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(peaceful music)
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Hello, everyone, and welcome back to English with Lucy.
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You guys have requested it.
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I've had so many requests for another slang,
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British slang video, so I thought I'd cover
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British slang verbs and also
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some slang phrasal verbs as well.
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Really, really useful.
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Before we get started, this video is sponsored
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by the Lingoda Language Marathon.
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It's an amazing opportunity,
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but I'm not going to talk about it now.
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I'm going to talk about it at the end.
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So you can click to the time that you see on your screen now
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Basically, a specific number of you will be
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It's 567 euros, but if you complete the whole marathon,
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567 euros refunded back to you.
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So click on the timestamp on the screen
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to find out more information,
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or just wait til the end of the video.
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Let's get started.
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Or should I say let's crack on.
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We'll talk about that one in a minute.
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So, lots of lovely slang, predominantly British,
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although you will find some in Australia, for example,
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and maybe the United States,
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but most of them are more used in the UK.
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But in the UK, you will definitely need to understand
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these words if you're going to integrate with natives.
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I'm also going to chuck in, include,
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lots of extra bonus British slang words.
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Oh my God, that's hard to say.
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And I will explain them as I go along.
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The first one is 'to fancy',
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and I have mentioned this one before,
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but it's so important that I'm going to mention it again.
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You need to know this verb.
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You need to know it, we use it all the time.
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It has two meanings,
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it can mean to be romantically interested in somebody,
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so an example could be, I fancied Will for ages
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and I was gobsmacked when I found out that he fancied me too.
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'Gobsmacked' means shocked, speechless.
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Now, the other way that we use this verb
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is to express that we want or we feel like something.
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I could say, I really fancy fish and chips tonight.
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And that means I really feel like fish and chips.
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I want fish and chips.
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Or in a question, do you fancy going to the pub?
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Do you want to go to the pub?
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Do you feel like going to the pub?
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Now, note I said, do you want to go,
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but do you fancy going?
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Do you feel like going?
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So, remember that if you use it in an exam.
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Right, the next one, number two is a phrasal verb.
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It is to dob somebody in.
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To dob somebody in.
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This means to report a person to somebody of authority for a wrongdoing.
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So, if somebody's done something wrong,
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you inform someone in a position of authority.
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For example, I can't believe Ellie dobbed me in
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to the teacher for skipping class yesterday.
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She dobbed me in.
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She informed the teacher,
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who is in a position of authority, over me.
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She told on me.
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She dobbed me in.
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I remember at school, if somebody was being mean,
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I'd say, I'm gonna dob you in,
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which means I'm going to tell the teacher.
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(chuckles)
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Right, the next one, number three, another phrasal verb.
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This one is to chat somebody up.
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To chat somebody up.
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Now, this can mean two things in British English.
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The first one is the more common use
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and the second one is slightly less common,
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it's kind of used in a more sarcastic way.
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The first meaning is to talk to somebody
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in a flirtatious way.
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To talk to somebody flirtatiously.
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So, if somebody's paying me lots and lots of compliments,
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I might say, are you chatting me up?
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Are you flirting with me?
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I think in America you might say to hit on.
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Are you hitting on me?
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Are you chatting me up?
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The other meaning is to talk to somebody persuasively,
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normally with ulterior motives.
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For example, say a bouncer wouldn't let us into a club,
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I'll say, I'll see if I can chat her up.
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It doesn't mean I'm going to flirt with her.
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It means I'm going to try and be really, really nice to her
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to try and persuade her to let us in.
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The next one, to be up for something.
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We use this all the time.
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Are you up for it?
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I'm up for it.
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She's up for it.
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The meaning is very simple.
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It means to want to do something.
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So, if I am up for going out, I want to go out,
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I feel like going out.
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So, if I say, we're going ice skating tonight
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if you're up for it,
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it means we're going ice skating tonight
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if you want to come too.
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It's very, very informal.
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Next, another one we use all the time.
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I use it so frequently,
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and when I talk to non-native speakers,
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I try and carefully select my verbs
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so that I avoid using slangs
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so that they can understand me better,
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but pop is the one that I struggle with
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because I just use it all the time.
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And pop, the meaning is very simple.
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Once you understand it, you will be fine.
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It means to go somewhere usually for a short period of time
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and often without notice.
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So, without notice is you haven't advised
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the place or the people that you're going to go there,
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you're going to visit.
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We often use it with a preposition.
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I'm just popping out.
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I'm just going outside for a short period of time.
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Or I'm just gonna pop to the shops.
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Do you want anything?
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I'm just going to go to the shops.
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Do you need anything?
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Or if I say, do you mind if I pop in for a minute?
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It means do you mind if I quickly visit your house for a second?
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So it's normally something spontaneous, unplanned,
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short period of time, but it basically just means go.
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Number six, to go on about.
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This means to talk continuously and to talk too much.
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It's teetering, it's only just on the negative side.
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So, if I say, ugh, what's she going on about again,
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it means what's she talking about continuously and too much again?
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But sometimes it's used in quite an affectionate way.
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What are you going on about?
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What's he going on about?
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But we sometimes forget the going bit,
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so what are you on about?
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What's he on about?
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Be prepared to hear people say on about
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instead of to go on about.
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Number seven, another phrasal verb, very important one.
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Can also just be a verb on its own, it is to faff around,
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or you can shorten it to faff, just to faff.
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It's not a phrasal verb in this case.
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It's got two meanings, both are quite similar.
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The first meaning, the most common one
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is to spend time doing unimportant things
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and avoid what you really should be doing.
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A little bit like to procrastinate
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but with more emphasis on doing the unimportant things.
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What have you been doing?
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Have you just been faffing around?
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I'm trying to say what have you been doing
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have you been avoiding all the important tasks and
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just doing meaningless tasks?
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The other meaning is to behave in a silly way,
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so if someone's being a little bit stupid
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joking around too much I might say stop
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faffing around, stop messing around it could also mean.
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Faff on its own, stop faffing, oh I'm just faffing.
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We don't necessarily have to include that around there.
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Number eight, a verb on its own,
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to scoff, to scoff,
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and this in British English slang means to eat something quickly and greedily.
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So if I see someone eating their lunch really really quickly
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I might say you scoff that,
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you ate that quickly and greedily.
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It's very informal, it's quite friendly,
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it's not necessarily negative if you use it in the right way.
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So I might say I scoffed my dinner
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and I went up for seconds.
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I ate my dinner really quickly and greedily,
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and to go up for seconds means
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to return to the food with your plate
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to get a second helping.
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Number nine, another phrasal verb,
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this one is to crack on with something or someone
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because there is a new use for this phrasal verb.
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The first one is to proceed or to progress quickly.
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You know at the beginning of my lessons
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I say right let's get started with the lesson.
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I could say let's crack on with the lesson,
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let's get going, let's proceed quickly
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and progress quickly too.
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Another newer meaning for this phrasal verb is
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to flirt with somebody.
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So if I say I saw James cracking on with Holly,
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it means I saw James at least attempting
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to flirt with Holly.
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I guess you could think that
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it's somebody trying to progress with
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their relationship with a specific person
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but please remember that that one
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is very informal and it's relatively new.
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The last one number 10 is to skive.
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It's a verb on its own,
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but you can add the preposition off
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and say to skive off.
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It means the same thing.
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The definition is to avoid work, school,
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or a particular duty by leaving early
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or by just not going, staying away.
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I might say I'm going to skive off this last lesson
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because the teacher just reads off the slides.
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If they're just reading off the sides,
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it means they're just reading the words on the presentation,
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they're not adding anything extra.
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It was my pet hate.
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It was something that particularly annoyed me at school and at university.
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Why just read me the presentation
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if I can read it myself at home.
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Let's not go into too much detail.
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Or you could say, oh I think Tom skived off work yesterday
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because he called in sick.
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He said he was ill on the telephone
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and then I saw him in the shopping centre.
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Naughty.
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Have you ever skived off work?
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Comment below if you have.
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Right, so those are the 10 British slang
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phrasal verbs and verbs.
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Why is that so hard to say?
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Now I'm gonna have a quick chat to you
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about the Lingoda language marathon.
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Really recommend you stay on
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because it's such a great opportunity.
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The vast majority of you are
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here to improve your English.
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What better way than doing a little bit every single day
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and then getting all your money back at the end.
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Keep watching.
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