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 Fr 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:

Posted in Culture/Arts, Relationships | Tagged cultures, English, French, language, misunderstandings, understanding | 38 Comments

38 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 December 11, 2013 at 4:07 am | Reply Brit-ish
  
  With the greatest respect …
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 June 25, 2013 at 3:35 pm Jeri Leigh
    
    We Americans can’t get through a single sentence anymore without using the work LIKE at least 10 times in an eleven word sentence! We no more mean what we say than the things posted above. After just a month in England I found that the words may be different but the overall thinking and meaning were all the same, it’s just so much fun to listen over there than here!
  - on October 10, 2013 at 2:51 am Not Lemon Curry
    
    “You Yanks puzzle me endlessly”
    
    Tranlation: “you yanks are dimwitted retards.”
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 October 16, 2013 at 4:50 pm | Reply Ute
  
  Niall, are you Scottish? ;-)
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 […]
on May 31, 2013 at 5:12 pm | Reply Jack Brownrigg

That lot’s bad enough, but come to Northern Ireland and you might have even greater difficulty!
“You bum’s out the window” – you’re being silly
“It’s straight fornenst you” – it’s right in front of you
“How’s about you” – how are you – and the list goes on
on May 31, 2013 at 7:31 pm | Reply Bob

It’s a cultural thing. Sometimes its good, sometimes its bad. Here’s a typical English thing after meeting someone……….”You know what? You should definitely come round my house to have a drink and a chat sometime, seriously you more than welcome.”……………………..I am English and I know they don’t mean it.
on June 1, 2013 at 8:22 pm | Reply Russell Duffy

Very droll and pretty inaccurate but wonderfully funny. Sort of a Wodehouse take on how we Brits are. If Karen wants to meet people who say what they think then go up North UK. A spade is a spade up there. And female dogs are bitches.
on June 19, 2013 at 11:15 am | Reply sdwlig

Except for dinner, those mean the same for Americans / American English. We won’t often say “quite good” or “with the greatest respect”, but we’d recognize them and it wouldn’t be too weird to use them. Probably some in the Northeast would use that kind of air-kiss dinner invitation, but for most, if you invite someone to dinner, you better be ready to be accepted.
- on June 19, 2013 at 5:59 pm | Reply Fr Stephen Wang
  
  I like the phrase ‘air-kiss dinner invitation’!
on July 3, 2013 at 9:45 am | Reply Chris

Agree with many of the other comments. Having worked with people of different nationalities, in my experience most people just try to be pleasant and unoffensive, regardless of their social standing. This idea that Northern Brits call a spade a spade is just a way of saying, I’ll say what I think regardless of how it makes others feel. This might work in social situations but not sure it would be well regarded in an International business context. Trying to understand other people’s cultural differences goes a long way to oil the wheels
on July 18, 2013 at 3:17 am | Reply Wan

If ‘they’ enter comments here, please make sure you understand them perfectly.
on August 8, 2013 at 3:12 pm | Reply FranGrell

Now I now why all England’s collinies left, they didn’t like how confusing it was to understand.
on September 6, 2013 at 2:57 pm | Reply eekwibble

Indeed, the majority of yorkshiremen and women are just plain rude. Take this typical Yorkshire pick-up line for example: “Ey-oop. Tha’s durnt sweat much fur a fat lass!”
on September 8, 2013 at 9:27 pm | Reply David Ballantyne

Brief autobiography: I was born in London but my Dad was from the North of England. To me, the idea that Northerners are more direct or ‘plain-speaking’ is absolutely delusional.

I have also lived in the (Southern) US for the best part of 14 years and the notion that Americans ‘say what they mean’ any more than English people is self-deception at its best, bless your heart.
- on March 31, 2014 at 6:50 pm | Reply Mike
  
  You are so right. I live in the southern USA – your analogy is spot on.
  
  I was just thinking that as I was reading this, that southerners of the US are much like this as well – versus the aggressive, more blunt behaviors of the northern (just acknowledging stereotypes…of course there are exceptions) people who are considered “rude.”
  
  We all smile at everyone and ask how they are (which I personal like…because most are genuinely well-intended people) however, many feel like it’s fake.
  - on March 31, 2014 at 6:51 pm Mike
    
    personally*
on September 26, 2013 at 1:53 pm | Reply What British people say. What they really mean. What other people really understand. | tomAto tomAHto

[…] What British people say. What they really mean. What other people really understand. […]
- on January 12, 2016 at 10:30 pm | Reply sdwlig
  
  I grew up in NW Ohio and have also lived in the DC area, and now SF Bay Area / Silicon Valley in California. I like to be direct, clear, concise but also (because I’m an engineer) as verbose as needed to be precise. I like some nuance and uncertainty for entertainment, but in business and other goal-oriented cases, I like to be explicit, clear, and clean. We use flowery speech or borrow from other dialects (or I should say dialects) for fun or color. Other than a few word choices, I grew up in the “flat English neutral” zone. Boring but functional and efficient.
on November 8, 2013 at 5:44 am | Reply Sandra

I find the british cultural fascinating. I wish I had been brought up there, but hopefully in the near future I will have the chance to visit, and maybe even live there for a while to understand and learn the ways of british customs.
on January 23, 2014 at 8:59 am | Reply Brian forsyth

In Scotland we say ‘will I?’ Which isn’t asking should I do something it’s saying I’m going to do ……. Like will I make some tea? Not a question just a statement, gets me into all sorts of bother in England
on September 16, 2015 at 8:36 am | Reply eithan

Thé british are polite, but what I most like is britsh humor, which Am incorporated in, from my long stay in London, where I lived n’ worked, all sorts of work, à chef, bouncer, hôtel manager,..théy are tolérant, respect other peoples culture, that I don’t think you’ll find any where in Thé world except India, indian people are Nice n peacefull. But thé of some Having thé nostalgia of british empire I don’t agréé with totally, it has nothing To do with british people, completly différent from there royalty class…
on April 21, 2016 at 12:01 am | Reply 英國人和日本人真的很相似 – Midori

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on January 23, 2017 at 7:51 pm | Reply Regina

This happens everywhere in the world, especially here in Canda, where everybody is polite…same phrases, same intent.