What English phrases really mean

6 Minute English

BBC

Language Learning, Education

4.5 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2026

⏱️ 7 minutes

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Summary

We've all been there – we're talking to someone and they say one thing, when we know they mean something else! British people love to play with language, using it deliberately to disguise, misdirect or even change their meaning entirely. But why do we do it? And what are some of the common things to look out for? Pippa and Beth discuss this and teach you some new vocabulary.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts.
0:06.0	Understand news stories in English with our Learning English from the News podcast.
0:11.2	In each episode, we talk about one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.
0:18.4	Follow the biggest stories in the world and improve your
0:21.2	English. Search for Learning English from the News in your podcast app or visit BBClearningEnglish.com.
0:32.3	6 Minute English from BBC LearningEnglish.com.
0:36.4	Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Pippa and I'm Beth. In English, what we say and what we mean are sometimes two very different things. We often use exaggeration for emphasis or for humour, something known as hyperbole.
0:56.2	For example, people say, I am so hungry I could eat a horse, but of course no one really could.
1:03.4	Here's presenter Michael Rosen and linguist Derek Boussfield, discussing one example of hyperbole on BBC Radio 4's word of mouth.
1:12.9	People do say, absolute nightmare. Yeah, or as my daughters would say, I've had a mare today.
1:18.3	And when they say mayor, which is obviously shortened for nightmare, what it basically means is
1:21.3	they've had a mild and potentially slightly humorous occurrence at work.
1:25.4	You might call an unpleasant or difficult experience a nightmare.
1:30.0	Derek's daughter used the word mare, short for nightmare, to describe her terrible day at work.
1:35.6	But she was exaggerating. Her day wasn't really terrible, more like strange or annoying.
1:41.7	Can you remember a time when what you said wasn't really what you meant, Beth?
1:45.6	Well, sometimes we say, hi, you're all right, which means hi, are you all right? Like, are you
1:50.9	okay? But actually, we don't really want to hear the answer. It just means hello, doesn't it?
1:57.1	Yeah, I have a friend who actually just says, all right, and they just mean, hello. They don't mean,
2:02.5	are you okay? They don't want to hear about my day. No, if you're having a bad day, they don't
2:07.6	want to know. They're just saying hello. In this episode, we'll be finding out more about how
2:12.5	the meaning of words changes in English. As usual, we'll be learning some useful new words and phrases.
	...

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