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10 BRITISH SLANG VERBS & PHRASAL VERBS

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to English with Lucy.

You guys have requested it. I’ve had so many requests for another slang, British slang video, so I thought I’d cover British slang verbs and also some slang phrasal verbs as well. Really, really useful.

The first one is ‘to fancy’, and I have mentioned this one before, but it’s so important that I’m going to mention it again. You need to know this verb. You need to know it, we use it all the time. It has two meanings, it can mean to be romantically interested in somebody, so an example could be, I fancied Will for ages and I was gobsmacked when I found out that he fancied me too.’ ‘Gobsmacked’ means shocked, speechless.

Now, the other way that we use this verb is to express that we want or we feel like something. I could say, I really fancy fish and chips tonight. And that means I really feel like fish and chips. I want fish and chips. Or in a question, do you fancy going to the pub? Do you want to go to the pub? Do you feel like going to the pub? Now, note I said, do you want to go, but do you fancy going? Do you feel like going? So, remember that if you use it in an exam. Right, the next one, number two is a phrasal verb.

It is to dob somebody in. To dob somebody in. This means to report a person to somebody of authority for a wrongdoing. So, if somebody’s done something wrong, you inform someone in a position of authority. For example, I can’t believe Ellie dobbed me in to the teacher for skipping class yesterday. She dobbed me in. She informed the teacher, who is in a position of authority, over me. She told on me. She dobbed me in. I remember at school, if somebody was being mean, I’d say, I’m gonna dob you in, which means I’m going to tell the teacher.

(chuckles) Right, the next one, number three, another phrasal verb. This one is to chat somebody up. To chat somebody up. Now, this can mean two things in British English. The first one is the more common use and the second one is slightly less common, it’s kind of used in a more sarcastic way. The first meaning is to talk to somebody in a flirtatious way. To talk to somebody flirtatiously.

So, if somebody’s paying me lots and lots of compliments, I might say, are you chatting me up? Are you flirting with me? I think in America you might say to hit on. Are you hitting on me? Are you chatting me up? The other meaning is to talk to somebody persuasively, normally with ulterior motives. For example, say a bouncer wouldn’t let us into a club, I’ll say, I’ll see if I can chat her up. It doesn’t mean I’m going to flirt with her. It means I’m going to try and be really, really nice to her to try and persuade her to let us in. The next one, to be up for something. We use this all the time.

Are you up for it? I’m up for it. She’s up for it. The meaning is very simple. It means to want to do something. So, if I am up for going out, I want to go out, I feel like going out. So, if I say, we’re going ice skating tonight if you’re up for it, it means we’re going ice skating tonight if you want to come too.

It’s very, very informal. Next, another one we use all the time. I use it so frequently, and when I talk to non-native speakers, I try and carefully select my verbs so that I avoid using slangs so that they can understand me better, but pop is the one that I struggle with because I just use it all the time. And pop, the meaning is very simple. Once you understand it, you will be fine. It means to go somewhere usually for a short period of time and often without notice. So, without notice is you haven’t advised or the place or the people that you’re going to go there, you’re going to visit. We often use it with a preposition. I’m just popping out.

I’m just going outside for a short period of time. Or I’m just gonna pop to the shops. Do you want anything? I’m just going to go to the shops. Do you need anything? Or if I say, do you mind if I pop in for a minute? It means do you mind if I quickly visit your house for a second? So it’s normally something spontaneous, unplanned, short period of time, but it basically just means go.

Number six, to go on about. This means to talk continuously and to talk too much. It’s teetering, it’s only just on the negative side. So, if I say, ugh, what’s she going on about again, it means what’s she talking about continuously and too much again? But sometimes it’s used in quite an affectionate way.

What are you going on about? What’s he going on about? But we sometimes forget the going bit, so what are you on about? What’s he on about? Be prepared to hear people say on about instead of to go on about. Number seven, another phrasal verb, very important one. Can also just be a verb on its own, it is to faff around, or you can shorten it to faff, just to faff. It’s not a phrasal verb in this case.

It’s got two meanings, both are quite similar. The first meaning, the most common one is to spend time doing unimportant things and avoid what you really should be doing. A little bit like to procrastinate but with more emphasis on doing the unimportant things. What have you been doing? Have you just been faffing around? I’m trying to say what have you been doing have you been avoiding all the important tasks and just doing meaningless tasks? The other meaning is to behave in a silly way, so if someone’s being a little bit stupid joking around too much I might say stop faffing around, stop messing around it could also mean.

Faff on its own, stop faffing, oh I’m just faffing. We don’t necessarily have to include that around there. Number eight, a verb on its own, to scoff, to scoff, and this in British English slang means to eat something quickly and greedily. So if I see someone eating their lunch really really quickly I might say you scoff that, you ate that quickly and greedily. It’s very informal, it’s quite friendly, it’s not necessarily negative if you use it in the right way. So I might say I scoffed my dinner and I went up for seconds. I ate my dinner really quickly and greedily, and to go up for seconds means to return to the food with your plate to get a second helping.

Number nine, another phrasal verb, this one is to crack on with something or someone because there is a new use for this phrasal verb. The first one is to proceed or to progress quickly. You know at the beginning of my lessons I say right let’s get started with the lesson. I could say let’s crack on with the lesson, let’s get going, let’s proceed quickly and progress quickly too. Another newer meaning for this phrasal verb is to flirt with somebody. So if I say I saw James cracking on with Holly, it means I saw James at least attempting to flirt with Holly. I guess you could think that it’s somebody trying to progress with their relationship with a specific person but please remember that that one is very informal and it’s relatively new. The last one number 10 is to skive.

It’s a verb on its own, but you can add the preposition off and say to skive off. It means the same thing. The definition is to avoid work, school, or a particular duty by leaving early or by just not going, staying away. I might say I’m going to skive off this last lesson because the teacher just reads off the slides. If they’re just reading off the sides, it means they’re just reading the words on the presentation, they’re not adding anything extra. It was my pet hate. It was something that particularly annoyed me at school and at university. Why just read me the presentation if I can read it myself at home.

Let’s not go into too much detail. Or you could say, oh I think Tom skived off work yesterday because he called in sick. He said he was ill on the telephone and then I saw him in the shopping centre. Naughty. Have you ever skived off work? Comment below if you have. Right, so those are the 10 British slang phrasal verbs and verbs. Why is that so hard to say?