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I love the oddities of language despite not being able to spell especially those odd local words of phrases that can be so expressive
Particular favourites of mine - "hirple" - to limp. "Dreich" - a miserable drizzly day. It just sounds so miserable. "glaiket" - stupid
"Aye - I ken his faither" - I know his father - disparaging for someone with grandiose ideas
One I can't spell tho and no one has been able to help me. a fool or numpty - its pronounced like "tube" but how is it spelled? Tube? choob?
What have you got?
TJ?
Aye, Ah ken his faither.
PP - we are all jock Tamsons bairns
“Dreich”
Carol Kirkwood uses that regularly on BBC weather
Living in Devon, "dreckly" is a common one short for 'it will be done directly' meaning it will be done soon or 'I'll be there dreckly' meaning I'm on my way.
Cleaning my spd boots with a pressure washer while still wearing them I was told I'd get 'wet vit' meaning wet feet!
One of my favs is "Bawheid", preferably prefixed with "****in"
Should be past tense 'I kent his faither', emphasising the foolish inexperience of the person being insulted.
I've never understood how a cheeselog is a woodlouse in Reading.
I'm led to believe Dreckly is similar to Mexican Mañana or Arabic Bukra.
I like (and use) ... braw, drookit, wheesht. Also bonny.
Chap at work uses "cahoochy" to refer to stuff with a gummy or marshmallow consistency - I'd never heard it before.
Cwtch= a hug.
Twp= a bit stupid.
Igam ogam= zig zag.
Unfortunately, despite being told otherwise bubble wrap in welsh is not papur popiau, but lapio swigod. Similarly, a microwave (oven) is not a popty ping, it's a (popty) microdon.
Of the scottishisms, I quite like skoosh
nithered & mafted are about my favourite words from where I grew up
... apart from croggy, which is the correct term for giving another individual a lift on one's bicycle. Get yer "backy" right up ya !
oh, and nesh
Mard.
Ming.
Mither.
Coypsing - To stay at home with one's girlfriend rather than go out on the beer with the lads.
Caffled - To lose one's courage, get cold feet, bottle it.
Scone - What most in the North would know as a fishcake from the chippy.
The only Welsh I remember from my Dad was ach-y-fi (yuck) and mochyn (pig). Don’t know if I’ve remembered them cos he used them around (or about) me as a kid! Been using them with my kids- for ages my daughter wouldn’t accept pig is the correct name for the animal!
Nesh - 'unusually susceptible to cold weather'
Wheesht (possibly the most useful word in the world to parents of mithering kids)
Mard
Mither
Slutch (reminded of this one by Cougar)
Are some of my favourites.
Unfortunately, despite being told otherwise bubble wrap in welsh is not papur popiau, but lapio swigod. Similarly, a microwave (oven) is not a popty ping, it’s a (popty) microdon.
Brilliant 😃
Bawbag
Dreich
Appen as in fancy a beer Appen I do. Lancs dialect
Fettle as in to fix
Thrutch as in to thrutch a great turd out
Watrch as in headwartch is a headache and bellywatrch upset stomach
Crimp a length again turding
Scrawped scrapped
Well I'll go the foot of our stairs...
Ben the hoose
Oh, barry.
I haven't heard anyone use that term for decades.
nfortunately, despite being told otherwise bubble wrap in welsh is not papur popiau, but lapio swigod. Similarly, a microwave (oven) is not a popty ping, it’s a (popty) microdon.
You'll be telling me next that Pysgod Wibli Wobli doesn't mean jellyfish
There's a Scots language show on iPlayer on BBC Scotland, well worth a watch, Rebel tongue, really enjoyed it.
Watching it I could relate to getting scalded at school for speaking in the Ayrshire vernacular, seems ridiculous now.
Anyway, ones I use regularly without thinking
Kelpit - covered in mud, specifically a child!
Foonart - cold to the bone
Ersit - Arsey
Mockit - muddy
Wonnert - wandered, ie someone who's 'no the ful shillin'
Guffies - English folk
Skunt. Possibly North Worcestershire.
Lopsided, skewiff, misaligned.
As in: "You've put that shelf up on the skunt".
How about this beauty?
"Greenfield ne'er bred a jebber".
'Ow bist gettin won, surry?
"gana gam yem"
I was taught this as part of my introduction to teaching in the North East. It means can i go home.
The icing on the cake was telling this to a Danish national. His reaction was amazing "why do they ask in Danish"
Simples. It's a viking remnant.
Oh, barry.
I haven’t heard anyone use that term for decades.
still common usage round here
"I'm stood 'ere like piffy on a rock bun"
Thats a good one IHN
Baffies for slippers
can we please have translations?
Appen I do. Lancs dialect
Conversely, no such dangerous positivity and commitment on the better side of the Pennines, where 'appen can signal all purpose non-committal as in "you down pub later?" "'appen." Means, yeah, happen I will be, or happen I won't. Handy.
Gutees was a word used for gym shoes when I was at Primary School. Comes from Gutta Percha, the type of rubber used for the soles
As kids we'd be told: "Go and side up that scrow in your room before tea" (scrow rhymes with cow), i.e. go and tidy up the mess in your room before tea. I've heard "side up" or "side away" elsewhere but never heard "scrow" anywhere else.
This is from the correct, west, side of the pennines.
Again, from the correct side of the Pennines:
Shape - roughly, to organise oneself.
'Shape yerself'.
Or my old mums favourite, 'Our Peter, y'shape like me arse' (Son, you are a useless ****wit). She used that one quite a lot. 😃
Katy Cornered - skew whiff.
Clart - mud.
Fly cuppy, or just fly.... As in come away Ben the hoose and get yer fly.
Redd up - let's get this mess redd up..
Can't understand a good portion of my older family when they get into full-tilt. It’s a particularly staccato and hushed-whispered Southern Black Country dire-lickt!
‘Gooin owt the wikken’ amya?’
‘Ahr, eye-amm-ahr. Am yow?‘
‘Ahr, probley, ahr.’
‘(silence, except for sound of sister singing upstairs)
(Laughing) ‘Thet yower Janet?’
‘Ahr tiz, ahr’
‘Oo’ser think er iz?...Byonsaay?’
‘Kinell ahr, dow tho, y’oll mek us loff, an ‘er ‘ates me loffin, ‘er gets a right bag on’
‘I ay surproized, er sounds loike a god glaed stuck under a god dower!’
transl:
‘Going out at the weekend, are you?’
‘Yes, I am. Yes. Are you?‘
‘Yes, probably, yes.’
‘(silence, except for sound of sister singing upstairs)
(Laughing) ‘Is that your Janet?’
‘Yes, it is’
‘Who does she think she is? Beyoncé?
‘****ing hell yes! Don’t tho, you’ll make me laugh, and she hates me laughing, she gets a right bag on’
‘I’m not surprised, she sounds like a god (curse) gleed* stuck under a god (curse) door!’
*small piece of coal (when stuck underneath a door it can squeal across floor-tiles)
When one is participating in accurate precision work and an object may need to be moved a bawhair, translated just a tiny bit or a smidge
Jobbie. I find it intrinsically funny, but I know people who won't hear it as they deem it too offensive! Bawbags...
Fannybaws - an ineffective individual.
It'll be reet
Yon yow's liggin kessin!
It’s a viking remnant
A lot of that in Cumbrian. Nana used to moan about t'mowdywaffs ont' lawn. Moldywarp old English, Muldvarp Danish. Also used to tell us to gi'owwer laikin (stop messing about) - leik (hence English verb to lark?) in Nyorsk.
Gutees was a word used for gym shoes when I was at Primary School
We always called them daps
Ansome
Well, arl gu t’Anne!
My Gran used to say this as a mild exclamation of surprise. The nearest translation I could fathom was ‘Well, I’ll go to Anne!’.
Victorian/Edwardian or earlier as it faded out with my parent’s generation but my Great Gran used it a lot.
And then the other soid o’the cut (Wordsley, ayet) if yow wuz a bit saft loike, yerd gerrem sayin:
‘Yam yampy ay yer!?’
Gutties reminds me of what we called our gym shoes, sannies.. Now there’s a story in there about a well kent weegie stw writer...
On the wonk. Not level or straight.
Mrs Binners, being from Wigan, just used a classic this afternoon which left a couple of people looking baffled
Keckin’ oo’er
Translation:
Falling over
Gertcha.
One I can’t spell tho and no one has been able to help me. a fool or numpty – its pronounced like “tube” but how is it spelled? Tube? choob?
I don’t know the answer to this. If I had to guess, I’d go with choob … the ch sound in choob seems slightly harsher and more appropriate (to my ear anyway) than the ty sound in tube … somehow seems a bit refined for ‘gonnae no dae that, ya choob.’
Please feel free to pay me no mind - I’m just idly speculating. I’m sure someone else will be along soon with the real answer. 🙂
Twurnt. If it twurt there your gut would fall out.
Malvern.
Are your relatives from Brierly Bonk or Cradley Bonk?
Dow cum round eya with all yowr binin and bayin.
Its a bit black over Bills mothers.
It's going to rain.
Lugs (ears) is one I rarely hear now.
'Yel get a cuff roon yer lug' was a common shout when I was being a wee shite.
Along with lugs you have to like oxters as a word
Are your relatives from Brierly Bonk or Cradley Bonk?
Gerroffit ull ya! Them pash up thettaway 🤣 Troi up frum the Bonk, goo throo Colley Gaerte un owver Wullascott un yow’ll be clowse. Me wun antie lives in Cradley Bonk now thow. Er moved up in the werld by movin dowun.
👍🏼
Me dad remembers the mud ‘ouses on The Lye Waste. They looked dowun on themuz lived theya.
https://uptheossroad.wordpress.com/2015/12/07/slums-of-the-black-country-waste-bank-lye/
As a Cornishman, dreckly means I ll get there at some point. They always were abit more punctual on the wrong side of the tamar.
my Dad, from West Sussex, uses 'scasing' which means just in case.
So if you go out and it looks like rain, best take an umbrella scasing.
My mum's side of the family, from Wallsend in Newcastle...... well, where to start!
My Mrs is from a Scots/Irish family and is hence rich in interesting phrases.
Some good 'uns:
Hoyle = mess, as in "Get up them stairs and tidy your room, it's a hoyle!"
"Fools and bairns shouldnae see things half-done" = an admonishment not to stick your nose in commenting when I'm mid way though a job.
"It wasnae from the grass she licked it" = effectively "like father, like son"
Lots of good dialect from my time living in the north east too, but my favourite is probably just "Eeeee!" which is a kind of multi-purpose exclamation which can mean just about whatever you like depending on how you say it and what facial expression you use it with.
I do enjoy the way scots ( and presumably others) can use the sweary word for " to procreate" that we cannot use on here as many different parts of speech verb, noun, adjective etc
As in ( awaits bannhammer) that effing effer is effed. eff it
Oh and I heard someone using "jings" the other day - not even ironically.
I’ve never understood how a cheeselog is a woodlouse in Reading.
They’re chuckypigs round here, or they were when I was a kid, it’s what my mum called them. Doubt many do now.
Re. the Welsh terms, I’ll ask my g/f, she’s speaks Welsh, she’s been trying to teach me for the last three years, with little success. 🤪
We always called them daps
Same here - North Wiltshire.
'Ecky thump.
Blummin ummer.
Oh and I heard someone using “jings” the other day – not even ironically.
I often says jings (without irony) ... probably picked it up from Oor Wullie in my early years and it's never left. Can't say I know anyone else who uses it though.
Round here I quiet like 'mind' used to mean 'remember'
Two old guys were getting off the train and the recorded announcement tells everyone to 'Mind the gap'
"Mind the gap?"
"Yeah I mind the gap, that was a good gap that one"
Oh and I heard someone using “jings” the other day – not even ironically.
"Gads" as an exclamation, usually of disgust, and 'gadsy' as a an adjective. "I picked out all the gadsy bits and put them in the food bin"
Some more BC epithets:
‘Yowum loik a fart in a colindah!’
(‘You’re like a fart in a colander’ - ie ‘you are ineffective’)
‘Yowum loik a fairy on a gob o’lard’
(‘You are clumsy’)
‘Stap yer ivverin’ n’ ovverin’, ull’yer?’
(‘Would you stop hovering around?’)
Few Cornish ones I enjoy, I got 2 books of Cornish slang as secret Santa presents one year.
Tuss! - like calling someone a ****.
Yew! - Hello
Two Scats Behind - someone who is rather slow, Two Scats can also be a nickname.... also use Cakey, soft in the head...
Costymuchdida? - How much was it?
Ellydoinov!? - What the hell are you doing!?
Waseecall - When your telling a story and forget someones name, "you know Wasecall"
There is too many to list, I enjoy them all, just don't get to use them any more 🙁 Sometimes with my parents but spending most the time with my grandparents I got used to speaking it.
The wooden hill - stairs
Tube? choob?
"Tube" is Australian slang isn't it?
One of my favs is “Bawheid”
Author Christopher Brookmyre (who I think is Glaswegian) once came up with "Alakazmmy, bawheid rammy."
I’ve heard “side up” or “side away” elsewhere
Aye. Side away is what one does to the table after dinner.
Again, from the correct side of the Pennines:
Shape – roughly, to organise oneself.
‘Shape yerself’.
"Shape thissen."
"When one is participating in accurate precision work and an object may need to be moved a bawhair, translated just a tiny bit or a smidge"
I believe what you're describing here is a "gnat's cock."
"Lugs (ears) is one I rarely hear now."
Nah then then, tha wantsta wesh thi lug oils eht.
The wooden hill
... to Bedfordshire.
I believe what you’re describing here is a “gnat’s cock.”
Bawhair is a bit less than a gnats cock which in turn is a bit less than a smidgeon
“Tube” is Australian slang isn’t it?
Common usage in Scotland and has been since i were a kid - and that ain't yesterday
Bawhair is a bit less than a gnats cock which in turn is a bit less than a smidgeon
Can be subdivided further to an Ants bawhair for extreme precision work.
Another Southwest one I always liked is Dimpsy.
Blimey, in the dictionary...
denoting the soft or dim light characteristic of twilight or dusk.
"the dimpsy light of early evening"
Hadaway (*and shite) *optional
= Get lost / no way
Ahad
= on fire
Hoy
= throw / chuck
The way lots of Valleys people announce their job:
"I'm a plumber, I am!"
Always add the extra on the end, almost like they're reminding themselves they have a job and always said with a bit of excitement at the end. I know it's just a habit from when it was said in Welsh, where the sentence 'I am a plumber' literally translates as 'Plumber I am' but every time I hear an example I cannot help but think how simple the person saying it sounds.
Especially funny when you hear it said a long way from home!
I was once told by a friend of my nan's that I "favoured her." I was horrified as I thought it meant I fancied her, but it turned out, it meant I looked like her.