British Understatement

Posted on January 6, 2016

As you become ‘quite good’ at English, you might have noticed a thing called British understatement. It’s inherent to British culture and can baffle us foreigners, apparently even other English speakers like Americans and Australians.

Did you know, Shakespeare popularised the phrase “manners maketh the man” but that it had already been in common use for hundreds of years? This means the British have been saying “manners maketh the man” for the best part of a millennium! Undoubtedly, this is still just as true today, even if what constitutes good manners has evolved over time.

Manners are all-important, and generally the British use understatement with the intention of being kind. They want harmony, not to hurt your feelings, and to maintain a positive relationship. Communicating in a very direct, harsh way can damage your relationship with British people. This is because it may be interpreted as an insult, which will be remembered, and a disinclination to want any future relationship.

British understatement: Beware!

My opening line in the first paragraph is an example with a touch of somewhat implied sarcasm. If a British person says “Oh, your idea is quite good.” then a non-English speaking foreigner might be very pleased with the praise. However, is it praise? Of course it may depend on the context and the intonation used by the person to some extent. In truth, the meaning can range from “surprisingly good” at the best to “somewhat disappointing” at the low end.

British understatement: Translations

For those of you who may be good at English but know less about UK culture, the following are translations from British understatement to plain English.

“That’s very interesting” means “That is clearly nonsense”
“That is a very brave proposal” means “You are insane”
“With the greatest respect” means “You are an idiot”
“I only have a few minor comments” means “Please rewrite this completely”

Some might say these are exaggerated interpretations to make fun of the British, but there is a lot of truth in them. So please be aware and watch out.

By Honami Matsutani, business skills trainer at Orchid English. 

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