Shiny!
Beat me to it. 
I got the piss taken out of me one time in the US as my hosts noticed how often I use the term brilliant. To them it was hilarious, to me a standard term for good things. 
I believe ‘The Fast Show’ was known as ‘Brilliant!’ in the US.
Or maybe you’re referencing that and I’ll look like a tit.
I did not know that! 
Although I can’t vouch for whether you look like a tit or not…
I too use “Brilliant” as a general superlative. As a softy southerner - though with Scots roots - if I use “Brill” it would probably be ironically (or in a text!).
To our deep shame, me and my friends as kids in the early 80s used “Brillo Pads”.
I’ve noticed that “brilliant” can also carry a somewhat different connotation from just “great”. Sometimes it’s more like “awesome” or “terrific”.
The guys on Top Gear, for example, will say about a car “It’s just brilliant.” If an American said “It’s just great”, it woudl sound a bit hollow, or even sarcastic. “Brilliant” seems to imply a certain type of good in that case, rather than the non-specific feeling of “great”.
“Awesome” doesn’t seem like a parallel. I hear “awesome” from Americans far less than I hear “brilliant” from Brits, both in meatspace and on the Beeb. To my ears, it sometimes seems like it’s the only superlative they use.
Come on now.
Surely they use “fucking brilliant” too?
Interesting. I hear “brilliant” from Brits far less than I hear “awesome” from Americans. To my ears, it sometimes seems like it’s the only superlative they use.
Confirmation bias FTW.
Americans use “brilliant” to mean “very intelligent.” For example, a brilliant scientist.
We (Brits) do that too. It’s all about context.
The Doctor uses it a lot (at least #10 did) to describe how smart people are. Donna was brilliant, so was Martha, etc.
Last summer at a bar a British guy said something that my friend didn’t understand. I said it’s because he has an accent! Except what I really said was “he has an accident.” (Pretty sure the wine caused that.) Anyhoo… the Brit laughed and said “brilliant” and then more laughter ensued.
I’ve occasionally encountered an American who likes to use “brilliant” in the British fashion. It nearly always comes across as an affectation, and makes them sound pompous. (I don’t have the same reaction to British or Irish folks who use it that way, however.)
I think in his case it was more about how wonderful and awesome they were.
It is a contextual language, isn’t it? The tone of voice and phrasing conveys much about how brilliant or awesome something actually is.
The term “mega” didn’t last very long did it? I still hear the U.S. equivalent “way” being used but “mega” seems to have gone by the wayside.
Cheers.
I first heard “Brilliant!” and “Lovely!” (as the rough equivalent of Americans saying, “Outstanding!” and “Excellent!”) when I went to the UK in the late 1980’s.
Back home, the words would have sounded sarcastic:
Brilliant = “Smart move, idiot!”
Lovely = “Well isn’t that just perfect”
So it caught me a little off-guard. But being a foreigner, my ears were listening for nuances. It also helped that the situations were invariably cordial business.
I’m sure I only hear it being used sarcastically now (in the UK). I’m trying hard to imagine seriously saying “brilliant”, but… no, I just hear “Oh mother, Timmy was absolutely brilliant!”
OTOH, I do say “well that’s just brilliant grumble grumble”.