British Things I Avoid Saying - British Words & Phrases I Don’t Say, Even in the UK! 

Another phrase commonly used instead of "(are you) taking the piss" or "(are you) taking the mickey" is "you're having a laugh - aren't you?" or "are you having a laugh?" I once knew someone who's surname was Cockshot, she insisted it was pronounced COE-SHAW. I thought to myself, "yes of course it is."

Just to confuse you further, flannel can be used to mean soft woollen trousers (pants). Or to describe when someone who is talking with the intention of avoiding the truth or attempting to deceive they are talking 'a load of old flannel'.

Wales Vlog: Eating Welsh Cakes, Lamb Cawl and Vibzing from Cardiff to Pembrokeshire, you might be interested in watching this.

Oh gosh - the amount of times I've edited out 'fag butts' from my vlogs - referring to cigarette ends. I forget until I'm editing that it has a completely different meaning for Americans.

Great editing on this video! Loved all the graphics and pics too!

Like Gasoline as opposed to Petrol. We Brits tend to think that anything that has the word, or is related to GAS, must be a sort of smoke or dry vapour. Whereas Petrol (petroleum spirit) is the liquid fuel you pump into your car, which only becomes gas after being burnt. The gas being the waste product of petrol. Much like flatulence, the waste gas produced after your body has digested food.

torch sounds so old-timey 🤣 but they're right - "flash" lights don't flash!

Thank you for this video! All of you ladies were very lively and informative. Loved it!

We really enjoyed doing this collab with your Dara! Here's to many more! (as long as the public can stand it, lol!!)

Hi Dara, Flannel, this is a term we always use in the S Wales mining valleys. Face cloth is not a term I new of until I was an adult. A warm blankette we used to have was often made of flanelette. One other term that was common is a “bosh” for sink or basin. A much missed cartoonist called Gren used to publish daily in our local evening newspaper the South Wales Echo and when the German automotive parts manufacture opened a new factory near the next village Gren’s cartoon had a miner and his wife standing outside a fence with BOSCH written on it, the man said “I told you that’s where they make those sinks.”

I actually learned a LOT from this video. Love, love, love this series. Great job ladies!

Hi Dara, I'm English and just letting you know that it sound quite natural when you say "taking the Mickey" and not at all odd. Probably because not only don't British people realise that it's not used in the States, but also because it seems a natural phrase for somebody from Mickey Mouse's homeland to use!

I may have a stab at the ketchup/ tomato sauce one. Ketchup as a term in British use predated tomato ketchup by a long time and mostly got used for mushroom and fish based things originally. So when tomato ketchup appeared it was really just seen as a type of tomato sauce rather than a heavily preserved ketchup. Given we have brown sauce to cover a whole group of similar condiments there you have the ‘sauce’ mindset. Italian immigration after WWI and WWII and we start to see classic rich red tomato sauces and the terms sort of fight and overlap…I think thats the likely explanation. Presumably the US perspective differed and so the the terms used vary

I was born in 1963 and regard myself as a lad / youth of the 1970`s , 80`s. A vest was something I wore underneath my jumper, in order to keep myself warm in the 3 day week Winter.

Many thanks and BFN MoT & TTFN Brit girls. Differences are so enjoyable. My friend and I sign off verbally with' Abbysinia' or 'half an hour'. The latter because we shared a slightly deaf friend who heard this instead of bye for now! Isn't Life fun!

You are a great mix. Would love to see more like this.

A vest top is a sleeveless outerwear top with thicker straps than a camisole. Also camisoles usually have a fastening on the straps to either shorten or lengthen them.

A vest to me is what my mum made me wear under my clothes to keep me warm. However we seem to use the words camisole, vest top, sleeveless top/t shirt interchangeably. As for the puréed tomatoes used for pasta that would be labelled as Passata in the UK or we would called the ready made sauce pasta sauce. I have always said tomato sauce for ketchup maybe to differentiate it from brown sauce I am not sure, it’s just what my parents called it.

Really good upload 😍😍😍

Sticks with fire on the end are still called a torch in Britain.

This was fun. Now I'll have to check out what you love to say, love.

Another good video. A vest in the UK is a sleeveless shirt, usually worn as an undergarment, but also worn by runners at the Olympics. Do Americans do not say that someone is cocksure or a bit cocky then?

Dara we've been told by researchers that we are making tea in the wrong way apparently you can get a better cup of tea if you put the tea bag in first then the milk,then the hot water..

Hi Dara. We often say “Cock & Bull story” when we believe their tale is a bit far fetched, I don’t know it’s origins.

Two years ago today, my best friend and I were on our way to England. We learned chips go with fish, crisps come in a little bag. We still use some British terms to this day. It was fun learning new words.😁

I laughed like a drain at many of the words you won't say in the UK! Two countries separated by the same language! (George Bernard Shaw) Another great collaborative video, though, and highly entertaining: thank you!

On the torch/flashlight debate how do you measure the light intensity values of a light source ?🤔

Your face when they say “What’s up cock?” 😆😆😆

A life jacket is also a 'life vest', a vest is a sleeveless top often an undergarments but can be worn as a top layer and referred to as a vest top and worn by both men and women in summer 🙂

These are the kinds of things people need to know before going there for the first time. A Flannel? I NEVER would have gotten that!

Oh joy of joys, i've just dropped my phone down the lav!

In Germany there are so many dialects in all our regions it can be really irritating or weird to compare these different expressions for the same thing or trying to assimilate. It is not compulsive to use the local dialect by 'foreigners' , we all have to, or can use the same 'high' German that is mandatory in business or schools. But there are words you simply have to apply if you want to be understood in the region for everyday things like food or beverages or practical things. If a non local person is trying to imitate a dialect from a different region this is not met with appreciation but considered to be funny, ridiculous or even patronising. So I am quite used to use all kinds of words in all kinds of regions and countries and find it interesting and comical, too. I enjoy your videos a lot (went to the cotswolds last week) and I have a question for you and everybody interested: Do you understand all British jokes, especially the taking out the mickey of somebody kind? I've been an anglophile German (now 70 year old lady) ever since I was eleven years old when I put this wish to the universe, that I might learn to speak English like a native speaker. I had lessons at school for 8 years and taught myself by reading about 500 to a 1000 books from Shakespeare via Swift, Austen, Dickens, Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie to C.S.Lewis, Tolkien and finally Gaiman and J.K.Rowling. Not to forget the American Authors of the same periods, Twain, London, Beecher Stowe, Alcott, Montgomery, Heinlein, Michael Crighton etc. I went to both countries again and again, about 30 times in my life and I do speak quite fluently, but: although I watch the Graham Norton Show weekly and every BBC series I can get hold of, old and new ones, I have trouble understanding Stephen Fry's memoir when listening to it because I don't understand half of the jokes. I do understand Jeeves and Wooster jokes when read to me by Stephen Fry and watch every one of his interviews, why don't I understand his memoirs? I understand every word of Julie Andrews', Michelle Obama's and Barbra Streisand's but I don't get the British jokes. When I was 20 and at London Parties they used to think I was drunk because of that. I am a Monty Python and Black Adder fan and I love black or silly humour but some of the political or social stuff I just don't get... do you? Some 25 years ago I was in a helicopter sightseeing flight from Las Vegas to the grand canyon. The pilot was an ex GI from Minnesota and there were three Londoners, my mother and I. The Cockney father of the family was always asking questions and the pilot didn't understand a word of it. So after ten minutes I intervened and translated their conversation for them and we had lots of fun, even the jokes. I can understand English accents from all over the world, Indian, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese Thai, you name it.. So, you as an American, can you understand the jokes from QI, all of them? With love from Barbara

there was a scene from buffy that sums up the difference between the use of language perfectly, English slayer says "i'm peckish." 1st American slayer asks what she means? 2nd american slayer explains peckish is English for hungry,. 1st slayer replies "I thought hungry was English for hungry.

Loved the video (as always). Would love to know where you stand on the heck/hell issue and Brits using comfortably using religious exclamations? I once miffed an American guest by saying "Sweet Mary and Joseph, it's all going to Hell in a handbasket".

Flannel’s origin is Welsh, it’s basically a type of wool. When we use the term flannel for a face cloth, it’s because we drop the face cloth or face towel bit, something us Brits do a lot, we drop words and rely on the context, so instead of saying flannel face towel, we just say flannel. A flannel shirt just means a shirt made out of flannel, that could be a plaid shirt but not all plaid shirts are made from flannel so I guess we wouldn’t refer to all plaid shirts as simple flannel. A lot of things, most things, back in the day were made from flannel but with modern fabrics, that is less the case and we barely use the word flannel, if I was going to use the word it would probably only be in reference to a face cloth. I guess it just comes down to the evolution of language especially when it comes to English and American English, it was once the same language but over a few hundred years and the Atlantic Ocean dividing us, the English evolved differently in both places. Back in the day a face cloth would have been something only the wealthy would have and the majority of people who emigrated to the US would not have had a face cloth so a flannel face cloth would not have been in the everyday language in the US but flannel clothing such as shirts would have been which could account for why in the UK these days the use of flannel is more likely going to be used to refer to a face cloth and in America it is more likely to be used to refer to a plaid shirt, that’s my guess anyway

Super fun, Dara! Love how you put this together! It came out really well. You expression when mum says "What's up, cock" was priceless! At least you'll be prepared now if you hear it next time you're across the pond!

Dara, when a job is a complete mess, we would say "it's a cockup!* a right mess! To emphasise it it then becomes "a right bloody cockup!" It is not so offensive as you might think! In fact it is, well, quite normal!

Most people I know use the eord fag for a cigarette. I think that the decline in use of the word is connected to the decline in smoking

As for British words for being `pissed` / `drunk` English is a language shared and is creative. In such circumstances one may invent a word and attach to it any meaning. Consider a zinc - finger or a more fictitious Trick - Finger. A zinc - finger is already assigned and the Trick - Finger may - to date - have any assignation attached to it. I don`t know whether or not this is true of other languages, as in when one thing becomes another - Abram becoming Abraham. Suppose I said that a Trick - Finger is a Wizzard ? Then that becomes the meaning of a Trick - Finger. Suppose I said that a Trick - Finger is a thief... it becomes the thief !

Howdy, did you know 'Howdy' originated in the South of England around 1570 and was a greeting shortened from 'How do ye' ?

The Statue of Liberty is holding a torch.

Pity the poor non-native English speaker learning English thinking there's only one type! My favourite example is when I studied with Americans, during one lesson, writing in pencil I made a mistake. I turned to the male student next to me and asked if I could borrow his 'rubber'. Let's just say his face was a picture of confusion and so was mine when I couldn't understand why he wouldn't just pass me his eraser to use! (Australians 'rub out' their mistakes they don't 'erase'.)

What a load of 'old flannel', is another example of the brits 'Taken the Michael' or 'Mick'

I'm sure the 'Ewings' were in Dallas 🖥😉

'Taking the Mickey' is from the Cockney rhyming slang - 'Michael Diss' - Piss. You could say 'taking the rise' or just plain old 'making fun of'.

Ahhh flannels -that is good to know. And panty hose...too funny, I just bought some the other day and ended up not wearing them so totally returned them to the store - you're right, who wears them any more

What a beautiful top!

jane seymour (an English actress) once asked whilst living in America to a...male friend "Do you have any loo rolls"/toilet tissue & he replied "what's a colored singer got to do with anything". The best example of cultural differance i've ever heard, & the funnyest. Anyway we understand if its tomato sauce, it comes out of either a bottle or a squeezy bottle that is the context

Interesting. I can't think of a single American term that I prefer over the British version. (My favourite is aluminium.) And I still hear people of all ages using fag for cigarette so maybe it's fading but I'm not convinced that it's archaic yet. PS: It was brill having your English friends' input. They seem smashing.

Dara I think you could use the phrase take the mickey...it would be pleasant for you in England..it would be nice in your lexicon.you would sound great saying it...

Never knew that ‘torch’ meant flashlight....😂

We've got the word "Weste" in Germany. Sometimes it's a bit confusing for German pupils who learn English when words sound so similar in German and English but are not quite the same...!

I like to use the words tomaydo soss...for ketchup ...I’m English..nobody else does and I’m regarded as strange,,, but it’s fun...and everybody understands me..

I must say that whenever l hear Americans refer to a vest when they mean waistcoat,i it does strike me as a little uncouth. Sorry... Another point of confusion is what Americans call a sweater vest we call a tank top. Regarding tights, do you not wear tights for business and formal attire

Tomato sauce is a thing in uk Its a cheaper version of ketchup much thinner in consistancy and a cheaper version of ketchup.

It's one of those great mysteries isnt it, just where an American accent comes from, & it seems to me that there are...3 in your country- the Southern country boy accent (that I hate I think of lynch mobs & people/dongs wearing their own bed sheets) the L.A califonia sound & the grimy base tone New York one. Not all Benny Hills material is chauvanistic (hope i spelt that right) perhaps there may have been a differant version State side I believe he filmed there to. back to the Jane seymour he used the words "black singer"infact, but i feel the same about that word as you do about Benny Hill, the joke isnt to do with color it's to do with misunderstanding, plus it's not to say Americans are dense either its a...double meaning because of differant phrasing.. the very 1st series of n.g.out aired in...2004 I think & was just as funny as the other series. Did you pick up on the American style of it right down to the Frank sinatra type opening theme music the arial views of london between scenes etc when next in the u.k i'd recommend it, it could be on bbciplayer or some other place (the very 1st series) i'd also recommend RISING DAMP which should be on itv hub or murdock's SKY comedy channel

Think Bruce Willis in Die Hard = A Vest. Or a singlet in American parlance

I didn't know a vest could have sleeves.

I often use both the American and British words - I'll just check under the bonnet - under the hood - it's in the boot, it's in the trunk! On the sidewalk - on the pavement. Sometimes you see late-night shops or liquor stores - off licences - in poor areas with names like 'Booze, Mags 'n' Fags' though that's a name I made up! You wouldn't see that in the States!

What do you say rather than "taking the Mickey" ?

You team with the Brit girls GS well...youre a good pairing...

I met an American girl..she thought Knickers..was hilarious 🤣

Dara, i have watched a few of your videos recently so this comment might not be so attached to this video but just generally. I know that we're all different, but I think that is good. It is better to be who you are, then tried to masquerade as someone else whether it is someone of a different culture, city or country or continent. Some people may label you as one way or another such as bossy, but I don't think that is sexist I think that is just you being you. And I think that it's OK. Again we're all different in every way and form - even when we try to be the same, we are still different, but possibly similar. We were both born in the USA and in my personal opinion it bothers me (a bit) when others who were born here take steps that seem to separate themselves from where they were born and seem to turn down the things I favor, like Snickers Bars. I know we are all given the gift of choice, so we are all free to choose regardless of location. I guess right now I will sing with Lee Greenwood, God Bless the USA! Please dont take this the wrong way. Dont go changin to try and please me.

I think we say 'tomato sauce' because we also say 'brown sauce'

I asked for EXTRA KETCHUP at a fast food place the other day and they gave me two slices of tomato. It's not quite the same, is it?

Instead of saying "Taking the mickey" (which, as the video made clear, is a playful / cheeky usage) a Brit might say " Pulling your leg". Is that Brit or does the US use that too?

Maybe you could call a wash cloth a face cloth?

Very funny, Learned things today. In Hawaii they use an interesting word(s). Da kine . Can be used for any word. 🌴🌴Aloha

Dear Magenta I don't mean to suggest you are barking up the wrong tree but you might be casting your pearls before swine. Some will say you are as mad as a hatter but as we all know a stitch in time saves nine. Some say you are as mad as a hatter but I think that is a load of codswallop. So before you pop your clogs remember a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse and you really know your onions, From one gigglemug to another, take care.

Looking forward to seeing what you don't say!

I am always confused when I hear in American YT videos ladies talking about "slip" and showing a silk or nylon light dress to wear under a regular dress. When we here in Europe talk about "slip" we mean knickers (or underpants).

Because ketchup sounds weird .

Sauce? Red or Brown.

In Bude the sidewalks are real red "bricks.......hit the bricks !

What American word would sound great coming from an English person?

did you think the Jane Seymour stuff was funny? I still do(you probably have to have heard of Lou wrawls the soul singer & VERY GOOD he is to, to see the humour). NOT GOING OUT I wonder did you see anything of the very 1st series here where Lee flat shared with an American woman (I forget her name) the comedy was all about cultural differances, which contrasts with the subsequent series with Lucy then it became more about class differances & the North south divide. Class is STILL very much an issue here as well as race. We southerners ourselve sometimes can't understand northern accents & differant words as alien to us as to you. I wonder if most Americans assume there is only ONE english accent? as you know there are several even when your still in England Brummy, scouse(liverpool) Geordie- Newcastle, cockney etc even west country farmer My favourite sit com from America) is- THE WAR AT HOME I don't know if your familiar with it I know that BENNY HILL is mega in America do YOU think he is funny? My favourite museum in London is the british museum then natural history

Great video but 'don't overegg the pudding'.

taking the piss, aparently something to do with transporting rope on a river ive heard which sometimes got urinated on (perhaps to bind it together) in olden times but is reporposed as swearing in today's world

Well, "cock" comes from the French word "le coq" which is a rooster. And when Philippe or any other French-speaking person talks about a "coq" he/she means the animal and nothing else. 😜

Mc coworkers are probably still studying to find out what colleague means 👨‍🍳👩‍🍳

We can't get rid of tights, it was how out teacher ( all those years ago) got us to remember the difference between stalagmites and stalactites, tights hang down 👨‍🎓👍