Are these phrases ‘unsophisticated’?

[ZebraAntics]

British English is not my first form of English that I learned, I learned American English first (that autocorrected to American Elvish which would have been much better, but anyways). Since moving to the UK I have picked up a lot of different phrases and I have since been told by one (granted, rather posh person) that the phrases I have picked up are problematic and make me seem unsophisticated.

Example phrase 1:
That’s done for it.

Example phrase 2:
That’s a good shout.

Example phrase 3:
Give your head a wobble. (This one is my favourite)

I’m not going to stop using phrases I like but it does make me wonder, are there other phrases like this considered ‘rough’ or whatever unsophisticated is meant to mean? Are these even rough or is he just a snob?!

1 I recognise as "done for" rather than "done for it" so sounds slightly clumsy
2)Informal, but no problem
3)I've only heard on mumsnet, and if said directly to someone's face would be rather rude

Firstly, don't allow criticism by your 'posh' (rude) friend. The UK has so many variations.
Number one, I would say "that's done for".
Number two is fine and used a lot.
Number three, I have only heard on MN.

Someone mentioned 'asshat' which I love from reading books set in the US.
When I am really annoyed I always use 'for fuck's sake' but never in company.

"That's done for it" should really be "it's done for".

"That's a good shout" is similar to the American "good call".

"Give your head a wobble" is a bit direct and uncouth.

I think it would be

That’s done for - the glass is broken beyond repair
That’s done it now - the glass breaking is the last straw and now the whole dinner party is ruined

However what you said is perfectly understandable, and I’ve no idea why someone would criticise it. It’s slightly incorrect English, but has nothing to do with being unsophisticated.

Language is tricky even when you speak the same one.

I worked with a teacher from Canada, at the end of her first lesson in England told the class to put their "books in the bin", one very literal student did just that and she told him off for it. Ofcourse it was a miscommunication on both parts and once she repeated the incident in the staff room she quickly learnt that we call them 'book boxes' and would only refer to a waste receptacle as a bin (and she ofcourse apologised to the student when she next saw them).

1. I think it’s, ‘that’s done for’
2. fine
3. Rude, also I haven’t heard it in real life I don’t think

Aw, thank you!

We say “that’s done for it” in a kind of Alan Partridge voice when something goes wrong in this house.

Good shout is commonly used here - NE Scotland.

I have only ever heard “give your head a wobble” on MN, never said aloud. It always makes me think of “go on, boil your heid” - essentially, get to fuck - but I know it’s not the same!

I have to disagree a bit.

I wouldn't use the drongo one OP because as a native British person I've never heard the word and have no idea what it refers to.

I'm not sure any young person would know what a knacker's yard is either. There's not many abatoires left in the UK and that's been the case for a long time. Most people would understand knackered to mean tired and worn out, though.

Of your phrases OP, the first I agree with everyone else. Usually said as that's done for. You also wouldn't say it as well as saying you'd dropped the glass. If you've dropped a glass it's obvious it's going to be smashed, they don't bounce. So you'd say either " damn! I dropped it" or "it's done for". It's not rude at all.

The second is in common use even in workplaces. That's not rude either.

Nobody says give your head a wobble in real life, that's a MN phrase. It's rude too, saying the person is definitely and totally wrong - there's no room for debate or difference of opinion, there. It's going to make you look bitchy if you're saying it in real life to someone, about someone else, because you're calling them crazy behind their back. That's also going to potentially offend anyone with (or who knows someone with) mental health issues too. Definitely not something to say at work. Not the way to behave in polite society either.

You might call your best mate a wanker jokingly, because they'd be able to tell you were joking and didn't mean it, but you wouldn't say it to anyone you didn't know that well because it's generally verbally abusive aggressive language that might be said before getting into a physical fight. You'd end up with a disciplinary if you said it to work colleagues.

In most contexts "give your head a wobble" is quite patronising and has a nasty undertone. I'd only use it to someone's face if I had a really good relationship where I knew they could take a bit of ribbing (teasing).

Not sure number one is quite right? Maybe a regional variation. We would say someone/something is "done for"

A but casual to say "that's a good shout" so maybe not one for an important meeting at work but totally fine other wise!

I think your friend is being a bit weird, @ZebraAntics , to criticise you for using 'unsophisticated' phrases. Does s/he always speak with complete elegance and precision? Is s/he a character in a Jane Austen novel, or perhaps the reanimated ghost of Oscar Wilde?

Who is the person? No 2 is very common office speak where you will have a variety of cultures so if they don't work in that environment they may not have heard it. Other 2 , 1 doesn't make sense and 3 is for being rude on here!

Some alternatives that you posh friend may approve of; SNAFU, thin end of the wedge and infra dig. I have not yet found a situation to use infra dig but it's just a matter of time.

They're all a bit weird and not quite right and I'd never say them

Phrase 1 you'd say That's done for. The it part makes no sense and doesn't fit

Phrase 2 I might say 'Good call' instead

I've never heard anyone say give your head wobble although yes I've heard the saying. It sounds like something someone in Yorkshire might say in a film in the 40's

Basically just never use these phrases because no one sane does

Ex 3 : I've never heard it IRL, and wouldn't use it.

Example 1:
It doesn't sound quite right, it would be
' 'that's done it'
'I'm done' (I've had enough)
'Im done in' (I'm exhausted)
Or he/she is totally done in. As above

'that did it' or
'that's done for' (it's broken, dead)
Or possibly 'he/shes done for' (but that one makes me think of something in a film, cant imagine using it. Google definition is someone or something is doomed to destruction or death
So a bit flippant if suggesting possible death unless in an action film!

Depending on context either the it or the for are out of place!
Def casual language

Ex 2
It's OK, casual language and relatively modern slang I think, eg my 60s parents would never use it and its not really in my vocabulary but I've heard it and wouldn't remark on it.

But more to answer your question:
I couldn't give a shit about seeming sophisticated so your 'friend's sounds like a snob if this was an unsolicited opinion and they are worried about you sounding a bit common.
If it was eg someone you work with trying to tactfully point out you are seeming unprofessional in how you talk at work then they'd have a point.

However I do care about manners and not seeming rude and inappropriate so recognising how to use a phrase in context and in the right social situations is important. And anyone who over uses any set phrase and uses them often enough for other people to pick up on it always comes across as a bit odd to me, but I'm sure we all do it to a certain extent, like a verbal tic we don't realise we have.

Just making a pedantic and irrelevant point as i cant help myself 😅....

Knackers yards aren't/weren't abattoirs.
Abattoirs/slaughterhouses
are where animals go to be slaughtered for processing into the food chain. They very much still exist, just less small local ones. Otherwise where would your UK meat be professed?

A knackers yard was where old stock was culled and then processed for useful parts. Eg skin, bones, hooves. The stock had a value, bit like a scrap car.
But anything went there was only fit for the knackers yard. Hence knackered basically meaning nearly dead.

They still exist but these days you pay them to come and dispatch or just collect fallen stock. I think they are mostly just incinerated but not 100% on that.
We still call it the knackers lorry that comes to collect. But I doubt its something most non rural dwellers would have on their radar!

It is the former, not a work setting. I’m glad I asked this question as I particularly had no idea wobble was so rude 😳

To answer some questions, he’s an older man and does speak very properly. He is a solicitor from the south and I live in the north.

Another one I learned was pillock which I was using until someone said I was calling someone a penis 🤣 I think I need to do research on word origins before blithely using them based on how they sound!

Wanker is the UK version of tosser, used in the same context I'd say. Like calling someone a dickhead, could be fairly casual depending on tone but def not one for work or elderly parents. It's something you call someone, not an exclamation IYSWIM, would be weird if you stunned your toe and shouted it put!

I think everyone's favourite English swear word has to be Bollocks though. If you haven't adopted it yet you need to, it's the most satisfying to say whilst being relatively inoffensive 😆

I have heard some funny things said by parents who have learned some of their English in the workplace. One parent who was a senior engineer from Asia ended formal emails to the school "Cheers mate" - I can see how that would be appropriate with his colleges, but not particularly appropriate to a head teacher. A Polish mum told me the class teacher was really getting on her tits. Again this would have been appropriate in her workplace. Theres a time and a place, OP. I might tell my DH to give his head a wobble, but I wouldn't say it to someone I didn't know well unless I wanted to be a bit rude.

The head wobble comment is horrible. I read it on here a lot and cringe every time.
Sophistication is a perception. Perhaps they perceive you unsophisticated in other ways?

@TorroFerney is an infra dig similar to a micro aggression?

Who in real life says 'give your head a wobble'? Katie Hopkins does ‐a lot. And it does have a nasty, dismissive undertone. It's insidious just because it sounds kind of jocular. But that's her whole shtick, I suppose; couching her message in schmoozy, apparently harmless "oh, I just tell it like I see it, don't mind me" chit-chat.

I'm going to stick my neck out and say that I recognise "That's done for it." Archaic syntax perhaps, but definitely a vernacular phrase. I'm thinking Robert Lewis Stevenson in Treasure Island and other literature of the time.

It does???? I should also do more definition checking 🤣

edit, I did. Pretty archaic meaning, wouldn't say it at work or to a customer but imo it is significantly less insulting than calling someone a wanker if that helps. On the scale of 1-10 Twit - Cnt I'd place it about a 2.*

Although a dictionary won't always help you,
Bugger and sod for example are often regarded as a fairly mild swear word, and one I've definitely heard older people use who would never have said fuck. But the actual meaning is imo far more inappropriate.
We say dick or arse or balls or nuts or tits or fanny (lady bits in uk, not bum!) fairly freely but Cnt is so rude I felt the need for the 🤣. They are all referring to personal body parts though so there is no rational reason why some are considered so much ruder than others.
I love the English language, but am so happy I didn't have to learn it 🤣

I think it means beneath you "Margot found all inclusive holidays to Benidorm terribly infra dig". It's from reading old fashioned books I think I learned it. Public school teenagers used it.

I had no idea that people would not know 'That's done for it!' as a phrase.

It is informal, and a bit old fashioned but it might be said as someone breaks something, or made a mistake that can't be corrected and they've just realised. I've read it in stories, heard it irl and definitely seen it in older films -not just black and white either.

'That's a good shout!' perfectly normal, every day informal phrase.

I'd never tell someone to 'give their head a wobble' - that would be really rude. Definitely more an MN thing than real life.

Wanker is just the best insult though.

Before kids DH and I were wandering around Avebury stone circle, there were loads of tourists. One little boy who was about 8 was being a bit irritating to his dad. He was dodging in and out of the stones and up and down the banks. Dad told him to come down. This kid dodged him again and looking behind him as he legged it laughed and yelled 'Oi, you! Wanker!' with the best Bristol accent you've ever heard.
Naturally since he wasn't our kid it was hilarious!