17 British sayings foreigners won’t understand

[@Lulu-jl5zd]

Codswallop is a bottle with a marble in the top to seal it. You had to wallop the marble to force it into the the bottle to get your lemonade or whatever out. Children would break the neck of the bottles to get the marbles to play with. So the bottles could not be reused. Hence a load of codswallop is a load of useless stuff.

[@andrewmurray9350]

Keen as mustard was an advertising slogan, Keen being a mustard brand. I think it was acquired by Colman later.

[@alangudgin7145]

''A nod is as good as a wink......to a blind horse'' is an album release by The Faces (featuring Rod Stewart).

[@davidwhite5800]

"You know your onions" is a gardening saying. Many years ago, all flower bulbs were called onions. So someone who knew his onions, could tell the difference between all the different kinds of bulbs, tulips, crocuses, daffodils etc. and was knowledgeable about growing them.

[@graceygrumble]

Well, you learn something every day. Cheers for that!

[@grahvis]

Not like my mother once, who planted what she thought were narcissus but turned out to be shallots

[@efnissien]

I heard it was a Dutch captain who upon sailing back from Indonesia with a cargo of spices, had been promised a meal for himself and the crew by the client. However, the client didn't show up so the captain saw a bag of what he thought were onions, and proceeded to fry them... only for the client to show up and become hysterical as the captain had just fried a bag of tulip bulbs that was worth more than the rest of the cargo and the captain had bankrupted him.

[@theuserformerlyknownas-ou7wd9]

N0. the saying originates from Charles Talbut Onions, born 1873, editor of the fourth edition of the Oxford English Dictionary - hence, to 'know one's onions' is to be erudite and educated and have a good vocabulary.

[@jenniedarling3710]

My Nan used to be a certain twitcher she would hid behind her net certains and always had something to say if someone walked past, I used to get so embarrassed and tell her to come away from the window. Now the memories make me smile.

[@michaelstamper5875]

"Nail your colours to the mast" comes from the days of sailing ships. Before a battle at sea, the fleet would run the national flag up to the top of the mast on a rope to show which country they were fighting for. To show that they were surrendering, they would "strike the colours", meaning lower the flag. To stop any ship surrendering, or to show that they were determined to never surrender, the crew would literally nail the flag to the top of the mast. Hence the phrase came to signify sticking to what you believe in and you're willing, literally or figuratively, to do battle with anyone who challenges it.

[@trevorgoddard2278]

Speaking as a 55 year old who has spent all 55 years living in the UK, all but 2 of these sayings are still in common use "pearls before swine" I have never encountered, likewise with "pip pip" although "toodle pip" with the same meaning I have heard but never used.

[@reggy_h]

I think "pip pip" may have been the sort of thing Bertie Wooster ( PG Woodhouse) and his pals would say. My uncle always used to say "Toodle pip". I got them all. Not bragging. Just pretty old. I've enjoyed all of your videos. I haven't seen them all yet. something to look forward to.😁

[@june.w.1288]

I love P.G.Woodhouse novels. So that's why I knew pip pip. I thought it was from watching the You rang, Milord? Series.

[@martink9785]

As a Brit, it's funny how we can almost have a whole conversation in front of a Canadian or American without them understanding a word if we want to 😁

[@greenaum]

And in English!

[@blackburnparty]

Dropped a clanger is basically saying something out of the blue that s shocked or surprised people ,with effect

[@peterdurnien9084]

There is a food item a Bedfordshire Clanger, looks like a sausage roll but can have various fillings, liver, meat, onions, jam. Buckinghamshire has a similar item called a Bacon Badger.

[@WG1807]

Flat as a witch's tit is the expression I've often heard (and used). It's often used in engineering to describe a very flat and level surface (of metal for example) or in gardening or sports use - a nicely flat lawn or sports pitch - especially cricket pitches. A billiard or snooker table should also be as flat as a witch's tit. A cheery goodbye often used is Toodle-oo, more than Pip Pip, at least here in the North. Also - Cheerio.

[@keithwarrington2430]

I think you were close enough for the point on " A fly in the ointment " Your answer to Dead as a doornail is actually the meaning of the phrase " the lights are on but nobody's home" which sadly you didn't have on your list. You should do a clip on the funnier phrases like that and " you're as much use as a rubber leg " etc etc

[@tomstephenson8579]

Ive used ... Toodle pip One theory is that it derived from an English dialect word meaning to walk or wander off, such as in "I'll be toodling along now." Others suggest that toodle pip is related to the French "tout a l'heure," meaning see you later.

[@tonycasey3183]

Brit here. The last time I heard someone say "pip-pip" in real life was by an elderly gentleman in Cheltenham circa 1975 - the same old chap used the term "tickety-boo" and I don't think I've heard thayt since. There's a song called "Tickety-Boo" in the James Robertson-Justice film, Very Important Person. Most of them, though, I still hear fairly regularly - but I AM OLD!

[@ianblackband105]

I'm impressed by your efforts to solve logically things that often are illogical. If you had been born and raised in England you would have heard people from your parents generation talking to people from their parents generation and absorbed lots of this archaic language.

[@alant84]

Dead as a doornail isn't related to coffins (despite it being commonly repeated), it's quite literally to do with nails using when making doors. They would commonly be hammered right through the wood, and then the sharp end would be hammered down flat. The doornail is "dead" because it cannot be used again - the act of folding it with a hammer would make it completely useless if you tried to remove and reuse it.

[@DarrellW_UK]

I’m from the “black country’ (West midlands) we are renowned for funny phrases! Like “well I’ll goo ter the bottom of our stairs” “yo’m as daft as a brush” “Ooo thee bist ugly” “yo’m as daft as a box of frogs” and so on; it can be a bit of a problem at times when you’re on holiday 😂

[@timsimpson9367]

These sayings come from long ago, some of the maritime ones like letting the cat out of the bag are quite shocking. or carrying the bride over the threshold are strange yet they all have a symbolic meaning. I like the fact that most of them have stayed with us and live on in modern language.

[@JoeStunner]

You actually got more right than you seemed to realise.

[@cliffordallen1261]

You are learning without realising you said done and dusted just like a natural, love your outlook on life

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@josephh16]

I don't see a comment on this, so I'll jump in. Keens is a brand of mustard. My mom used it (here in Canada) when I was growing up, but I'm sure its and English brand. Its mustard powder or fine ground mustard seed and is much hotter than the more common "French's" prepared mustard. Mom was from an English family and often cooked English style food. So, "keen as mustard" makes sense to me. Keep up the good work!!

[@twistycarpetwords2500]

I honestly took for granted the extent to which these idioms are baked into our language. Wouldn't have even thought about many of these as being peculiar until hearing them in this context. Caught myself grinning from ear to ear when Alanna got one right! Another excellent educational broadcast, courtesy of A+N!

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thank you!!

[@Isleofskye]

Don't be "Daft As A Brush" because you know those brushes have always been very daft:)

[@chrisshelley3027]

@@Isleofskye Daft as a brush, nice one :)

[@Isleofskye]

I was trying to think of an example Chris and Bob's Your Uncle ! , I remembered this one :)

[@marieravening927]

@@Isleofskye My father always said "bob's your uncle" when he'd fixed something, either physically or in solving a problem. He was 15 when he came to Australia but although he lost any accent, he never lost the lingo.

[@mikegerrish3459]

"Fine words butter no parsnips" - that's my favourite!

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

😂 that's a great one!

[@terrytartu]

I was born and raised in the UK though I now live in Estonia. I comprehended and explained all quite easily - but I am 70 and I think that an advantage, as these sayings are mostly seen as traditional or archaic - much like myself!

[@docostler]

I'm the same age as you although Canadian. I too got them all and agree that age makes a difference. If only due to having that much more time to run into these expressions and figure them out. I also agree with those who are claiming Alanna was harder on herself than necessary. I think she did rather well, at least in general terms.

[@janrogers8352]

You gave a good description of most of these sayings, even if you didn't give the exact definition. Most of us know what they mean even if we can't give a simple explanation. Many people will often use the term, dead as a doornail, to describe batteries or electrical items that stop working.

[@shed66215]

Never heard 'pip pip' but at the end of a telephone conversation or at a time of leaving my grandpa used to say 'toodle pip'. Unfortunately he is no longer with us so it isn't something our family hears now.

[@ericblair9103]

"Tighter than a gnat's chough" is another piece of traditional British wisdom...

[@rbrooks2007]

There was a series on cable TV which made it to Channel 4 hosted by Tim Grundy and titled 'What's In a Word'. [5] The 'I bet he knows his onions' came from the Edwardian days of the head gardener who planned flower beds. All plant bulbs were called onions and had a specific shape depending on the flower that was produced from them. So, all he'd do is to take out a handful of bulbs from a paper bag without looking at the label, look at them and know what it was so then just threw them down in the area he wanted them to grow.

[@rbrooks2007]

Sorry, Tim Grundy, son of Bill who had the swearing punk band on his interview show.

[@michw3755]

QI

[@rbrooks2007]

@@michw3755 What's In a Word was started in 1999 although QI which started in 2009 would have gone to the same sources.

[@harrisonandrew]

Alanna, that was so funny and brilliant. I laughed my ass off. I guess the North American equivalent of “knickers in a twist” is “Panties in a bunch” ? I’ve heard that in American TV shows and I guess it means the same thing? Anyway, that video was superb.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

You'd be right! Although I can't say I've ever actually SAID panties in a bunch

[@grahamtravers4522]

"Colours" is the traditional name for a military flag ( yes, I know it's plural ), both on land and at sea. So, "Hoist the colours" would be an order to raise the national flag on a ship, typically done using ropes. In a battle, if the ropes holding the colours up were shot away (resulting in the colours falling down), the colours could be nailed to the ship's mast, to show that the ship had NOT surrendered, which was commonly indicated by lowering the colours.

[@rickb.4168]

It’s colour for a regiment’s flag. Not colours.

[@PeterWasted]

@@rickb.4168 Not as I understood it. Just Google Regimental Colour and you'll see it prompts colours. I took it to be because no regimental flag would ever be a single colour but a combination of several.

[@mightybeanstick9872]

Lowering the colours would be called striking them, I believe.

[@thostaylor]

Nailing the colours to the mast would remove the option of surrender. Therefore the phrase means declaring one's beliefs and accepting the consequences.

[@justinfufun5483]

it means pick your side. Like in an argument are you with them or have you got my back. Nail your colours to the mast so everyone will know. It means don't be ambiguous... if you are gay then come out, let us know. Its not about being true to yourself quite as much as declaring what you are true to.

[@mightybeanstick9872]

I have always understood the term 'dead as a doornail' to come from the practice of 'setting' a nail below the surface of the wood it is in. This would have been commonly done when framing a doorway to prevent protruding nails catching on clothing. Presumably the nail was considered 'buried' , and thus dead.

[@iancossey105]

To 'know your onions' is derived from Prof. C.T. Onions, whose 'Shakespeare Glossary' is still a go-to text for lit scholars. If you know the definitions of many of the more obscure or archaic words the Bard used, you 'known your Onions'.

[@littleblacksambo8447]

Wasn't his name pronounced O'Nigh-ens?

[@iancossey105]

@@littleblacksambo8447 I've not heard that before myself. If it's true, I guess that makes the above derivation a little less likely! (There's another derivation given elsewhere in these comments attributing the phrase to a more literal ability to distinguish between different plant bulbs, so I could be very wrong!)

[@june.w.1288]

Thank you so much for the explanation! It's so fascinating to learn the story behind the phrase! 💜

[@wolfie854]

These phrases are so familiar to British people. It would make a good test of how British you think you are. So common in books and films and many of them used daily in conversation.

[@marck717]

Hi Alanna, I got almost all of these wrong. In the US I have only heard of a few of these expressions like a flash in the pan and dead as a door nail, but I still got the definitions wrong. I do remember that when I was in elementary school, our class learned about a politician named Ross Perot who used to go on TV and refer to our national debt as “A fly in the ointment”. It became his catchphrase, but I always thought he created that term because no one else ever used it. It was considered weird, and people even made parody songs about it at the time. I never heard the term “a curtain twitcher” but my grandma had another term for a nosy person. If someone was being nosy, she would say “Don’t be a Gladys Kravatz” which I eventually found out that it referred to a character on a old TV show she used to watch called Bewitched. Anyways, thanks for another fun and entertaining video.

[@johnc4340]

From the Bible: "Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour."

[@martynadams2011]

Great fun Alanna! As a Brit who lived in the US, I used to love to drop these into general conversation and watch the confusion spread.🤣. A couple of Americans who are now mates eventually stopped me each time and asked for an explanation. That would catch me out sometimes!😩. Doing it however was ‘The Bees Knees “. 🙄

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@allenwilliams1306]

The Dog's Bollocks!

[@sarkybugger5009]

@@allenwilliams1306 Mutt's nuts!

[@paulguise698]

@@allenwilliams1306 Hiya Alan, If I said "your car is the dogs Bollocks," it means it's the best there is, so next time your friend has bought something great tell him "that's the dogs bollocks" and see what facial expression you may get, this is Choppy in Whitehaven, Cumbria, Great Britain

[@rhondaprice5202]

Haha as someone that lives on the East coast you can't fool me much with these sayings. My family originated from England and sailed to the Virgins colony. We still use most of these phrases passed down through the generations 🤣

[@jameskelly8586]

Watching all your youtube videos, I've come to realize that maybe it's not a Canadian/British thing and just a difference in experience. I encountered all these expressions in my first twenty years, growing up in Vancouver--but that was yonks ago. The only two that were unfamiliar were "drop a clanger" and "curtain twitcher"--but even those I guessed the meaning. My mom was a real curtain twitcher.

[@michw3755]

The saying "pearls before swine" is actually to "cast/throw pearls before swine" meaning they're pigs, they won't know or appreciate what they are. Pip pip is quite a posh saying like pip pip old chap, and usually just men. My mum used to say to me when I was a kid and running about too much "sit down, you're like a witch on windy day" always made me laugh.

[@joshbrailsford]

My mum grew up in Nottinghamshire, if that counts for anything in this context, and she often says 'pip pip' to mean 'excuse me', in the way you would say 'excuse me' to mean 'your're in my way, please would you mind moving'. And in that sense, it's still true to the car horn origins - you might use a car horn to somewhat politely ask someone in your way to move.

[@JeffStephen]

Heres a favourite saying of mine, The lights are on, but nobodys home. Means a very stupid person.

[@Varksterable]

That's either Faulty Towers or Father Ted? Certainly a recent expression. A lot of examples here are from back when turning lights on/off wasn't even a thing.

[@BumbleTheBard]

All 17 here. A stitch in time saves nine dates back to the age of sail when sailors would be tasked with repairing sails by stitching them, and an officer would measure the stitching with a ruler to ensure that it had the regulation nine stitches per inch. If there were insufficient stitches, the sailor had to unpick the last inch and redo it. Over time it has come to mean fix a problem now while it is still small and before it becomes a much bigger problem later.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@neilgayleard3842]

Gordon Bennett.

[@dunebasher1971]

Unfortunately it's nothing to do with sails. As with so many false origins, that was just invented by someone in the modern era - there was never a "regulation 9 stitches per inch". The earliest known citation is a non-nautical sewing one from 1723, simply meaning that a small tear repaired early with a single stitch will prevent the tear becoming bigger later and requiring more stitches. The "nine" has no relevance beyond simply rhyming with "time", but it's led to all sorts of nonsense about needing nine stitches specifically for various nautical reasons, none of which have any basis in historical fact.

[@hairyairey]

@@dunebasher1971 and nine doesn't even rhyme with thyme.

[@its_clean]

@@dunebasher1971 Reminds me of "the whole nine yards" being attributed to the alleged nine yards of belted ammunition used for WWII machine guns- either for the Vickers, the Mustang's wing guns, or various others. The phrase itself predates both world wars, has been rendered also as "the whole six yards", and is in fact more likely to refer to the standard lengths in which fabric was sold in the 19th century- but the origin of the phrase is still unconfirmed, and so all claims to a definitive etymology remain speculative at best. But definitely nothing to do with machine guns.

[@JosephHaig]

'Pearls before swine' comes from the Bible so it probably exists in other languages. You were never going to guess 'a nod is as good as a wink' without the full phrase. I got them all but I am British. :-)

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks for watching!

[@rheostar]

'A nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse' is also the name of a 1971 album by the Faces.

[@june.w.1288]

Yeah pearls before swine exists also in Hungarian. I didn't count how much I got right, but I definetely learned a lot of nice phrases. Pip pip- I think that one is in the You rang, Mylord? Series, one of my all-time favourites.

[@PsychHacks]

I missed three, which is quite surprising as I lived in England for >30 years. The meanings of these idioms are often obvious in the context that they're used, and only become difficult when you hear them in isolation. PS. I always thought that witches were colder from the wind chill riding on a broom. ;-)

[@101alexs]

Tickety boo generally refers to a person. "Are you well?" "I'm tickety boo thanks." one of my favourite phrases is "you're not as green as you're cabbage looking." I reckon I use at least half of those on a regular basis too. Great vid👍

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thank you!

[@bobbell4461]

Well done Alanna you made a great effort and as always brought a great big smile to my face.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much!!

[@domhubbard2197]

Norwegians have some great sayings. I worked with a guy from Norway who referred a stupid person being.... 'Born behind a brown cheese' Aparently brown cheese or “mysost” is a Norwegian delicacy.

[@qwadratix]

All these phrases in common use. They're second nature to most Brits I think. We'd use and understand them without even thinking about it. Literally part of the language.

[@terencecarroll1812]

This is really funny listening to you trying to explain these phrases

[@andykenny5674]

Seriously though, aren’t these great Alanna? I love all these phrases and the little stories behind them 😊

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Yes they are!

[@jeansteele6586]

I think you reasoned them pretty well, I remembered them all after leaving England almost 50 years ago and moving (becoming) Canadian 🍁

[@paulguise698]

Hiya Alanna, I've got 2 friends from Oxfordshire when they came to Whitehaven, they thought We were speaking a different language, when we started to speak slang, you and your partner would love it up here and whoever else from North America, when we've had a few drinks and start talking slang, this is Choppy in Whitehaven, Cumbria, Great Britain

[@AaronTheHipHopGuy]

Those are so strange ! I’ve felt sick at school all day, I have a really sore throat, so thanks so much for your video, it helped me feel better! It was really funny, and the text bubbles you put with each phrase look so cool, they fit your channel channel so well! Thanks so much for the video, it was great!

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much Aaron! Take care of yourself

[@afpwebworks]

Highly entertaining as always, Alanna. Now you’re making me feel old. All of those sayings have been common at some point in my life and I’m surprised they are unfamiliar to you so I claim a score of 17 I guess the English language has moved along more in England than it has here in Australia

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Great score! Thanks so much for watching!

[@KevinTheCaravanner]

Alanna, you’re very good at this. Ok, you’re not often right, but your thought processes are really good. Very entertaining and informative.

[@AthAthanasius]

I (English, age 49) got 14/17, which would have been 15 had I not thought "pip pip" was a greeting rather than a farewell. But, no, I don't use any of those in daily conversation. I *might* have used, or at least heard, a few of them in the past.

[@AthAthanasius]

To be honest, most of my exposure to such could well be from TV, movies and books, rather than in person.

[@markherzog9484]

A bright few minutes to cheer up anyone’s day ….. thanks A……🤗

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jrd33]

Entertaining video, thanks for guessing rather than just saying "I don't know". I have heard them all except "pip pip" and I guessed that correctly (it's the same meaning as tootle pip). Those 17 are a good start but you are only scratching the surface. Some slang is regional though so they are often hard to know if you don't come from that area.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@Nunya_Bidness_53]

I still don't know what "Wotcher" means 😆

[@jrd33]

@@Nunya_Bidness_53 "Hello mate".

[@MS-19]

Yes, I knew all of them. Really! However, unpacking them reveals that some are more present in my life than others: "Pearls before swine" - not one I have often used, but it has occurred to me occasionally. On the other hand, I have uttered "nailing colours to the mast" aplenty, and actually done that deed (or more accurately, whatever it may have represented) more than once. "Colder than a witch's t!t".... I've neither used it nor heard it, but it has variants that mean the same thing. "Pip pip" has been coupled in writing and in speech (and even song) with similes such as "cheerio" - it puts me in mind of the parting words of my grandparents' generation, and does indeed match the sound of vintage car horns, as heard on films of the 1930s and 1940s which my grandparents enjoyed when they were young and subsequently introduced me to. I hadn't realised it dates back so much further, however. "Know your onions" - check! "A nod is as good as a wink" - not one I have heard or used myself, but the meaning is pretty clear to me. "A stitch in time saves nine" - old and rather poetic chestnut, that one! Not that it is such common parlance now... "Ready for the knacker's yard" isn't one I hear often but "knackered" is in frequent use, and has the same derivation. "Dropping a clanger" and "dropping a howler" are both variants I've heard with some regularity. "Clanger" can, of course, infer a beloved 1970s animated kids' show... "Fly in the ointment" - check, very much! "Keen as mustard" - I often use and hear it, albeit in that abbreviation to just "keen." "A flash in the pan" is another retired chestnut. If anything, I tend more towards the synonymous "one-work wonder." "Tickety boo" was used by my grandparents and I occasionally hear it now, but don't use it myself... "A load of codswallop" more often comes out as "a load of cobblers" in my experience. "A curtain twitcher" is familiar in writing but less so in speech. "Nosey parker" is more often encountered, at least by me. "Knickers in a twist" - check, though I shouldn't admit to too much here...... "Dead as a doornail" - Charles Dickens took issue with this one, asserting that a "coffin-nail" surely ought to be regarded as the deadest piece of ironmongery.

[@Stu-Vino]

It's so funny hearing someone say these things for the first time! I'm in my mid-40s and most of them are pretty old hat even by my standards. I still say ready for knacker's yard, nail colours to mast, but that's about it. Great video!

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@tonys1636]

Got most, about 15, but then i am in my 7th decade now and learnt them from parents, they're not used that often now except by certain politicians.

[@DruncanUK]

I knew all of these but I’m surprised at myself for thinking everyone would know them. Well done Alana, you did well there!

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks for watching!

[@G53ij]

I also knew all of these and have used many, it was pretty common to hear and use them in everyday conversation but then I am 76!

[@wbradleyUtube]

Alanna, I always love watching your videos. I think I got about 5 of the 17 and had some fairly good guesses on 5 more. The rest stumped me.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks for watching!

[@kelpkelp5252]

A stitch in time saves nine : So if you wait too long you may end up needing to do nine stitches rather than just the one you would have had to do in the beginning :)

[@heroicrockstar]

Ohhh Karl, 🤣🤣🤣, a lot of people won't get this 🤣

[@MoominDoogie]

@@heroicrockstar It was the first thing I thought of when she read it 😂😂

[@chuck1804]

Yes, or 8, or 11....for example. This phrase always irritated me growing up because 9 is such an arbitrary (and dissatisfying) number but it feels crowbarred in there to make the thing rhyme.

[@kelpkelp5252]

@@chuck1804 Well, to make it a "saying" it has a rhyme :) 9 is meant to be a substitute for 'many'.

[@stuarts1219]

Yeah, I did get all 17 but it was interesting to learn the origins of some of the phrases.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Great score!

[@shearerslegs]

I think I got about six if you’re generous. I hadn’t heard most of them and the few I knew aren’t something I would hear from anyone often, my Mam would probably do better than I did. Thank you for the interesting video. I hope you have a good week and I look forward to Friday’s video.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much for watching! See you on Friday!

[@Malfie657]

I got ten, and I've lived here all my life so you did pretty well I reckon - I think some are more genuinely in use today than others and that's probably a reason for it. For once I don't think they are so much influenced by region, but certainly some have more to do with social class or background. Great fun Alanna...toodle pip!

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Not a bad score! Thanks so much for watching!

[@ashofthe3yamyamsa.k.aasher675]

Great video. Heard most of them but wasn't overly sure on meanings. Knackers yard been one of them, always used it myself & in friend groups when talking about mechanical things, cars & the like & used it in means of a scrap yard. Never heard that one about witches but swap out "cold as" for "flatter than" & hear that one alot.

[@RalphBellairs]

Agreed, "Flat as a witch's tit" is what I've always heard.

[@birdie1585]

Knackers still exist and always will so long as us humans keep farm livestock. Today they usually advertise as "********'s of fallen stock". Traditionally the meat was usually salvaged as pet food, or for the hunt kennels, but things like BSE have changed the trade a LOT. That said, many farmers would bury fallen stock on-site, which has been illegal for quite some years.

[@alanhilton3611]

It's an old northern saying but" mutton dressed as lamb" means a very mature woman or even old woman dressed in the style of a much younger person.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

😂 incredible

[@fatbelly27]

Think Carol Vorderman

[@littleblacksambo8447]

Typical northerner! How often one hears "as we say in Yorkshire" after a proverb that is common throughout the country.

[@Varksterable]

​@@littleblacksambo8447Exactly. It's a very Cornish saying but, "WTF?" 😅

[@orglancs]

This is fun, Alanna. I'm a native-speaker and have also been a teacher of English as a foreign language, but I had never heard the 'witch's tit' expression. I wouldn't worry about not knowing these idioms. I think they are lovely and poetic, but if you listen carefully to young people's speech nowadays you will realise that they do not use them at all and that they will soon have died out. It will be a terrible loss. You could also have put your foot in it and I could have cooked your goose, but the younger generation wouldn't know what you meant either. I have tried such expressions on teenagers and they have looked back blankly at me, as if I am speaking a foreign language!

[@jimharris9877]

Love your videos! Keep them coming :))))

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

☺️ Will do!

[@andymcgarty3099]

Most of those are so obscure I doubt many young Brits know them! Don't forget to use "Pearls before Swine" to rebuke those trolls who don't appreciate your videos in the future. Oh and being old not only did I get them all, I've used most of them in the past!! Great video and oh, your accent is getting very British too :)

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much!

[@jelofts]

You are a breath of fresh air Alana! Your videos always mahe me smile!

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Wow, thank you!

[@billydonaldson6483]

During the Battle of Camperdown, a sea battle between the Dutch and the British. The mast carrying the pennant of Admiral Duncan on his ship ‘Venerable’ was blown away by cannon fire. When a ship lowered its flag in a battle it was a sign of surrender. One of the sailors from my home city of Sunderland climbed up what was left of the mast and nailed the Admiral’s colours to it. He is commemorated in the city of his birth with a statue.

[@sam_9910]

I'm always learning something new from these videos. Culture is everything.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks for watching!

[@efnissien]

I use a variety of strange and unusual phrases "Let's go and 'tap the Admiral'" (To go and have a quick - sometimes illicit- drink), it goes back to the battle of Trafalgar when Nelsons body was put into a barrel of rum to preserve it for the trip back to Britain. However, upon arrival in Portsmouth it was discovered the barrel was half empty...and it's believed that the crew drank the missing rum (During Darwin's voyage to the Galapagos islands almost half the samples he took were destroyed after the sailors drank the ethanol from the jars used to preserve them). 'Lock, stock and barrel' -to get something wholesale - back in the days of musketry, a gentleman with suitable finances would buy a bespoke firearm. One person would provide the barrel, a locksmith would produce the firing mechanism and a cabinet maker would manufacture the stock (in fact the stock and grip are still occasionally called 'the furniture')- a gentleman of more modest means would buy an 'off the peg' rifle 'Lock stock and barrel'.

[@bluebluedragon5923]

Your video is very useful! I am going to live in Kent where I had studied long time ago.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Awesome!!

[@Sav453]

Great video Great content i always enjoy your videos. I've heard some of then but not all

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@rogerjenkinson7979]

Thanks.very entertaining. good guesses,even thewrong ones. the complete phrase is 'casting pearls before swine'.it's so ingrained in our culture that people often omit the first word ,knowing/assuming that bystanders will understand the context even if the person(s) referred to do not. We are a convoluted people.

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

Although I only spent six, junior prep years in the UK, I learned these phrases from my Albertan gramma, at home in Kenya. I got 17/17, but might add the first example you gave should have been "Cast your pearls before swine". The phrase which got my son into trouble when he went to school in the US (yrs 7 to 12) was when he asked his roommate to "knock him up" in the morning! BTW, my gramma used the phrase, "God willing and the creeks don't rise". Is this a typical Canadian prairies expression?

[@KeithGadget]

I think you can count Fly in the ointment as correct too. It was close enough. Something spoiling a plan .....an obstacle to the plan. Something to overcome or may stop it happening.

[@iainmalcolm9583]

Can't say I've used most but roughly knew the context rather than the 'proper' meaning. I think you did well because the hardest part is explaining the meaning.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks for watching!

[@TheDMFW62]

I knew all 17 but I've been around a while :-) Some are still widely used (e.g. nailing your colours to the mast, or pearls before swine), but it is totally fair to say that others are no longer in common use and you're far more likely to hear them on old films or as pre-war slang in books than in real life (e.g. pip, pip and tickety boo, both of which have an old fashioned upper class flavour such as might be found in Mary Poppins as you mentioned). Which is not to say that they don't crop up in everyday conversation on rare occasions, depending on who you are talking to. I'd always imagined that the meaning of the coldness of the witch's tit, derived from witch's covens dancing topless out on the moors in winter at night, that being the kind of thing they do, I'm told. But maybe not!

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Great score! Thanks so much for watching!

[@HiltonBenchley]

@@AdventuresAndNaps Ones such as "pip pip" and "tickety boo" (which I use, but rarely) both occur in the Jeeves and Wooster stories by P.G.Woodhouse. Most of these were written a hundred years ago about upper class folk and are comedic. The TV versions (esp with Fry & Laurie) are worth watching.

[@michaelstamper5875]

Entertaining and interesting, Alanna. The keen as mustard thing - in old fashioned English, keen was a word for a flavour that is sharp or tangy, like mustard is. My grandad used to use it in that sense as well as the way we know it now.

[@afpwebworks]

Wasn’t Keens a brand of mustard back about WWII time?

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Interesting! Thanks so much for watching!

[@ethelmini]

@@afpwebworks Apparently so, never knew that. Of course, the mustard could have got its name from the saying instead of the other way round 🤔

[@afpwebworks]

@@ethelmini Oh quite so! I"m in no position to know which came first.

[@Bluedex2011]

That was great fun, thanks Alanna ! ✨ I had heard of some of them and was truly baffled by others. How about combining something similar with beer tasting, that would be so funny 😂 Pip Pip - I think that meant goodbye.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@feanorian21maglor38]

Fun video! I did get them all, (sorry!) but I'm British, and though some of it is archaic (no one says 'pip pip'), most of them are imbued in the language and a lot of them still regularly used. The proverb "a stitch in time" literally means that if you sew a stitch when a seam starts to go, it'll save you 9 stitches later when it all comes apart, and as you said, is metaphorically an admonition to act sooner rather than later.

[@sam_c95]

I recognise like eight of them (I'm 26 and British), but the ones I actually knew were "nail your colours to the mast", "a stitch in time saves nine", "tickety boo", "codswallop", "knickers in a twist" and "dead as a doornail".

[@stevegrim]

"Pearls before swine" can be used in a way not originally intended (it's from the Bible). Occasionally someone might say "Age before beauty" when allowing someone else through a door before them, implying that that person is old. A clever retort to this is to say "Pearls before swine" as you sweep through the door, meaning you are a pearl and they are swine (a pig).

[@frogandspanner]

"Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces" (Matthew 7:6)

[@seanryan3020]

Yep, I've heard (of) that retort too.

[@pencilpauli9442]

Never heard anyone use "pearls before swine" that way. If anything, it suggests that pearls have been thrown before swine.

[@stevegrim]

@@pencilpauli9442 That is the way it is properly used and that's why this way is funny (ish) and clever. This way the "Pearls (the older person) are going through the door "before" the swine (the younger person).

[@pencilpauli9442]

@@stevegrim I get the joke. But as an older member of society, I would not be able to bring myself to call young people "swine" Even less so would I ever consider my self a pearl! 😂

[@talkingwriting]

Always a pleasure to see you Alana! About "a fly in the ointment" origin and context. "Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour. Ecc. 10:1

[@tobytroubs]

Knackers Yard was the place where old horses went to be put down

[@stevieduggan1763]

Don't drop a clanger on the soup dragon. 👴🇬🇧🤔😀

[@KevinTheCaravanner]

I use “a stitch in time” differently. I think it means: take your time and do it properly once saves redoing it several times coz you did a hurried job.

[@billmayor8567]

Knew all the sayings😊You actually did really well. Spot on with most of them.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@stephenparker6362]

Hi, Alanna, great fun, I got about 10 but I may have been generous with the scoring. Most of those I heard from my grandparents, not sure how much they're used these days

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Not a bad score!

[@SambaSp0rt]

Brilliant. Hadn't heard of half of them either, but really fun.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks for watching!

[@marksoutherton8888]

Thanks for another great video Alanna. I must go now as my daughter is coming round for dinner tonight, so I need to have a quick Scurryfunge before she arrives. Scurryfunge, I hear you ask 🤔😂 Great channel 👍

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

Thanks for watching!

[@wwciii]

13 I live in Texas but spent a lot of time growing up with UK expats.

[@stevegrim]

Nailing your colours (your flag) to the mast is what you might do in a naval battle if you meant to fight to the death. The sign showing you were surrendering is to lower your flag, if it is nailed to the mast there is no way it can be lowered and you therefore cannot surrender.

[@rolanddunk5054]

Hi Alanna,a good effort considering your still learning our ways.i got caught out on a few,but how about ,as old as my tongue and a little bit older than my teeth,when refusing to reveal one’s age.cheers Roly 🇬🇧.

[@MegaBoilermaker]

You are an absolute gem lass.!

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

☺️

[@GemDotThirteen]

Great Video Alanna! Some of your guess were pretty close, I'd say you were right... I'd heard of 12 of them but only knew the meaning of 7 & have probably only ever used 3 😂 Nowadays I think most are only used by the older generation (I'll probably regret saying that lol)…

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

😂 can't wait for the comments

[@paulbrown3820]

:: grabs popcorn and waits::

[@RalphBellairs]

Can't argue as I knew them all and I'm older than I care dwell on!

[@rbrooks2007]

@@AdventuresAndNaps The comedian Micky Flanagan has made a skit out of the curtain twitcher... kzbin.info/www/bejne/fX6qZGqLa6ycmaM