Most used words in British English?

So, what are the most used words in British?

I know you guys use a lot of " quite often, quite this quite that ...
what else? :biggrin:

oh, and you say half past seven, quarten past five ...
and Have you got - instead of do you have
and lift/elevator chip/fries

(im not saying one is better than the other, i just want to know the big differences)

EDIT: I meant the words in British that are very used and not so common in other dialects :biggrin:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 1

lonely14

15

'People'

'the'

Reply 2

Stems

I thought "Ok" was the most used word, might be wrong

Reply 3

moqo

Erm... you meant 'quite' not 'quiet', didn't you? Anyway, the most common word in English is actually 'the' and then 'of', 'to', 'and', 'a/n'...

...

...

...

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 4

Shaun1991

11

1. the
2. be
3. to
4. of
5. and
6. a
7. in
8. that
9. have
10. I
11. it
12. for
13. not
14. on
15. with
16. he
17. as
18. you
19. do
20. at
21. this
22. but
23. his
24. by
25. from
26. they
27. we
28. say
29. her
30. she
31. or
32. an
33. will
34. my
35. one
36. all
37. would
38. there
39. their
40. what
41. so
42. up
43. out
44. if
45. about
46. who
47. get
48. which
49. go
50. me
51. when
52. make
53. can
54. like
55. time
56. no
57. just
58. him
59. know
60. take
61. people
62. into
63. year
64. your
65. good
66. some
67. could
68. them
69. see
70. other
71. than
72. then
73. now
74. look
75. only
76. come
77. its
78. over
79. think
80. also
81. back
82. after
83. use
84. two
85. how
86. our
87. work
88. first
89. well
90. way
91. even
92. new
93. want
94. because
95. any
96. these
97. give
98. day
99. most
100. us

Reply 5

Hopple

18

"it?", "Awful", 'today', "isn't", "weather"

Reply 6

Captain92

"The" and "be" are widely believed to the top two.

Reply 7

Teaddict

17

"yeah" "like" "whatever"

"well"

I'm assuming you don't want to know the most used words in British English, but those used that aren't really used in other variations?

So:

- chips
- lift
- tap
- sink
- boot
- holiday
- university (instead of school)
- biscuits (instead of cookies)
- film (instead of movie)
etc.

Reply 10

Nayred

12

"F*ck"
"C*nt"
"W*nker"
"T*sser*
"B*stard*

Reply 11

Psyk

16

Original post by jeh_jeh

- university (instead of school)

Really we use university instead of college if you're comparing it to American English. And when people say college what they usually mean is something that's actually more like high school. But that depends on the context, it's sometimes used to mean other things too.

Some important ones to remember (again, assuming you're comparing it to American English):

Pants = underwear not trousers
Fanny = vagina not bottom
Spaz = offensive word for someone with cerebral palsy

Reply 12

jeh_jeh

2

Original post by Psyk

Really we use university instead of college if you're comparing it to American English. And when people say college what they usually mean is something that's actually more like high school. But that depends on the context, it's sometimes used to mean other things too.

Some important ones to remember (again, assuming you're comparing it to American English):

Pants = underwear not trousers
Fanny = vagina not bottom
Spaz = offensive word for someone with cerebral palsy

I have a friend who goes to grad school in Chicago, and another who goes to school (university) in Philadelphia. I've never heard an American person use university, really. But, yeah, I agree on the colllege point.

I'd say 'spaz' is offensive to people with any sort of physical (mainly motor) disability but, yeah, it originated from cerebral palsy.

Oh, if you're comparing British and Australian English, thongs are flipflops and not underwear...!

Reply 13

mel0n

17

'I'

Bull**** sounds like a nice word too

Reply 14

508836

3

Laugh out loud

Well in a virtual sense

Reply 15

Psyk

16

Original post by jeh_jeh

I have a friend who goes to grad school in Chicago, and another who goes to school (university) in Philadelphia. I've never heard an American person use university, really. But, yeah, I agree on the colllege point.

Yeah I suppose they do quite often say "school" when referring to university in America. But the point is university is a particular level of school, not just a general term for school, which is something your original post didn't make clear.