Words from our childhood are linguistic time travellers. Dialect, accent, slang, interests and family all had a hand in honing what came out of our gobs as kids, our ideolects.
Here are a few I remember from the playgrounds of Preston, Lancashire, England during the Sixties:
Spuggy - gum
Belm - a lie
Thommin' - lying
Joshin' - kidding or fibbing
Peevish - mean
Peeved - annoyed
Miffed - annoyed
Chuffed - pleased
Cally - money
Dosh - more money
Spondoolis - even more money
Squire - fellow
Flower - term of endearment e.g Hello flower
Gob - mouth
Mush - mouth
Trap - mouth as in Shut yer trap
Cake 'Ole - mouth
Keks - trousers
Skeg - look round as in Let's have a skeg
Skint - broke
Scrap - fight
Paste - win a fight
Pasted - lose a fight
Paggered - tired
Knackered - very tired
Shreddies - underwear
Scran - food
Snap - food
Nosh - food
Grub - food
Telly - TV
The Box - TV as in What's on the box tonight?
Skoo - School
Bunkin' off Skoo - sciving
Up Town - town centre
Fettle - to sort out
Fettled - sorted out as in Is it fettled yet?
Fettler - someone who sorts things out and/or a fellow as on Now then my old fettler!
Now then - how are you
Ey Up - how are you again
Ecky thump - Well I never
Flippin 'eck - You must be joking
Blummin' erry - Is that true
Friggin' nora - gee whizz
Bloody nora - even bigger gee whizz
Crikey - really
Blimey - really again
Yikes - danger
Thick ear - a smack off Mother
A good hiding - a smack off Dad
Chavvers - a mate as in Now then chavvers
Kushdie - cool
Cor - wow
By Gum - wow
Ee by gum - double wow
Slash, JR, squirt, wez - pee
Kak, Biz, AA - poo
Bog, loo - toilet
Get lost - go away
Get stretched - please go away
Get knotted - just go away
Get stuffed - you better go away
Get, git, nit, twit, twerp - idiot
Pillock, prannock, dimmock - big idiot
Proper - really as in proper tastey
Big Light - front room light
Big shop - supermarket shop
Leccin out - playing out [Yorkshire]
Bezzin round - going round [Yorkshire]
Smooch - cuddle
Snog - kissin'
Neckin' - lengthy kissin'
Pettin' - more kissing
Heavy pettin' - kissing and more!
Fair to middlin' - OK
Not three bad - quite OK
Champion - more than OK
Sunny Jim - a young man as in Listen Sunny Jim, that's my seat [ on the bus ]
Sunshine - a child as in Don't stay out late Sunshine
Sunday best - best clothes, church clothes, going to see Grandma clothes
Sunday dinner - roast beef, roast potatoes, mash, peas, carrots, yorkshire pudding, gravy
Pudding - any desert
Cha - tea
Brew - tea again
Cuppa - more tea
Brekkers - breakfast
Tea - evening meal
Dinner - lunch
Supper - snack before bed
and that will bring us back to Dough - US slang for money.
What are your favourite bits of slang readers?
Sweet - Pudding / dessert in the Army "Better lay-on 50 sweets for the late company chef!" or "Ask the captain what sweet he wants?... It's peaches in syrup or peaches in syrup"
ReplyDeleteLay-on - Do / provide!
You should check yours against the Urban Dictionary and add any that aren't there...I added oozie - the Burmese word for mahout, it gets more negative votes than positive - keeps me grounded in reality!
Mmm, peaches in Syrup - deelicious! With lashings of carnation milk!
ReplyDeleteI'll have to look up oozie and mahout!
Wonder if kids had words for toys like maybe Accy Man for Action Man? I don't recall any except for snakker instead of snooker [ I had a small snooker table ].
Mine are mostly unprintable!
ReplyDeleteGum - chuddy
ReplyDeleteMoney - cabbage (old green pound notes)
Make a cuppa - have a scald
Unhappy - cheesed
mother - mam