# Brits using "Brilliant" as a casual superlative?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 20, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520 "2011-11-20T04:50:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/1 "2011-11-20T04:50:32Z")
As I’ve said countless times here, most everything I’ve learned about the King’s English comes from Brit-coms. While watching the first two new, 3rd season episodes of \*The Inbetweeners \*(BBC America just started showing them) I noticed again how common it seems for Brits to use the adjective ‘brilliant’ in everyday speech. It gets used the way we in America would use terms like ‘great’, ‘fantastic’ or ‘cool’. But brilliant is never used casually like that. The only things we’d call ‘brilliant’ are significant things like a new scientific theory or an innovative engineering design etc.
I first noticed this 25+ years ago when MTV showed _The Young Ones_. Vyvian would constantly say, “Completely brilliant!” about most everything. Is this about the time this started? The early 80s? Is it strictly used by young people?
I suppose a close parallel would be US kids saying ‘awesome’. Or ‘totally awesome’. Normally awesome would be reserved for, well, significant things similar to brilliant. I believe ‘totally awesome’ came from 80s California valley-girl speak.
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### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/2 "2011-11-20T04:53:52Z")
I remember being a little kid and noting how often it was used in Harry Potter.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/3 "2011-11-20T05:16:00Z")
When I want to sound like a plucky english schoolboy\*, I will say things like, “Cor, that’s bloody brill, old bean.” I don’t know where I got it from, (I suspect C.S Lewis and his ilk) and I imagine if a real british person heard me say it they’d think I was touched.
\*What do you mean you never find it necessary to sound like a plucky english schoolboy?
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/4 "2011-11-20T05:21:06Z")
The OED gives examples in print from as far back as 1971.
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### Author:  [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/5 "2011-11-20T09:43:14Z")
I don’t think anyone in Britain has said “old bean” in the last 70 years.
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### Author:  [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/6 "2011-11-20T09:51:00Z")
[Aren’t holidays brilliant?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgMgkl-gRxk)
From **The Fast Show**
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### Author:  [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/7 "2011-11-20T11:19:49Z")
It’s really more hiberno-English. “Is breá liom é” is Irish for “I love it!” It’s often hard for me to tell whether a Gaeilgoir has said “It’s brilliant” or “Is breá liom é”.
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### Author:  [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/8 "2011-11-20T11:38:00Z")
> [@TruCelt](#):
>
> It’s really more hiberno-English. “Is breá liom é” is Irish for “I love it!” It’s often hard for me to tell whether a Gaeilgoir has said “It’s brilliant” or “Is breá liom é”.
No it’s British-English.
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/9 "2011-11-20T11:54:43Z")
There’s no evidence that this use of “brilliant” is derived from Gaelic.
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### Author:  [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/10 "2011-11-20T12:28:04Z")
brilliant innit
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/11 "2011-11-20T12:29:50Z")
Another no it’s not hiberno-English: it’s ‘brilliant’, originally meaning ‘shiny’ but now meaning ‘good’, [derived from](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=brilliant) ‘It. brillare “sparkle, whirl,”’. Also, from my years of living in Ireland, it’s really not used in the way that us Brits use it.
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### Author:  [@isaiahrobinson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/isaiahrobinson)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/12 "2011-11-20T13:38:08Z")
Yep, very common. I didn’t realize Americans didn’t use it. In the Inbetweeners they probably use it sarcastically most of the time. “I didn’t hear your mum complaining, although her mouth was full at the time…”, “Brilliant”. No one says “brill” any more though in the south. They still say it in Scotland I think.
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### Author:  [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/13 "2011-11-20T16:57:01Z")
> [@isaiahrobinson](#):
>
> Yep, very common. I didn’t realize Americans didn’t use it. In the Inbetweeners they probably use it sarcastically most of the time. “I didn’t hear your mum complaining, although her mouth was full at the time..”, “Brilliant”. No one says “brill” any more though in the south. They still say it in Scotland I think.
Americans use it rarely, and when thy do it’s for something that is particularly praiseworthy: “He is a brilliant pianist”. We’ll use cool, neat, great, fantastic, or pissah (Boston).
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### Author:  [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/14 "2011-11-20T17:16:56Z")
Yep, very common, and pretty much used the same way you guys would use “awesome”.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/15 "2011-11-20T17:20:05Z")
[Brilliant!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DPKf7y1F-Q)
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### Author:  [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/16 "2011-11-20T18:57:15Z")
Don’t forget that Americans use the word “smart” to describe someone as being intelligent, where as Brits use the word to describe someone who is well dressed.
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### Author:  [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/17 "2011-11-20T22:08:05Z")
The inverse of this phenomenon is “horrible”. In British English it means “nasty, monstrous, distressing”, where in America it can just mean “not good” in a non-specific way.
So if an American says “My English teacher is horrible” they may merely mean that he’s bad at teaching, whereas a British speaker will understand that the teacher is cruel or very unpleasant.
I may have got that completely wrong, but that’s my impression from hearing Americans use the word.
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### Author:  [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/18 "2011-11-21T01:53:58Z")
which denotes superlative status more, the british ‘brilliant’ or the american ‘great?’
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### Author:  [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/19 "2011-11-21T02:53:39Z")
We in the U.S. would say “Great!” or “Fantastic” or “Way Cool”. The Brits say “Brilliant!”
mac, they’re about even. It depends entirely on the person who says it. My partner says “Brilliant!” when I ask how an event went, even if it was only “okay” to others, but that’s my guy. If he didn’t like the event, I would hear the details.
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### Author:  [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2011, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-using-brilliant-as-a-casual-superlative/603520/20 "2011-11-21T05:13:55Z")
> [@hibernicus](#):
>
> The inverse of this phenomenon is “horrible”. In British English it means “nasty, monstrous, distressing”, where in America it can just mean “not good” in a non-specific way.
>
> So if an American says “My English teacher is horrible” they may merely mean that he’s bad at teaching, whereas a British speaker will understand that the teacher is cruel or very unpleasant.
>
> I may have got that completely wrong, but that’s my impression from hearing Americans use the word.
I’ll vouch for that. You’d have to say, “He’s a horrible _person_”, to convey the idea that he’s monstrous. If he’s just a horrible _teacher_, or whatever, that means he’s hopelessly inept at his job — but possibly a wonderful guy otherwise.
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