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sayings

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My mother used to say that somebody was "for the 'igh jump", meaning they'd been caught doing wrong and were going to be punished. I guess the "high jump" referred to was associated with hanging. And if something was broken my mother used to say it had "gone west". This is interesting because it seems to have connection with the ancient Egyptian belief that the west was where people's spirits went after death, that being the region of the setting sun, symbolically dying every day. That's why Egyptian pyramids and tombs were traditionally placed on the west side of the Nile. So far as I know, this idea wasn't indigenous to Britain. And while I can't say the Egyptians brought it to the Midlands themselves, I wonder if Bronze Age traders carried the idea from the Mediterranean along with their pots and necklaces a few thousand years ago.

Regards, Ray T
 
Pedrocut - Off topic a bit but I have lost count of the times I've seen a Brummie portrayed on the television (usually with the wrong accent) and they're always a bit dim. I can't believe that any of the writers have ever met one of us. I think we have a special accent which is very hard to copy unless you have lived here. My brother lives in London and comes to stay several times a year, he soon lapses into 'proper-speak' and his wife always makes disparaging remarks.

Back on topic, I remember that if I kept asking Dad for something he'd say 'hello give me, goodbye send me'. Is that a Birmingham saying do you know anyone?
 
Lady P, we're certainly not thick! Here's what researchers reckon the original productions of Shakespeare would have sounded like:
To me it sounds like a West Country accent, I found I liked it better than the plays I saw in Stratford in the late 60s! Who really knows, I'll just stick to my guns and say Bill sounded like a Coventry kid! Have a good day folks!
 
I think coming from Smethwick I learnt a mix of Brummie and Black Country sayings, though a lot of the ones mentioned my nan and granddad used, my granddad was originally from Winson Green though.

I was called Fanny Finackerpants and Fanny Anne, told to stop being mardy (a word I still use), if the wind changes you'll be in trouble, my nan was caggy handed ( left handed) and because I am able to throw a ball, dart or football trophy better with my left hand, just ask my ex!! my granddad would call me half caggy handed, nan would say it was mizzling if it was drizzling, I still use that one as well.

You had a piece when you came home from school before teatime, went up the wooden hills to Bedfordshire, had a cat lick and a promise for a quick wash, dad would have a swill when he came home from work, mom would say it's looking black over the back of Bill's mother's if it looked like rain.

I used to sprain my ankle a lot as a child and more often than not it was bad enough for a crepe bandage, my granddad would say you've kenched your ankle again when he saw me.

I've been reading this thread and smiling and saying oh yes I remember either granddad, nan, mom or dad saying that, it's a shame the words are largely dying out now, at 50 I'm probably part of the youngest generation to remember them, also it's a shame our accent is dying out, and I hate to hear actors and actresses try and do it, for me the best one would be Richard Beckinsdale in Porridge, I always felt he had a convincing accent AND he used to mention Smethwick!
 
My mother was born in Grove Lane Smethwick, just "over the border", but she always thought of herself as Brummy, and proud of Birmingham.
I always wondered where the back of Bill's mother was as I had three uncles called Bill!!
I wonder who Fanny Fanackerpants was?! I was often called that!
rosie.
 
When I asked my mother where she'd been, she would often reply "there and back to see how far it is"
 
When I asked my mother where she'd been, she would often reply "there and back to see how far it is"
l was used to all those sayings as my g/mother came from Walsall....but the one saying my mother used was.... l've got a bone to pick with you....then l knew I was in trouble, Brenda
 
My Dad would say, " That was a brarmer (sp) meaning something special like a spectacular goal, & for some reason my Mother often used to say " Sally Anne Teacake". If someone was looking glum, they had a face "As long as Livery Street " & found it before it was lost!
 
I think coming from Smethwick I learnt a mix of Brummie and Black Country sayings, though a lot of the ones mentioned my nan and granddad used, my granddad was originally from Winson Green though.

I was called Fanny Finackerpants and Fanny Anne, told to stop being mardy (a word I still use), if the wind changes you'll be in trouble, my nan was caggy handed ( left handed) and because I am able to throw a ball, dart or football trophy better with my left hand, just ask my ex!! my granddad would call me half caggy handed, nan would say it was mizzling if it was drizzling, I still use that one as well.

You had a piece when you came home from school before teatime, went up the wooden hills to Bedfordshire, had a cat lick and a promise for a quick wash, dad would have a swill when he came home from work, mom would say it's looking black over the back of Bill's mother's if it looked like rain.

I used to sprain my ankle a lot as a child and more often than not it was bad enough for a crepe bandage, my granddad would say you've kenched your ankle again when he saw me.

I've been reading this thread and smiling and saying oh yes I remember either granddad, nan, mom or dad saying that, it's a shame the words are largely dying out now, at 50 I'm probably part of the youngest generation to remember them, also it's a shame our accent is dying out, and I hate to hear actors and actresses try and do it, for me the best one would be Richard Beckinsdale in Porridge, I always felt he had a convincing accent AND he used to mention Smethwick!
Hi I lived in Hay Mills till I was 13 and all the sayings you have mentioned we used in the 40s and 50s so I would say they are general to Brum. I live in a small village near Tamworth now and the other day I was in the club having a laugh with the bar maid, when I happened to say that I was short of ackers to my surprise she and the others at the bar had never heard the saying before.
 
'bags' as in 'I bags the front seat on the bus'.
I heard it a lot in my schooldays but never since my teenage years.
Perhaps not quite the same as 'I want the front seat on the bus'.
 
We always said it the other way round oldMohawk - bagsy-I (the front seat etc.) This was usually accompanied by much elbowing and shouts of 'oh no you don't' a someone fought to get there first.
 
It was recently pointed out to me that I often say "I daren't" (ie I dare not). I've always used it but judging by my daughters hysterical laughter whenever I use it, I think it's not commonly used. Is this a regional thing? Viv.
 
Hi Viv, I often say 'I daren't' usually to do with having one chocolate or a biscuit - it always leads to half a dozen more, no willpower.
 
My husband's just come in with one of Mom's sayings, if she wanted to say that something had knocked the stuffing out of her she would say 'it's really knocked m' duck off'.
 
I think coming from Smethwick I learnt a mix of Brummie and Black Country sayings, though a lot of the ones mentioned my nan and granddad used, my granddad was originally from Winson Green though.

I was called Fanny Finackerpants and Fanny Anne, told to stop being mardy (a word I still use), if the wind changes you'll be in trouble, my nan was caggy handed ( left handed) and because I am able to throw a ball, dart or football trophy better with my left hand, just ask my ex!! my granddad would call me half caggy handed, nan would say it was mizzling if it was drizzling, I still use that one as well.

You had a piece when you came home from school before teatime, went up the wooden hills to Bedfordshire, had a cat lick and a promise for a quick wash, dad would have a swill when he came home from work, mom would say it's looking black over the back of Bill's mother's if it looked like rain.

I used to sprain my ankle a lot as a child and more often than not it was bad enough for a crepe bandage, my granddad would say you've kenched your ankle again when he saw me.

I've been reading this thread and smiling and saying oh yes I remember either granddad, nan, mom or dad saying that, it's a shame the words are largely dying out now, at 50 I'm probably part of the youngest generation to remember them, also it's a shame our accent is dying out, and I hate to hear actors and actresses try and do it, for me the best one would be Richard Beckinsdale in Porridge, I always felt he had a convincing accent AND he used to mention Smethwick!
Cack 'anded, boss 'onded, boss eyed.
 
A lot of these sayings I would have heard growing up in Dublin and I would have used some myself and still do. However most of them wouldn't be Dublin phrases as they would have been passed down from my Great Grandparents who came from Frodesley, Salop (GG Mother) and Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire (GG Father), the latter spent some time in Dudley too. In the last few years I have also picked up a few phrases from my Brummie and Black Country friends which gets me blank looks as nobody here understands them :D

Simon
 
A lot of these sayings I would have heard growing up in Dublin and I would have used some myself and still do. However most of them wouldn't be Dublin phrases as they would have been passed down from my Great Grandparents who came from Frodesley, Salop (GG Mother) and Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire (GG Father), the latter spent some time in Dudley too. In the last few years I have also picked up a few phrases from my Brummie and Black Country friends which gets me blank looks as nobody here understands them :D

Simon
Do you know the origins of any of these Simon? They came from my mate's gran, from Belfast, Newry then Dublin.
Are you hot in your leather? (if you were not wearing much, )
I have never been the same since me granny caught her diddy in the mangle.
Malogen ( Nan would say fair to middlin for that)
Skinny Malig malogen legs
Green Lady green lady come down for your tea
She had a different version of round and round the garden lookig for a farthin, where shall I find ut? underneath his arm, and and See Saw Margery Daw, sold her bed and lay in the straw.
I really like eegit, half eegit sometimes pronounced as aygit, and gobshite, I have been called all of these.
 
Most of those sayings I don't recognise Nico apart from the rhyme:

Skinny Malig Malogen legs umbrella feet.
Went to the pictures and couldn't get a seat
(sadly can't remember the rest of it)

As the family weren't from Dublin we tended to hear more English sayings and some from other parts of Ireland where Dad's side of the family came from.

During my time in the scouts various rhymes had alternative words put to them but not the kind that I dare post here:eek:

Simon
 
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