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  • Welcome to my brand new mini-series all about British English expressions. We're going to

  • look at the words and phrases that are commonly used in British English. So if you want to

  • sound more British, these are the words for you.

  • Today I'm going to show you twelve British words that are shortened to sound really informal.

  • Now I know so many of you guys are living in Britain so this is going to be super useful

  • for you guys. And anyone else who wants to visit Britain this is going to be fantastic

  • stuff for you because it's really natural English. This is the English that we actually

  • use on the streets in our every day conversations. I'm excited to teach you this guys, so let's

  • get going.

  • Alright, so instead of saying a cup of tea because we Brits love tea, we just say a cuppa.

  • So if you want a cup of tea you could say 'I'd love a cuppa, please.' And that means

  • a cup of tea. Now remember all these phrases are very informal so a cuppa is really informal,

  • it just means a cup of tea.

  • For any of you that have ever been to Britain you know that it rains quite a lot here so

  • we need an umbrella. It's one of the most important things that we can have and instead

  • of just saying umbrella we can shorten it to brolly. So, let's put that into a practice

  • sentence 'oh no, I forgot my brolly.' This happens way too much with me. Ok, so one more

  • time brolly.

  • The main broadcaster in Britain is the BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation. Now

  • we affectionately term it the beeb. So if you hear someone saying 'I love the beeb'

  • that means I love the BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation.

  • A classically British term uni, this is short for university. I use uni all the time. 'Where

  • did you go to uni?' or 'I'm just going to go and see my uni mates.' My mates, my friends

  • from university. So uni is a really common shortening of university.

  • Another really classically British term telly. This is short for television, telly. 'There's

  • nothing on the telly' there's nothing on the television. This is a fun one, so obviously

  • in Britain we celebrate Christmas but we've shortened it to Chrimbo. That's right Chrimbo.

  • 'Are you going away for Chrimbo?' And that means are you going away for Christmas. Interesting

  • one that one, Christmas shortens down to Chrimbo. Now obviously our national sport is football

  • and we shorten that word down to footy. So for example 'Did you see the footy last night?'

  • Did you see the football last night?

  • Alright we're going to get really British now. So we have something called an off-licence

  • and that's a shop that sells alcohol. Now instead of saying I'm going to the off-licence

  • we shorten that down to I'm going to the offie. I know, it's a strange one, right? 'I'm going

  • to the offie.' So if you want to go and buy a bottle of wine you could say 'I'm just going

  • to get some wine from the offie.' Alright now this is a fun one and one that perhaps

  • isn't that widespread. I don't know if that many people use this. I have used it before

  • but I'm going to teach it to you anyway because I think it's a fun one. Instead of saying

  • tomato ketchup, of course you could say ketchup but you could also Tommy K, tomato ketchup.

  • I've seen it used, I've said it myself again I don't know how widespread it's used but

  • anyway worth knowing. Tommy K. It's a bit like with mayonnaise we shorten that down

  • to mayo. That's not a specifically British thing but it's definitely a really useful

  • way to shorten a word so from mayonnaise to mayo from tomato ketchup you could have ketchup

  • or Tommy K. Or you could have red sauce, some people like to call it red sauce, hey you

  • choose what you want. People get very opinionated about what's the right word for tomato ketchup.

  • Use the one you want, I don't know. Tommy K, ketchup, red sauce, tomato ketchup it's

  • up to you.

  • Here's an example of how we are making English easier for ourselves. Take the word vegetables

  • shorten that down and you've got veg. Now it looks like veg but because it's part of

  • vegetables it's the /j/ sound so veg. So an example sentence 'I need to buy some fruit

  • and veg.' It's a need to buy some fruit and vegetables. Ok, take the word biscuit shorten

  • that down, you've got bicky. Example 'Would you like a bicky?' That means would you like

  • a biscuit? So yeah absolutely, I'll have to bickies. It sounds kind of similar but breakfast

  • you can shorten down to brekky. So 'where shall we go for brekky?'

  • Alright, those were all our words. Now remember guys these are all very informal words because

  • they are shortenings of longer words. So think about when you are going to use them. I would

  • say that if you are living in Britain and you've got British friends then that's the

  • perfect opportunity to use these words and you've definitely hear them. I wouldn't use

  • them in a formal work context, ok? That would be very silly but yeah in informal situations

  • but with friends in Britain absolutely I would use them. And of course if you are not living

  • in Britain but you are watching a lot of British TV or you are following British Instagrammers

  • or YouTubers like Zoella for example these are the kinds of words that you are going

  • to hear. So really useful for you to know. Guys did you find this first in the mini-series

  • of British English expressions useful? If you did, please let me know in the comments

  • below give me a big thumbs up and share this with anyone you know that's trying to learn

  • English, especially British English., ok? Because I'm from London, I teach British English

  • and I want to help anyone that would love to learn British English. So yeah let me know

  • in the comments if you've enjoyed this video and I'll bring out my next one in the mini-series

  • very soon. But until then guys, thanks so much for hanging out with me. Remember I've

  • got new videos every Tuesday and every Friday helping you take your English to the next

  • level. This is Tom, the Chief Dreamer, saying goodbye.

Welcome to my brand new mini-series all about British English expressions. We're going to

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