Pratique du Shadowing: 16 British Food Insults You Need to Know - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo

If a British person looks you straight in the  eye and calls you a doughnut, do not say thank you. In Britain, food isn't just for eating.  Apparently, it's also a precision weapon for polite disrespect. Now, in many cultures across  the world, if you want to show someone love, you give them a compliment. Yeah, we do that,  too. But in Britain, if we really like you, we might insult you by calling you some random  food words. So, in this lesson, we're going to rank British food insults from warm affection all  the way up to kind of argument words, including how a simple compliment like the words smart  cookie becomes lethal sarcasm with the wrong tone.

Before we rank the words, you need to understand  the golden rule of British culture. Politeness often equals distance and insults often equal  intimacy. If a British person is overly polite and constantly saying things like, "Oh, after  you. No, no problem at all. Not not to worry." It usually means that they don't know you very well,  that they're not overly comfortable with you. And sometimes if we really become overpolite, it can  mean that we secretly want you to leave. However, if you say something that somebody thinks is maybe  a bit silly and they say, "Nice one, you donut." Congratulations. you're possibly in the inner  circle because insulting each other playfully is how British people show affection without having  to get emotionally vulnerable. And before we move on to the first of our words, there is a free PDF  that you can download in the description to learn even more about this lesson. You can find that  link in the description. Please do remember to like and hype the lesson. It helps other learners  to watch it again. But now, let's start right at the top with tier one, harmless banter. First up,  we have sausage. This is reserved for those small cute mistakes. So, if your friend accidentally  wears old socks or forgets where they parked, oh, you silly sausage. What do you like? Notice  that we commonly use it with the word silly. Silly sausage. Now, parents may say this to children  when they do something cute but a bit silly.

partners may say it to each other and it carries  zero malice. We also do use it on its own. Oh, sausage. It's just a very cute way of referring  to somebody's silliness. Next, we have butter fingers. This is an instant reaction when  somebody drops a glass, misses a catch, or fumbles the keys. You know, those people that are  a bit clumsy, like, oh, oh, oh, they drop things.

Have you dropped your phone again? Butter fingers.  We also sometimes use it to talk about ourselves when we drop something. butter fingers uh when we  dropped things on the floor and we know that we've been a bit overly clumsy. Also, on a side note,  as a kid, I was awful at catching things. So, my father would throw things to me and I would  try to catch it. I would miss it and my father would say, "Oh, butter fingers." Heard that one a  lot. It's playful. It's harmless and almost always delivered with a chuckle. Butter fingers. Then we  have doughnut. Now, this one completely confused my wife. This is a light classic bit of British  banter for when somebody makes a harmless slip up, a bit of a mistake, and they'll fundamentally the  word donut kind of means idiot, but in a lovable way. You absolute doughnut. You left the front  door wide open. The cats could have got out. Now, it does sound a bit harsh on paper, and I will  say actually the word idiot is pretty harsh. I wouldn't really use it. But donut, well, calling  someone a pastry softens the blow completely.

And I told you this one really confused my wife.  My wife was talking with her close friend. My her close friend is British. My wife's Brazilian. She  said something that the friend thought was a bit silly. And she said, "You doughnut." And my wife  was left wondering why somebody would ever call her a doughnut. Well, now she knows, and you do,  too. A classic across the English-speaking world, but heavily used in Britain, is couch potato.  Now, this one probably originated in the US, but it is so widely used in the UK. In fact, we  don't often use the word couch either in British English. We'd call it a sofa or a settee, but  in this expression, we do say couch potato.

It basically means somebody who's being a bit  lazy or unproductive. Mate, stop being such a couch potato and come outside. It's got this very  visual image that it puts in your head of somebody turning into this kind of fat potato on the sofa.  It's very mild and very relatable. But obviously, if somebody's using it with a bit more malice to  describe somebody that they don't really like and they call them a couch potato, then it does carry  more weight. But in general, we'd use it to maybe encourage our friends to stop being lazy, to stop  being unproductive, to come out and join us. Oh, I don't want to go out tonight. I'm a bit tired  after work. Come on, don't be such a couch potato. Come and join us at the pub. It's got this  idea of somebody sitting in front of the telly, which is the British slang word for television,  and just spending hours as they kind of sink into the sofa. Now, for most of the words on this list,  we are talking about a kind of neutral tone. But yours do need to be careful with the tone in  British English. For example, this expression, smart cookie. You need to pay attention  to this one because smart cookie is where British English gets tricky. Now, I imagine this  is another one that didn't originate in the UK, but it is also widely used. Now, on paper, smart  cookie is a compliment. It means clever. Oh, he's a smart cookie. If I mean it genuinely,  but tone of voice changes everything. Now, if I use a genuine tone, it sounds like a genuine  compliment. She solved that puzzle in 10 seconds.

She's a smart cookie. So, that sounds like I'm  genuinely calling that person intelligent, clever, smart. However, listen to this tone of voice. This  is a more sarcastic tone. And did you just pour boiling water instead of milk into your cereal  bowl? You are a smart cookie, aren't you? You can see the difference. Zero facial expressions  and my tone of voice is a lot flatter. There's a lot less energy and enthusiasm. The same two  words. The first is genuine praise and the other is pure concentrated British sarcasm. Always  listen to the tone of voice. And of course, the more sarcastic and more potentially passive  aggressive we become, the the harsher the insult.

But now we're stepping up to tier two. These are  mild teasing. Now, these aren't normally endearing pet names. You use these when somebody genuinely  makes a foolish mistake, acts incompetent, or gets on your nerves. And first up, we have plum. A  plum is someone who's done something visibly, undeniably stupid or foolish. He turned up to the  airport without his passport. What an absolute plum. It highlights that someone made a completely  avoidable mistake. And before we continue, we'll also say that context is key. So the stronger  the relationship, the stronger the friendship, the more you may get away with some of these words  in tier 2 as well. But I wouldn't in general use these for people you don't really know or for  people you're not overly comfortable with. Next, we have melon. This is used when somebody shows  zero common sense or maybe even spatial awareness.

Did you just walk straight into a lamp post?  Oh, look where you're going, you melon. Calling someone kind of an oversized fruit adds just  enough humour to keep it from starting a real argument. Then we have lemon. In British slang,  a lemon can be a defective object that doesn't work or a person who's completely useless in a  crisis or situation. He he tried to fix the tap and he ended up flooding the entire kitchen.  What a lemon. Nutty can be used to describe someone or their behaviour and it basically means  eccentric, wild, or completely illogical. Did you hear what she said to that bloke at the bar? She  is proper nutty. Proper is a British slang word to mean really or very. We can also use nutty to  talk about an idea that we think is pretty much insane. Going for a swim in the sea in the middle  of January. That is that is nutty. It's slightly less intense than calling someone crazy, which  makes it perfect for light bickering. And yes, sometimes we may even use this with our friends  if they do something really ridiculous. Again, context is key. Relationships matter. An  alternative to nutty is nuts. We use that as an adjective as well. She is nuts. Next up,  turnip. Root vegetables make brilliant British insults because they imply someone is dense,  slow, and lacks basic brain power. He didn't check the map before driving 2 hours in the wrong  direction. Oh. Oh, he's a turnip. And finally, for tier two, we have prune. This is also used  to mean that somebody is a bit of an idiot, a bit stupid and they kind of stand out because of their  stupidity. You thought that Africa was a country, not a continent. You prune. We also use it when  somebody does something absolutely ridiculous as well. You went to the bar to order drinks and  you came back with a jug of water. Mate, you you're such a prune. It can also be used to say  that somebody looks like a bit of an idiot. What are you wearing? That's awful. to prune. Again,  it's this idea of standing out and being a bit ridiculous at the same time. Now, before we make  it to tier three, please remember to like and hype this video and let me know your favourite food  insult from the ones you've heard today. But we have finally arrived at tier three. These are high  danger. These are no longer playful pet names or light teasing. When British people use these food  words, they are attacking, well, they're directly attacking someone's character, backbone, sanity,  or even their trustworthiness. And first up, we have melt. This is modern British slang that  became huge through reality TV, and it is quite a sharp insult. Now, of course, the relationship  of the two people saying it to each other really does matter. But a melt is someone who's soft,  pathetic, and sometimes completely overemotional about, you know, over tiny things. He started  crying because because his football team lost a friendly match. What an absolute melt. Calling  someone a melt basically means they lack emotional toughness. And we often use it as well to just  basically mean they're an idiot. But it is quite a sharp word. I wouldn't want a friend of mine to  call me a melt. Next up, wet lettuce. Picture a piece of soggy, limp lettuce just hanging out the  side of a sandwich. That is basically what you're calling this person and sort of referring to their  spine. He was in a restaurant and the the waiter brought over the soup and it was freezing cold. It  was absolutely disgusting. No, it wasn't gazpacho.

It was meant to be warm and he didn't even ask  the waiter to send it back. He just sat there and at it. Oh, he's a complete wet lettuce.  A wet lettuce is someone who is weak, timid, or sort of refuses to stand up for themselves. And  sometimes we also use it to talk about somebody who's just really emotional, over emotional, just  crying all the time. He watched that film and he just cried all the way through. He's such a Oh,  he's such a wet lettuce. While fruit cake is a traditional dense British cake, and I I absolutely  love it, as an insult, it implies that someone is completely unhinged or unpredictable, often sort  of eccentric. He keeps three wild foxes in his living room. The man is a total fruit cake. It  just basically means somebody who's completely lost their mind. Now, I love fruit cake. I love  eating it. And I also love this word. I may use it in banter with some of my friends, but neutrally  with somebody I didn't know, I I wouldn't use it because I wouldn't want to offend them. Again, in  British culture, the closer you are as friends, the the the the stronger the friendship,  the stronger the insults can become. And with my close friends, I might just use the word  fruit cake to describe them if they do something that I think is completely insane or eccentric.  With somebody I don't really know, I would avoid this word as I think it could actually be quite  offensive. The word fruitcake is often paired with the phrase nutty as a fruitcake. Oh, he's as nutty  as a fruitcake. And there's that word nutty again, which brings me on to the word nut. Nut as a noun.  Now, I would say nuts and nutty, they're a bit weaker than using the noun form. Nut basically  means insane, unhinged, and potentially even aggressive. He is an absolute nut. He just started  a fight with the barman. I don't know why. I don't know what the problem was. Oh, goodness me. I I  think I need to stop coming out with him. He is a nut. It's basically questioning the sanity of that  person. While fishy can often be used to describe a smell, that smell of fish, calling a situation  or a person fishy means that something seems to be wrong either ethically or legally. It's basically  another way of saying seems a bit dodgy. In other words, I don't really trust the person, the  situation, or what they're saying. And that's why it could be quite rude. You're effectively saying,  "I don't believe you or your story." He says he's lost his wallet for the third time this week. I  mean, it seems a bit fishy to me. In other words, a bit suspicious. Now, the last two are ones that  I would never ever use even with my friends. So, first of the last two, we have bad egg. A bad egg.  Or even the rarer, harsher version, a rotten egg.

This isn't about being silly. This is a moral  judgment. A bad egg is someone who's dishonest, dodgy, and untrustworthy. That's why I would never  use it with my friends because I don't hang around with these sort of people. I don't spend time  with dishonest or untrustworthy people. I wouldn't leave your phone around him. He seems to be he's a  bit of a bad egg. If someone calls you a bad egg, you are officially out of the inner circle. They  you know, why would you want to spend time with that kind of person? And as I say, rotten egg  could be even harsher. He's a bit of a rotten egg. On the flip side, we do have the compliment  good egg, which means a good person, but we don't really use it. It's not very common. I wouldn't  say, oh, you know, he's a good egg. You might hear it from time to time, but it's not that common,  but it exists. Finally, butters is a massive piece of modern British street slang. Butters basically  means unattractive, ugly. And yeah, that's why it's really harsh because it is harsh to call a  person ugly. This word is more commonly used by younger British people. So Sandra said she went  on a date with some guy and the picture on his profile didn't really match what he looked like  in real life. Basically, she said he was Butters and she's not going to go on a date with him  again. In my opinion, Sandra needs to well stop being so superficial. She uh she needs to date  people for who they are, not what they look like.

I really got into that then, didn't I?  You may also hear people using the word butters to describe things as well. I tried  on those new shoes in the shop, but honestly, they were proper butters. That word proper again.  You may get away with it in that sense when you're talking about a thing external from the group.  But if my friend were wearing those shoes, I wouldn't say your shoes are butters, mate.  Because again, that's really rude. But again, this one is more commonly used by younger people.  But it's worth knowing. So, from calling your best friend a silly sausage or a donut to calling  an untrustworthy person a bad egg, British food vocabulary covers the entire spectrum of human  emotion. Now, what I want to know in the comments is which of these food insults surprised you the  most? And what food is used as an insult in your country? Let me know below. Thank you very much  for watching and I'll see you in the next lesson.