British Expressions & Bad News

What British expressions sound like nonsense? Dangerous Dave talks about an online list of goofy phrases. Plus, bad news overload is not good for our brain.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sip deeper in the din with Dangerous Day, a Buzzzfeed
article making the rounds because it's highlighting some ridiculous British
phrases the Americans cannot believe are real.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Some of the best ones include Bob's your uncle or
Fanny's your aunt. It means just like that, okay, take
the biscuit. It's like saying takes the cake, but in
a negative way. Just shows frustration gone completely doulellly. It
means you've lost your mind. Other British expressions that sound
totally fake. Taking the mickey or taking the mick is

(00:32):
to make fun of somebody, or if somebody's crossing the line,
spend the week in at her Majesty's pleasure means going
to jail. That makes sense to me. About as useful
as a chocolate teapot. I'm guessing the teapot would melt,
but however, it sounds tasty. Brass monkey means cold outside,
and I've heard that one in the US too. About
as cold as brass monkeys. You know what, throw a

(00:54):
wobbly means throwing a temper tantrum. Also, full of beans
means you're full of energy, not quite full of beans
where we're at, because it means you're full of bull
crap when you say it. Here, I don't know. I
think this whole list might be full of beans. Deeper
in the two, do you ever feel like you're maxed
out on news because the majority of it is bad? Well,
there's a reason our brains were not built to be

(01:15):
burdened by doom scrolling Fox News or CNN twenty four
to seven. A new study notes that humans evolved to
pay closer attention to danger more clear and present threats,
but in our lives today that instinct is overwhelming with
an endless supply. Bad news from around the world may
seem like bad news overload is unique to an American,
but it's not as a global structure. Forty percent to

(01:36):
people worldwide said they at least sometimes avoid the news.
In the US, forty two percent of people over sixty percent.
In Bulgaria, Turkey, Croatia, and Greece, it's under thirty percent.
Most of Scandinavia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Japan it's
only eleven percent. People avoiding the news for the reason,
people do this as relatable news puts them in a
bad mood. They feel overwhelmed and powerless to act, but

(01:59):
in some cases leads to real life arguments they also
want to dodge. Study points out that for decades of
research shows that human minds wait negative information more heavily
than positive. We draw it in faster, and we try
to remember it longer. Put it like this, a predator
nearby mattered more than a beautiful sunset. What do we
do about it? Well, try to block it out. Probably

(02:19):
won't work. News finds its way to us one way
or another, especially now that we have smartphones. When that happens,
it could be a major burden. Also, we're not better
off less informed and aware. The key is to manage
the consumption and source, which means try to keep news
sources to designated buckets at certain times as much as possible.
Stick to accurate, trustworthy sources which aren't manipulating and entertaining

(02:42):
you trying to keep you hooked for hours and hours.
Can you even determine which one of these sources are
not trying to manipulate us anymore? That's pretty much why
this show is mostly just.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Fluff to me. Again for another episode of Deeper in
the Den with dangerous daved right here