Lingo Differnces

[Toddy]

The Dunny brought to mind another term with huge variations across the country.
The Loo....cludgie, toilet, bog, wc, etc., rlh2 ? the Americans call it a John; why ?

The medieval 'specialist' who cleaned out the toilets was called a dunnikin diver. (sp ? lots of variety)

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Goatboy]

the Americans call it a John; why ?


cheers,
Toddy

Invention of water closet by John Harrington in 1596

 

[Hog On Ice]

from a different thread "coorie doon" - having a little translation trouble on this one - it might translate to American as "hunker down" or possibly "snuggle down" (down??? more usually up)

 

[Toddy]

Curl up and snuggle close. It's a sleepy thing; usually.

It 'can' mean to make oneself as small as possible and hide, like a sparrow or a rabbit hiding from a hawk.

Two people sharing heat, coorie in; but a child nested up for sleep is told to coorie doon. We put a baby down to sleep.....that's a 'totally' different thing from putting an animal 'down' though

M

 

[Hog On Ice]

Invention of water closet by John Harrington in 1596

and improved by Thomas Crapper in later 1800s - thus "visit the crapper" or "taking a crap"

 

[Goatboy]

from a different thread "coorie doon" - having a little translation trouble on this one - it might translate to American as "hunker down" or possibly "snuggle down" (down??? more usually up)

More often used in the east of Scotland is coorie in, as in snuggle in, or cuddle in/ cuddle up to me.

 

[Hog On Ice]

Curl up and snuggle close. It's a sleepy thing.

Two people sharing heat, or a child nested up for sleep. We put a baby down to sleep.....that's a 'totally' different thing from putting an animal 'down' though

M

makes more sense and it also explains the product a coorie sling for holding a child close

 

[Goatboy]

The one that seems indicative of Dundonians is "circle." In Dundee it's how they refer to roundabouts (those strange ring shaped traffic management systems that the US use crossroads in stead of). I think I'm correct in saying that only Dundonians call them circles. Though no-one seems to like them as much as the road planners around East Kilbride.

 

[boatman]

One difference in the meanings of words had very serious consequences. A girl in America was accused of murdering a baby partly because she stated that she "popped" the baby on the settee (couch) in Britain this means placed for a minute on the couch, apparently in America this was taken to mean that she struck the baby.

 

[boatman]

The history of words is fascinating and can take us way back into our past. The Yan Tan etc method of counting sheep was mentioned and was used in Wiltshire but the striking thing is that the Wiltshire form is different from that of the Welsh drovers who passed through Wiltshire with their flocks. Wiltshire's is far closer to Scotland's. So Wiltshire cannot have learned from the Welsh or vice versa which makes sense because local shepherds would try above all to keep their flocks away from those droving through.

How ancient the counting systems are we cannot say but thousands of years would not surprise me.

 

[John Fenna]

In Wales we "cwtch" not "coorie" and a "square" (as in a town square") can be any shape from an un-noticed cross roads to triangular ... like Times square in New York!

I understood that the word "crap" predates T Crapper Esq. - though who knows why?
An Elizabethan term for a toilet was "Jakes" and this mutated to Jacks" as in "Jack-by-the-hedge" for the garlic-mustard plant that some folk think smells bad...

 

[Hog On Ice]

from another thread - being known as a stalker is a very negative thing in American (someone with an unhealthy obsession with another person) - the equivalent to the UK stalker meaning would be a hunter in America - generally a positive thing (except to the bunny huggers)

 

[santaman2000]

One difference in the meanings of words had very serious consequences. A girl in America was accused of murdering a baby partly because she stated that she "popped" the baby on the settee (couch) in Britain this means placed for a minute on the couch, apparently in America this was taken to mean that she struck the baby.

As with many words, context would be the key. "pop" has the same meaning over here as it does there usually, although in the right context it would indeed mean to strike someone.

Another example would be "smack." It has numerous meanings depending on region and context:
1. To strike someone, "She smacked his face."
2. To kiss someone, "She gave him a bid noisy smack."
3. Insults, "She was talking smack."
4. An illicit drug, "she was selling smack."

 

[boatman]

Oh , don't be sorry because you have'nt! You've just said the same thing as me .... soccer was a British term

You said that soccer was the original term :

<One that amuses me is the way in which British foorball fans get all hot under the collar about Americans calling it soccer, apparently entirely ignorant of the fact that soccer was the original British term - rugger being rugby football and soccer , association football. Just goes to show things come full circle! >

Perhaps you meant to say that the term soccer originated in Britain, which it did, but that is different from soccer being the "original" term. It cannot have come into use until The Football Association was created.
​

​

 

[Goatboy]

I understood that the word "crap" predates T Crapper Esq. - though who knows why?

This is an explanation I've seen in a few places for "crap"

"The word crap is actually of Middle English origin; and hence predates its application to bodily waste. Its first application to bodily waste, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, appeared in 1846 under a reference to a crapping ken, or a privy, where ken means a house.Its most likely etymological origin is a combination of two older words, the Dutch krappen: to pluck off, cut off, or separate; and the Old French crappe: siftings, waste or rejected matter (from the medieval Latin crappa, chaff).[SUP]" From Wikipedia[/SUP]

 

[demographic]

The Gonmad Cumbrian Dictionary is a fairly funny list of words used in Cumbria.

There's maybe five or so words in there that were new to me which shows how many others are in reasonable common usage.

 

[Goatboy]

The Gonmad Cumbrian Dictionary is a fairly funny list of words used in Cumbria.

There's maybe five or so words in there that were new to me which shows how many others are in reasonable common usage.

[h=3]barie[/h]1.(adj. bar-ree) good. e.g. Ar like yat lowpin, its barie = I like to jump over gates, it is good fun.
Often used in conjunction with the southern/London slang 'cushty' giving 'cushty barie' meaning very good.

It's funny they use Barry around Edinburgh for the same meaning but pretty much no where else in Scotland.

Anywhere else use a derivative?

 

[The Ratcatcher]

The word "cushty" isn't actually a southern/ London slang word, and isn't even derived from English. It's origin is a mispronunciation of the Romany word "koshto" meaning good.

It's not the only Romany word to be added to the English language. Other examples are "mush" meaning friend and "chav", from the Romany "chavvie" meaning child, but also applied in a derogatory sense to an adult who acts in a childish or immature way.

There are many others, some only heard in localities where the was a substantial population of Romany travellers.

Alan

 

[Red Fox]

The word "cushty" isn't actually a southern/ London slang word, and isn't even derived from English. It's origin is a mispronunciation of the Romany word "koshto" meaning good.

It's not the only Romany word to be added to the English language. Other examples are "mush" meaning friend and "chav", from the Romany "chavvie" meaning child, but also applied in a derogatory sense to an adult who acts in a childish or immature way.

There are many others, some only heard in localities where the was a substantial population of Romany travellers.

Alan

You are right of cause ratcatcher a lot of market slang words are old romany words that were used in trading and the word rom is infact the name of the language of the romanies and the language cumes from India and over the centuries the language has changen to suit the area the romanies traveled.A good romany word is yog and i look forwerd to next one with you Alan.

 

[Harvestman]

The definitive Wenglish dictionary