Dialect words that other people don't understand...

Since being at uni I've discovered (and am continually discovering) that a lot of words that I thought were perfectly normal are apparently some weird Brummie dialect words that no-one else uses! Examples are:

'gambole' (a forward roll)
'cuch' (a cuddle)
'the entry' (the passageway down the side of a house)

and I'm sure there are more.

Anyone else had this happen to them? What words have you discovered no-one understands outside of your home region? :woo:

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

hannahhi

'craic' - eg. that was good craic - really just means fun
People in Northern Ireland also tend to overuse the word 'wee' :p:

I'm sure there are more, I just can't think atm ..

Reply 2

Annie72

toddlers crossword

I"m from Birmingham and also use the words "gambole" and "entry" :biggrin:

. I also use words like "Blarting" and "Its black over Bills mothers", also call a sandwich a "Piece", the canal is "the cut", yes I know thats more Black Country, lol. I use more that I cant think of right now.

Reply 3

electriic_ink

Crack.

"There was some good crack last night".

Reply 4

CasinoBrawl

"Gert" = very big
"Wasson?" = hello
"How be on?" = how are you?
"Where's it to?" = where is this place/thing that you're referring to?
"Suck I off?" = fairly self-explanatory, and apparently the male population of Yeovil's favourite phrase to drunkenly shout in the general direction of innocent females.

And, of course, "Alright, my lover?"

Reply 5

Geritak

hannahhi

'craic' - eg. that was good craic - really just means fun

You'd be surprised with that one, actually. It's just undergone a bit of a revival round here (Teesside, near Newcastle), and it's fairly staple now. :yep:

People do tend to misunderstand and spell it 'crack', though, which amuses me.

We have 'Parmo' - you are never fully aware of your Teesside identity until you have tried to order one of these outside of the area.

Reply 6

Annie72

CasinoBrawl

My husband is from Somerset.....so I"ve heard some of these before :smile:

Reply 7

little_k

Mardy is always a good one.

And "1 while 5" instead of "1 until 5"

Reply 8

common_person

electriic_ink

Crack.

"There was some good crack last night".

I can't decide whether you're joking and making a pun playing on the homonyms 'crack' and 'craic', or whether you just don't know how to spell it :confused:

Me: gee. geebags. geenose. geeface. etc.

Reply 9

RosiePosiePuddingAndPie

"Mardy" = moody (also "mardy bum")
"Tonk" = big/hench/hefty
"Doing the pots" = washing the dishes
"Twitchel" = alleyway
"Ayup" = hello
"Cob" = bread roll

:biggrin:

Reply 10

Prudy

'Canny'

Also the correct use of the word 'banter' and 'lad'.

Reply 11

snail_87

Batch (midlands) and Barm (northwest) referring to bread rolls
Mardy - pretty standard now but when i started uni 4 years ago had never heard it
'Gonna allow our lecture tomorrow' - meaning not going to bother going in (think it's a london thing)
I ate 'bare' chocolate this easter - bare meaning a lot. (again a london thing)

Reply 12

Allthewayhome

toddlers crossword

That one seems pretty apparent.

People laughed at me when I call my sandwiches "pieces"
People from my area call fizzy drinks "ginger".
Wee
Aye
Yaldi - means fantastic, something extraordinary, brilliant.
Wean + Bairn are children

heeffer - something big/similar to hefty. - "see that's duck - feckin' heffer!

I say loads but i cant think of them at the moment.

Reply 13

gillipies

Haha, I'm at uni in Birmingham (originally from Nottingham) and 'gambole' really confused me the first time I heard it. I can't think of any others I've heard at the moment, apart from everyone calling each other 'babs' lol.

But equally on the other hand I've also had strange looks from people in Birmingham after asking for a 'cob' (bread roll) and describing someone as being 'mardy' (moody/stroppy)!

Reply 14

-Neon-

Hmm....I'll just type a few sentences as I say them..

Dae ya wan a cupa tae. I canny see a thing there. Ye ave any tae bout ya? I dinny know where I putt da breed. I gave a wee bit tay da doug earlier. Aye da wee bugger must ave ad da last of it.

Aye....

Reply 15

hannahhi

Geritak

You'd be surprised with that one, actually. It's just undergone a bit of a revival round here (Teesside, near Newcastle), and it's fairly staple now. :yep:

Ah right cool :smile:

It's just I used it the other day, and I just sort of got a confused reply as to what I meant lol

Reply 16

hannahhi

-Neon-

I understand all of that :p:

Reply 17

caroline147

Yeah, 'mardy' (moody), 'ayup' and 'cob' (bread roll) are the main ones from around here. People also say 'inabit' for goodbye and 'duck' as a synonym for sweetheart.

Reply 18

AnnyRoquentin

I'm from Devon, at uni in Edinburgh and people don't seem to get the following:

grockle - tourist
dimpsy - dusk(y), as in 'it's getting dimpsy out'
where's it to? - the 'to' seems to lead people to believe i was born in a barn...
janner - someone from Plymouth
eeyarr - here, sort of.. as in 'here/eyarr, have you heard this?'

there's so many others, but i don't really say them day to day.. such as 'alright me luvverrrr' and calling boys 'bays' and girls 'maids'.