This week's question is about a British English word - 'cheers'. We had an email from Jo Jo who has observed that it's a word people use instead of thank you and wants to know more.
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| Cheers is usually said before a drink |
Cheers is perhaps more commonly known as something people say before they drink alcohol to wish someone good health.
However, it's a word used by all British people and not just young people, to mean thank you. So any time you want to say thank you, you can just replace that with the word cheers in British English.
It's used in an informal way but it can be used in formal situations, like when talking to your boss or someone you don't know very well.
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| People often say cheers or ta when buying something |
So what are the origins of this word? Well, it's likely it has evolved over the years from when people used to say many years ago 'be of good cheer' or 'good cheer to you'. This would have been a greeting to wish someone well that has been shortened to cheers over time.
Cheers is only used in British English and you wouldn't really hear this word spoken in North America to mean thank you.
Another British English word to watch out for that is used to mean thank you is ta. This is basically a short form of thank you that is used with very small children and lots of adults use it too.
Thank you Jo Jo for your question. If you have a question please get in touch. You can email us at questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk. We look forward to hearing from you.
Glossary 詞匯
observed
注意到
to wish someone good health
祝某人身體健康
replace
代替
informal
非正式的
formal
正式的
boss
老板
origins
起源
evolved
演變
cheer
歡樂，樂觀
to wish someone well
祝某人健康（問候語）
shortened
縮短
over time
隨著時間的推移
