I first heard it used in Neighbours, a good 20 years ago. And, like that irritating habit of going up at the end of a sentence, I suspect that it may be a vernacular tic that we may have borrowed from Australia.

EDIT: Not to say that I have any issue with this. The 'high end register', as I believe it is called, sounds perfectly normal to my ears within, say, an Australian or Californian accent. In an English accent it sounds faintly ridiculous.

Why does this have to be put in front of Facebook whenever its mentioned on the news or in a paper?

Do they really think we're that thick. I'm fairly sure everyone will know what it is by now.

I kept quiet because I thought it was just me. I assumed that it was just lazyness. Mind you I used to say I was at college when I was at university in the 70's mainly because I thought it sounded less pompous - probably why it irritates me when people say they're at Oxford rather than at university. If someone tells me they're going to Oxford, I'll assume they're off on a shopping trip.

Uni definitely comes from Neighbours.

I think for a lot of kids, having grown up watching these soaps, all their troubles, however minor, are vitally important, deserve everyone's undivided attention and must be treated with utmost seriousness, just like everyone does for the kids in these teen soaps. No wonder kids and teenagers today are so dramatic. They know nothing else.

Push someone out of a window, say to them 'You deserved it, you bitch' as they lay dying, and wait for the EastEnders doof-doof drums to kick in.

Real life comes as a bit of a shock.

we're a cheery lot today.

I can it "uni". I tell people "I went to uni". The reason being, it's a contraction of the word "university". Languages evolves, people abbreviate words. My parents call it "uni" too - it's no big deal

about why it's irritating:

Twenty years ago or so "uni" was only used by people who hadn't been to university. And that wasn't irritating to those who had precisely because it was a way of identifying and preserving the difference. Now everyone uses it, that distinction has been lost.

It's as if posh people stopped pronouncing "Ralph" as "Rafe". Then, posh people would have lost one of the ways in which they distinguish themselves from the rest of us. And that, I would imagine, would irritate some of them.

… either shortly before or after they 'go travelling' (ie go to Thailand and Australia).

"Bloody Tony Blair. Puts a poem up in a bus shelter and calls it a university."

I used to live with a group of Americans who for the first few weeks thought I was talking about "Juvie" when I said "uni". The problem with this being Juvie is Prison for young offenders...

they were quite relieved when they finally plucked up the courage to ask what I was in for and I said Plant Biology...

-They call Uni "School" though, which is equally confusing but without the criminal connotation.

There are quite a few institutions that are now Universities that were Technical Colleges 25 years ago - Glasgow Tech is now Caledonian University, Paisley Tech is now The University Of The West Of Scotland, Dundee Tech is (I think) now the University of Abertay.

And the ones that were Universities then (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Dundee, Aberdeen, etc) are all still operational.

I went to a Poly not a bleedin' Metropolitan University, or Met.

Flippin eck, even my hometown Bolton has a Uni now and signs all over the town pointing you in the right direction. Mind you, if it's good enough for a sprog of Tony Visconti...

but not as much as 'cuzza' being used as a substitute for 'curry'.

Here in NZ, people say "varsity" as a generic word to mean further education after school. Not sure how that came about - but it will probably have something to do with rugby I bet.

but have an older cousin who studied at Glasgow university in the 70s, we as a family (and AFAIK the rest of Glasgow) always referred to it as the 'uni'.

PS. I've never watched Neighbours