Regional dialects

[JanB]

I'm crying Ossie, really crying with laughter

[TheOstrich]

If we take a long time to get somewhere or even to do something we might say that we've "been all 'round the Wrekin" in the process. The Wrekin is a hill on the ourskirts of Telford.

My Dad always used that phrase. Actually, it's quite an impressive hill. I managed to climb it once but there's absolutely no view from the top, it's completely covered in trees ....

[JanB]

We did it once too, rubbish, weren't it?

[Weka]

Out in the whops, back of beyond all means a rural area with not much of anything there.
Batch = holiday home
If you describe someone as "hard case" you are calling that person "happy, laughing, full of life"
A lot of others we use Maori words like mana, whanau, taniwha. Mana is the respect and prestige that someone earns through actions. Whanau is family, not always blood family, but people/friends you consider your family. People you would do extra for.
Taniwha is a mythical monster like the loch mess monster. A thing of legends that some swear to have seen.

[JoM]

If we take a long time to get somewhere or even to do something we might say that we've "been all 'round the Wrekin" in the process. The Wrekin is a hill on the ourskirts of Telford.

My Dad always used that phrase. Actually, it's quite an impressive hill. I managed to climb it once but there's absolutely no view from the top, it's completely covered in trees ....

We walked up there once too, many years ago. John told me that there was a cafe at the top
I see it when I walk Billy, there's a great view across to there from Shoal Hill Common. You can also see Long Mynd, Wenlock Edge and the Clee Hills, and on a clear day the Berwyn Mountains. There's a toposcope at the top of the common.

[JoM]

Don't get me started, I could still use an interpreter here in Glawster, even after living here for 8 years! For the first year of our relationship, I barely understood a word Mick said!

Has Mick got a broad accent?

I struggle with John's family.
Glaswegian father (and I could've listened to him speak all day, lovely accent and very softly spoken) and Irish mother but her accent is an Irish/Norwich/Cannock mix but depending which part of the family she's taking to depends on which part of the accent is strongest. She also adds American to the mix if it's the family from over there, or Scottish for if Jack's relatives are visiting and you don't want to think about her accent when Aunty Norah visited, she'd lived in the US since the late 50s but hadn't quite lost her Glaswegian accent

I struggle with John's Norwich relatives, I nod and grin and hope for the best

[Gal]

My south Durham accent is so different from Tom's east Durham one - seriously!! He calls me 'posh'!! He speaks 'pit-matic', which is sort of slang for very broad mining language....so I'd say Are you going, he'd say "ah ye gannin?" And where he's from is only 6 miles east of me! And he has many odd phrases/words.....sham, for same....just off the top of my head.

When I was married, my then H had an Irish aunty, he could never understand a word she said! I could so long as she slowed her conversations down a bit

I can usually understand dialects though

[Workingman]

I also had the Scottish / Irish thing from gran and granddad.... sadly all passed away now.

One thing I do still laugh at was my mum and ex and their "phone accents", both of them would put on a very refain'd BBC newsreader type voice, slightly more posh than the Queen and Hyacinth Booquaay.

[cromwell]

That's interesting Weka.

It's amazing how much an accent can change in just a few miles. Ten miles away is Barnsley, and their accent is like nothing else!
Ah'll sithee = I will see you.

Sither = Look here (a bit like the Welsh Look you)

Dowter = daughter.

Ah'll bray thi = I will hit you .

One night I showed up at the gun club looking unwontedly smart and was greeted with "Eyup Crommers, is tha gooin out bad-lassin?" Which apparently means something along the lines of "Good evening Crommers, are you going out tonight seeking the company of young ladies who are not really ladies"?

And the old favourite "Put wood in't oil!" which means "Shut the door".

[Kaz]

Jo, it is fairly broad with family and friends, but modified a bit for work I do still sometimes have to ask him to repeat himself

Gal my great grandparents' accents were broad, very much like Tom's, but then they did come from Durham mining villages You have a lovely, soft accent