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Brummie sayings & language

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Pedrocut said:
Anyone heard of the expression...

"He was in his oil tot"?

Regards Peter.
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My understanding of this Brummie saying was That you was really happy "In Me Oil Tot" I believe it comes from the fashion of having a swig of Cod liver oil prior to a nights boozing, lining the stomach. Max
 
The 'Offy' or Off Licence (if yo' were posh) phrase was always refered to as 'The Outdoors' in our house..... the entrance to the off licence usually being from an external door seperate to the main pub entrance. The first time I used the 'have yo' got an outdoors round here?' phrase in Bristol they thought I was barmy! Tarra a bit! Fairport
 
Leonard i think it means very pleased with yourself
 
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I used to say that a lot, but then when I moved to Burton on Trent the lads in the Sorting Office didnt know what I was talking about, Bernard
 
fairport said:
The 'Offy' or Off Licence (if yo' were posh) phrase was always refered to as 'The Outdoors' in our house..... the entrance to the off licence usually being from an external door seperate to the main pub entrance. The first time I used the 'have yo' got an outdoors round here?' phrase in Bristol they thought I was barmy! Tarra a bit! Fairport
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Hi there, my parents lived in the pub at weekends, but in the week I was sent to the "Outdoor" at the Haven pub with
two Quart cider bottles for four pints of Ansells.During the war it became four pints of 10penny. Somes times they would put a label over the stopper, that was
because of your age, Happy Days? not on your nellie! Bernard
 
Ah, the old currency Bernard!

"Six'peneth of chips please" comes to mind from my younger days..... and 'some scrats', they being the bits of batter off the fried fish, which were a freebie if you asked politely.

The only thing I remember clearly being exactly a penny as a kid was a 'fag and a match' from the tobacco & tuck shop on the Stratford Road, Sparkhill.... no questions about your age then as I was still in my junior school uniform!

Fairport
 
Pedrocut said:
Anyone heard of the expression...

"He was in his oil tot"?

Regards Peter.
Click to expand...

Yes my grandparents and parents used it all the time, I have to stop myself saying it as I now live North and don't think they say it up here. Any ideas what it came from?
 
brum baby said:
Yes my grandparents and parents used it all the time, I have to stop myself saying it as I now live North and don't think they say it up here. Any ideas what it came from?
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Have a look at post 361 . Max
 
This is an extract from the Book Proper Brummie . Max
 
I can't imagine being pleased to drink olive oil,can you?lol
 
Elizabeth Redmond said:
I can't imagine being pleased to drink olive oil,can you?lol
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To be honest , i would doubt very much that it was Olive oil, i never heard of Olive oil, let a lone drink it,,,, i hold the opinion that it was more likely to have been Cod Liver Oil, plenty of that stuff was around lol Max
 
maxwell bullivant said:
To be honest , i would doubt very much that it was Olive oil, i never heard of Olive oil, let a lone drink it,,,, i hold the opinion that it was more likely to have been Cod Liver Oil, plenty of that stuff was around lol Max
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Oh yes still not on my favourite list though
 
Olive oil was only sold at chemists years ago and was quite expensive, my dad was in engineering for years and used the phrase quite often, I always thought it was something to do with those little brass caps on machinery that you lifted to put oil in, sometimes they would try to oil while the machine was in motion,as this was difficult, if you got your oil can in the hole, you were in your oil tot, this may be complete rubbish, I have no idea.
 
Yes it was in little bottles used for medicinal purposes one would imagine,i had forgotten that,
 
Maxwell,
You are right, cod liver oil was supplied by the Government in the early 1950's as a supplement for children. I think it may have been supplied via a coupon scheme. All I recall that the dreaded stuff was in a small bottle with a green screw top and was awful to taste. One tablespoonful every day followed by a boiled sweet if you were lucky to take away the taste.
 
christopher short said:
Canting, as in gossiping. Cant was the secret language of the underworld and dates right back to around 1600
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How bona to vada your eek!
As feely homies, we would zhoosh our riahs, powder our eeks, climb into our bona new drag, don our batts and troll off to some bona bijou bar.

No? I dont suppose many know the Polari language, although a few will remember the 'Julian and Sandy' sketches from "Round the Horne" on BBC radio.
Largely taken as a 'gay' secret language, it really has its roots in the entertainment business and is an exaggerated mixture of backslang, rhyming slang, and the commoner forms of canal, circus, Yiddish, Gypsy and Italian lower-class words. This site gives a fuller explanation.
 
Interesting article on Polari. Thanks Lloyd. Mentioned as one of the sources is Shelta (aka "the Cant" or "Gammon") the language of Irish Travellers. Shelta is often alleged to be the origin of the common colloquialism "bloke" (very common in Australia, the land of "blokes and sheilas"). The problem with this theory is that Shelta was first documented in the 1870s, whereas "bloke" (occasionally spelled "bloak") is recorded from the mid 19th century. What's more, there was an earlier word "gloach" or "gloak" (meaning "man"), which is known from the late 18th century. Shelta must have been in use before it was first written down, though, and there is a Shelta word "gloch" (pronounced something like the Scottish "loch") meaning "man". So the derivation might have been: gloch - gloach - gloak - bloak - bloke.

I learned all this from a gloak down the pub.
 
My friends three children HAD to take their spoonful of Cod Liver Oil each morning, but they would only take it on condition their Fater had a sppon ful also. Poor man. He had THREE spoonful's of the horrid stuff each morning. Always thought he was rather pale looking!!!!!!! Miriam.
 
when I was young born 1947, my sisters and I always had every day. Cod Liver Oil, Rose Hip Syrup, and Orange Juice my mom took a coupon to the Dr's and we had a fortnights worth which was replenished every fortnight. until I was 6 or 7 yrs old.
 
There is allready a thread about ''La Pom'' put it into search box


Mossy
 
I have really enjoyed reading this thread and it has jogged my memory of a few phrases that I remember from being a kid in Brum. Not sure if they are all exclusively Brummie sayings.

'Standing around like Browns cows' - when waiting for something.
My mates Mom used to send him 'up the village' (Stirchley) to get some 'messages' for her.
'It's all me eye and maggie martin' - when something was not true.
My Gran used to 'Raddle' the front step.
'Face like a wet wik end' - someone who looked miserable.
'My belly thinks my throats been cut' - someone who is hungry.
'A pint of Wallop' - a pint of beer.
'Gone for a burton' - somethings broken
'Me Monty Burton (pr. Bair- ton) - a gents suit

I'm sure there are many more that I can't recall at the moment.

Bob
 
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