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by cuttysnark 30 days ago
I experienced this. I only lived in the U.K. for 6 months, but the number of chiefly British phrases/words/idioms that nestled their way into my way of speaking and stayed (20+ years on) was interesting and somewhat surprising.

For example, I never said "supposed to" again — "meant to" has always sounded and felt so much better. Similarly, "can't be bothered/asked" often exactly describes the situation in a way that "I don't want to" seemingly can't.

I'd also like to add "bum bag" v. "fanny pack" was a valuable lesson and a memorable laugh.

2 comments

> can't be asked

What you heard wasn't what they were saying.

what was it then
Arsed. Both are used in my experience, though arsed seems more common. Could be regional.
"Asked" is usually a euphemism for "arsed".
> can't be bothered/asked

Aussie translation: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/can%27t_be_fucked