Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. My name is Callum Robertson.
And I'm Yang Li.
Come 'ere then! Oi! Come on then! Want a fight? Who are ya?
Oh, Callum! Who are all those horrible men that I can hear on my headphones?
Well, Li, they are yobs.
Yobs?
Yes, yobs. Yob is our phrase for today. It's an informal word that refers to a man who is loud and rude and possibly rather violent.
Oh, that sounds like you!
What are you talking about, sounds like me? What do you mean? Are you asking for a fight?
No, no, no! But do you see what I mean? You sound like a yob.
Hmm, yes, OK. Sorry about that.
Hmm, anyway, I chose this word because as many people will know the UK recently experienced some violence on the streets of London and other cities.
'Yob' is a word that the British press used to describe the rioters.
Let's hear some real headlines from some British newspapers
UK riots: 11 councils to evict 'riot yobs'.
Ken Clarke blames 'feral' yobs.
600 riot yobs left DNA on windows.
Riot yobs filmed attacking cop cars.
Riot yobs can't hide.
UK riots: young yobs back on streets despite David Cameron's pledge.
Ah, I'm not sure I remember seeing this word yob on the BBC news site.
Well, no. It's a very negative and judgemental word. The BBC tends to avoid this kind of language in its news stories.
But this is a piece of British slang that is very common in the UK.
And we also sometimes use the word yobbo.
Yobbo. Hmm, but where do all these words come from?
Well, interestingly, what we have here is an example of backslang.
If you read the word yob backwards, what do you get?
Hmm, B.O.Y., boy.
Exactly. And that's what the word used to mean, but now it refers to a rude and violent man, often a young man but not always.
 Listen Callum, I'm sorry about earlier. I don't really think you are a yob. You are a gentleman.
Oh, thanks Li.
But in any case you know if we were to get in a fight I would beat you. So don't you try that again!
OK.