English dialect

[Phil StevensonParticipant @philstevenson54758]

Posted by Bob Rodgerson on 22/09/2017 16:25:29:

In the North East splinters, be they metal or wooden ones were known Spelks. Is this used in other parts of the UK?

A splinter is a skelf in Northern Ireland and Scotland. I'm fortunate never to have had a splinter in my life but have had plenty of skelfs, the wee buggers!

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

Aren't civil engineers caught by the same rule that affects gentlemen farmers?

They are neither.

Oh dear, I'm sure that will offend someone …

Tim

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Ah, the long debated status of the Engineer. Actually it's perfectly clear. If you consult Dod's Peerage you will find that engineers are listed at the very end (One Hundred and Ninety Third) together with 'others not engaged in manual labour, farming of land, or retail trade'. Engineers are 'considered to possess some station in society, although the Law takes no cognizance of their rank inter se'.

I hope that puts an end to the debate!

Dave

[Dean da SilvaParticipant @deandasilva59410]

Cheer up, I have had to completely relearn how to spell thanks to this forum.

And being from Arizona (USA) doesn't help.

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

In the bit of the NE where I come from splinters are spells, never heard spelk, there or in Scotland. My wife , German origin, has trouble still with dialects. She s till can't understand " couple", as in " I'm just going for a couple of pints ".

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Gordon W on 25/09/2017 09:58:54:

…She s till can't understand " couple", as in " I'm just going for a couple of pints ".

She ought to. It's literally the same, and colloquially used with the same imprecision, as the German "ein Paar".

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Maybe that's because couple means six ?

;0)

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Martin Kyte on 25/09/2017 13:53:40:

Maybe that's because couple means six ?

;0)

So can 'ein Paar'

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

In N.Z. sux means six. As in for example, seen on a wall in Dunedin:

AUSTRALIA SUX
underneath was written
NZ NIL

Then here in Oz, depending where one comes from, one may be a 'Sand-Groper ( W.A), a 'Banana-Bender (Qld), a 'Crow Eater (S.A.) or a 'Gum Leaf Sucker' (Vic). For more info about why Aussies are sometimes a bit disrespectful then something like this is worth a butchers **LINK**

Avagooday * Danny M *

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

In Queensland, all that lot from south of the border are generally known as "Mexicans".

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Posted by Brian G on 21/09/2017 21:38:08:

Dragging this up because my son just had a go at me over a drawing I gave him. Does anybody else still use "shewn" and "shewing" or am I really from the Ark?

Brian

not quite that old. Reminds me of Keith Wilson's articles in ME.

Am I alone in being amused at a schoolboy level when people say they have been dogwalking not walking the dog.
It's cold – I'll go cover the horse

[Brian GParticipant @briang]

Posted by Bazyle on 27/09/2017 00:22:09:

…

It's cold – I'll go cover the horse

What is the point of having more words than any other language when we have so many meanings for each word? How would we explain to a foreigner the difference between "dogging" and "ferreting" * and why neither involve animals?

Back on topic, I remember a "rabbit" a something made "off the books" for use or sale over the wall. I wonder what names these were given elsewhere?

Brian

* As in "dogging his footsteps" and "ferreting around in the cupboard" of course, I wouldn't want to lower the tone…

[john carruthersParticipant @johncarruthers46255]

In the southern glass trade 'off the books' cash jobs were 'sparies' or 'foreigners'.
(Each van carried a spare pile of odd glass to cover breakages).
No idea where 'foreigners' came from.

Edited By john carruthers on 27/09/2017 12:06:16

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Posted by john carruthers on 27/09/2017 12:04:38:

No idea where 'foreigners' came from.

Maybe as in simply "foreign-to-the-norm" kind of job?

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Anyone know what a pishmire is ?

Answer later on.

Martin

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

I presume it's a bowdlerised form of pismire, which I first came across in this poem that I learned at school:

I saw a Peacock with a fiery tail
I saw a blazing Comet drop down hail
I saw a Cloud with Ivy circled round
I saw a sturdy Oak creep on the ground
I saw a Pismire swallow up a Whale
I saw a raging Sea brim full of Ale
I saw a Venice Glass Sixteen foot deep
I saw a Well full of men's tears that weep
I saw their Eyes all in a flame of fire
I saw a House as big as the Moon and higher
I saw the Sun even in the midst of night
I saw the Man that saw this wondrous sight.

George

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

I'm just spelling it how I have heard it pronounced so anybodys guess as to whats correct. Meaning you could well be right.

Martin

 

Edited By Martin Kyte on 27/09/2017 12:54:44

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Michael-w on 27/09/2017 12:10:05:

Posted by john carruthers on 27/09/2017 12:04:38:

No idea where 'foreigners' came from.

Maybe as in simply "foreign-to-the-norm" kind of job?

It's simple – a job you're doing for yourself or family is a 'homer', and a job you're doing for pay or favour by somebody other than the employer whose resources you're using is a 'foreigner', 'cause it came from elsewhere.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

It's an ant.

Martin

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

Jobs done on Company time with usually Company materials are called "Government" jobs here. People used to give Me some jabs for doing them at work, so to rub it in I bought red layout dye instead of the Company furnished blue. Needed some at home and made it clear just what I was doing. Just for further aggravation, I set up a long milling cut with power feed, a surface grinder with automatic feed, while I was making a bushing on an engine lathe, all Government work. Foreman just shook His head, that is why I have a home shop now.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Place I used to work insisted that all jobs had a job number. Foreigners were given the numbers '20C 1GS', and everyone was happy. They really were quite enlightened and encouraged home bodgersby allowing free acess to the scrap bin If you got on well with the foremen they would arrange for what you needed to be in said scrap bin. I bet that doesn't happen often nowadays.

[Ken Humphries 1Participant @kenhumphries1]

Although the term "on the scunt" has the Black country as it's origins, it seems that like a pebble thrown into a pond, it's ripples have extended far and wide. I served an engineering apprenticeship in South Wales (commencing 1961), and this term was in use back then to mean "lop sided". Another variation on "a very small amount" was "a gnat's knacker", a temporary resolution was a "lash up", a bad resolution a "cock up", and something poorly assembled was "held together with spit and string". The need to make a part from scratch involved "get a bit of tin, and make one up", and of course anything broken or worn out was "knackered". It is interesting, that even my Worcester born and bred wife knows the term "on the scunt" from working in Cadbury's (Worcester) during the 60's.

[Gordon AParticipant @gordona]

A Black Country expression I have heard regarding something poorly assembled is "Near enough for a fowl pen" (chicken coop).

I have only recently seen the Black Country word fode in print. I remember as a young lad constructing a "trolley" ( wooden plank with old pram wheels attached) at a friends house. His father suddenly appeared and said, "Dow ommer theer yowl crack the bl**dy fode!" I understand that it may derive from a Roman word.

My wife comes from Old Hill in the Black Country where the older generation stiil use words like "thee", "thine" "woost" and "bist" Having grown up only about 3 miles from the place, I found understanding very difficult at first. My son-in-law from Kidderminster has almost had to learn a new language!

It has been said that the dialects from Upper Gornal and Lower Gornal are different, and the places are only about a mile apart and not separated by a river or anything! Are there other places in the world with such a variety of dialect in such a small area, or are we unique?

At the moment there is opposition and some hostility to include the region in "Greater Birmingham". Black Country people are known as "Yam-yams" by people from Birmingham. The way to irritate a Black Country person is to call them a "Brummie".

Gordon.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Gordon A on 15/04/2018 23:07:39:

A Black Country expression I have heard regarding something poorly assembled is "Near enough for a fowl pen" (chicken coop).

Which has its translation in Australia as "Close enough for bush work".

Re earlier discussion of "foreigner", when I was an apprentice "foreign order" applied to any home job being done in the works, which then had to be got out the car factory gate past security to be taken home, ie to a place foreign to the factory. Commonly shortened to "foreigner". For "foreigners" too large to conceal in a pocket, you had to find a sympathetic foreman who would sign a pass-out chit to allow it past the gate security.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

I worked at the Longbridge car plant for about 10 weeks on secondment from Cowley and during a lunchtime stroll noted that there were virtually no cycle racks around the plant compared to hundreds at Cowley. I enquired why there were no cycle racks and was told the vast majority of workers at Longbridge came from the Black Country which was a bit to far to cycle for he average bloke. Apparently Brummies did not want to work in the car factory even though it was on their doorstep. The story as told by a Brummie who did cycle to the plant but said people would rather work at Cadburys than the car plant.

Mike

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