34: British Etiquette

Easy English: Learn English with everyday conversations

Today, the duo talk about the strange cultural rhetorical greeting "y'alright?" How to be the giver... and receiver of it, before going into the Topic of the Week, discussing typical British etiquette around queuing for buses, cashier desks and buying rounds of drinks. Long-time member James also asks us a question about teaching English in our regular segment of Unhelpful Advice. If you would also like to ask us a question, go to easyenglish.fm.

Interactive Transcript

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Show Notes

• British Etiquette video: WHAT is Considered RUDE In the UK? (Easy English 172)

Transcript

Intro

Mitch:
[0:22] Good evening.

Isi:
[0:23] Good evening Mitch, how are you doing?

Mitch:
[0:27] Very well, thank you. Yeah, how would it be done... I'm thinking of 1930s/40s Britain. Hello welcome to the Easy English Podcast.

Isi:
[0:35] Alright. (Alright?) Alright (Are you alright?) Are you alright?

Mitch:
[0:40] And always the answer; yeah you? But never really meaning it.

Isi:
[0:43] Yeah me to, thanks, thanks, bye. Such a stupid conversation, really.

Mitch:
[0:52] Yeah you? Welcome to the Easy English Podcast... I said that already.

Isi:
[0:55] By the way, I always walk on when people ask me that, I always say like; yeah... and then I just go and I make the 'yeah' so long that I don't have to ask 'and you', because then I think in my German manners, that I have to wait for the answer that nobody wants to give me anyway, so always I'm like; oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you, yeah. And then I just make a chewing gum and I'm already around the corner. (Oh really?) I did it yesterday, in the hallway, with one of the builders.

Mitch:
[1:22] Oh yeah, he said; "hey, yeah, you alright?"

Isi:
[1:24] Yeah, and I was just like; oh yeah, thank you. Yeah, yeah. And I just went on.

Mitch:
[1:29] You don't even need to respond.

Isi:
[1:31] Yeah, you should say; yeah, how are you? But then nothing comes back. And that is for me, a weird end of a conversation, right?

Mitch:
[1:39] Yeah, I find it weird. It happened also to me we were in the park and two school girls got jumped on by Nola, in a loving way.

Isi:
[1:46] Well, they provoked her to jump on her. They were running at her like... While running at her they were like; is she friendly? And we were like; yeah. So basically, they jumped on her.

Mitch:
[1:57] And then I said... because I was actually asking; are they all right? I was like; are you all right? And she went; "yeah you?" And then I realised; oh she thinks I'm asking like; are you alright? Like, how are you?

Isi:
[2:12] That is really... we had another podcast I think in the very beginning where we talked about this and it's still a big topic for me. I find it weird, because it's also about the intonation.

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