《闲话英伦》英国人的“言外之意”你懂了吗？

·  In British English, there are certain phrases – meaning is different from what you might understand.

Politeness?

Excuse me?  向下的声调表示生气

I beg your pardon?   向下声调表示“你有种再说一次”

You’re welcome.  可以用来讥讽不说谢谢的人

Pop around any time/You must come for dinner  

改天到家来玩（并不是真心邀请）  

Good vs. Bad

It’s quite good    =  not so good

That film’s not bad   = pretty good

Not too bad, actually  = pretty alright

That’s interesting.   = that's not good at all

·   Use of “quite”, “rather”  （比较，有一点）

That’s just perfect!    有两种理解，具体看语调！

Two scenarios:

1 . Hi Anlan,  I have got the book you always wanted.     

2. Hi Anlan, I’m so sorry I have lost your book.

Disagreeing  （以下都是不同意的时候说的话）

I hear what you say..

That’s certainly one way to look at it.

That’s a good point, I’ll bear it in mind  

With all due respect,…  恕我直言

Understatement

轻描淡写/低调描述

It’s a bit wet  （实际倾盆大雨）

It’s a bit chilly  （实际冰天雪地）

I’m a bit busy.  （实际已经忙得脚不着地）

·  These are only generalizations and sometimes people might mean what they say