best instead of better
Recently, I got to running into expressions like 'Well, l best be off", 'l'd best phone the police' and so on.
Is it common mainly in the UK to use 'best' instead of 'better' nowadays?

Question

best instead of better
Recently, I got to running into expressions like 'Well, l best be off", 'l'd best phone the police' and so on. 
Is it common mainly in the UK to use 'best' instead of 'better' nowadays?

Answer

I agree with US Mike, this is definitely UK English and only some groups in the UK at that. Best in this case does not mean good, It is also not be used as a comparison.

Here it means "should" - I should be off - I should phone the police.
It is an idiomatic use of the word best.

Answer

This is definitely more of a British than American style of speaking.