Hello again and welcome back to Britain under the microscope,
欢迎大家又回到这期的闲话英伦。
Hello everybody.
Anlan is back. So welcome back.
Thanks.
So last time you left for the Christmas holiday, Christmas New year holiday, and how was it?
Yeah, it was not so bad.
Er, not so bad, so do you mean it's not great?
No, I had a great time.
Ok,I'm a bit confused,
英国人说Not so bad 到底是什么意思？
Well,we like to say not so bad when we mean something is very good, to be perfectly honest, English people they don't really like to say something is great or it's brilliant or it's terrible, we like to use expressions like: it's not so bad and this is something about British English that there are certain phrases that we use and the meaning is different from what you can actually hear or see.
So what British people say is not exactly what they mean.
Pretty much, yes.
Ah, 英国人的这个画外音这个我也是听过的，actually if you search on the internet, you would find how to understand English people when they say one thing they mean another thing.
Yes, Ihave seen those, most of them are pretty true.
Uh-huh, ok, so this is our topic today, we're going to talk about what British people say and what they actually mean.我们今天就来看看英国人的话外音。
We're going to look at some of the very common phrases English people say, British people say, and the meaning might be different from what you think. When you think of British people you think of politeness. I remember living in England, I once went on a grocery shopping trip in the neighborhood and I said Twenty-seven thank you, 我记得我住伦敦的时候，就是出去在附近的商场去买点东西，就说了27个thank you. So in expressing politeness, some of the words that English people say do they have other meanings, like all these: excuse me, I beg your pardon?
Uh, they do and a lot of they come from intonation, from stress. Solisten to difference, excuse me? you notice my voice is going up, that's quite polite. But if you say ,excuse me.
Going down.
It's going down and that is normally when we're angry with someone.
Ah, so even if you are saying the same word the same thing "excuse you", it can still mean different things.
Yeah.
Going up is usually the polite form? Going down usually is trying to use it in another way, in a negative way.
Yes,a good example is:I beg your pardon. I beg your pardon?
I beg your pardon, isn't that what you use when you don't understand people,
是听不懂的时候说再来一遍，再说一遍。
Yeah, so for example, I beg your pardon? You notice that my voice is going up, so I'm saying it in a polite way. I beg your pardon, is normally when someone has said something that we find very offensive, that made us angry.
Ah, so, it's a little bit like: 你再说一遍试试
Kind of.
I beg your pardon, so, could you repeat those two intonation?
Yes, I beg your pardon? The polite way.
I beg your pardon.
So you probably see the difference. And I've also heard people using you're welcome in a quite angry way.
Yes, normally if someone doesn't say thank you to us, we would say, you're welcome like that as a way of showing that we're angry at the person for not saying thank you.
That is actually very interesting. So usually when people say thank you, you say you're welcome, but if they don't say thank you, you would also say you're welcome,
Yea but the intonation is going down and we sound angrier.
提醒人家说人家没有说，没有对你说谢谢也可以直接不用谢，但是用一个，I think this is called passive aggression,
Yes, it's about being aggressive, it's about being angry,but in a way that's not direct.
Ok and moving on to talk about politeness, there's a common joke about when English people say: pop around any time or you must come for dinner, they don't really mean it.
No ,but it's similar to Chinese, for example, people say:改天。
Ah, 改天到我们家来玩。
Huh.
But they don't really mean come to my home.
Unless say they actually say a time and a place, so it's same in English, if someone says, ah, you must come for dinner tomorrow night, then that's sincere, because they're giving you a time.
That's a real invitation.
Yeah, but if you say you must come for dinner some time, that's not really ainvitation.
That's simply being polite, 跟中文的，改天来玩，改天到家里来坐，是一样的。
Huh Hm.
Another thing that often confuses me is how English people would say good or bad.
Huh hm.
Like you said, oh,not bad to mean good.
Yeah.
When they say it's quite good, I hear this a lot from English people, they say : oh, it's quite good, what do they mean, does it mean good or bad?
Yeah,this is the way I guess a bit difficult sometimes, it can mean it's ok, other times it can mean it's a … slightly, bit disappointing, it makes people a bit disappointed.
So quite good is not so good.
No!
Ah, what about not bad, not bad means good?
Yes,but then again it's the same in Chinese like 不错。
That is true, not bad, uh,we do say that as well. So when you ask an English person, how are you, how are you these days? Do they say fine?
Em, we do, but most people would say, not too bad, thanks; or not too bad actually.
Not too bad, 嗯，还不错，apart from good and bad, another very confusing word would be interesting.
Yes.
If I hand in something to my teacher or to my boss, and if they're English and they say,"that's interesting", that's not a good thing, is it?
No,that's interesting is normally … it's quite bad, so for example, you are saying giving it to your boss andthey said, that's interesting, normally they are just ignoring it.
Do they mean that's rubbish?
They can mean it's rubbish.
Oh, so interesting is not a good word.
No.
It's so confusing with British people.
Well, it is. But a lot of it is coming from the context and to be honest, it's quite similar to Chinese because we use words like quite, rather, in the same way that you do in the Chinese: 比较，有一点。
中文也是可以很暧昧的。对，我们也有很多，这个言外之意，and what about perfect, do you ever say perfect?
Not as much as in Chinese.
Probably in other culture like in Northern American culture, probably more so than in British culture, so when you hear people say that's just perfect.
Hmhuh.
Perfect can also mean different things in British English, doesn't it?
It's the same with pronunciation, so listen to the difference. That's perfect.
Going up, good thing?
It's a good thing
Huh. That's just perfect!

Going down, which is a bad thing.
Yes, we normally say it when something's gone really badly.
Ah, so you say it in an ironic way.
Yeah.
就是，故意说反话的那种，如果事情很糟糕，反而说，that's just perfect.
Oh, let's try, let's try a little bit of role play.
Ok, so the first situation, if I say, Hi, Anlan, I have got the book you always wanted.
Oh, that's perfect! Thank you
The second situation is: Hi, Anlan, I'm so sorry, I have lost your favorite book.
Oh,that's just perfect!
Now you see the difference? Going up,good; going down, bad. Moving on from good and bad to disagreeing. A lot of my students, when they learn how to disagree, they would just say I disagree, I don't agree, but English people are not so direct, are they?
No, if you say to someone directly I disagree or I don't agree, it can be a little bit rude.
That's very strong, very abrupt.
Very direct.
So what would you say?
We would try to make the person feel that we are listening to them.
Uh.
So for example, we can say I hear what you say.
I hear what you say, so I'm listening to you.
Yeah.
I'm sensing a "but".
Absolutely, lots of time,we would say, ok, but, the but is very important.
I hear what you say, but I don't agree essentially.
Yes.
所以当她说，我听到你说的了，我理解你说的，但是我还是不同意，I hear what you say, but …
So for example, that's certainly one way to look at it.
That's certainly one way to look at it. So you have your way of looking at it.
Huh.
言下之意是，but that's the wrong way,
Orit's the way I don't agree with.
Hehe, uh, and anything else?
Sometimes we would say that's a good point, I'll bear it in mind.
Oh,that's a good point, in Chinese, we also would prepare you for something bad by saying something good first.
Yes, that's every time we try to say something negative, we always try to put something positive in front.
Oh,that's good point, I'll bear in mind but …
Yes.
And one thing I absolutely hate is when people say with all due respect.
Yes, we over use that expression a lot, normally when you hear someone say to you, with all due respect, you know something harsh is coming.
They are going to disrespect you essentially.
Pretty much, yes,
Em, with all duerespect, 有点像中文的，恕我直言，with all due respect. Even thoughI respect you, I'm still going to say something nasty.
Yes.
For instance, we can say with all due respect, your plan is absolute rubbish.
Well,we wouldn't say absolute rubbish directly to the person, but that's kind of how would we would use it, yes.
So you can use with all due respect as a signal, 大家可把这个当作预警听到有人说with all due respect, you know something nasty is coming.
Well, or that you're going to disagree with that person.
Uh-huh, ok, moving on to the last part, last but not least, the understatement, this is one big part of English culture, understatement, to make things sound less than they actually are, 就是轻描淡的说一些很严重的事情。
Uh-huh.
This is one part of English culture.
And also a big part of English humor, lots of ah … TV comedies, lots of British jokes relies on the understatements.
Ah, so you want to understand British humor, you need to understand understatement.
Yes, absolutely, so a good example is: over 30 years ago, there was a pilot and flying the plane, and all of the engines stopped.
所以，就是，有一个故事有一个空难，然后这个飞行员就是这个机长当时是看到所有的引擎都已经不工作了，and?
And the plane was losing height, it was getting close to the ground, and he said very calmly, "ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, we have a small problem, all of our engines have stopped, we are trying our best to start them again, I hope you arenot too upset".
Even though it's about to crash, he is saying we have got a small problem.
Yes.
Ah.
Thankfully the plane didn't crash.
Very calm, very calm.
So do English people in everyday life also use these understatement?
Yes, because if you have heard lots of British speaking, if you have watched British TV shows, for example, you'll hear people say a bita lot.
Uh-huh,
So for example, we would say it's a bit wet.
It's a bit wet, so it's a little bit wet.
Yeah, but we have used that if it's raining really heavily.
When it's pouring outside you say it's a bit wet.
Or it's a bit chilly, I would go into work andI say to people it's a bit chilly.
And it's freezing out.
Yeah.
And sometimes people also say I'm a bit busy, does that mean they're really really busy?
Yes,
Ah.
More often than not, it means I'm really busy, I can't help.
Ok, thank you, I think we're coming to the end of today's show, in today's show we've looked at what British people are saying and what they truly mean, it's very difficult to understand English people.
It is! Uh, it's because ofour culture, everyone uses the same patterns, but it's important to remember that these are generalizations. Sometimes people actually say what they mean especially if they're talking to non-native speakers.
Ah, I suppose it also depends on the personality.
And, yes, but if you watch lots of British TV shows, for example, you would hear a lot of these phrases.
So next time if you watch British TV show, especially British comedy, or if you talk to a British person, you probably can think about if they are really saying what they mean.
Absolutely. That's the end of today's show, thank you Anlan.
Thank you very much, we'll see you next time, bye.
Bye-bye.

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