each time and asked for an explanation. That would catch me out sometimes!😩. Doing it however was ‘The Bees Knees “. 🙄

My mum grew up in Nottinghamshire, if that counts for anything in this context, and she often says 'pip pip' to mean 'excuse me', in the way you would say 'excuse me' to mean 'your're in my way, please would you mind moving'. And in that sense, it's still true to the car horn origins - you might use a car horn to somewhat politely ask someone in your way to move.

I think you were close enough for the point on " A fly in the ointment " Your answer to Dead as a doornail is actually the meaning of the phrase " the lights are on but nobody's home" which sadly you didn't have on your list. You should do a clip on the funnier phrases like that and " you're as much use as a rubber leg " etc etc

Hi Alanna, I got almost all of these wrong. In the US I have only heard of a few of these expressions like a flash in the pan and dead as a door nail, but I still got the definitions wrong. I do remember that when I was in elementary school, our class learned about a politician named Ross Perot who used to go on TV and refer to our national debt as “A fly in the ointment”. It became his catchphrase, but I always thought he created that term because no one else ever used it. It was considered weird, and people even made parody songs about it at the time. I never heard the term “a curtain twitcher” but my grandma had another term for a nosy person. If someone was being nosy, she would say “Don’t be a Gladys Kravatz” which I eventually found out that it referred to a character on a old TV show she used to watch called Bewitched. Anyways, thanks for another fun and entertaining video.

To 'know your onions' is derived from Prof. C.T. Onions, whose 'Shakespeare Glossary' is still a go-to text for lit scholars. If you know the definitions of many of the more obscure or archaic words the Bard used, you 'known your Onions'.

I have always understood the term 'dead as a doornail' to come from the practice of 'setting' a nail below the surface of the wood it is in. This would have been commonly done when framing a doorway to prevent protruding nails catching on clothing. Presumably the nail was considered 'buried' , and thus dead.

All these phrases in common use. They're second nature to most Brits I think. We'd use and understand them without even thinking about it. Literally part of the language.

I think you reasoned them pretty well, I remembered them all after leaving England almost 50 years ago and moving (becoming) Canadian 🍁

Watching all your youtube videos, I've come to realize that maybe it's not a Canadian/British thing and just a difference in experience. I encountered all these expressions in my first twenty years, growing up in Vancouver--but that was yonks ago. The only two that were unfamiliar were "drop a clanger" and "curtain twitcher"--but even those I guessed the meaning. My mom was a real curtain twitcher.

Seriously though, aren’t these great Alanna? I love all these phrases and the little stories behind them 😊

Nailing your colours to the mast, this refers to literally nailing your colours (flag) to a mast in a battle to ensure you could still be identified in the heat of a battle when your rigging had been destroyed.

Norwegians have some great sayings. I worked with a guy from Norway who referred a stupid person being.... 'Born behind a brown cheese' Aparently brown cheese or “mysost” is a Norwegian delicacy.

I’m from the “black country’ (West midlands) we are renowned for funny phrases! Like “well I’ll goo ter the bottom of our stairs” “yo’m as daft as a brush” “Ooo thee bist ugly” “yo’m as daft as a box of frogs” and so on; it can be a bit of a problem at times when you’re on holiday 😂

I (English, age 49) got 14/17, which would have been 15 had I not thought "pip pip" was a greeting rather than a farewell. But, no, I don't use any of those in daily conversation. I *might* have used, or at least heard, a few of them in the past.

As an older Brit I recognised all of them, I guess anyone under 30/40 might struggle. Try the following which tend to be more northern england. 1 "They couldn't stop a pig in a ginnel" 2 "fur coat and no knickers" 3 "They couldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo". 1 A bandy legged person (a ginnel is a narrow alleyway) 2 Pretending to be better/wealthier than they are 3 A person with poor aim eg. A shooter or batter.

Thanks Alanna, 13/17 for me. 'Keen as Marmite' = 50% like it, 50% don't like it, & 50% can't work out what it is..... true story!

Heres a favourite saying of mine, The lights are on, but nobodys home. Means a very stupid person.

I knew all of these but I’m surprised at myself for thinking everyone would know them. Well done Alana, you did well there!

"Pearls before swine" can be used in a way not originally intended (it's from the Bible). Occasionally someone might say "Age before beauty" when allowing someone else through a door before them, implying that that person is old. A clever retort to this is to say "Pearls before swine" as you sweep through the door, meaning you are a pearl and they are swine (a pig).

Hiya Alanna, I've got 2 friends from Oxfordshire when they came to Whitehaven, they thought We were speaking a different language, when we started to speak slang, you and your partner would love it up here and whoever else from North America, when we've had a few drinks and start talking slang, this is Choppy in Whitehaven, Cumbria, Great Britain

This is really funny listening to you trying to explain these phrases

Alanna, you’re very good at this. Ok, you’re not often right, but your thought processes are really good. Very entertaining and informative.

Well done Alanna you made a great effort and as always brought a great big smile to my face.

I missed three, which is quite surprising as I lived in England for >30 years. The meanings of these idioms are often obvious in the context that they're used, and only become difficult when you hear them in isolation. PS. I always thought that witches were colder from the wind chill riding on a broom. ;-)

Your descriptions were more accurate than the phone you were looking at

Keen as mustard is a play on the alternate meaning of keen which is sharp. The knife was keen means the blade had a sharp edge, mustard has a sharp taste.

Highly entertaining as always, Alanna. Now you’re making me feel old. All of those sayings have been common at some point in my life and I’m surprised they are unfamiliar to you so I claim a score of 17 I guess the English language has moved along more in England than it has here in Australia

Those are so strange ! I’ve felt sick at school all day, I have a really sore throat, so thanks so much for your video, it helped me feel better! It was really funny, and the text bubbles you put with each phrase look so cool, they fit your channel channel so well! Thanks so much for the video, it was great!

Blowing dogs off leads is the best expression for windy

Entertaining video, thanks for guessing rather than just saying "I don't know". I have heard them all except "pip pip" and I guessed that correctly (it's the same meaning as tootle pip). Those 17 are a good start but you are only scratching the surface. Some slang is regional though so they are often hard to know if you don't come from that area.

Dead as a doornail has nothing to do with coffins ---- centuries ago before wood screws were invented, nails were used to fix & secure all woodwork; but if the item was slammed or subject to vibration, like a door, eventually the nails would become loose and fall out. So doors were assembled with a long nail that protruded out of the other side of the wood, then hammered and bent over to prevent it moving or being shaken out, and was called a dead nail Thus anything that was definitely dead and couldn't be revived was called being dead as a door nail. This is similar to a dead lock or dead bolt, where the locking mechanism fixes the bolt in place; the bolt cannot be pushed back even if you can gain access to the bolt - to move or withdraw the bolt you must operate the lock

Yeah, I did get all 17 but it was interesting to learn the origins of some of the phrases.

Got most, about 15, but then i am in my 7th decade now and learnt them from parents, they're not used that often now except by certain politicians.

Fun video! I did get them all, (sorry!) but I'm British, and though some of it is archaic (no one says 'pip pip'), most of them are imbued in the language and a lot of them still regularly used. The proverb "a stitch in time" literally means that if you sew a stitch when a seam starts to go, it'll save you 9 stitches later when it all comes apart, and as you said, is metaphorically an admonition to act sooner rather than later.

I know all 17, and I am Canadian. But I am also over 60 years and had British granny who was born in 1894 and a British Mum and Dad born respectively 1921 and 1911. Most of these sayings are pre WW2,

Knackers Yard was the place where old horses went to be put down

you got 'a flash in the pan' when your musket was only 'half-cocked'

Can't say I've used most but roughly knew the context rather than the 'proper' meaning. I think you did well because the hardest part is explaining the meaning.

I think you can count Fly in the ointment as correct too. It was close enough. Something spoiling a plan .....an obstacle to the plan. Something to overcome or may stop it happening.

Ive used ... Toodle pip One theory is that it derived from an English dialect word meaning to walk or wander off, such as in "I'll be toodling along now." Others suggest that toodle pip is related to the French "tout a l'heure," meaning see you later.

"Nail your colours to the mast" means displaying your flag on the mast, very essential in sea battles in the 17th/!8th century! An old Naval term! The Union flag and Red Ensign are the colours of the Royal Navy. "Are you talking to me or chewing a Brick", a saying to be used if someone is rabbitting to you and not making much sense.

Yes, I knew all of them. Really! However, unpacking them reveals that some are more present in my life than others: "Pearls before swine" - not one I have often used, but it has occurred to me occasionally. On the other hand, I have uttered "nailing colours to the mast" aplenty, and actually done that deed (or more accurately, whatever it may have represented) more than once. "Colder than a witch's t!t".... I've neither used it nor heard it, but it has variants that mean the same thing. "Pip pip" has been coupled in writing and in speech (and even song) with similes such as "cheerio" - it puts me in mind of the parting words of my grandparents' generation, and does indeed match the sound of vintage car horns, as heard on films of the 1930s and 1940s which my grandparents enjoyed when they were young and subsequently introduced me to. I hadn't realised it dates back so much further, however. "Know your onions" - check! "A nod is as good as a wink" - not one I have heard or used myself, but the meaning is pretty clear to me. "A stitch in time saves nine" - old and rather poetic chestnut, that one! Not that it is such common parlance now... "Ready for the knacker's yard" isn't one I hear often but "knackered" is in frequent use, and has the same derivation. "Dropping a clanger" and "dropping a howler" are both variants I've heard with some regularity. "Clanger" can, of course, infer a beloved 1970s animated kids' show... "Fly in the ointment" - check, very much! "Keen as mustard" - I often use and hear it, albeit in that abbreviation to just "keen." "A flash in the pan" is another retired chestnut. If anything, I tend more towards the synonymous "one-work wonder." "Tickety boo" was used by my grandparents and I occasionally hear it now, but don't use it myself... "A load of codswallop" more often comes out as "a load of cobblers" in my experience. "A curtain twitcher" is familiar in writing but less so in speech. "Nosey parker" is more often encountered, at least by me. "Knickers in a twist" - check, though I shouldn't admit to too much here...... "Dead as a doornail" - Charles Dickens took issue with this one, asserting that a "coffin-nail" surely ought to be regarded as the deadest piece of ironmongery.

I think "pip pip" may have been the sort of thing Bertie Wooster ( PG Woodhouse) and his pals would say. My uncle always used to say "Toodle pip". I got them all. Not bragging. Just pretty old. I've enjoyed all of your videos. I haven't seen them all yet. something to look forward to.😁

I use “a stitch in time” differently. I think it means: take your time and do it properly once saves redoing it several times coz you did a hurried job.

Love your videos! Keep them coming :))))

In the days of sail the colours were your national flag. In battle you surrendered your vessel by lowering your colours. By nailing them to the mast you will not be able to surrender hence your position is openly and firmly held.

That was great fun, thanks Alanna ! ✨ I had heard of some of them and was truly baffled by others. How about combining something similar with beer tasting, that would be so funny 😂 Pip Pip - I think that meant goodbye.

Alanna, I always love watching your videos. I think I got about 5 of the 17 and had some fairly good guesses on 5 more. The rest stumped me.

I think I got about six if you’re generous. I hadn’t heard most of them and the few I knew aren’t something I would hear from anyone often, my Mam would probably do better than I did. Thank you for the interesting video. I hope you have a good week and I look forward to Friday’s video.

It was Clare Boothe Luce who said to Dorothy Parker, ''Age before beauty, my dear. '' Dorothy Parker swept through the revolving door as she replied, ''Pearls before swine!

You did fine. There were some pretty rare phrases included, which most UK people will have heard, but asking anyone to attribute a meaning to those words is entirely another matter!

I got ten, and I've lived here all my life so you did pretty well I reckon - I think some are more genuinely in use today than others and that's probably a reason for it. For once I don't think they are so much influenced by region, but certainly some have more to do with social class or background. Great fun Alanna...toodle pip!

Well I learned something new. I never knew that knackers yard was a slaughter house for old horses

Another thing about witches is that it was traditionally believed they danced naked (or 'sky-clad'), which would be cold. I might use 'toodle pip' but not 'pip pip' but I have no idea where either of these come from.

16... and I use 14... It's a teacher thing. I blew out on "pip pip" which is "come on or get on with it," but I always use it as "Pip pip tally ho!" (Like Joolz Guides on here... Alanna you must go on one of his walks.) Which means "lets go" and must come from fox hunting... pip pip on the the hounds whistle and tally ho for the horses!

A fun video: I'm 70 and have lived in the Northeast U.S. my whole life. Generally, I don't believe young people today are well read or well rounded. These expressions are not exclusively "Britishisms. I have heard "pearls before swine", "cold as a witch's teat", "a stitch in time saves nine", "a fly in the ointment", "a flash in the pan", and "dead as a doornail" numerous times in my lifetime. Most people my age would be familiar with these expressions, even if they don't use them often in daily speech. I would encourage young people to spend more time reading books, and less time on social media to expand their horizons. Thanks for your interesting videos.

It's so funny hearing someone say these things for the first time! I'm in my mid-40s and most of them are pretty old hat even by my standards. I still say ready for knacker's yard, nail colours to mast, but that's about it. Great video!

Don't drop a clanger on the soup dragon. 👴🇬🇧🤔😀

As an American, "pip pip" is basically the quintessential British saying from my viewpoint, but it probably is just a stereotype lol

Dead as a doornail to me means like, "the battery on my phone was dead as a doornail"

I had elderly parents (now deceased) so these phrases were commonplace in out house

All 17 I'm afraid and a few extras too, don't get your stevies (stevie nicks)knickers in a twist, means 'keep your hair on' , ie: 'Steady on old bean' , 'Don't break out in a rash and start an epidemic' and so on...ha ha..