Feifei Welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei.
Neil And I’m Neil.
Feifei And today we’re teaching a British slang expression – or maybe just half an expression!
Neil The phrase is not half. Two simple words – but you need to know what they mean when used together.
Feifei Let’s try it out first and see if you can work out what it means. For example, Neil, you really enjoyed that pizza, didn’t you?
Neil Not half! I love pizza. And Feifei, you love playing darts, don’t you?
Feifei Darts, not half! I play every night. So – what does not half mean? It means ‘very much’ in these answers. When I replied “not half” I meant: ‘Yes, very much.’ I really like darts.
Neil And do you?
Feifei What?
Neil Like darts?
Feifei Erm, that’s not the point. I’m trying to give an example.
Neil For the record, I do love pizza.
Examples A: That party was awesome!
B: Not half, mate. The music was incredible.
A: Not half is a useful phrase, huh?B: Not half.
Feifei Ahh, that was a funny example. Now, before we go – let’s teach a variation of this phrase.
Neil In this version, we have not half followed by an adjective. For example: I just got back from Singapore. It’s not half expensive.
Feifei So – that means it’s very expensive! Not half expensive. Similarly, if I were to say: “Your new haircut’s not half nice, Neil!”
Neil You would be saying my haircut is very nice. Was that just another example?
Feifei Oh no, I meant it.
Neil Too kind.
Feifei Er, thanks! So there we are – not half meaning ‘very much’.
Neil And not half with an adjective.
Feifei See you next time.
Neil Bye…