Local words and sayings...

Cockney said:
Language changes all the time though. Often with the origins of words for ever lost.
It differs from area to area & country to country.
Bitch for example is a major insult in USA.
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And context. I think to ‘call someone a bitch’ would be offensive here whereas ‘to bitch about something’ (complain) I would think is OK (maybe non PC now?), and ’a bitch‘ is just a female canid.
 
KIPAX said:
Never heard the c word used light hearted on telly outside the watershed and never heard it have two menaings either...... Also if the T word is the same how come the C word is frowned upon but the T not

Sorry I don't follow your train of thought at all ?
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Watch mickey Flanagan for the c word in comedy context.
 
sphexx said:
And context. I think to ‘call someone a bitch’ would be offensive here whereas ‘to bitch about something’ (complain) I would think is OK (maybe non PC now?), and ’a bitch‘ is just a female canid.
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Try typing bitch on an american forum and it will get **** ed out.
I agree context is everything.
 
sphexx said:
And context. I think to ‘call someone a bitch’ would be offensive here whereas ‘to bitch about something’ (complain) I would think is OK (maybe non PC now?), and ’a bitch‘ is just a female canid.
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A bitch is just someone that whines or moans about something or says something nasty or catty about someone. It certainly isn't an offensive word.
 
I used the word c*** a lot at school in my school work instead of the word "couldn't" Genuinely only used one of the words to speak so wrote it down as well haha.

I'm quite broad Sheffield and my Fiancé would be able to list you loads of things that she thinks are made up that I say (she's from Warwickshire).
 
broc said:
Tight as a cuddies @r$e...... meaning someone is scrooge-like. A cuddy is a shortened form of Cuthbert, and an Eider duck is known as a cuddy duck because of St Cuthbert's affinity to Lindisfarne and the Farne Islands off the Northumbrian coast where the Eider duck is commonly found.
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In Scotland, a cuddy is - or used to be - a donkey. There's a Cuddy Lane in Morningside, which is quite an upmarket area in Edinburgh. I don't know the derivation, but it probably goes back a long way.
 
My partner, from S.Wales, will say "where you to?” to mean "where are you?". I gather Bristolians say this as well.

I've heard people from parts of Worcestershire use 'cat' to mean 'rubbish' or 's***'.

In Evesham the locally produced asparagus is called 'gras', pronounced 'grass'.
 
Cartus said:
My partner, from S.Wales, will say "where you to?” to mean "where are you?". I gather Bristolians say this as well.
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Used in Cornwall, as well. Question: "I am looking for Pete, Where's he to?" Answer: "He's down long, going round." (He is over there, not doing much).

Sometimes I miss the moors, but then I remember the wind, the rain and the xenophobia.
 
Cartus said:
My partner, from S.Wales, will say "where you to?” to mean "where are you?". I gather Bristolians say this as well.

I've heard people from parts of Worcestershire use 'cat' to mean 'rubbish' or 's***'.

In Evesham the locally produced asparagus is called 'gras', pronounced 'grass'.
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Proper name for the vegetable is ’sparrer grass‘, I’ve never heard it called anything else — speaking with authority here as at least 4 of my grandfathers were greengrocers (Goodge Street, London) :cool::cool::cool:
 
Cartus said:
My partner, from S.Wales, will say "where you to?” to mean "where are you?". I gather Bristolians say this as well.

I've heard people from parts of Worcestershire use 'cat' to mean 'rubbish' or 's***'.

In Evesham the locally produced asparagus is called 'gras', pronounced 'grass'.
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As in the Round of Gras pub in Badsey :)
 
The school I went to in 1970 had its own vocabulary and words I'd never heard of until I started there at about 8 years old.

A few things I can remember:

'Bate' meant temper or anger, "he's in a terrible bate".
'Bish', mistake, to mess up.
'Cave', to lookout (for a teacher approaching etc).
If you didn't want something, you would hold it up and shout 'quis' and the first person to shout 'ego' would have it.

It all sounds very antiquated and 'Tom Brown's Schooldays' looking back. I spent 8 years there and generally hated it.
 
If I asked my dad if he knew someone he would say "Him, I used to chew bread for his chickens" not sure if it was local to Kent though or if he had heard it when he was in the RAF.
 
broc said:
Tight as a cuddies @r$e...... meaning someone is scrooge-like. A cuddy is a shortened form of Cuthbert, and an Eider duck is known as a cuddy duck because of St Cuthbert's affinity to Lindisfarne and the Farne Islands off the Northumbrian coast where the Eider duck is commonly found.
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MartynK said:
In Scotland, a cuddy is - or used to be - a donkey. There's a Cuddy Lane in Morningside, which is quite an upmarket area in Edinburgh. I don't know the derivation, but it probably goes back a long way.
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Whereas to me in Northumberland a cuddy is a horse (often a pit pony, but sometimes a racehorse), a cuddy duck is an Eider
 
Cockney said:
Language changes all the time though. Often with the origins of words for ever lost.
It differs from area to area & country to country.
Bitch for example is a major insult in USA.
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Yes, I know, and that's what makes the use of our language (mildly) interesting. The meaning of some words can, and do, change over time... take 'woke' as a modern example. There are many other examples such as gay, special, challenged, etc. they all have alternative meanings. That's not what this thread was really about though, so perhaps we ought to revert to the 'spirit' of the original post before we stray too off topic? After all, we've not even got on to the third page yet... whereby, if a thread hasn't gone off topic by then, it hasn't really amounted to much! ;)
 
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Cartus said:
The school I went to in 1970 had its own vocabulary and words I'd never heard of until I started there at about 8 years old.

A few things I can remember:

'Bate' meant temper or anger, "he's in a terrible bate".
'Bish', mistake, to mess up.
'Cave', to lookout (for a teacher approaching etc).
If you didn't want something, you would hold it up and shout 'quis' and the first person to shout 'ego' would have it.

It all sounds very antiquated and 'Tom Brown's Schooldays' looking back. I spent 8 years there and generally hated it.
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I remember my Mum, who's now in her 80s, mentioning shouting 'cave' to warn others that a teacher was approaching. I liked your assessment of school, and I share the same general opinion of the two I attended. (y)

As a quick aside, I heard a quote from someone on the radio the other day, he said "I was sent away to boarding school at the age of 8... and not all of me came back". I thought that was very sad and poignant.

My own memories of local school slang 'fad' words include: Fab, Ace, Dob-un and snitch! :)
 
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Cockney said:
In Sheffieldish "Nesh" is somebody who always feels the cold.
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Nesh describes a dog that is unwilling to go into heavy cover/brambles etc, so I can see it could be related to someone feeling cold when others aren’t ;). I don’t think it’s regional in that sense.
 
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Another old local saying I've just remembered, used as a put down when someone is making a pig's ear of something or faffing about: "Your shaping like a wooden duck in a thunderstorm".
 
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Something I used to hear a lot back in my school days was the (Norfolk?) term 'knock' meaning to smell bad!

Phonetic example:

"Blass, 'at knock round 'ere, daunt it?"
("Blass, that knock round here, don't it?")

My best guess translation:

"Blast, it smells bad round here, doesn't it?"
 
Some Cornish dialect usage which has, or is dying out and in addition to those already explained.

Launder for roof gutters, launder was the name given to the water troughs in the tin mines.
Capt'n for the boss or foreman
Skin the spuds for peel the potatoes.
Tedden tall for it isn't.
Where 'ee to? Where are you?
Ford un can 'ee? Can you afford that item?
Kennel, prostitute or a woman of easy virtue.
Ess you for yes.
Gisson with 'ee, for disbelief.
Tuss for a vagina.

Two things can make Cornish Dialect difficult to understand. One is the fact that the grammar follows that of the Cornish language, which is the reverse of English and the other is that the Cornish tend to speak quickly and either shorten words or leave them out completely.

For example.

English - Are you going to town? becomes going town are 'ee? The "to" is left out, going is deemed to be sufficient and you is replaced by a shortened form of the old English thee.

The reply will probably be Ess you for yes I am. As a poster has already stated 'ee and you can be replaced by pard, boy, maid or my andsome.
 
Earley Man said:
Some Cornish dialect usage which has, or is dying out and in addition to those already explained.

Launder for roof gutters, launder was the name given to the water troughs in the tin mines.
Capt'n for the boss or foreman
Skin the spuds for peel the potatoes.
Tedden tall for it isn't.
Where 'ee to? Where are you?
Ford un can 'ee? Can you afford that item?
Kennel, prostitute or a woman of easy virtue.
Ess you for yes.
Gisson with 'ee, for disbelief.
Tuss for a vagina.

Two things can make Cornish Dialect difficult to understand. One is the fact that the grammar follows that of the Cornish language, which is the reverse of English and the other is that the Cornish tend to speak quickly and either shorten words or leave them out completely.

For example.

English - Are you going to town? becomes going town are 'ee? The "to" is left out, going is deemed to be sufficient and you is replaced by a shortened form of the old English thee.

The reply will probably be Ess you for yes I am. As a poster has already stated 'ee and you can be replaced by pard, boy, maid or my andsome.
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While 'ess' for 'yes' is common (usually followed by 'yo'), so is 'ais' said slowly which means either 'I don't really believe you' or 'that is obvious'.
In the mining industry (perhaps elsewhere) we called the big boss 'cap'n' and the shift foreman 'shift boss'.
'mazy' for drunk or irritable
'able maid' for 'attractive young lady'

When we moved to the moors, the hardest to understand (and were used a lot) were Gisson with'ee and Cummus on. I have lived in Lincolnshire for 30 years this June and I still use those last two.
 
MartynK said:
Still common enough around Aberdeen.
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There are a lot of strange words that are common around Aberdeen.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VYSgMk6A6g


I, and a friend, recall walking along a path near Aberdeen. A farmer approached and aggressived shouted "Fit are you twa dain snooting aboot here". To which I politely replied "None of your fornicating business".
 
Server Hamster said:
Does that mean Yoda was a Cornish piskey?
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He could well have been. :) When my family moved to a smallholding about a mile from Stithians, pronounced Stiddyans by the locals, some of the older inhabitants who had lived there all their lives, did speak a somewhat fractured form of English. :)
 
john.margetts said:
While 'ess' for 'yes' is common (usually followed by 'yo'), so is 'ais' said slowly which means either 'I don't really believe you' or 'that is obvious'.
In the mining industry (perhaps elsewhere) we called the big boss 'cap'n' and the shift foreman 'shift boss'.
'mazy' for drunk or irritable
'able maid' for 'attractive young lady'

When we moved to the moors, the hardest to understand (and were used a lot) were Gisson with'ee and Cummus on. I have lived in Lincolnshire for 30 years this June and I still use those last two.
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I had forgotten Cummus on. I remember Ais spoken slowly, but it wasn't that common.
There was another expression for a female with a large bust, fine gate(big) maid .
 
Earley Man said:
He could well have been. :) When my family moved to a smallholding about a mile from Stithians, pronounced Stiddyans by the locals, some of the older inhabitants who had lived there all their lives, did speak a somewhat fractured form of English. :)
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I was brought up not too far from you, the other side of Four Lanes in Treskillard.
 
john.margetts said:
I was brought up not too far from you, the other side of Four Lanes in Treskillard.
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Hi John,

It's a small world. that's at the most about 4 miles away. We lived at Lansenwith Farm, the smaller one, which the new owner renamed to avoid confusion when he bought it from my parents in 1963. Because my parents moved there from Penryn they tended to look south instead of north and I think I was taken to Four Lanes only once in the 11 years we lived there.
 
a few from Liverpool
ozzy > Hospital
Scran > food (also used in army)
 
Earley Man said:
For example.

English - Are you going to town? becomes going town are 'ee? The "to" is left out, going is deemed to be sufficient and you is replaced by a shortened form of the old English thee.
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To be fair, up here in Sheffield and Barnsley that would just become:

"Goin' town?"
 
It always amuses me how many different regional names there are for the humble bread roll - In Cheshire it's a barm cake, in Merseyside it's a batch, darn sarf it's a bap, and I'm sure there are lots more.
 
Mr Badger said:
It always amuses me how many different regional names there are for the humble bread roll - In Cheshire it's a barm cake, in Merseyside it's a batch, darn sarf it's a bap, and I'm sure there are lots more.
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Darn sarf a bread roll and a bap are two different things. A bap is pretty much a burger bun.
 
Always been fascinated by dialects. Born in Manchester and my Grandfather used to give talks in and on Lancashire Dialect. Other grandfather was from Yorkshire which made for a good mix.
There is a four letter word beginning with a C in the thread which seems universally to be a swear word and not to be used. In the navy it was a type of rope splice.

Junior school teacher (in Cheshire) who was born and bred in the village used 'daps' to mean 'pumps' or 'plimsols' - the last of these was more common in the navy but was it related to the bloke who drew the line? That siad, I always called them 'pumps'

The movement of people has had an odd effect as I used to go through the 'ginnel' to get to a friends house but if he was walking to mine he'd go through the 'alley'. Twittens and twittings seem to be similar down South?

Things like barm cakes are also interesting. Great great uncle made 'barm cakes' in his bakery (in Oldham) and he called yeast 'barm'......hence cakes made with yeast and therefore 'bread cakes' being a bread roll. In Yorkshire they are often still called bread cakes (and I wonder if they splash them with Hendo's in Sheffield). One of my grans called them 'morning rolls' as she was a bit posh ;)

The mention of mizzle way down near the equator ...it was used in Lancashire to mean the same thing.

Another set of interesting ones is baggin - the snack we used to have with us out in the fields. In the midlands and North East I've heard people call that snapping, and snap. Lot's more variants as you wander the country!

We used a pikle...most people say pitchfork? I have heard it called a 'two prong' by a farmer near Macc and that just sounded odd.

'Our Peg or 'our Maud' both used around the North of England for other half. I wonder if Peg is more common towards the West?

The use of 'bobbins' to mean rubbish in Cheshire is new to me. Almost always been used to mean good ...a bit like 'bob on' (presumably originally from a plumbline being perfectly straight?) by everyone I know. Can't recall anyone using it to mean bad
 
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morfis said:
The use of 'bobbins' to mean rubbish in Cheshire is new to me. Almost always been used to mean good ...a bit like 'bob on' (presumably originally from a plumbline being perfectly straight?) by everyone I know. Can't recall anyone using it to mean bad
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The use of bobbins was more a 60s 70s Manchester thing, it's not a Cheshire saying. Anyway, I'd better get weaving! (y)
 
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