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Brummie sayings & language

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Lyn, I sit in my veggie patch, watching the honey eaters, and its amazing the words that keep coming back forward the back of mi scone. Sometimes it frightens me at all that forgotten knowledge but nobody takes any notice when I try a new word on them. Regards, David
 
And calling somebody 'Mucker' or even 'Me old mucker' seems to come up in books where a Brummie is speaking, dont think I've ever heard it for real though.[/QUOTE]


That was a very common one in Dublin at one time "How are you me old mucker?" But it's seldom used now. That horrible word "bud" meaning buddy is far more common.
 
I never heard the expression "mucker" whilst growing up in Birmingham but did hear it in the army, mostly from lads from east midlands or south yorkshire.
paul
 
Saw this on a motorway hoarding"Made you look made you stare" not sure if it originates from brum but it was a well known saying when we were kids, Dek
 
dek this is how i remember it going..

made you look
make you stare
made the barber cut yer hair
cut it long
cut it short
cut it with a knife and fork...

now what was all that about..but its stuck with me for 50 years or so...lol
 
Blimey Lyn, I haven't heard that since I was a little kid. I'd completely forgotten that little ditty 'till you jogged my memory.
 
glad it jogged your memory chocks

wend i do hope you dont us a knife and fork on yer clients hair lol..
 
Astoness said:
dek this is how i remember it going..

made you look
make you stare
made the barber cut yer hair
cut it long
cut it short
cut it with a knife and fork...

now what was all that about..but its stuck with me for 50 years or so...lol
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You,ve got it Lyn the minute I saw it, the rhyme come flooding back. Dek
 
As I read this I remembered, as a nipper, we used to sing. There was a little girl who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forrid. When she was good she was very very good, but when she was bad she was horrid. Regards, david.
 
And yes and in order to get curly hair
you must eat all your crusts on your bread and you will get curly hair thats what my grand mother drilled into me
and also to much sugar in your tea will make your teeth fall out at every meal time ;
just where did these old folk get these ideas i would like to know and don,t stand out in that rain you will catch a death of cold ;
the mind boggles ;
 
Whenever my Dad headed for the loo and I inevitably asked where he was going, the answer was always "to see a man about a dog". I often wondered why we never actually got a dog...............
 
hi sasha;
my old father inlaw used the expression when he wanted to leave the room for the toilet
was ; ecuse me please i am going to see my tailor and i will be back in a mow;
 
when I was a lad the "made you look made you stare" was used by the girls when skipping or tossing two balls against a wall.
paul
 
paul stacey said:
when I was a lad the "made you look made you stare" was used by the girls when skipping or tossing two balls against a wall.
paul
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hi paul..see my post 695 for the full version of that...

when our dad went to the toilet he used to say...im just going to strain me spuds...lol
 
Made ya look, made ya stare, made the barber cut yer 'air. One of the more politically correct ones for two ball. Another was Inky Pinky Ponky Daddy bought a donkey, Donkey died Daddy cried, Inky Pinky, Ponky. Spent many happy hours playing up the wall by the coal sheds. Anne
 
I came across a book "Proper Brummie", a dictionary of Birmingham Words and Phrases by C. Chinn and Steve Thorne when in Bham this summer.
Found it very entertaining and educational. Plus I recognize a few expressions my mother used that that her Birmingham born father brought along to Canada.

Sarunte
 
David Weaver said:
As I read this I remembered, as a nipper, we used to sing. There was a little girl who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forrid. When she was good she was very very good, but when she was bad she was horrid. Regards, david.
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David it should read. when she was good she was very very good, but when she was bad she had a new car, diamonds and a fur coat....
 
One of the sayings in our house was, if they disliked someone, 'I can't abear him'. I often wondered if this was the brummy version of 'abhor'?
 
I didn't realise that anything i said was odd until I moved away.

No-one knew what pikelets were. I had lugs in my hair and everyone thought i must have nits. I had never heard the word plimsolls, pumps was the word for me and when I said I was popping to the Outdoor to get some crisps everyone though I was insane!

Daft 'apporth seems a brummie expression too as I never heard it anywhere else.
 
Another "song" we sang when playing two ball was................

Oliver Twist can you do this if so do so.
touch your knee touch your toe.
Over your head and under you go.
 
Claribel said:
When my father wanted too go to the toilet he always said "I'm going to have a look at my TAY & SUGAR" he meant tea and sugar, he came from Smethwick. Any ideas where it came from. I have heard it since in the north, Manchester on the radio in a series called "The Bradshaws" on Century FM.
Happy New Year Clive
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Got one of my own now, when I go "out the back" I tell 'em I'm Going to shake hands with the unemployed.
 
Hey Claribel I cracked this one at dinner the other night and ten Australians cracked up laughing. First time they'd heard it so it must be Brummie. Regards, David.
 
When playing skipping in the road with 2 people holding the rope and others waiting in turn to jump in, the saying was 'keep the kettle boiling, miss a loop your out'.
 
Another saying you never hear today is 'double knack' which means there was 2 different entrances/exits to the same place. We knew them all as kids so we could get away quicky if we were being chased - up one entry and out the other side and sometimes ending up on a different street.
 
Astonian said:
My Old Mother Used To Say To Me, If I Was Coming Down Stairs ,
And She Was Coming Up .go Back Up Whilst I,m Coming Up
Because It,s Bad Luck To Cross On The Stairs, And Now ,even Today
I Find Myself Saying It When Ever That Situation Arises When I,m Walking Up Stairs , Does Any-body Else Used That Expression Today -i Wonder .
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My mum always says this and I remember when I was really young I used the run back up the stairs so fast cos I was scared of this bad luck!!!!
 
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