British English has many ways to say yes without making a promise.
Leave it with me: I will look at it. It may or may not happen.
I’ll see what I can do: I will try, but I promise nothing.
I’ll bear it in mind: I will probably do nothing.
That could work: I am not convinced.
In principle, yes: Yes, but the details may turn it into a no.
We’ll see: Probably not.
British English has many phrases for a plan that is set aside without ever being ended.
To kick something into the long grass: To delay a matter in the hope that it will be forgotten.
To put something on the back burner: To set it aside for now, and often for good.
To quietly shelve: To abandon a plan without announcing it.
It’s gone quiet: The other side has stopped replying. The deal is probably dead.
It fell by the wayside: Nobody ended it. It simply stopped.
To take French leave: To leave without saying goodbye or asking permission.
When a British speaker cannot keep a commitment, the message is usually soft and apologetic.
Something’s come up: I cannot keep the appointment. No reason will follow.
I’ve been snowed under: I have not done what I promised.
Would it be awful if we pushed this back a bit?: The deadline will move.
I’m so sorry, but: A change to the agreement follows.
I’m afraid we’re going to have to: The decision has already been made.
Let’s touch base nearer the time: Let us not confirm anything now.
British English has many unkind words for a person who insists on the exact terms.
A jobsworth: An official who applies small rules to the letter, whatever the result.
A stickler: A person who insists on exact rules.
A barrack-room lawyer: A person who argues over the wording of rules, usually to avoid a duty.
A box-ticking exercise: Following a procedure without caring about its purpose.
That’s a bit petty: That is technically correct but unreasonable.
It’s not cricket: It is unfair, even if it is allowed.
British English has many phrases for rules that everyone knows but nobody has written down.
It’s not the done thing: It is not acceptable, although no rule forbids it.
Bad form: Behavior that breaks an unwritten rule of decency.
It goes without saying: It is part of the arrangement, although nobody said it.
Taken as read: Assumed to be agreed without being discussed.
A nod and a wink: An understanding that is never put into words.
To read between the lines: To find what was meant but not stated.
British English has many phrases that treat a spoken promise as binding.
Shall we shake on it?: Are we agreed? The handshake seals the deal.
A gentleman’s agreement: An agreement based on honor, with nothing in writing.
I give you my word: I promise, and my honor depends on it.
As good as one’s word: Doing exactly what one said one would do.
To go back on one’s word: To break a promise.
British official language has stock phrases for meetings that did not produce agreement.
A full and frank discussion: An argument.
Constructive talks: Talks that produced nothing definite.
We have agreed to keep talking: We have agreed on nothing else.
Noted: Read, and not accepted.
In due course: Not soon, and perhaps never.
When a bill has passed through Parliament, the sovereign’s assent is announced in Norman French. The usual formula is Le Roy le veult, “the King wills it.” The formula for withholding assent is Le Roy s’avisera, “the King will consider it.” When the sovereign is a queen, La Reyne replaces Le Roy.
The refusal has not been used since 11 March 1708, when Queen Anne withheld her assent from the Scottish Militia Bill.
The BBC comedy Yes Minister follows a government minister, Jim Hacker, and the civil servants who manage him. One often-quoted line explains two official phrases: “‘Under consideration’ means we’ve lost the file. ‘Under active consideration’ means we’re trying to find it.”
Sources differ on where the line comes from. A transcript places it in the episode “The Official Visit.” A newspaper attributes it to Bernard, the minister’s private secretary, explaining the phrases to Hacker.
In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, the clergyman Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth Bennet, and she refuses him. He is not discouraged. He tells her he knows “that it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept.”