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.