Anyone got any interesting local words? See

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8338077.stm

I have heard the term "wassuck" meaning fool from a former boss - he pronounced the "ss" like a "z" and although the article attributes it to the Black Country, he in fact was originally from the Lake District, and at the time I was working in Basingstoke.

My nan sometimes says she is "feeling queer" - queer in this case meaning not very well (and of course, before the term was adopted to mean homosexual it actually meant strange).

And I'm sure the ladies out there are lookng muckle bari today!

Some I know of (though they are quite common anyway) - from Cockney rhyming slang - as a boy I was sometimes told to "use my loaf" (as in loaf of bread, head). Money is sometimes referred to as bread (bread and honey). Also - think this might have come from the PC brigade - you shouldn't call someone a "good egg", as egg is short for egg and spoon, rhyming slang for a racist term (I leave that to your imagination)

Its quite well known that if your university degree is grade 2:2, its sometimes called a "Desmond" - as is Desmond Tutu. Also, a First is a Geoff (Geoff Hurst), a 2:1 is an Attila (Attila the Hun) and a third - which upset me as it is my real name - is a Douglas (Douglas Hurd)

Spoogie, I always thought that money was referred to as bread because it was made from dough?...Also, we use to call it a Richard not a Douglas. What part of London are you from poshboy?....One of my favorite expressions is "climbing the wooden hill"!.....When I lived in Norfolk, my old next door neighbour used to say to me...."Blimey, I was so busy, I didn't know whether to s--t or wind my wrist-watch...!......Charming old fella!.~

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Spoogie, I always thought that money was referred to as bread because it was made from dough?...Also, we use to call it a Richard not a Douglas. What part of London are you from poshboy?....One of my favorite expressions is "climbing the wooden hill"!.....When I lived in Norfolk, my old next door neighbour used to say to me...."Blimey, I was so busy, I didn't know whether to s--t or wind my wrist-watch...!......Charming old fella!.~

I wouldn't mind it being called a Richard - at least then I am not associated with it! (That list came from Schott's Miscellany by the way). I was born in Barts Hospital - near the City of London church of St Mary-le-Bow, which some say means I was born within the sound of Bow Bells - though others say Bow Bells are those of Bow Church in the East End district of Bow, about three miles east of the City. So if the former definition is taken I am, technically, a Cockney. Though my mum managed to get me to "talk proper" (ie talk posh). I 've lived in a few places: Clerkenwell until I was two, then in Peabody Buildings in Bloomsbury until age ten, then Tufnell Park until age eighteen. Just before I went to University (Warwick University, near Coventry) my parents moved to Edmonton - and indeed still live there. After Uni I lived with my parents for a few years, moved to Walthamstow for a while and then to Reading ten years ago. Don't think I've picked up any Coventry or Reading accent - however both places are home to people from all over the country - though I know people living to the West of Reading who do have slight but definitely noticeable West Country burr (which does become more pronounced as you go further west towards Newbury and Hungerford and into Wiltshire).

Interesting one about the "toilet/wrist-watch" dilemma!

The cockney thing is definitely the St Mary-le-bow. My parents used to sing in the St. Barts Choir, I was born a South Londoner, but technically within the sound of, so I guess I'm one toooo....~

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Its quite well known that if your university degree is grade 2:2, its sometimes called a "Desmond" - as is Desmond Tutu. Also, a First is a Geoff (Geoff Hurst), a 2:1 is an Attila (Attila the Hun) and a third - which upset me as it is my real name - is a Douglas (Douglas Hurd)

A Geoff Hurst can also mean a 'burst' as in "needing to go for a Geoff Hurst" i.e needing a pee.

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My nan sometimes says she is "feeling queer" - queer in this case meaning not very well (and of course, before the term was adopted to mean homosexual it actually meant strange).

 

It still means that, outside of slang usage.....