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Regional Words And Phrases...


Running Bunny
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After my slip into Yorkshire on a previous post, I thought I would see what other regional variations there are around the country...

 

Yorkshire

While = Until

Example: At a level crossing, the sign reads 'please wait while lights flash' so the urban myth has it that a Yorkshireman got killed as he waited UNTIL they flashed and got hit by a train.

Spell = Splinter

Example: Four year old child tells me they have a spell in their finger, I naturally assume they are playing at being Harry Potter and 'go off on one' with role play. THey proceed to stick their finger in my face and say 'look, there', where I can plainly see a splinter!

Pot = Plaster Cast

Example: 'My brother has got a pot on his leg' Me, being new to this word imagined a child with a saucepan stuck on his foot, and then realised that this wasn't the case when brother arrived with dad to collect the child!

 

Suffolk (my home county)

I didn't realise this, and perhaps others may correct me but...

Tripper = Buggy/pushchair

We have always called them trippers and it wasn't until I was met with frowns from friends up north that I realised it must have been a Suffolk-ism - does any one else call it a tripper?

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Goodness - there are so many up here that I wouldn't know where to start. :D The local dialect here is Doric and living in quite a rural location it is spoken quite a bit. The most recent one to almost trip me up was 'Dubs' which means mud - luckily my assistant has lived up here for a long time and can translate for me if I am in trouble. :o

 

If someone asks you where you bide or stay they mean where do you live.

Something 'goes on fire' rather than 'catches on fire'.

You might describe something as 'fine' to mean really good.

The children might have 'a shot on the chute' - a turn on the slide.

The children take in 'a piece' for their morning break which is their snack.

We have lots of 'loons and quines' at playgroup - boys and girls

The scaffie wagon is the dust cart.

Brae is a hill and burn is a stream.

 

Just a few! :)

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lived in and grew up in London, 'pot' was same there too, so may be same in more regions,

 

Love the local one here of 'Grockle' to mean a tourist, visitor or outsider, knew we had arrived when people stopped calling us grockles. (only took 10 years!!)

 

 

Inge

Edited by Inge
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We call them maidens too!

We have ginnels which are passage ways.

And while for until is not just a Yorkshire thing-we say it here in the west.

I will try and think of some more

Linda

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If someone asks you where you bide or stay they mean where do you live.

 

A friend in Fifeshire says 'stay' meaning live.

 

 

 

 

 

Spell = Splinter

Example: Four year old child tells me they have a spell in their finger, I naturally assume they are playing at being Harry Potter and 'go off on one' with role play. THey proceed to stick their finger in my face and say 'look, there', where I can plainly see a splinter!

[

 

In Durham we call splinters spelks

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Just remembered

 

Rhyne, - ditch which carries water between fields or more usually between fields and roads....must be to do with the somerset levels, all fields separated by these, bit horrific driving them sometimes as they are very deep and right next to the road, no road markings just deep ditch and water.

 

Inge

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Well here's a mix -

 

I was born and raised in Lancashire but spent time working in Liverpool, Wigan and Birmingham. I now live in Nottingham.

 

I'm a constant source of amusement to my colleagues as I use words from all over the place!

 

I have to say that Nottingham is my least favourite for colloquialisms with pap-pap for car topping the bill :o Its a car. Call it a car.

 

In Wigan I listened in horror as a boy called his friend a little bugger, until I had it pointed out to me that it was a term of endearment. Still, not a nice word for a four year old!

 

Whilst we're talking about words, can anyone help me with this one? My grandad (called him Poppa - another one!!!) used to say that a horrible sound was like 'A hen's walk across the midden'. I can't find any reference to this anywhere and wondered if anyone else has come across it. His family were Irish so wondered if it may come from there?

 

Fluff x

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I come from sussex and have moved just 10 miles down the road to kent. If I talk about going down through the 'twittern' no one knows what i'm on about :o ! It's an alley that has hedges and bushes either side.

 

CupOT

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I'm not from dorset but down hee they call tourists Grockles. and if you have to squat down they say coupy down. aslo used if you are going to the toilet outside!!!!!!!

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down in somerset ( where i moved too about three years ago) the one phrase that still makes me boil is 'where's that to then' dont ask me what it means they seem to use it for everything.i think it means 'where is it'.

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When I was a little girl, my parents' Cockney friends sent me to the shop for some 'bum fodder'! Didn't have a clue what I had asked for at the shop, just said what I had been sent for. It was only when I returned home and found all the adults in hysterics, that they informed me it was a slang term for loo roll!!! How cruel!

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After my slip into Yorkshire on a previous post, I thought I would see what other regional variations there are around the country...

 

Yorkshire

While = Until

Example: At a level crossing, the sign reads 'please wait while lights flash' so the urban myth has it that a Yorkshireman got killed as he waited UNTIL they flashed and got hit by a train.

Spell = Splinter

Example: Four year old child tells me they have a spell in their finger, I naturally assume they are playing at being Harry Potter and 'go off on one' with role play. THey proceed to stick their finger in my face and say 'look, there', where I can plainly see a splinter!

Pot = Plaster Cast

Example: 'My brother has got a pot on his leg' Me, being new to this word imagined a child with a saucepan stuck on his foot, and then realised that this wasn't the case when brother arrived with dad to collect the child!

 

Suffolk (my home county)

I didn't realise this, and perhaps others may correct me but...

Tripper = Buggy/pushchair

We have always called them trippers and it wasn't until I was met with frowns from friends up north that I realised it must have been a Suffolk-ism - does any one else call it a tripper?

 

Well as another Yorkshire girl (Huddersfield with Sheffield parents) I use all those words you said with those meanings! I get the micky taken out of me all the time by my husband's family who are from Wigan which leads me on to what someone said about calling someone a little bugger- yep, I've heard that said loads, by young and old alike as a term of endearment. One of my ex-boyfriends was from Warrington. He and his family used to call people cock as a similar term of endearment e.g. 'you alright cock?' which I thought was awful!

 

The best object that brings up discussion is a piece of food, a bread item that is circular that you usually have to cut in half to put your filling in. It has so many words and always sparks a good discussion.

Around my way back in Yorkshire it was called a bread cake or teacake over here in Manchester and other parts of Lancashire it's called a barmcake or barm Joe (don't ask me why!) but I also know its called a bap, bun, cob etc etc. How many different words can we find for it?!

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My partner plays internet scrabble with a lady in Melbourne and is currently teaching her Geordie...........these are from him

 

 

Howway, haddaway come on, get away, etc

divvnt' don't

gan, ganna, gannin' go, going

aye yes

spuggy sparrow

fettle condition /mood

mebbies maybe, may, might

bonny beautiful

canny careful, clever

yammer natter

hinny darling

wors ours

knaa, know,

bairn baby

canna can't

gullies knives

penkers marbles

cuddies horses, especially old nags

skelp smack

yeeam, home (ahm gannin yeeam noo) I'm going home now

dunch punch (person), bump (car)

stott bounce

bait packed lunch

bullet / ket a sweet

clag to stick

crack talk

fash troubled/bothered

gaumless stupid

hoy throw

hunkers to sit on haunches

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I come from sussex and have moved just 10 miles down the road to kent. If I talk about going down through the 'twittern' no one knows what i'm on about :o ! It's an alley that has hedges and bushes either side.

 

CupOT

 

 

My dad is from Liverpool and calls it a 'jigger', my husband (born in Guilford grew up in Yorkshire) calls it a 'twitchell'

 

down in somerset ( where i moved too about three years ago) the one phrase that still makes me boil is 'where's that to then' dont ask me what it means they seem to use it for everything.i think it means 'where is it'.

 

- One Nottingham-ism that makes me boil is this;

 

"I should have done that didn't I?" Now is it me or does that just not make sense?

 

Fluff x

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I used to be a nanny and a friend of mine was from Ayr. I used to love the things she said - as has already been said

a shot on the chute... so funny that she used that exact phrase!

She used to threaten to skelp or leather the children if they misbehaved and complain that her hair was a midden!

 

There are lots of ways of threatening smacks aren't there?

Skelp and leather as above

My Mum used to say she'd give me a good hiding - good for who exactly!!

When the dog had been naughty Mum'd wag her finger at her saying 'I'll pay you' I never got that one???

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Roll, Nichola.

A bap is soft and floury!

A cob is a round loaf of bread.

Buns have fruit in them unless you are at MacDonalds!

 

I'd go along with that!

 

I struggle with the 'teacake' meaning roll as a teacake has fruit in it and is toasted with butter on it!

 

Now you've mentioned 'cob', in Yorkshire that means 'sweat' in that 'I've got a bit of a cob on' (I've worked up a bit of a sweat)

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Guest MaryEMac

I used to get threatened with a good hiding as well Pandamonium. I can remember being told that when I was 2yrs old, I kept calling out during the night. My Dad got exasperated and in the early hours he went into my room and asked me if I wanted a good hiding. Apparently I said "Yes please" and Dad couldn't do anything for laughing. :oxD

 

Mary

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I remember being very puzzled when my mum told me she had a bone to pick with me and she seemed very cross. Dad always gave us the chicken bones to pick as a treat!

 

Pull your socks up causes a confusion too, especially in the summer although I dont suppose either of those are regional?

 

Not sure that a cob is flat, Marion!

and yes Running Bunny, a tea cake is most definitely best toasted!

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Some Belfast phrases:

 

"That takes me to the fair" - I cant believe that

 

"Get up a' that wi ye' " - Get up off the floor

 

"Sure, come up for the craic" - Come up and have a good time

 

"Where's my car at?" - Where did I put my car

 

"Come on a' that wi ye' " - Hurry up

 

"Come on on in" - Come in

 

"insane as" - As a replacement for the words "seeing as" i.e Would you go there insane as she's off sick"

 

"Gravy ring" - Doughnut

 

"What about ye?" - How are you?

 

Just remembered another one that Matt Lucas from Little Britain found funny when he was here on tour:

 

"Milly" - The Belfast equivalent of Vicky Pollard :D

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I'd go along with that!

 

I struggle with the 'teacake' meaning roll as a teacake has fruit in it and is toasted with butter on it!

 

Now you've mentioned 'cob', in Yorkshire that means 'sweat' in that 'I've got a bit of a cob on' (I've worked up a bit of a sweat)

 

 

We use cob for being in a mood

Had a cob on = was in a strop = had the hump = was in a mood!

 

Can anyone clarify 'having an epi'? People use it for when someone gets in a real state about something. I've not used it as I always assumed it somehow realted to epilepsy as you say 'OOhh she had an absolute FIT when she found out' But wondered if it was from something else?

 

What about words for tantrum?

Wobbly

Paddy

Strop

Hissy

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Now you've mentioned 'cob', in Yorkshire that means 'sweat' in that 'I've got a bit of a cob on' (I've worked up a bit of a sweat)

 

In the north west a 'cob on' is a strop or a bad mood. If I've got a cob on it means in a bad mood about something.

 

Fluff x

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a'right my 'ansoms, thought I'ld do this dreckly but found I had the time now. Waas goan on? Now I d' reckon there's plenty of good old cornish dialect out there - where's it to clearly indicates a desire to know where something/somewhere is and where's ye bin is also a direct question about your recent whereabouts. You may have been down the ope (alley way) and as for them emmets, they do get under yer feet during the summer. Caan't wait fer em to go back 'ome where they d' belong. Somewhere up country I d'reckon. Our hedges aren't - they're stone walls. And tis very diff'rent to the Devon accent or the somerset voice - anyone who says it is the same, well - that just makes I laarf :o now don't worry if this leaves you a bit maezd (perplexed), it is a very unique dialect.

 

Cx

Edited by catma
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Now I think about it, cob has two meanings - 'I've got a cob on' is a strop as others have said. Sweating cobs is sweating a lot.

 

Another word for strop - mardi/mardy - a girl I was at Uni with said this a lot!

A different friend at Uni (from Northern Ireland) used to ask if I could 'borrow her something' - can you borrow me a pen (lend me) It took me a while to work that one out!

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