What British people say. What they really mean. What other people really understand.

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What British people say. What they really mean. What other people really understand.

February 2, 2012 by Stephen Wang

Following on from my post about the difference between the English and the French, a friend sent me this image about how the rest of the world understands our strange British phrases:

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Posted in Culture/Arts, Relationships | Tagged cultures, English, French, language, misunderstandings, understanding | 15 Comments

15 Responses

on February 2, 2012 at 11:11 am | Reply Tonia

When we say “Guess what?”‘ we don’t mean guess, we mean ask me what’s happened!
on February 2, 2012 at 5:16 pm | Reply transformedinchrist

So true! I love Kate Fox’s book, Watching the English – we are a bizarre nation!!
on February 11, 2012 at 11:44 pm | Reply Ed

Working class Brits, northerners, and in particular people from Yorkshire (spade a spade), don’t, in general, talk like this.
- on June 15, 2012 at 6:12 am | Reply Not Ed
  
  This chart is very accurate, frighteningly too accurate, and you oddly just described my background.
on February 28, 2012 at 8:11 pm | Reply danicaliii

this is mostly how middle class people speak, basically, full of s**t
on April 12, 2012 at 2:23 am | Reply ora

cheerio mum ded bloody
on June 8, 2012 at 11:20 am | Reply Kritt Normsaskul

Reblogged this on Your Average BBT. and commented:
I think this image is quite funny and I want to share this with you! But don’t generalise us. Most of us mean what we say!
on June 24, 2012 at 1:01 am | Reply Daniel

I think this applies to us Aussies also!
on June 27, 2012 at 3:38 am | Reply Karen

Sooooo they’re basically full of **** and sarcastic? I wouldn’t be able to stand that. That’s why I’m glad I live in America. It’s so simple. Say what you mean and mean what you say.
- on July 2, 2012 at 11:53 am | Reply Lemon Curry
  
  Mean what you say? Are you sure? Why is every new business contact in the States EXCITED by the prospect of working with me, do they really feel my business idea is AWESOME and are they really TRULY IMPRESSED by my website? And why do they always say it’s LIKE a good idea, and I’M LIKE instead of ‘I said’? You Yanks puzzle me endlessly…
on July 27, 2012 at 11:50 am | Reply Afflicted by being British

I love this table. I first saw it (or something very much like it) at a lecture on working in international teams. The lecturer claimed that it was developed to help communication / integration of the Dutch and British leadership team of an large Anglo-Dutch multinational. Don’t know if its true, however a great story.
on January 13, 2013 at 2:16 pm | Reply The Curious

Reblogged this on Stars. and commented:
My teacher always says ‘I only have a few minor comments’…. That explains quite a lot of stuff.
on February 12, 2013 at 9:24 pm | Reply Niall

I’m not aware that this is British, sounds like English to me.
on April 21, 2013 at 9:08 pm | Reply shanay

It’s not about being full of s***, it’s about being polite and not unnecessarily aggressive.
on May 17, 2013 at 6:01 pm | Reply How to Increase Your Credibility

[…] just to be polite or “that’s very interesting” when they really mean the opposite (read “What British People Say. What They Really Mean. What Other People Understand.” for a comprehensive list of archaic “polite society” comments). And incredibly, people still […]