Sorted is actually due to American and English militaries. Our troops get stationed in the UK and get used to saying it and then come back or get deployed with UK troops and come back saying it. While we always had the officer exchange program (officers swap countries to lead other nation's troops) It really ramped up in the 80s and exponentially ramps up after 2001. When you consider that 12.3 million people (almost 4% of the US population) joined the military in the 15 years after 9/11, all of them exposed to British words, and then released back into the wild, there really is no wonder why the popularity of those words increased. Adding onto the hit shows of Dr Who( before it became trash), and Downton Abbey, and Penny Dreadful; the English uses of words just skyrocketed.
Great lists... I use a lot of those American words, although there is one I am surprised you didn't mention which I wish would sink to the bottom of the pond and never re surface and that is the phrase 'reach out' which is being used instead of 'contact' drives me mad when I hear someone saying that. 😀
It's English, not British English and for a native speaker you seem to have a tenuous grasp of it. Also, try talking through your mouth rather than your nose. You're not in Oasis or a Python sketch. 🤢
Lost in the Pond is a beggar who tries to get people to subscribe. If you want those, EARN THEM! People will do them when THEY WANT to, not when you WANT THEM to. You do not deserve subscriptions.
Which region do you live in, if you don't mind? Regularity of American use of wonky seemed to be debated in the original community post about this, but it also appeared to be possibly regionally limited
@@tabularasa I was born in and grew up in New Mexico, but I have lived most of my adult life in Florida. My parents were originally from Pennsylvania and Illinois. I’m pretty sure wonky isn’t a southern thing because my parents were from the north and used it as well. Maybe wonky is a more common word amongst people who sew, knit or crochet. If your tension is off your scarf, blanket, pot holder or whatever you made will be wonky. If you can’t, maintain a straight line when sewing hems and seems especially with a sewing machine ,your garment will be wonky.
In my experience, Americans do use "sorted" to mean "resolved," but if we want that meaning, we don't use the word "sorted" alone. Instead, we say "sorted out." For example, "Let's talk for a few minutes to get our Christmas plans sorted out."
We do say "sorted out" but I've noticed we use it only for multiple tasks. For singular tasks we'll say "fix". Instead of "get your hair sorted" we'll say "fix your hair."
Recently I’ve heard a lot of people use “sorted” without “out.” I was sensitive to it because I was in the UK last year and there were signs up on the trains saying something like “see it, say it, sort it” (where I live it’s “see something, say something.”) I think the two Englishes are getting closer every day.
Little-known fact... The word 'fall' for autumn was originally used in England during Henry 8th's time, but went out of fashion. The word autumn entered English from the French automne.
A lot of American English (and spelling) is from old English. When we separated in the late 1700s, the language became stilted somewhat. A lot of the differences stem from us Americans being a bunch of hillbillies but it's fun to listen to Canadian RUclipsrs say words like: "Been" (pronouncing it like "bean") "Battery" (pronouncing it "bat-ry") And many others. (Don't get me started on aluminum.) Canada is still married to the UK and so there is a lot more shared language and culture with England north of the border.
W.S. Gilbert was once asked how "Bloodygore" was going, and Gilbert replied, "It's Ruddigore." The person then said, "It's the same thing," to which Gilbert replied, "So if I say 'I admire your ruddy complexion'-which I do-it's the same as saying 'I like your bloody cheek'-which I don't."
I grew up in Texas and am nearly 50 years old and the word "wonky" has been part of my vernacular all of my life. I actually assumed it was a southern US word since it's used so much where I grew up. I don't think this is a recent addition to American English, at least for Southern US English. Maybe this is the case for Midwestern US English, but it's been commonplace in Texas for my entire life.
Another Texan here: I've also used "wonky" since I was a child, as well as "knackered." My older relatives were big fans of British television shows on PBS back in the early 80s, so that may have been the culprit.
I was once in Florida on a small fishing boat with my dad and a local guide. About half way through the trip, the local guy turned to us, dead serious and squinting - "What language are you guys speaking? Norwegian?!". We're Geordies of course (northern/newcastle). Things were pretty awkward from then, as he was strapped (of course) and seemingly didn't believe that we were British anymore..
Yes I’ve used it since I can remember (and I am almost 58) and even my parents and grandmother used it frequently and most if their lives. However, it could be regional usage. It has caught on in areas that rarely used it before. Influence from British programs being easier to see? Maybe. People moving due to life changes and taking that regional speech with them? Also maybe. And maybe a combination of the two. The last one is my guess.
when I was a teenager I had heard the word "bugger" a few times with little context. I assumed in meant "to annoy" like we use "bug". I would go on to use the word in that context on a semi-frequent basis. Quite a few times I would approach someone and say something akin to "hey, mind if I bugger you for a moment?". I was pretty damn embarrassed when I learned the true definition of the word.
Haha. I didn’t realize its true meaning until recently. I never used “Bugger off!”, but would say things like “Bug off!” and “Stop bugging me!”. I always thought it referred to annoying someone like a bug often does (especially mosquitoes). I didn’t know about “buggery”… Well, at least the term haha.
This brings back fond memories of when I was in the US Army and stationed in West Germany at GHQ Rheindahlen. I got a "proper" education from my British "mates." I use all these words along with wing (fender), boot(trunk), bonnet (hood) and referring to a truck as a "lorry." I do love and respect my UK cousins. "God Save The KIng!"
I drive a MINI Cooper and just the past weekend,, I had to point out where the bonnet latch was. Of course, it is ion the right side. The MINI has a boot, too.
I will say that "sorted" by itself is usually only used in American English to describe a system of organization, as in "sorted by color." But the British meaning you mention of "resolved" has always been used in American English, but it requires the preposition "out" along with it. A Brit might say, when a problem has been resolved, "I'm glad we got that sorted," while an American in the same situation would say "I'm glad we got that sorted out." Sometimes, the American phrase even adds a modifier, with the phrase "all sorted out" (and even "mostly sorted out" in cases where there are still a few details to be fixed) being common, as well. But "sorted out" is a tried-and-true American English-ism, I've been using it since I was in elementary school, and I just turned 68 recently.
I knew a South African girl that used sorted out, meaning to discipline somebody. Watching British TV and films from 60 or 70 years ago, they used to use "up" when using the verb queue, as in to queue up, just like to line up in American English. I don't know when the Brits started dropping the up from queue. The South African girl also used proper. I saw an American TV show from 60 years ago that used "do the marketing" for going grocery shopping.
I see "sorted" on its own in US English more and more, but really only in the context of cars/car issues. Guessing that's influence from something like Top Gear.
I've heard both wonky and dodgy used commonly my entire life over here in the pacific northwest. I've never even thought of them as british. At this point I don't even think they are.
A few words that I’ve tried to implement in my daily life and get other people on board are “Mate,” “Bloke,” “innit,” and “cheers.” I just like the way those words sound and flow. I have a delusional sense of belief that I, alone, can make these words catch on lol
I've heard (and used) "wonky" regularly and often since growing up on the US East Coast (both North & South), and I was born in the 1950s. In addition, I can remember my mother-in-law using it regularly (especially when I hung her Christmas decorations), and she was a lifelong Wisconsinite.
As an older Canadian I picked up most of my English words and phrases from Monty Python, on The Buses, Benny Hill, and Are You Being Served with a bit of James Herriot thrown in. It’s off to bed for me now, I’m knackered.
Yes this one is familiar to me. There was a British family who lived in our neighborhood and we picked it up from them. I love the word knackered because there is no word on the USA side of the pond that expresses a general state of malfunction or disrepair or in some cases of medial or mental state. This useful word also hinds of the knackery where things go to be disassembled, recycled, or the glue factory for old horses. LOL And of course the phrases, I'm gonna knacker you or You need a knacker... take on a life of their own. WHen I hear them they are normal so I get a chuckle from them. Bloody Hell or Forking Hell are ones I hear often and am probably responsible for. I use Forking Hell instead of the F-bomb version to take the edge off of it but it still ruffles a few feathers. Love you Brits. You Lot are masters of humor and dry sarcasm. Love it.
@@KlodFather One of the words/phrases we always used to hear in the North of the UK was 'bobby-dazzler' which you don't hear people say much now. It means 'outstanding, fancy, sparkling' , for example 'that red and blue hat you're wearing is a right bobby dazzler'!' I've always liked that phrase, I don't know why!
"Gutted" is one I've heard with more frequency. I think most people here were exposed to it through The Great British Bake Off, which became extremely popular to stream during the pandemic when everyone took up baking as a hobby.
I have lived my entire life in the American Midwest, and have heard "wonky" for the last 30 to 40 years. Not all the time, but often enough. The others are "newer", and indeed seeing more use!
I spent many happy formative years in England as a pilot for USAF. The use of language and how it was applied was wonderful. The context and the reasoning behind common phrases was illuminating. I adopted numerous words, but the one that always stayed with me was cheers, mate. Something so simple given without expectation but heart warming to the core.
@@edjarrett3164 Yep. I lived in King's Lynn from 1977 to 1987 and remember going to spot planes at Mildenhall around that time. I was only a child but remember Mildenhall was great for KC135s, as well as visiting RAF jets such as Jaguars, Buccaneers and other jets. Not forgetting of course F-111s from Lakenheath and their fenland bombing runs,
@@andyhinds542 I remember how totally wierd it was when I saw all the plane spotters when I first visited. Later, on a quick trip to London, I picked up the latest log of aircraft arriving and departing Mildenhall. I was really surprised how accurate the log entries were. They included all our KC-135Q aircraft, the RC135s and the SR71 tail numbers. Short of the actual mission routings, it was strikingly accurate especially considering the classified nature of our missions.
@@edjarrett3164 Don't you have plane spotters, bird spotters or train spotters in US. There's accurate books for each. with photos, best places and time to see them. And people mark them off until they've seen them all.
“Chuffed” is my absolute favorite, and I got it from watching all the British RUclipsrs I love. Crossing my fingers that “…and Bob’s your uncle!” will catch on sometime soon in the US. 😅
Oh wow, is "crossing fingers that" not generally understood where you're from? Since that's a literal reference of a gesture (🤞) I thought it might be more universal :)
@@JfromUK_The phrase they were quoting was "and Bob's your uncle". They are crossing their fingers in hopes it will catch on with other people in the US because they like it😊
My dad was English; so of course growing up my brother and I picked up British words. Until recently, using "proper" and "sorted" drew funny looks, but I've noticed that's stopped over the last few years.
I’ve been using “wonky“ for quite a while, but I have mostly heard it used as generally not quite right, and that’s the way I’ve used it. On the other hand, generally when I’ve heard the word “chuffed“ it has been from British RUclipsrs.
Same here. Growing up we had a couple of wonky kids in school. Being from northern Minnesota we usually used 'catty wompas' when something was askew. 'Chuff', was a new one for me.
Chuffed is a joke word here - no one uses it in real life. The 80s satirical puppet show Spitting Image used to use it as a way to avoid stronger swear words. "I gonna chuffing kill you!"
If I might be so bold as to steer you in the direction of a bit of classic BBC comedy from the early 1980s'; A programme called "The Young Ones", which ran for two series (Seasons). Alot of slapstick, innuendo and quite bad language. Ever wanted to hear a punk rocker shout "Sod off ugly po-faced git"? Then this could be "Just your cuppa Rosy Lee, Govner."
I (a US native), recently received an email from my web designer (a UK expat) suggesting that we get together for a 'chinwag'. Although I am well-versed in both tongues, I had never hear that term before. The term was self-explanatory. We chatted over a cuppa.
A Londoner here: we used chinwag all the time when I was growing up. Just means a chat. Pow wow, was another one, meaning a similar thing, but maybe a bit more serious. I am 71 years old. I don’t think young people use it now.
@@yossarian6799 Are you winding me up? Perhaps people heard it in Western films, which were very popular when I was young. Other foreign expressions: “I’m going to take a shufti”, meaning take a look - I think the British troops brought that back from North Africa. It is Arabic for “look”. Also a cup of “cha”, meaning a cup of tea. Is that from India? “Cow tow”, meaning making yourself subservient, is from China, I think.
I've heard chin wag for at least my entire adult professional life - a couple decades. 40 year old US native here. I'm also an army brat though, so I have been exposed to several different dialects along the way
Thank you for the new Briticism! I deliberately use them when I'm in the mood to do so. I am a twenty-four-year-old Autistic American (who still resides in the US and has unfortunately never travelled overseas; I don't even have a passport as of now) who is fascinated with language in general (I'm a legitimate logophile and was shocked to learn that there's a word for people just like me!). In particular, I am enamoured with British English as a result of growing up believing that it was "true English" and that foreign dialects were no more than "knockoffs". (I intend no offence to anyone with a zeal for their version of an imported language.)
"Sorted out" is more specific than "finished". It means that there was a problem that is now solved, and also that the true nature of the problem was not at first understood but looked highly feasible.
Sorted makes me think of Eastenders, which enjoyed a certain popularity here in the US, at least in the 90s. I think it has a certain power, like, it's not just resolved, it's sorted!
Yes, Games Workshop, who produces Warhammer, very much exposed me to lots of British terminology through various publications. More recently (last 15 - 20 years), their PC and mobile games have really brought a lot out. The green skinned Ork / Orc races in their games have been assigned a British Cockney accent. This gave me access to many of the phrases you used here as a teen / early 20’s person.
Personally, I have made it my one man mission to incorporate the word "faff" into American English. There really is no alternative, and a multitude of errands and responsibilities do call for it.
@@Kingdom_Of_Dreams That too. But it is also a noun. eg, "No dear, I will not individually crimp all these pasta shells for your mother's birthday luncheon. It's too much of a faff."
I started saying, "And Bob's your uncle!," after watching too many British panel shows like WILTY, and my boyfriend told me to just knock it off. Now he's picked up the expression and sees just how wonderful it is. The one Brit I dated in my life was a Liverpudlian who said "actually" more than anyone should be legally allowed to.
@@linguaphile42, but do you have an Aunt Fanny? The expression in full is: "Bob's your uncle, and Fanny's your aunt". 😆 It was a music hall hit in the early 1950… they really knew how to live it up back then!
My own vocabulary has been heavily modified to include bloody ‘ell and the like for a good 25 years already as I have been an American expat living and working with Brits, Aussies and Kiwis (many of each) as the sole ’merican pilot at our company in Asia since moving here in the 90s They made it one of their missions to get my vocab sorted right proper they did. 😂
After many years working overseas, I still tend to use "cheers" when saying good-bye in person or on the phone. Knackered is my favorite. A perfect description of tired/completely worn out. I am also quite fond of "Bob's your Uncle".
@@alphabetaomega265bobs your uncle and Fanny’s your aunt - there you go that’s how it’s done straight forward - ‘simplles’ can be used due to the insurance tv advert (Compare the Merecat)
I used to work for a manufacturing company where the director of research and development was a brilliant but mercurial Britt. When one of his creations catastrophically disassembled itself in the lab, he described the results as a "Right, proper, bloody mess," which I believe to be the best third-level intensifier that can be spoken in polite company.
I’ve used “wonky” for as long as I can remember - wonderful word! And then there is “gobsmacked” - I just love the way it sounds and is so perfectly descriptive!
Because my dad was a stickler for speaking correctly, the word gob wasn't allowed in our house as it was considered coarse slang. (Kid as in child wasnt allowed either!) As a result, although gobsmacked is perfect in many ways, I still wince when I hear it!
I’ve been using wonky since the 1970’s never realized it was British in origin. My ww2 veteran grandfather used it, usually to describe an apparatus that needed attention/ fixed before it was proper broken.
I have been using wonky all my life. My mother would say that you just needed to cook wonky meat a little longer to make sure that it was safe. A depression era child upbringing never left her.
I’ve said wonky all my life and love the book Wonky Donkey! I follow Julie Montague, The American Viscountess, and she’s uses brilliant all the time. I had no idea it was largely British usage.
That sofa/couch/settee, that short sleeved shirt and OMG that carpet - I'm sure many of us in our late 40s/early 50s saw that old photo of you and were like "that's just like me at home at that age".
@@TheInkPitOx Oh that's interesting; I don't know where you're from but where I'm at here in the UK all three can & are used interchangeably, although you do tend to hear settee a lot less often nowadays.
gobsmacked in Warhammer (the tabletop war game) is used by the Ork faction, because they have a thick cockney accent layered on all their lines, and they use a lot of cockney british slang. Due to its popularity in the USA, Warhammer has thus imported quite a few british-english slang terms into american-english speakers' lexicons.
Let's also add that The Warhammer is Ghal Maraz, an enchanted war hammer, so that our friendly Brit what makes the videos will know what a Warhammer is and maybe be gobsmacked.
I was surprised to encounter gobsmacked in American usage because I don't associate them as using "gob" for mouth. If you don't know what a gob is, how do you know what's being smacked? But apparently they do.
@@BJJISTHEGAYPARTOFMMA yeh but north and south are so different, the dialects and accents are world's apart, even the economies are so different we could have different currencies 😂
@@BJJISTHEGAYPARTOFMMA 😂 it's mad that that's so true, it's why so many houses up north are leased by landlords in the south, the HS2 would have changed/will change that...I don't keep up to date on news so no idea what's happening with thst
I use wonky but I was surprised knackered isn't catching on. I have used it and love the phrase because it sums up the feeling of tired and exhausted so well.
I’m 70 and we used it in my childhood in Tennessee . Hadn’t heard chuffed. Gobsmacked I learned when visiting the UK in the early 80’s. All I can say is your video is Brilliant !
I watch a LOT of British tv & youtube videos. I've picked up "let's get crackin'", stop wafflin', & several others that of course refuse to come to mind at this moment. But honestly, some of these words &/or sayings were quite common when I was growing up here in Texas. I must assume that my ancestors were originally from England? Had to laugh at "Harold Potter"! That was hilarious. 🤣🤣
I've also used "stop waffling", "I'm waffling", etc for as many years as I've been alive (quite a few). I've heard the "let's get crackin'" phrase, although I've seldom used it. Also "wonky" has never not been in my vocabulary, as well as the vocabulary of those around me, along with a few more that he's mentioned as carry- overs from Britain. So they must have been far earlier carry- overs than what he's thinking, or they aren't carry-overs at all...
I've been saying "wonky" since early childhood in the late 60s...my Daddy said it was short for "cattywampus". We here in New England also use "sorted" quite often..."well, he got that sorted".
Yeah, one thing I've found a lot from these videos is that new englanders (which I'm one of) have used a lot of British slang for a looooong time. So many things he brings up I'm like, "But, I've been saying that my entire life...?" Heh. It really shows just how much things vary by the part of the US you're from.
@@Saphire1993 I'm so delighted by this thread. I thought cattywampus was just a northern Minnesotan thing. It's so nice to here other people actually use it too.
@@Saphire1993I was born in York, PA and I’ve used this word (cattywampus) my whole life - all 76 years of - and I still do! Many people do not understand😄😄😄😄
I took 2 linguistic classes and the word 'sorted' would be an interesting one because "American Flapping" would make it sound like its own thing. Example. British - "Sor-ed" where the T is silence and American Engish - "Sor-dd-ed" where we turn the T sound into a DD. I spent a good bit of my time living close to the Appalachian Mountains, we used a lot of older British words like 'Yonder' & 'Reckon'.
can you start adopting the term rubbish bin rather than trash can so your neighbours think you’re slowly becoming a crazy british person when you put the bins out
I've used "wonky" for some years, and also "proper" and "sorted out." I think the Harry Potter books and Dr. Who have influenced my vocabulary. All of the words you mention are somewhat familiar due to British literature and television programs.
Until we teach them to use - AND use properly - the word 'BOLLOCKS' in all its multiple contexts then we have no chance of truly educating the Americans.
Using “cheers” for purposes other than celebrating a drink is becoming more common in the USA, typically as a greeting or a thank you. I started using it about 10 years ago when a British coworker said it to me while I was holding the door open for him. It is also fun to use as an email sign off when I dump a load of work on one of my colleagues. 😂
As someone that grew up watching British TV and reading British children’s book I honestly can’t distinguish between British and American English words.
I've been using 'Wonky' all my life and I'm 31. My mom used it all her life and she's 70. Both sides of my family moved to America in the 1880's-1890's, so they didn't bring it over.
Proper brilliant Laurence! My most used import (and go-to expletive) is *'bugger'* -- British profanity in general seems utterly adorable and carries no cultural baggage even though I'm well aware of what the words actually refer to.
"Bugger" has been "Declassified" as a swear word in Australia as it's so prominent and is an exclamation of something that has gone wrong. There are even TV adverts (Toyota iirc) where even the dog says it !
My favorite British word that I've adopted is "dodgy". I learned it from watching Ian Wright on Lonely Planet/Pilot Guides/Globe Trekker (depending on the year and market, the show went by several names) about 25 years ago. I had a number of British folks in my life then and my parents were anglophiles so they all understood me. I've started to use "brilliant" more often thanks to Duolingo's Scottish Gaelic which often has us using the word "sgoinneil" to describe things. "Brilliant" has an uphill battle though as it would have to unseat "cool" as my go to word to describe something amazing/useful/ground breaking/smart, etc. I'm surprised I didn't see "posh" on this list. Use of that word by Americans must have gone way up thanks to the Spice Girls.
@@patrickporter6536I’m American and I use dodgy to mean evasive when responding to questions. After looking it up I found it can have several meanings but the one used in my circles as a journalist is that of people who give answers without actually giving answers. In Oliver Twist the Artful Dodger was dubbed so for doing this.
@@anndeecosita3586dodgy outside of "journalism" means of a very questionable nature. Often I hear it in reference to food, as in it might taste terrible and possibly make you sick. For people it can mean a possibly dangerous person; so in general the word is used for risk.
For years, I puzzled over the American expression, OH 'DARN -it', that was often used in their Films, anfd TV series. Only recently have I realised that it meens DAM-IT. a very innocent expression. that I assume, the religious immigrants took with them , on the Mayflower etc.because DAM, was blasphemous ? tut tut. Not to mention the female genitalia mix-up ---FANNY AND ASS ( or ARSE ) that being another example. ARSE is a proper word, ASS ,meens a kind of DONKEY.
@@patrickporter6536 I am very particular about how I use certain words and for whatever reason these words I use in different specific contexts. Things are "dodgy" but people, animals are "sketchy". "Sketchy" was also a term I heard a lot when I went to raves (approx. 2000-2010) to describe the feeling of coming down from a stimulant.
Learn something new in every one of your videos. Today: “chuffed”. Thanks! My British workmates a few years back presented me with a “proper” English dictionary so that I would speak “brilliantly”.😊
I'm hearing "hoovering up" (as a general term for data collection etc) on US podcasts a lot more. Hoover never used to be the de-facto verb for vacuuming when I was growing up in the (North east) states (in the 80's) but was one that instantly stood out when I moved to the UK (...doing the hoovering...) Seems the verb is catching on over the pond now too, though possibly only for non-vacuuming tasks... IDK.
Today I learned that Gobsmacked is a British phrase. I picked up Proper a bit ago. It made describing things much easier. I also use Bloody Hell a fair amount.
My husband and I picked up "sorted" and "mind" and "proper" (and others) during our last trip to London. We used them just between us as a nostalgic nod to London for a while, but soon added them to our normal speech. It isn't only because of "Mind the Gap" from the tube stations anymore. "Brilliant" also makes a regular appearance, but we haven't shortened it to "brill" yet in normal conversation. I've been using "wonky" as long as I can remember and didn't even realize it was a British term. We've also been influenced by watching "Keeping Up Appearances" and others. We both love Brit TV and films.
The British expression I've found myself using, because I can't for the life of me figure out what the American equivalent is supposed to be, is saying someone has "gone off" or been "put off" some food, meaning they've gone from liking it to being disgusted by it. There was an incident at one point that I need not bother you with the details of, that put me off Reese's peanut butter cups for a couple years. Them's was dark times.
Gone off would be Spoiled or Gone bad. Put off would be turned off but a lot of Americans will say something is off putting which is pretty much the same.
@@Roboclinegone off would not only be for out of date food, works with no longer liking something also. I use it all the time, I’ve gone off cycling now, it’s boring.
@@Roboclinegone off wouldn’t be spoiled/spoilt in this case as it’s not referring to food that has gone off, but the person has gone off the food. I’d say put off implies that the person may already like the food but also may have not actually tried it but was initially intrigued or appetiser before something changed their mind. gone off implies that the person already really liked the food and nothing necessarily caused them to dislike it, they’ve just changed tastes. that’s how i see it as a brit though, just the contexts i see them used in
I watch soooo much international TV, movies and RUclips that I can't help but pick up words from all over. As an American who has never gone outside the US, I am still familiar and even use, UK style, ALL the words you mentioned today (and then some).
The only time I have ever heard "chuffed" in the US is when it refers to a sound the tigers and other large cats use as a happy greeting to each other and their human care takers .
My nan taught me "Chuff-chuff" for "Railway locomotive" when I was little. This puzzled me because even when I was 3 the trains went "Gnnnnnrrrooorrrrrrrr"!!!
"Sorted" surprises me, as well. Having lived in the USA my entire life, I have used "sorted" since I was able to talk. The first time I used it in the presence of my wife - as in, "Great! That's sorted. Now we can focus on the next issue" - she looked at me as if what I had said was not English, at all. I think her reaction was to give me a very odd look, while slowly repeating, "...sorted?".
Good stuff! I'm not sure about "chuffed" catching on here in the states, but I do see/hear "queue" much more here in recent years... and I'm all for it.
Interesting that you mention the word " queue " as I've noticed it now being used more frequently on the national tv news channels here in the US . Assume it will soon be used a lot in our daily conversations .
Love your videos 💕 Have to comment here: 1st I love the crossover of British and American English and tv and the internet has definitely contributed to this sharing. I applaud this! However, maybe a few young people misled you a bit because they don't know any better....Wonky is definitely an old word in the US and quite widely used from coast to coast. I do think "brilliant" is being used more "Britishly" here these days. Sometimes it comes in quite handy and I use it more these days myself. I'd like to see "proper" catch in more; it's handy too. I might just start using it all the time and see if it spreads. I never hear chuffed used, not here in California anyway. Where I am in California we use chuffed as the sound a bear makes when you startle them in your driveway at night and they chuff at you. You're right about sorted, we use it, but not in quite the same way. We say "sorted out". I like the word cheeky and think we should adopt that one.
I’m not only an Anglophile but I’ve been back and forth across the pond some 45 times and I even lived in London for a while back in 1977. I’ve incorporated many Brit words into my everyday lexicon including chuffed, brilliant, and gobsmacked to name just a few. Most of the time, I don’t even think about it unless the person to whom I’m speaking gives me a funny look and then I’ll provide a “translation”.
My grandmother was born and raised in Wales. She met my grandfather, a US soldier, during the war. She still had a fairly thick accent at the end of her life. I picked up a lot from her and try to keep it with me
Wonkey. I'm an American and I remember wonkey being used most of my sixty years. But Catawompus is probably related but I've heard that even more my entire life.
Warhammer is space fantasy war game played on table top (literally what it sounds like) played with miniature figures. That's a very watered down explanation, but the fact you used to live in Indianapolis you may have heard of Gencon, a large table top convention that covers board games, card games (like Magic and Pokemon) Dungeons and Dragons (though you're more likely to find Pathfinder games there) and war miniature games like Warhammer. Among many other things.
I like your (obviously put on for the camera) weary, almost despairing, teetering-on-the-edge-of-losing-your-temper-but-you-must-get-through-it-somehow energy. It's very British.
I've used "wonky" & "wonkiness" for over 50 years; don't know where I picked it up. However, I do know that "gobsmacked" was usually found in characters who were Irish in many novels I read over the years starting in the late 20th Century
I was raised by my grandparents, who were of the WWII generation. I remember my grandpa saying things like " you kids, bollocksing around". He'd say this in reference to us being well, kids. My grandma told me years later that he picked it up from some guys he worked with in the service. It wasn't for years that I researched his service and realized he probably got it from some RAF guys he worked in conjunction with while in the Army Air Corp. Anyway, thanks to him, a bunch of elementary school kids in rural Pennsylvania were saying Bollocks in the 1980's with zero frame of reference. Long live slang.
Brilliant! One of my favourite words. From my part of England it can be used as a positive as well as negative. You could say 'that is the bollocks', meaning that is excellent, or 'that is bollocks' as a negative. Essentially reversing the meaning by omitting or adding the word 'the'!
The idea of 80s kids running about school shouting "bollocks" to each other without any idea what the word means or what it is for, is absolutely hilarious.
I’d give an honorable mention to “ginger” to describe a person with red hair. I distinctly remember a comic over a decade ago where someone told a cop that a ginger did something and they looked confused because they thought they meant the spice. It may have had more regional use but as I’ve gotten older people around my age know what I mean when I mention someone as a ginger. I think its use in a South Park episode helped popularize it further
I think over there though it's a derogatory term, along with much of Europe. Maybe that explains the whole "Only a ginger can call another ginger, ginger" thing my mom, and sister technically, liked to spout just because.
I don't think "ginger" is a Brithism. It has been used to refer to red hair since the late 18th century, and before that for the red feathers of some roosters. If we count 18th century words, then almost everything can be considered a "Britishism," since most American residents from that time were recent British imports.
Might be regionally dependent because I have always known it to be associated with redheads. However there is some Irish ancestry in my family stemming from US slavery times. I grew up hearing my family use the term redhead stepchild to mean someone being the unwanted, mistreated person.
@@colinwilson6942 At college we had someone who had this remarkable talent for leaving class after everyone else but getting to the cafeteria before anyone else. He was our ginger ninja.
“Sorted” is used heavily in the automotive realm, especially in regards to suspension tuning; so anyone who watches European car racing, F1, WEC, etc. hears this term. Great vid!
If you liked this, watch 7 American English Words That Are Catching on in Britain now: ruclips.net/video/0KL9Jqr0vvw/видео.html
Sorted is actually due to American and English militaries.
Our troops get stationed in the UK and get used to saying it and then come back or get deployed with UK troops and come back saying it.
While we always had the officer exchange program (officers swap countries to lead other nation's troops) It really ramped up in the 80s and exponentially ramps up after 2001.
When you consider that 12.3 million people (almost 4% of the US population) joined the military in the 15 years after 9/11, all of them exposed to British words, and then released back into the wild, there really is no wonder why the popularity of those words increased.
Adding onto the hit shows of Dr Who( before it became trash), and Downton Abbey, and Penny Dreadful; the English uses of words just skyrocketed.
Bloody goes back further. It evolved from the term 'by our lady' in catholic England.
Great lists... I use a lot of those American words, although there is one I am surprised you didn't mention which I wish would sink to the bottom of the pond and never re surface and that is the phrase 'reach out' which is being used instead of 'contact' drives me mad when I hear someone saying that. 😀
It's English, not British English and for a native speaker you seem to have a tenuous grasp of it.
Also, try talking through your mouth rather than your nose. You're not in Oasis or a Python sketch. 🤢
Lost in the Pond is a beggar who tries to get people to subscribe. If you want those, EARN THEM! People will do them when THEY WANT to, not when you WANT THEM to. You do not deserve subscriptions.
I am a 57-year-old American and I’ve been using the word wonky to describe something thing that is askew or messed up my whole life.
Which region do you live in, if you don't mind? Regularity of American use of wonky seemed to be debated in the original community post about this, but it also appeared to be possibly regionally limited
I'm sixty-seven, and the same here. I was proper surprised to hear it being proclaimed a British import.
@@tabularasa I'm 63 and also have always used the word "wonky," I live in the Midwest but spent some time in the South.
I've used wonky for quite a while...I'm in the Midwest.
@@tabularasa I was born in and grew up in New Mexico, but I have lived most of my adult life in Florida. My parents were originally from Pennsylvania and Illinois. I’m pretty sure wonky isn’t a southern thing because my parents were from the north and used it as well. Maybe wonky is a more common word amongst people who sew, knit or crochet. If your tension is off your scarf, blanket, pot holder or whatever you made will be wonky. If you can’t, maintain a straight line when sewing hems and seems especially with a sewing machine ,your garment will be wonky.
In my experience, Americans do use "sorted" to mean "resolved," but if we want that meaning, we don't use the word "sorted" alone. Instead, we say "sorted out." For example, "Let's talk for a few minutes to get our Christmas plans sorted out."
"Sorted" alone could mean "tawdry."
@@barbaramatthews4735 No, that's "sordid."
We do say "sorted out" but I've noticed we use it only for multiple tasks. For singular tasks we'll say "fix". Instead of "get your hair sorted" we'll say "fix your hair."
Recently I’ve heard a lot of people use “sorted” without “out.” I was sensitive to it because I was in the UK last year and there were signs up on the trains saying something like “see it, say it, sort it” (where I live it’s “see something, say something.”) I think the two Englishes are getting closer every day.
It’s a much shorter way of saying I’ve got my ducks in a row or all my shit in one sock.
Little-known fact...
The word 'fall' for autumn was originally used in England during Henry 8th's time, but went out of fashion. The word autumn entered English from the French automne.
Which was itself a corruption of "automan", the famous TV show from the 1800s. And also a Turkish empire.
@@RFC3514also the first name of a doomed German battleship.
A lot of American English (and spelling) is from old English. When we separated in the late 1700s, the language became stilted somewhat. A lot of the differences stem from us Americans being a bunch of hillbillies but it's fun to listen to Canadian RUclipsrs say words like:
"Been" (pronouncing it like "bean")
"Battery" (pronouncing it "bat-ry")
And many others. (Don't get me started on aluminum.)
Canada is still married to the UK and so there is a lot more shared language and culture with England north of the border.
@@GizmoFromPizmo i always notice the "O" sound with Canadians, like how they pronounce sorry like soar-ee
@@syzyphyz - They also pronounce "worry" like we pronounce "wary". "Don't wary."
I really like "Cheeky", its a far less aggressive version of annoying/mischievous/surprising
W.S. Gilbert was once asked how "Bloodygore" was going, and Gilbert replied, "It's Ruddigore." The person then said, "It's the same thing," to which Gilbert replied, "So if I say 'I admire your ruddy complexion'-which I do-it's the same as saying 'I like your bloody cheek'-which I don't."
Cheeky does not mean cheeky in any way, nor is it an equivalent to surprising.
Brit here. I use 'cheeky' to mean 'daring' and 'unconventional' as well.
@@theoneanton Fair enough, Cheeky 😂😂
I love cheeky and sassy are some of the all time greats.
I grew up in Texas and am nearly 50 years old and the word "wonky" has been part of my vernacular all of my life. I actually assumed it was a southern US word since it's used so much where I grew up. I don't think this is a recent addition to American English, at least for Southern US English. Maybe this is the case for Midwestern US English, but it's been commonplace in Texas for my entire life.
I have to agree. It's very common in the south. I've heard it a ton for many years.
I agree too. I'm 68 & have used it as long as I can remember. Also in Texas.
Another Texan here: I've also used "wonky" since I was a child, as well as "knackered." My older relatives were big fans of British television shows on PBS back in the early 80s, so that may have been the culprit.
I'm from Michigan, and i've used wonky for as long as I can remember
I grew up in mid west (though we called it north) we used it.
I was once in Florida on a small fishing boat with my dad and a local guide. About half way through the trip, the local guy turned to us, dead serious and squinting - "What language are you guys speaking? Norwegian?!". We're Geordies of course (northern/newcastle). Things were pretty awkward from then, as he was strapped (of course) and seemingly didn't believe that we were British anymore..
My theory is the Danes had a massive impact on the Geordie accent!
..."strapped"?
Wonky has been somewhat common in the US for at least 30 years. I used it as a child more often than i do now.
Yes I’ve used it since I can remember (and I am almost 58) and even my parents and grandmother used it frequently and most if their lives. However, it could be regional usage. It has caught on in areas that rarely used it before. Influence from British programs being easier to see? Maybe. People moving due to life changes and taking that regional speech with them? Also maybe. And maybe a combination of the two. The last one is my guess.
Perhaps, but an Ngram search shows its use in American English exploding the century.
Really common in programming/computing ("that looks wonky", "something's wonky") for as long as I can remember.
I blame Willie Wonka. He was a wonky fella.
You mustn't go shopping often enough then… otherwise you'd be experiencing the wonky wheel on a shopping trolly far more frequently! 🛒
when I was a teenager I had heard the word "bugger" a few times with little context. I assumed in meant "to annoy" like we use "bug". I would go on to use the word in that context on a semi-frequent basis. Quite a few times I would approach someone and say something akin to "hey, mind if I bugger you for a moment?". I was pretty damn embarrassed when I learned the true definition of the word.
Haha. I didn’t realize its true meaning until recently. I never used “Bugger off!”, but would say things like “Bug off!” and “Stop bugging me!”. I always thought it referred to annoying someone like a bug often does (especially mosquitoes). I didn’t know about “buggery”… Well, at least the term haha.
😂
Yea, that is the real meaning of the word bugger, however, it’s used more often to say things like “Bugger off!” as in “Get lost” “Go away”
"I was pretty damn embarrassed when I learned the true definition of the word."
So no takers then?
Well don’t tell someone to sit on their “fanny” either
It’s quite literally 180° off the mark by definition.
This brings back fond memories of when I was in the US Army and stationed in West Germany at GHQ Rheindahlen. I got a "proper" education from my British "mates." I use all these words along with wing (fender), boot(trunk), bonnet (hood) and referring to a truck as a "lorry." I do love and respect my UK cousins. "God Save The KIng!"
Cheers!
Lorry is the word I bought back with me from Europe. I say lorry all the time and most people look at me with an odd stare after I say it...
Sounds like ya’ll are doing it for attention.
I drive a MINI Cooper and just the past weekend,, I had to point out where the bonnet latch was. Of course, it is ion the right side. The MINI has a boot, too.
I will say that "sorted" by itself is usually only used in American English to describe a system of organization, as in "sorted by color." But the British meaning you mention of "resolved" has always been used in American English, but it requires the preposition "out" along with it. A Brit might say, when a problem has been resolved, "I'm glad we got that sorted," while an American in the same situation would say "I'm glad we got that sorted out." Sometimes, the American phrase even adds a modifier, with the phrase "all sorted out" (and even "mostly sorted out" in cases where there are still a few details to be fixed) being common, as well. But "sorted out" is a tried-and-true American English-ism, I've been using it since I was in elementary school, and I just turned 68 recently.
This is true.
I knew a South African girl that used sorted out, meaning to discipline somebody. Watching British TV and films from 60 or 70 years ago, they used to use "up" when using the verb queue, as in to queue up, just like to line up in American English. I don't know when the Brits started dropping the up from queue. The South African girl also used proper. I saw an American TV show from 60 years ago that used "do the marketing" for going grocery shopping.
I see "sorted" on its own in US English more and more, but really only in the context of cars/car issues. Guessing that's influence from something like Top Gear.
Good eye.
The US usually has "out" after sorted whereas "sorted" may end the sentence in Britain.
I've heard both wonky and dodgy used commonly my entire life over here in the pacific northwest. I've never even thought of them as british. At this point I don't even think they are.
A few words that I’ve tried to implement in my daily life and get other people on board are “Mate,” “Bloke,” “innit,” and “cheers.”
I just like the way those words sound and flow. I have a delusional sense of belief that I, alone, can make these words catch on lol
Keep on trying mate, you sound like a decent bloke. Cheers.
Greetings from 🏴
PS I just can't bring myself to use the word "innit"!
@@garylancaster8612 luckily that's just London area, i 'm from the North and i've never said innit in my life.
I'm trying to get Bellend across the Atlantic.
@@nealgrimes4382😂
I picked up "innit" from british youtubers like Gavin Free and Wilbur Soot
I've heard (and used) "wonky" regularly and often since growing up on the US East Coast (both North & South), and I was born in the 1950s.
In addition, I can remember my mother-in-law using it regularly (especially when I hung her Christmas decorations), and she was a lifelong Wisconsinite.
As an older Canadian I picked up most of my English words and phrases from Monty Python, on The Buses, Benny Hill, and Are You Being Served with a bit of James Herriot thrown in. It’s off to bed for me now, I’m knackered.
Another Are You Being Served tv show watcher here too. I’ve even watch3d them on You Tube as of late.
Now that was a show that was right bloody brilliant.
Yes this one is familiar to me. There was a British family who lived in our neighborhood and we picked it up from them. I love the word knackered because there is no word on the USA side of the pond that expresses a general state of malfunction or disrepair or in some cases of medial or mental state. This useful word also hinds of the knackery where things go to be disassembled, recycled, or the glue factory for old horses. LOL And of course the phrases, I'm gonna knacker you or You need a knacker... take on a life of their own. WHen I hear them they are normal so I get a chuckle from them. Bloody Hell or Forking Hell are ones I hear often and am probably responsible for. I use Forking Hell instead of the F-bomb version to take the edge off of it but it still ruffles a few feathers. Love you Brits. You Lot are masters of humor and dry sarcasm. Love it.
I must say you've got great taste in comedy. Fabulous programmes all of them. I salute you! 👍
@@KlodFather One of the words/phrases we always used to hear in the North of the UK was 'bobby-dazzler' which you don't hear people say much now. It means 'outstanding, fancy, sparkling' , for example 'that red and blue hat you're wearing is a right bobby dazzler'!' I've always liked that phrase, I don't know why!
"Gutted" is one I've heard with more frequency. I think most people here were exposed to it through The Great British Bake Off, which became extremely popular to stream during the pandemic when everyone took up baking as a hobby.
I have lived my entire life in the American Midwest, and have heard "wonky" for the last 30 to 40 years. Not all the time, but often enough.
The others are "newer", and indeed seeing more use!
I don't blame Ron Weasley for Bloody Hell. I blame Chief O'Brien!
Bloody Hell! Damn cardies!
Exactly!
This! This right here!
Who?
Nerd! In arms...
I like “knackered” it feels more visceral.
I have to admit I’ve used Wonky many times 😅
Wonky seems such a natural description of something off, ungainly, unstable.
I spent many happy formative years in England as a pilot for USAF. The use of language and how it was applied was wonderful. The context and the reasoning behind common phrases was illuminating. I adopted numerous words, but the one that always stayed with me was cheers, mate. Something so simple given without expectation but heart warming to the core.
Where were you based and what did you fly?
@@andyhinds542 Mostly RAF Mildenhall flying KC-135Q/A/R/T. Great mission, great location and great people.
@@edjarrett3164 Yep. I lived in King's Lynn from 1977 to 1987 and remember going to spot planes at Mildenhall around that time. I was only a child but remember Mildenhall was great for KC135s, as well as visiting RAF jets such as Jaguars, Buccaneers and other jets. Not forgetting of course F-111s from Lakenheath and their fenland bombing runs,
@@andyhinds542 I remember how totally wierd it was when I saw all the plane spotters when I first visited. Later, on a quick trip to London, I picked up the latest log of aircraft arriving and departing Mildenhall. I was really surprised how accurate the log entries were. They included all our KC-135Q aircraft, the RC135s and the SR71 tail numbers. Short of the actual mission routings, it was strikingly accurate especially considering the classified nature of our missions.
@@edjarrett3164
Don't you have plane spotters, bird spotters or train spotters in US.
There's accurate books for each. with photos, best places and time to see them. And people mark them off until they've seen them all.
“Chuffed” is my absolute favorite, and I got it from watching all the British RUclipsrs I love. Crossing my fingers that “…and Bob’s your uncle!” will catch on sometime soon in the US. 😅
Oh wow, is "crossing fingers that" not generally understood where you're from? Since that's a literal reference of a gesture (🤞) I thought it might be more universal :)
@@JfromUK_The phrase they were quoting was "and Bob's your uncle". They are crossing their fingers in hopes it will catch on with other people in the US because they like it😊
I've been using the phrase "and Bob's your uncle" for years. I get strange looks but I like saying it. 😅
And Bob's your uncle has been used in the US for at least the years I've been old enough to remember. At least here in Missouri.
My dad was English; so of course growing up my brother and I picked up British words. Until recently, using "proper" and "sorted" drew funny looks, but I've noticed that's stopped over the last few years.
I’ve been using “wonky“ for quite a while, but I have mostly heard it used as generally not quite right, and that’s the way I’ve used it. On the other hand, generally when I’ve heard the word “chuffed“ it has been from British RUclipsrs.
Same here. Growing up we had a couple of wonky kids in school. Being from northern Minnesota we usually used 'catty wompas' when something was askew. 'Chuff', was a new one for me.
Paris Hilton was said to have a wonky eye since the early 2000’s
Same here with respect to wonky.
@@andonbailey9656Here in NC we use cockeyed more for something askew. I've heard chuffed from Yorkshire folks on RUclips.
Chuffed is a joke word here - no one uses it in real life. The 80s satirical puppet show Spitting Image used to use it as a way to avoid stronger swear words. "I gonna chuffing kill you!"
I have become indoctrinated to many idioms in English slang due to my love of all the writings by Sir Pterry Pratchett, God rest his soul.
If I might be so bold as to steer you in the direction of a bit of classic BBC comedy from the early 1980s'; A programme called "The Young Ones", which ran for two series (Seasons).
Alot of slapstick, innuendo and quite bad language.
Ever wanted to hear a punk rocker shout "Sod off ugly po-faced git"?
Then this could be "Just your cuppa Rosy Lee, Govner."
"Proper sorted" is a f***ing brilliant phrase. Thank you for enriching my dictionary with this.
I (a US native), recently received an email from my web designer (a UK expat) suggesting that we get together for a 'chinwag'. Although I am well-versed in both tongues, I had never hear that term before. The term was self-explanatory. We chatted over a cuppa.
A Londoner here: we used chinwag all the time when I was growing up. Just means a chat. Pow wow, was another one, meaning a similar thing, but maybe a bit more serious. I am 71 years old. I don’t think young people use it now.
@@yossarian6799 Are you winding me up? Perhaps people heard it in Western films, which were very popular when I was young. Other foreign expressions: “I’m going to take a shufti”, meaning take a look - I think the British troops brought that back from North Africa. It is Arabic for “look”. Also a cup of “cha”, meaning a cup of tea. Is that from India? “Cow tow”, meaning making yourself subservient, is from China, I think.
I've heard chin wag for at least my entire adult professional life - a couple decades. 40 year old US native here. I'm also an army brat though, so I have been exposed to several different dialects along the way
Thank you for the new Briticism! I deliberately use them when I'm in the mood to do so. I am a twenty-four-year-old Autistic American (who still resides in the US and has unfortunately never travelled overseas; I don't even have a passport as of now) who is fascinated with language in general (I'm a legitimate logophile and was shocked to learn that there's a word for people just like me!). In particular, I am enamoured with British English as a result of growing up believing that it was "true English" and that foreign dialects were no more than "knockoffs". (I intend no offence to anyone with a zeal for their version of an imported language.)
Love how Kafka mysteriously disappears at 2:22 into the video. I was gobsmacked !
Lost in the pond is a proper brilliant RUclips channel.
Now, it's not just your words.
For "sorted" in the sense of resolved, Americans have traditionally said "sorted out".
In British English it is just Sorted on it's own, no preposition needed. As in - Is it finished? Yes, sorted.
"Sorted out" is more specific than "finished". It means that there was a problem that is now solved, and also that the true nature of the problem was not at first understood but looked highly feasible.
Sorted makes me think of Eastenders, which enjoyed a certain popularity here in the US, at least in the 90s. I think it has a certain power, like, it's not just resolved, it's sorted!
I've used many of these words/phrases for decades. Likely they were attached to my vocabulary through Monty Python and other PBS shows in the 70s-80s.
Me too. Love my britcoms! Now, is wonky any relation to Willy Wonka cuz he's so crazy and disorganized?? Hmmm.
PBS - making Americans British one show at a time 😁
Yes, Games Workshop, who produces Warhammer, very much exposed me to lots of British terminology through various publications. More recently (last 15 - 20 years), their PC and mobile games have really brought a lot out. The green skinned Ork / Orc races in their games have been assigned a British Cockney accent. This gave me access to many of the phrases you used here as a teen / early 20’s person.
Personally, I have made it my one man mission to incorporate the word "faff" into American English. There really is no alternative, and a multitude of errands and responsibilities do call for it.
I'm glad you're doing that as it sounds too much of a faff for me to bother.
I use the word, but only in the phrase "faffing about", which I find there is a lot of, so it gets used.
Only if you use the phrase "faffing about" lol
@@Kingdom_Of_Dreams That too. But it is also a noun. eg, "No dear, I will not individually crimp all these pasta shells for your mother's birthday luncheon. It's too much of a faff."
I've used it for years.
I love language and the differences in 2 English speaking countries. My favorite British word is gobsmacked.
Gobs’mack’ed…… Was named after me lol!😊❤
Everlasting Gobsmackers! Yum 😜
love it and I used it all the time.
Nobody uses 'gobsmacked' seriously here. It's basically tabloid speak. We'd only use it ironically.
@@bradjensen4927 That was first heard by me in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."
'flat' in relation to an apartment is making gains in the US I've noticed. I use 'piss off' a lot, thanks Patsy. 😁
I started saying, "And Bob's your uncle!," after watching too many British panel shows like WILTY, and my boyfriend told me to just knock it off. Now he's picked up the expression and sees just how wonderful it is. The one Brit I dated in my life was a Liverpudlian who said "actually" more than anyone should be legally allowed to.
Yeah, my family uses it too. Especially since my wife has a less than savory uncle named Bob, so it's also a little dig at her when I use it.
@@brianwhite8465 Oh man -- my uncle was a Bob as well! I just now realized that -- duh.
@@linguaphile42, but do you have an Aunt Fanny? The expression in full is: "Bob's your uncle, and Fanny's your aunt". 😆 It was a music hall hit in the early 1950… they really knew how to live it up back then!
Roberts your mother's brother.
Bloody hell, this was bloody brilliant the way you sorted this proper phenomenon of how wonky American vs. British word usage is.
My own vocabulary has been heavily modified to include bloody ‘ell and the like for a good 25 years already as I have been an American expat living and working with Brits, Aussies and Kiwis (many of each) as the sole ’merican pilot at our company in Asia since moving here in the 90s They made it one of their missions to get my vocab sorted right proper they did. 😂
Yeah, I was chuffed to bits lol
Yup
Bloody daft innit
You couldn't fit "gobsmacked" and "chuffed" into that comment? It wouldn't have been that difficult.
Thats funny that you call him Harold Potter. I picked up most of the words you mentioned by watching IT Crowd. I love that show!
After many years working overseas, I still tend to use "cheers" when saying good-bye in person or on the phone. Knackered is my favorite. A perfect description of tired/completely worn out. I am also quite fond of "Bob's your Uncle".
Cream crackered. London cockney.
I don’t quite understand bob’s your uncle. What exactly does it mean and when is it used? Are there multiple meanings it can have?
@@alphabetaomega265bobs your uncle and Fanny’s your aunt - there you go that’s how it’s done straight forward - ‘simplles’ can be used due to the insurance tv advert (Compare the Merecat)
bing bang bosh, bob's your uncle, mate
@@alphabetaomega265 "Bob's your uncle" means "It's done" or "There you have it".
Like the French saying "Et voilà".
I used to work for a manufacturing company where the director of research and development was a brilliant but mercurial Britt. When one of his creations catastrophically disassembled itself in the lab, he described the results as a "Right, proper, bloody mess," which I believe to be the best third-level intensifier that can be spoken in polite company.
Sounds like the lab exploded if he’s using such a strong wording.
@@alphabetaomega265 we were talking about bits of a bearing cage and individual rollers embedded in cinder block walls, so yes, spectacular.
I have heard that phrase more than once in a British movie or TV show.
Third level intensifier. Very nice 👍
Also i was imagining him to be Q from James Bond. I felt i needed to share that, not sure why.
Americans would probably say "clusterfuck" :)
My wife is British (I’m American) and I find myself saying “Oh my days” ever since we’ve gotten together since I always loved the way she said it
I’ve used “wonky” for as long as I can remember - wonderful word! And then there is “gobsmacked” - I just love the way it sounds and is so perfectly descriptive!
Because my dad was a stickler for speaking correctly, the word gob wasn't allowed in our house as it was considered coarse slang. (Kid as in child wasnt allowed either!) As a result, although gobsmacked is perfect in many ways, I still wince when I hear it!
I’ve been using wonky since the 1970’s never realized it was British in origin. My ww2 veteran grandfather used it, usually to describe an apparatus that needed attention/ fixed before it was proper broken.
"Chuffed" always sounded like a word for being upset by something to my ear. Funny that it's the direct opposite.
I have been using wonky all my life. My mother would say that you just needed to cook wonky meat a little longer to make sure that it was safe. A depression era child upbringing never left her.
I’ve said wonky all my life and love the book Wonky Donkey! I follow Julie Montague, The American Viscountess, and she’s uses brilliant all the time. I had no idea it was largely British usage.
That sofa/couch/settee, that short sleeved shirt and OMG that carpet - I'm sure many of us in our late 40s/early 50s saw that old photo of you and were like "that's just like me at home at that age".
A sofa is smaller than a couch. I have never heard the term settee before.
@@TheInkPitOx Oh that's interesting; I don't know where you're from but where I'm at here in the UK all three can & are used interchangeably, although you do tend to hear settee a lot less often nowadays.
gobsmacked in Warhammer (the tabletop war game) is used by the Ork faction, because they have a thick cockney accent layered on all their lines, and they use a lot of cockney british slang. Due to its popularity in the USA, Warhammer has thus imported quite a few british-english slang terms into american-english speakers' lexicons.
The way the Orks speak in Warhammer is also reminiscent of the recurring Monty Python characters called Gumbys.
But with more "WWAAAAAAAUGHHH!" thrown in.@@kentvesser9484
Let's also add that The Warhammer is Ghal Maraz, an enchanted war hammer, so that our friendly Brit what makes the videos will know what a Warhammer is and maybe be gobsmacked.
Zoggin umies
I was surprised to encounter gobsmacked in American usage because I don't associate them as using "gob" for mouth. If you don't know what a gob is, how do you know what's being smacked? But apparently they do.
American. I lived in Essex for a year in 1974, “bloody hell” is still a daily part of my vocabulary.
As somebody born in Essex in 87 I can confirm that the only people that still say bloody hell in Essex were there when you were 😂
People still say that up north of England still.
@@BJJISTHEGAYPARTOFMMA yeh but north and south are so different, the dialects and accents are world's apart, even the economies are so different we could have different currencies 😂
@@myalways5052 yeah for a council house down south you can buy a mansion up north with the same money lmao
@@BJJISTHEGAYPARTOFMMA 😂 it's mad that that's so true, it's why so many houses up north are leased by landlords in the south, the HS2 would have changed/will change that...I don't keep up to date on news so no idea what's happening with thst
The word "cheers" has caught on too.
I love your take on America. We’re blessed to have you one of us. 😊
I first heard the word gobsmacked from a British friend about 10 yrs. ago. I loved it and adopted it immediately.
Wow. I didn’t think I’d see it come up, but I’m absolutely chuffed to see it amongst the seven words! 😮
I think the best part of this video is how Lawrence’s cat learned how to teleport somewhere around the 2:50 mark
The magic of video!
I use wonky but I was surprised knackered isn't catching on. I have used it and love the phrase because it sums up the feeling of tired and exhausted so well.
It basically means "fit for the knackers yard" - being the place where horse carcasses were collecte do
I think it came about with the sad state of a horse, it would be sent to the Knackers Yard to be turned into glue!
That was a good and brilliant video. I’m chuffed and gobsmacked that you featured these words. Bloody hell, it was proper the dogs bollocks
I’m 70 and we used it in my childhood in Tennessee . Hadn’t heard chuffed. Gobsmacked I learned when visiting the UK in the early 80’s. All I can say is your video is Brilliant !
I'm American and not heard the word "chuff" too.
A lawyer I worked for who took business trips to London every few months used "sorted". I learned "chuffed" from some Beatles quotes.
I'll find myself saying "Happy Christmas" or "Happy Crimble" because of the Beatles sometimes. 😂
I bloody hate listicle crap on youtube and skip instantly but this chap has an actual personality. Good stuff fella
Bloody hell, I am quite chuffed at this brilliant video about these proper British words!
Good to see that your cultural assimilation is sorted.
Bloody hell, an American who knows how to use bloody hell! That's bloody brilliant, mate (do please note I said mate not bloke though!)
I watch a LOT of British tv & youtube videos. I've picked up "let's get crackin'", stop wafflin', & several others that of course refuse to come to mind at this moment. But honestly, some of these words &/or sayings were quite common when I was growing up here in Texas. I must assume that my ancestors were originally from England? Had to laugh at "Harold Potter"! That was hilarious. 🤣🤣
Is "get crackin'" originally British?
I've also used "stop waffling", "I'm waffling", etc for as many years as I've been alive (quite a few).
I've heard the "let's get crackin'" phrase, although I've seldom used it.
Also "wonky" has never not been in my vocabulary, as well as the vocabulary of those around me, along with a few more that he's mentioned as carry- overs from Britain.
So they must have been far earlier carry- overs than what he's thinking, or they aren't carry-overs at all...
@@brianwhite8465 I have no idea, but I've only heard it on British TV shows.
I get all my British words from 'The Repair Shop' Chuffed was the one I could not wrap my head around. Brilliant!!! easy.
@bbrachman I'm surprised that gets shown. Is it on BBC America?
@@crose7412 One of the streaming services offers the first 5 seasons. Don't quote me since rights shuffle around weekly.
I've been saying "wonky" since early childhood in the late 60s...my Daddy said it was short for "cattywampus". We here in New England also use "sorted" quite often..."well, he got that sorted".
Yeah, one thing I've found a lot from these videos is that new englanders (which I'm one of) have used a lot of British slang for a looooong time. So many things he brings up I'm like, "But, I've been saying that my entire life...?" Heh. It really shows just how much things vary by the part of the US you're from.
😂😂 Cattywampus was common down in the south too
@@Saphire1993 I'm so delighted by this thread. I thought cattywampus was just a northern Minnesotan thing. It's so nice to here other people actually use it too.
@@Saphire1993I was born in York, PA and I’ve used this word (cattywampus) my whole life - all 76 years of - and I still do! Many people do not understand😄😄😄😄
Wonky, not to be confused with cattywampus
I am a lifelong Anglophile and the only one of these I haven’t adopted is chuffed. Time to add a new word to my vocabulary!
People in the U.S who know the word will be 'chuffed' to hear you use it!
I took 2 linguistic classes and the word 'sorted' would be an interesting one because "American Flapping" would make it sound like its own thing. Example. British - "Sor-ed" where the T is silence and American Engish - "Sor-dd-ed" where we turn the T sound into a DD. I spent a good bit of my time living close to the Appalachian Mountains, we used a lot of older British words like 'Yonder' & 'Reckon'.
I’ve adopted the word “wheelie-bin” which is more fun to say and shorter than “recycling bin.”
can you start adopting the term rubbish bin rather than trash can so your neighbours think you’re slowly becoming a crazy british person when you put the bins out
I've used "wonky" for some years, and also "proper" and "sorted out." I think the Harry Potter books and Dr. Who have influenced my vocabulary. All of the words you mention are somewhat familiar due to British literature and television programs.
Until we teach them to use - AND use properly - the word 'BOLLOCKS' in all its multiple contexts then we have no chance of truly educating the Americans.
They'd only bollock it up anyway!
But if they could use it properly....that would be the bollocks, wouldn't it
I heard John Wayne use that word in one of his westerns
@@maureenm8462 bollocks
Crowley used to proclaim it often in supernatural... And his mum come to think of it !
I studied in England briefly and brought a lot of these phrases home with me. Fun to see them being used more and more.
@@karmakazi101 lol why am I a little 💩?
@@karmakazi101 hahaha thats awesome! I wasn’t offended, just curious. Glad to find a fellow Anglophile!
Using “cheers” for purposes other than celebrating a drink is becoming more common in the USA, typically as a greeting or a thank you. I started using it about 10 years ago when a British coworker said it to me while I was holding the door open for him. It is also fun to use as an email sign off when I dump a load of work on one of my colleagues. 😂
Hear it a lot , in the US midwest too , used in the same context .
I think it is generally used when in a hurry or when goodbye seems too formal.
Cheers for that!
Aaah, British sarcasm.
Tiz an art form unto itself !
'Cheers' is used as a less formal 'thank you'
As someone that grew up watching British TV and reading British children’s book I honestly can’t distinguish between British and American English words.
I've been using 'Wonky' all my life and I'm 31. My mom used it all her life and she's 70. Both sides of my family moved to America in the 1880's-1890's, so they didn't bring it over.
"Arse". That is a recent favorite of mine. 😂
It sounds slightly less vulgar than ass.
With a British accent arse and ass sound almost the same.
I picked up the word lovey while traveling through Labrador City, NF. A word I use when when I play with my English bulldog, Joy.😆😎
Proper brilliant Laurence! My most used import (and go-to expletive) is *'bugger'* -- British profanity in general seems utterly adorable and carries no cultural baggage even though I'm well aware of what the words actually refer to.
"Bugger" has been "Declassified" as a swear word in Australia as it's so prominent and is an exclamation of something that has gone wrong.
There are even TV adverts (Toyota iirc) where even the dog says it !
My favorite British word that I've adopted is "dodgy". I learned it from watching Ian Wright on Lonely Planet/Pilot Guides/Globe Trekker (depending on the year and market, the show went by several names) about 25 years ago. I had a number of British folks in my life then and my parents were anglophiles so they all understood me. I've started to use "brilliant" more often thanks to Duolingo's Scottish Gaelic which often has us using the word "sgoinneil" to describe things. "Brilliant" has an uphill battle though as it would have to unseat "cool" as my go to word to describe something amazing/useful/ground breaking/smart, etc. I'm surprised I didn't see "posh" on this list. Use of that word by Americans must have gone way up thanks to the Spice Girls.
"Dodgy" not "sketchy". They mean different things entirely-obviously!
@@patrickporter6536I’m American and I use dodgy to mean evasive when responding to questions. After looking it up I found it can have several meanings but the one used in my circles as a journalist is that of people who give answers without actually giving answers. In Oliver Twist the Artful Dodger was dubbed so for doing this.
@@anndeecosita3586dodgy outside of "journalism" means of a very questionable nature. Often I hear it in reference to food, as in it might taste terrible and possibly make you sick. For people it can mean a possibly dangerous person; so in general the word is used for risk.
For years, I puzzled over the American expression, OH 'DARN -it', that was often used in their Films, anfd TV series. Only recently have I realised that it meens DAM-IT. a very innocent expression. that I assume, the religious immigrants took with them , on the Mayflower etc.because DAM, was blasphemous ? tut tut. Not to mention the female genitalia mix-up ---FANNY AND ASS ( or ARSE ) that being another example. ARSE is a proper word, ASS ,meens a kind of DONKEY.
@@patrickporter6536 I am very particular about how I use certain words and for whatever reason these words I use in different specific contexts. Things are "dodgy" but people, animals are "sketchy". "Sketchy" was also a term I heard a lot when I went to raves (approx. 2000-2010) to describe the feeling of coming down from a stimulant.
There's a social media site named after my favorite British film, Threads? Bloody hell, that's proper brilliant!
Learn something new in every one of your videos. Today: “chuffed”. Thanks! My British workmates a few years back presented me with a “proper” English dictionary so that I would speak “brilliantly”.😊
I'm hearing "hoovering up" (as a general term for data collection etc) on US podcasts a lot more. Hoover never used to be the de-facto verb for vacuuming when I was growing up in the (North east) states (in the 80's) but was one that instantly stood out when I moved to the UK (...doing the hoovering...) Seems the verb is catching on over the pond now too, though possibly only for non-vacuuming tasks... IDK.
I picked up a lot of British vocabulary from reading John LeCarre, particularly one of my favorites, "tickety-boo."
Ironic because I don't think that I have ever heard it used here outside of period dramas in the twenties/thirties about rich people.
I learned 'tickety-boo' from Dorothy Sayers' character Lord Peter Wimsey.
My dad's favourite phrase. ( English)
I like the sarcastic version of tickety boo......Tickety Fu$%in Boo when something is the opposite to tickety boo
Today I learned that Gobsmacked is a British phrase.
I picked up Proper a bit ago. It made describing things much easier. I also use Bloody Hell a fair amount.
My husband and I picked up "sorted" and "mind" and "proper" (and others) during our last trip to London. We used them just between us as a nostalgic nod to London for a while, but soon added them to our normal speech. It isn't only because of "Mind the Gap" from the tube stations anymore. "Brilliant" also makes a regular appearance, but we haven't shortened it to "brill" yet in normal conversation. I've been using "wonky" as long as I can remember and didn't even realize it was a British term. We've also been influenced by watching "Keeping Up Appearances" and others. We both love Brit TV and films.
The British expression I've found myself using, because I can't for the life of me figure out what the American equivalent is supposed to be, is saying someone has "gone off" or been "put off" some food, meaning they've gone from liking it to being disgusted by it. There was an incident at one point that I need not bother you with the details of, that put me off Reese's peanut butter cups for a couple years. Them's was dark times.
Gone off would be Spoiled or Gone bad. Put off would be turned off but a lot of Americans will say something is off putting which is pretty much the same.
@@Roboclinegone off would not only be for out of date food, works with no longer liking something also. I use it all the time, I’ve gone off cycling now, it’s boring.
Gotten sick of for not liking something anymore. I’m south (maybe not just south) we also say sick to death of something.
@@Roboclinegone off wouldn’t be spoiled/spoilt in this case as it’s not referring to food that has gone off, but the person has gone off the food. I’d say put off implies that the person may already like the food but also may have not actually tried it but was initially intrigued or appetiser before something changed their mind. gone off implies that the person already really liked the food and nothing necessarily caused them to dislike it, they’ve just changed tastes. that’s how i see it as a brit though, just the contexts i see them used in
@@momonomay3011 There's also a similar US expression usually referring to animals. To say an animal is off his feed means he's not eating.
I can’t get enough of your channel Lawrence. You two keep on making my day better.
He is really funny. Love hearing him complain about people and their nonsense. Helped me understand that we Americans really are Knackered LOL
I heard an American use 'gander' as in 'having a gander (look) this week. I was most surprised!
I watch soooo much international TV, movies and RUclips that I can't help but pick up words from all over. As an American who has never gone outside the US, I am still familiar and even use, UK style, ALL the words you mentioned today (and then some).
The only time I have ever heard "chuffed" in the US is when it refers to a sound the tigers and other large cats use as a happy greeting to each other and their human care takers .
My nan taught me "Chuff-chuff" for "Railway locomotive" when I was little. This puzzled me because even when I was 3 the trains went "Gnnnnnrrrooorrrrrrrr"!!!
I've heard chuffed used in relation to big cats too. But since I do watch British shows when available I've heard it there too
"Sorted" surprises me, as well. Having lived in the USA my entire life, I have used "sorted" since I was able to talk. The first time I used it in the presence of my wife - as in, "Great! That's sorted. Now we can focus on the next issue" - she looked at me as if what I had said was not English, at all. I think her reaction was to give me a very odd look, while slowly repeating, "...sorted?".
Good stuff! I'm not sure about "chuffed" catching on here in the states, but I do see/hear "queue" much more here in recent years... and I'm all for it.
As a software developer, I'm all in favor of "queue" catching on! It's a good way of making it clear that the line you're in isn't a people stack 😁
Interesting that you mention the word " queue " as I've noticed it now being used more frequently on the national tv news channels here in the US . Assume it will soon be used a lot in our daily conversations .
I agree completely! @@cynthiajohnston424
Hahahaha!! Yes that makes much more sense in that case!! @@IceMetalPunk
Love your videos 💕 Have to comment here: 1st I love the crossover of British and American English and tv and the internet has definitely contributed to this sharing. I applaud this! However, maybe a few young people misled you a bit because they don't know any better....Wonky is definitely an old word in the US and quite widely used from coast to coast. I do think "brilliant" is being used more "Britishly" here these days. Sometimes it comes in quite handy and I use it more these days myself. I'd like to see "proper" catch in more; it's handy too. I might just start using it all the time and see if it spreads. I never hear chuffed used, not here in California anyway. Where I am in California we use chuffed as the sound a bear makes when you startle them in your driveway at night and they chuff at you. You're right about sorted, we use it, but not in quite the same way. We say "sorted out". I like the word cheeky and think we should adopt that one.
Hi, cosmic video. I’m glad to have found you, liked and subscribed. xxx
I’m not only an Anglophile but I’ve been back and forth across the pond some 45 times and I even lived in London for a while back in 1977. I’ve incorporated many Brit words into my everyday lexicon including chuffed, brilliant, and gobsmacked to name just a few. Most of the time, I don’t even think about it unless the person to whom I’m speaking gives me a funny look and then I’ll provide a “translation”.
Im Chuffed to bits that you use Chuffed :D
You wouldn't like London now 😩
@@johnross2924yawn
@@johnross2924 Why?
@@JaneAustenAteMyCat gangs, stabbings and crime. The days of the London gentlemen in bowler hats, holding news papers is well gone.
My grandmother was born and raised in Wales. She met my grandfather, a US soldier, during the war. She still had a fairly thick accent at the end of her life. I picked up a lot from her and try to keep it with me
Wonkey. I'm an American and I remember wonkey being used most of my sixty years. But Catawompus is probably related but I've heard that even more my entire life.
I'm 63. Also used "wonky" all my life. Also used "catawompus," but the version I grew up with was "catywompus." 😂
And catawumpus. Mostly in print.
Warhammer is space fantasy war game played on table top (literally what it sounds like) played with miniature figures. That's a very watered down explanation, but the fact you used to live in Indianapolis you may have heard of Gencon, a large table top convention that covers board games, card games (like Magic and Pokemon) Dungeons and Dragons (though you're more likely to find Pathfinder games there) and war miniature games like Warhammer. Among many other things.
I like your (obviously put on for the camera) weary, almost despairing, teetering-on-the-edge-of-losing-your-temper-but-you-must-get-through-it-somehow energy.
It's very British.
I've used "wonky" & "wonkiness" for over 50 years; don't know where I picked it up. However, I do know that "gobsmacked" was usually found in characters who were Irish in many novels I read over the years starting in the late 20th Century
I was raised by my grandparents, who were of the WWII generation. I remember my grandpa saying things like " you kids, bollocksing around". He'd say this in reference to us being well, kids. My grandma told me years later that he picked it up from some guys he worked with in the service. It wasn't for years that I researched his service and realized he probably got it from some RAF guys he worked in conjunction with while in the Army Air Corp. Anyway, thanks to him, a bunch of elementary school kids in rural Pennsylvania were saying Bollocks in the 1980's with zero frame of reference. Long live slang.
Brilliant! One of my favourite words. From my part of England it can be used as a positive as well as negative. You could say 'that is the bollocks', meaning that is excellent, or 'that is bollocks' as a negative. Essentially reversing the meaning by omitting or adding the word 'the'!
The idea of 80s kids running about school shouting "bollocks" to each other without any idea what the word means or what it is for, is absolutely hilarious.
just like the difference between 'this is the shit' and 'this is shit' @@sicaltus369
That's brilliant mate! The dog's bollocks one might say.
Brilliant as in shiny, really good and brainy. From one of your UK subscribers
I’d give an honorable mention to “ginger” to describe a person with red hair. I distinctly remember a comic over a decade ago where someone told a cop that a ginger did something and they looked confused because they thought they meant the spice. It may have had more regional use but as I’ve gotten older people around my age know what I mean when I mention someone as a ginger. I think its use in a South Park episode helped popularize it further
I think over there though it's a derogatory term, along with much of Europe. Maybe that explains the whole "Only a ginger can call another ginger, ginger" thing my mom, and sister technically, liked to spout just because.
I don't think "ginger" is a Brithism. It has been used to refer to red hair since the late 18th century, and before that for the red feathers of some roosters. If we count 18th century words, then almost everything can be considered a "Britishism," since most American residents from that time were recent British imports.
Might be regionally dependent because I have always known it to be associated with redheads. However there is some Irish ancestry in my family stemming from US slavery times. I grew up hearing my family use the term redhead stepchild to mean someone being the unwanted, mistreated person.
Be careful with "ginger" it's also Cockney rhyming slang... ginger (beer) = queer.
@@colinwilson6942 At college we had someone who had this remarkable talent for leaving class after everyone else but getting to the cafeteria before anyone else. He was our ginger ninja.
“Sorted” is used heavily in the automotive realm, especially in regards to suspension tuning; so anyone who watches European car racing, F1, WEC, etc. hears this term. Great vid!