Okay, here is a UK version of the dialect meme, with questions added by Bunn, Steepholm, Muuranker, Philmophlegm, Segh and Amalion. Anyone who feels like doing it is free to add extra questions
( Read more... )
Context: Mother cockney but had lived in Leeds and Glasgow, father Irish brought up in Dover, me Sarf London all the way. 1. The space between two buildings containing a footpath: An entry. 2. A knitted item of clothing worn over a shirt, without buttons: Jumper - woolly when I was young. 3. The act of not going to something that you're supposed to go to: Bunking off. 4. Playground game in which someone is "it" and has to touch someone else who then becomes "it.": It. (yes, I know it's boring!) We had stuck-in-the-mud too. 5. Playground truce term when you want a break from the above games: Cross fingers and say Vainites (presumably derived from Fain I.) 6. Playground term you say when you want to claim something: Bags I. 7. Slip-on shoes worn for school sports in the days before trainers: Plimsolls. 8. Small round bread: Bread roll. 9. Sweet course that follows the main course: Pudding. I think my mother said "Sweet" but she may have meant "Suite", who knows? 10. Scone: pronounced to rhyme with "gone" or with "moan": Gone. My mother used to say that people who pronounced them the other way couldn't make them. 11. Generic term for a bird: Bird. 12. Round food stuff made with batter on a griddle, which is brown on the outside: Pancake. 13. A delicacy that you feel is particularly local to you: Suburbs don't have delicacies. My father's favourite pudding was Manchester Tart - a jam tart with a layer of set custard on top. In my youth in the Old Kent Road it was winkles for tea. What happened to winkles, anybody? 14. Term of endearment: My mother used to say "My heart's darling" which she said was Irish - perhaps she got it from her in-laws. 15. Someone who's soft and easily feels the cold: Don't know. 16. Tourists: We used to say "Touroids" when I was at Oxford, but I don't think that counts as slang, it was just a generic insult. A man I knew used to go up to them and say, "Are you a genuine tourist? May I take your photograph?" 17. A field boundary: Hedgerow. 18. You see a group of animals standing in a farm building. They have udders and go moo. Complete the following sentence: "Look at those ____ standing in that ____!": Look at those cows standing in that barn! 19. You haven't had anything to eat in a long time, and your stomach is letting you know about it. You would also like to be warmer. You say: "I'm ____ and ___!": I'm starved with cold. 20. Your friends invite you to enter a haunted house: you demur. What do they call you, by way of a derisive taunt? Wimp. 21. A man who dresses flashily with lots of expensive jewellery is a ____: Flash Harry? 22. What do you say in a shop when you are handed your change?: Thank you. 23. Generic friendly greeting: 'Morning, unless in church, where it's kallimera. 24. Slang term for a pair of trousers: Slacks 25. Slang term for left-handed: Cack-handed. I always wondered if that derived from the Greek kakos, bad. 26. Pronunciation of Shrewsbury? Newcastle? Glasgow? SHROWS-bree, NEW-cass-ul, GLARZgo(but my mother said Glassgae.) 27. Two pieces of bread with a filling: Sarnie. 28. A playground way of saying someone is out of order: "Oh Vee!" The thought of it still chills me. 29. Dialect terms for hands, ears, face - and, indeed, for any other body parts you care to name: Don't know. 30. Terms for someone who looks miserable: Misery-guts. My (very cockney) auntie used to say Misery-guts the barber, which sounds like something out of Unhappy Families. 31. Potatoes: Spuds. 32. Pale round food stuff with a brown base, lots of holes in it, which you serve hot with butter: Crumpet 33. You annoyingly lucky person!: Jammy devil.
I just remembered my auntie's word for common sense, which was nous - also possibly from the Greek. When I was young I still had uncles and aunts that used rhyming slang, without affectation.
Fascinating thought! I remember Jack Black the cobbler in Under Milk Wood is always saying it. I thuught, when I grew up, that it might be from Oh Fie, but I to EE isn't an obvious vowel change - certainly not in South London!
Google pulls up examples of Ach y fi , ych y fi, and ych a fi, including a fairly learned looking article that suggests Ach as the Glamorgan spelling - my version would be Glamorgan, yours presumably North Welsh.
Context: Mother rural Northamptonshire, father Dukeries (North Nottinghamshire rural), brought up suburban Northampton, but with some time in north Nottinghamshire too. No significant Greek imput that I know of, but I've got some things in common with segh:
1. The space between two buildings containing a footpath: Jetty (definitely a Northampton word) 2. A knitted item of clothing worn over a shirt, without buttons: Jumper 3. The act of not going to something that you're supposed to go to: skiving (but I also know wagging and bunking off). 4. Playground game in which someone is "it" and has to touch someone else who then becomes "it.": It or Tag. I liked the variant 'Statues' 5. Playground truce term when you want a break from the above games: Kingsies 6. Playground term you say when you want to claim something: "Finders keepers, loosers weepers" (said as pretty much one syllable), or Bagsy 7. Slip-on shoes worn for school sports in the days before trainers: Plimsolls. 8. Small round bread: roll. 9. Sweet course that follows the main course: dessert or pudding. Dessert is what you eat out - unless it is truely a pudding. Pudding is what you eat at home. 10. Scone: pronounced to rhyme with "gone" or with "moan": "moan" 11. Generic term for a bird: Flying rats. Or do you mean something like 'a murder of crows'? Those generic terms were (along with dyslexia) the undoing of me in the 11-plus. I'd never met them before, and thought they were _new_, and that it was a test of creativity! Thankfully, they just made us sit the 11 plus, we didn't get sent to different schools on the results.
12. Round food stuff made with batter on a griddle, which is brown on the outside: Pancake? Scotch pancake? Welsh cake? 13. A delicacy that you feel is particularly local to you: I'm not sure if it is local to north Nottinghamshire, but I always associate Lardy Cake with that part of the world. I inherited/learned my passion from my grandmother there. 14. Term of endearment: at what level? To small children I think 'poppet' . 15. Someone who's soft and easily feels the cold: namby-pamby. 16. Tourists: they haven't discovered Northamptonshire yet. In the Dukeries, we just LOOKED. There is an entire body language which I think has passed away without being recorded: the language of servants. It is important not to _say_ anything, because that can be quoted against you. 17. A field boundary: Hedgerow. 18. You see a group of animals standing in a farm building. They have udders and go moo. Complete the following sentence: "Look at those ____ standing in that ____!": Look at those cows standing in that barn! The dialect word (or maybe it's a technical word I do remember is that young neutered males (older than calves, younger than beefburgers) is 'beast'. 19. You haven't had anything to eat in a long time, and your stomach is letting you know about it. You would also like to be warmer. You say: "I'm ____ and ___!": I'm famished and freezing. 20. Your friends invite you to enter a haunted house: you demur. What do they call you, by way of a derisive taunt? Scaredy cat! 21. A man who dresses flashily with lots of expensive jewellery is a ____: Poser. (or someone with more money than sense) 22. What do you say in a shop when you are handed your change?: Thank you or Cheers. 23. Generic friendly greeting: Hello 24. Slang term for a pair of trousers: don't have one 25. Slang term for left-handed: Cack-handed. 26. Pronunciation of Shrewsbury? Newcastle? Glasgow? SHROWS-buh-ree, NEW-cass-ul, GLARZgo. 27. Two pieces of bread with a filling: Sandwich 28. A playground way of saying someone is out of order: 'I'm telling Miss on you!" 29. Dialect terms for hands, ears, face - and, indeed, for any other body parts you care to name: Not especially dialect, hands are paws (in "paws off!") ears are lugholes. Someone who doesn't listen is a 'cloth ears'. 30. Terms for someone who looks miserable: Misery-guts. 31. Potatoes: Potatoes. Or by their specifc names (King Edwards, Maris Pipers, Jersey Royals, etc. etc. I wonder if there are significant differences in the numbers of names of different kinds of foods people know. I'm sure I can do two sides of A4 of cheeses. 32. Pale round food stuff with a brown base, lots of holes in it, which you serve hot with butter: Crumpet 33. You annoyingly lucky person!: Jammy devil.
and a new one: You notice from the sky that it is likely to rain, so you say : "It's looking a bit black over Bill's mothers".
1. The space between two buildings containing a footpath: An entry.
2. A knitted item of clothing worn over a shirt, without buttons: Jumper - woolly when I was young.
3. The act of not going to something that you're supposed to go to: Bunking off.
4. Playground game in which someone is "it" and has to touch someone else who then becomes "it.": It. (yes, I know it's boring!) We had stuck-in-the-mud too.
5. Playground truce term when you want a break from the above games: Cross fingers and say Vainites (presumably derived from Fain I.)
6. Playground term you say when you want to claim something: Bags I.
7. Slip-on shoes worn for school sports in the days before trainers: Plimsolls.
8. Small round bread: Bread roll.
9. Sweet course that follows the main course: Pudding. I think my mother said "Sweet" but she may have meant "Suite", who knows?
10. Scone: pronounced to rhyme with "gone" or with "moan": Gone. My mother used to say that people who pronounced them the other way couldn't make them.
11. Generic term for a bird: Bird.
12. Round food stuff made with batter on a griddle, which is brown on the outside: Pancake.
13. A delicacy that you feel is particularly local to you: Suburbs don't have delicacies. My father's favourite pudding was Manchester Tart - a jam tart with a layer of set custard on top. In my youth in the Old Kent Road it was winkles for tea. What happened to winkles, anybody?
14. Term of endearment: My mother used to say "My heart's darling" which she said was Irish - perhaps she got it from her in-laws.
15. Someone who's soft and easily feels the cold: Don't know.
16. Tourists: We used to say "Touroids" when I was at Oxford, but I don't think that counts as slang, it was just a generic insult. A man I knew used to go up to them and say, "Are you a genuine tourist? May I take your photograph?"
17. A field boundary: Hedgerow.
18. You see a group of animals standing in a farm building. They have udders and go moo. Complete the following sentence: "Look at those ____ standing in that ____!": Look at those cows standing in that barn!
19. You haven't had anything to eat in a long time, and your stomach is letting you know about it. You would also like to be warmer. You say: "I'm ____ and ___!": I'm starved with cold.
20. Your friends invite you to enter a haunted house: you demur. What do they call you, by way of a derisive taunt? Wimp.
21. A man who dresses flashily with lots of expensive jewellery is a ____: Flash Harry?
22. What do you say in a shop when you are handed your change?: Thank you.
23. Generic friendly greeting: 'Morning, unless in church, where it's kallimera.
24. Slang term for a pair of trousers: Slacks
25. Slang term for left-handed: Cack-handed. I always wondered if that derived from the Greek kakos, bad.
26. Pronunciation of Shrewsbury? Newcastle? Glasgow? SHROWS-bree, NEW-cass-ul, GLARZgo(but my mother said Glassgae.)
27. Two pieces of bread with a filling: Sarnie.
28. A playground way of saying someone is out of order: "Oh Vee!" The thought of it still chills me.
29. Dialect terms for hands, ears, face - and, indeed, for any other body parts you care to name: Don't know.
30. Terms for someone who looks miserable: Misery-guts. My (very cockney) auntie used to say Misery-guts the barber, which sounds like something out of Unhappy Families.
31. Potatoes: Spuds.
32. Pale round food stuff with a brown base, lots of holes in it, which you serve hot with butter: Crumpet
33. You annoyingly lucky person!: Jammy devil.
I just remembered my auntie's word for common sense, which was nous - also possibly from the Greek. When I was young I still had uncles and aunts that used rhyming slang, without affectation.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
1. The space between two buildings containing a footpath: Jetty (definitely a Northampton word)
2. A knitted item of clothing worn over a shirt, without buttons: Jumper
3. The act of not going to something that you're supposed to go to: skiving (but I also know wagging and bunking off).
4. Playground game in which someone is "it" and has to touch someone else who then becomes "it.": It or Tag. I liked the variant 'Statues'
5. Playground truce term when you want a break from the above games: Kingsies
6. Playground term you say when you want to claim something: "Finders keepers, loosers weepers" (said as pretty much one syllable), or Bagsy
7. Slip-on shoes worn for school sports in the days before trainers: Plimsolls.
8. Small round bread: roll.
9. Sweet course that follows the main course: dessert or pudding. Dessert is what you eat out - unless it is truely a pudding. Pudding is what you eat at home.
10. Scone: pronounced to rhyme with "gone" or with "moan": "moan"
11. Generic term for a bird: Flying rats. Or do you mean something like 'a murder of crows'? Those generic terms were (along with dyslexia) the undoing of me in the 11-plus. I'd never met them before, and thought they were _new_, and that it was a test of creativity! Thankfully, they just made us sit the 11 plus, we didn't get sent to different schools on the results.
Reply
12. Round food stuff made with batter on a griddle, which is brown on the outside: Pancake? Scotch pancake? Welsh cake?
13. A delicacy that you feel is particularly local to you: I'm not sure if it is local to north Nottinghamshire, but I always associate Lardy Cake with that part of the world. I inherited/learned my passion from my grandmother there.
14. Term of endearment: at what level? To small children I think 'poppet' .
15. Someone who's soft and easily feels the cold: namby-pamby.
16. Tourists: they haven't discovered Northamptonshire yet. In the Dukeries, we just LOOKED. There is an entire body language which I think has passed away without being recorded: the language of servants. It is important not to _say_ anything, because that can be quoted against you.
17. A field boundary: Hedgerow.
18. You see a group of animals standing in a farm building. They have udders and go moo. Complete the following sentence: "Look at those ____ standing in that ____!": Look at those cows standing in that barn! The dialect word (or maybe it's a technical word I do remember is that young neutered males (older than calves, younger than beefburgers) is 'beast'.
19. You haven't had anything to eat in a long time, and your stomach is letting you know about it. You would also like to be warmer. You say: "I'm ____ and ___!": I'm famished and freezing.
20. Your friends invite you to enter a haunted house: you demur. What do they call you, by way of a derisive taunt? Scaredy cat!
21. A man who dresses flashily with lots of expensive jewellery is a ____: Poser. (or someone with more money than sense)
22. What do you say in a shop when you are handed your change?: Thank you or Cheers.
23. Generic friendly greeting: Hello
24. Slang term for a pair of trousers: don't have one
25. Slang term for left-handed: Cack-handed.
26. Pronunciation of Shrewsbury? Newcastle? Glasgow? SHROWS-buh-ree, NEW-cass-ul, GLARZgo.
27. Two pieces of bread with a filling: Sandwich
28. A playground way of saying someone is out of order: 'I'm telling Miss on you!"
29. Dialect terms for hands, ears, face - and, indeed, for any other body parts you care to name: Not especially dialect, hands are paws (in "paws off!") ears are lugholes. Someone who doesn't listen is a 'cloth ears'.
30. Terms for someone who looks miserable: Misery-guts.
31. Potatoes: Potatoes. Or by their specifc names (King Edwards, Maris Pipers, Jersey Royals, etc. etc. I wonder if there are significant differences in the numbers of names of different kinds of foods people know. I'm sure I can do two sides of A4 of cheeses.
32. Pale round food stuff with a brown base, lots of holes in it, which you serve hot with butter: Crumpet
33. You annoyingly lucky person!: Jammy devil.
and a new one: You notice from the sky that it is likely to rain, so you say : "It's looking a bit black over Bill's mothers".
Reply
Leave a comment