Hi everyone and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope. 歡迎回來【閑話英倫】. Hi, 安瀾.

Hi, Lulu. Hi, everyone.

Let me propose a topic today.

Okay.

You know, all my time dealing with you.

Thank you.

And other British people in general.

Yeah.

Again, I’m not trying to stereotype. And with all due respect.

Okay.

I do feel like British people have this tendency to be quite sarcastic in their speech. Emm, would you agree?

I would say yes, to a certain extent.

對。就是，英國人說話的時候很喜歡反諷,就很喜歡說一些反話。安瀾，你知道中文里管這個叫什么嗎？

不是陰陽嗎？

對，就是，你還知道陰陽啊，這個不錯。我們有時候開玩笑就說：“老陰陽人了”。

Really.

See， there we go.

Okay.

You can't even control it. So, I thought in today's episode, let us do a few phrases that British people would usually say, but they don't mean what they seem to mean.

Okay.

I think we did something quite similar in one of our live streaming episodes.

Yeah. We actually did an entire life streaming like a pop quiz thing of you quizzing me on all these read between the lines, the hidden meaning of British sarcasm.

Ok.

So, today we give this quiz to you.

So, see if you can understand the hidden meaning behind the sarcasm.

So, let's begin.

Okay.

Well. Let's start, first of all, with requests. Now we all know that British people they tend to make requests very very overly polite. So, …

Like this “could you…I was wondering if you could…”

Would you most awfully be able, you know, that type of thing, really really exaggerated. So, if your boss says to you “could you do this for me when you have a minute?”

What does that mean？

Could you do this for me when you have a minute？Although it sounds polite, what do you think it means？Three, two, one? I think it actually means “Do it now.”

Yes.

When someone says to you in English, when you have a minute, the implication is that it's only gonna take you a minute you need to do it now.

Emm, I see. The request is a bit of a tricky one. Because sometimes people might actually be very polite in this situation or they're being polite. But it could also be they are just trying to hide what they truly mean behind the politeness.

Exactly.

We would also use it if we try to make a point that this person is probably not the best at time management.

Mhm. I remember there's also a lot of sarcasm around, not sarcasm, but hidden meaning about good or bad when you say is good or quite good, it's not good or what was that about？

For example, what does it mean if I say “ it's quite good”?

It's quite good. I think when you say it's quite good, that means it's not really that good?

Actually, means very good.

Then why can't you just say it's very good？

Well. We just don't like to say something is very, we don't like to use the word very. Because it's, it's a bit too strong.

Okay. So, if you hear very from a British person, chances are they are being sarcastic.

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. You also say “not bad”, right？

Yeah, that film’s not bad, that's generally means also good.

嗯，跟中文的“不錯”差不多

Yeah, a little bit, but “不錯” normally means it's very good, while in English is normally means it's good. It's not too exaggerated.

I keep hearing you say things like not too bad actually.

So, if I ask “how was your day, 安瀾, and you say "not too bad actually". What does that mean？

Normally means very good.

Not too bad actually means very good.

Yeah.

What do you mean when you say “It's okay”?

It's okay generally means not good.

Okay.

So, for example, if a couple husband and wife for example, they have an argument and the husband asked the wife “are you okay?” and she went “yeah, I’m okay.”

Yeah, I don't think that's a British thing. That's just a man woman thing.

Yeah. But, also just any situation. If you say “I’m okay” that generally means “I’m not okay.”

Emm, okay is never okay and fine is never fine.

Pretty much.

Yeah. You guys also use a lot “quite” and “rather”.

Yeah

What does that mean? I never could figure out how to use “quite” and “rather” in British contexts.

Rather is a little bit old fashioned, but you do hear it mainly around when older people are talking.

Or posh people.

Or posh people. “Quite” “rather” normally mean very.

They actually mean very, so it's rather wet today.

Means it's raining constantly, incredibly wet.

That's why “it's quite good” means it's really good.

Yeah.

So, if a British person says quite or rather generally it means very.

They're just trying to contain the level of excitement.

Exactly, exactly.

I see.

It's not just words, it's also pronunciation.

So, for example, “that's perfect.” What does that mean？

Somehow, I doubt you think it's perfect. Because if I say “it’s perfect”, if I actually mean it, I would be like “that's perfect!”

Yeah. Exactly.

You'll notice your voice is going up slightly. So that's perfect means “it's perfect, it's great.” “That's perfect.” Slight change of pronunciation, completely different meaning. What does that mean if I say “That's perfect.”?

That is terrible.

Yes.

Yeah, I think you guys are really good at being passive aggressive.

We are.

對,英文里有一個詞叫passive aggressive。其實我不知道怎么樣去很好的翻譯,我相信大家有更好的翻譯，怎么樣把它翻成我們更能接受的那個版本。Passive aggressive基本上就有點陰陽的這種感覺。I’m not happy, but I’m not gonna openly tell you I’m not happy. So, I’m gonna use this passive aggression.

Yes. That's why we say in our course, for example, B1 B2 course, we focus a lot on pronunciation. Because lots of Chinese students they don't get the pronunciation just right and sometimes when they focused on the pronunciation of the word, the meaning of the sentence.

It's not pronunciation is actually intonation you're talking about.

Oh, yeah. But still part of pronunciation is, it's not the pronunciation of individual words. It's a pronunciation of the entire sentence that changes the meaning.

就是語調.

One typical example is a very simple expression “Excuse me”.

Yeah.

So, if you say “excuse me, could you?” That's a request.

Yeah, that's a request.

But if you say “excuse me.”

That's a sign of anger.

Yeah.

So, for example, I beg your pardon. "Sorry, I beg your pardon?" that means "I'm sorry I don't understand." “I Beg your pardon?!”

你再說一遍試試！

Exactly.

That is why you have to be kind of careful with pardon. I know a lot of people like to say pardon or I beg your pardon when they couldn't understand, but you have to be a little bit careful as in how you use it.

Yes. So, as we discussed, British people don't really like to say how they feel. What happens if we disagree about something?

You would never just come out and say “I disagree”.

No. Not unless you are very angry or you're very close to that person.

So. What would you say instead？

Well. Let's take a look at if we're talking in the business context for example.

Okay.

So, if someone says to you “we should do this in the future.” We might say “that's a good point, I’ll bear it in mind.”

That's a good point, I will bear it in mind. When you say “I’ll bear it in mind” basically means I’m not gonna do it right now.

Yeah. On the surface, it means I’ll remember it. But really when we use it, it means I’m gonna completely forget about it, because it not worth remembering.

I think that's why they have this British English to American English or whatever other types of English translation.

Because other English speakers probably don't even understand themselves. Another one is with all due respect.

This is rather universal this is actually not just in British English with all due respect.聽起來好像說是我給你很多respect, but actually it is a prelude to something that's gonna be very very nasty.

Yeah. Or it’s going to be I completely disagree with whatever you're saying.

像中文的那個恕我直言。

Yeah. Another one is I almost agree with you.

I like this one “I almost agree with you.” It does make people feel like you kind of agree with me, right？

It makes people feel that there's hope.

Honestly the first time I hear “I almost agree with you” to me, it just sounds like you agree with me at least to some extent.

Yes.

But you almost agree with me means

I disagree.

Completely.

Completely.

Ok. Another one interesting is very, you have to watch out for the word interesting.

Yes. For example, if you say “that's a very interesting idea” that has a connotation of meaning “it's actually a very stupid idea.”

So, if my boss says “Lulu, that idea is very interesting.”

It normally means “it's not good or it's stupid.” It's one of those words like funny.

So, for example, you can describe someone as funny and that means they're hilarious. They make you laugh, but you can also describe someone as funny and it means crazy.

Or strange.

Or strange, same as interesting. “Interesting” can also mean strange.

I think if I say “安瀾，you're an interesting person” that is a compliment, but if I say “安瀾，this point you just made is interesting.” It usually means I don't want to directly disagree with you, but I also don't appreciate it.

Exactly.

But what if I really wanna say “這個主意很有意思”, what if I really wanna say in a complementing way？

We would just say that's really good. That's a really good idea

Or a brilliant idea.

Yeah. We would use much more emphatic language to make sure that it doesn't come across as that we are disagreeing.

But would you say today's episode as we're approaching the end？Would you say that today's episode is a bit of a generalization.

It’s a generalization. There are some people who just mean what they say. And if an English person is speaking to a non-native speaker, they're probably gonna be a little bit more direct to avoid this type of miscommunication. But if you watch British TV shows British movies so on and so forth, then you probably will hear this a lot. This is a kind of like hidden language that British people use when talking amongst themselves.

So, if you are dealing with British people or if you actually travel to Britain or if you're going there for studies or actually try to live there, then for sure you're gonna encounter all of the things we talked about today.

Yeah.

Yeah. But we're just basically talking about low context and high context culture. And then to be honest, as Chinese, we understand, because we're that type of high context culture as well.

Well exactly. So, there's always lots of like hidden words in Chinese, which I've learned Chinese now for years, and sometimes I get a bit confused.

Yeah.

Exactly. So that ends today's talk about sarcasm about words, having another layer of meaning in Brit talk. If you're interested leave us a comment in the comment section, share with us these types of language you know, either in English in Chinese or in some other languages or in some other cultures.

So, until next time.

We'll see you next time.

Bye.

Bye.