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Give us yer donny

S

Seabird

Guest
or 'hold out your donny',

Is it only Brummies who use the term 'donny', for hand - especially when speaking to a child? I've not heard it anywhere else.
 
My mom and all my aunts used to say it, and i used to say it to my son,but i don't recall hearing anybody else saying it,
 
They say it in the Black Country too, I think it comes from Ireland where a 'donnybrook' is a rowdy fist fight.
 
Do any of you Brum dwellers hear it now?

I haven't heard it for years, but then I do live in Wales. (where they have 'babi' - pronounced 'babby', and 'becwys' - pronounced 'bek-oose', meaning 'bakery' and many other Brum/Black Country type words)

How about ' napper' for 'head'. The old folks used to say 'mind your napper', when we walked near the table edge as little children.
 
I think you hear grandparents using these words but i'm not sure the younger ones do,even "babby" which a lot of people still use is not used as much,in my family the youngest child was always referred to as the babby,and yes napper i recall,was it just my house, or did all small children have guggie egg? i have no idea if that is spelt correctly.
 
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I still say give us your donny to my grandkids, and I say babby, but my daughter keeps correcting me saying its baby.
 
Well, none of these were ever used in my family, not my grandmother or my mother or even any aunts. Birmingham born and bread and heard them all around but none ever uttered in my house. We did have a bathroom - is this the reason ??? LOL

Shortie
 
my little girl is nearly 3, and she knows what donny means, i have said it to all my kids so they all know what it means, i was brought up with the word donny being said and my mom still says it lol
 
Shortie said:
Well, none of these were ever used in my family, not my grandmother or my mother or even any aunts. Birmingham born and bread and heard them all around but none ever uttered in my house. We did have a bathroom - is this the reason ??? LOL

Shortie
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A bathroom you grew up in luxury Shortie, didn't have a bathroom until my early teens,lol vicki,1we need to keep these traditions going,lol
 
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My mum used to say it to me - usually in winter she would say 'are your donnies cold?' or giving me gloves/mittens she would say 'these will keep your donnies warm'

Polly
 
I recall it from when I was a kid. I asked my Glaswegian wife and she did not know it but said that in Glasgow 'Going for a Walk' was 'Going for a Donner'.
 
I work with a whole load of 'Babbies' and the other day I said to one aged 18 months "Gosh Bab your donnies are cold". A new fellow colleague asked what did you just say Chris? I told her that I said the child had cold hands why?. "Oh but those weren't the words you used" she said . Another colleague told her to take no notice, as it was just 'My Pommie' coming out again and they get used to it as it often happens. Lol :)
 
That's great, so the brummy language is international,lol
 
Recently I saw two middle aged women shopping in a supermarket. One addressed the other as Bab. Of course it is possible that her name was Barbara but as they looked alike my guess is that she was addressing her younger sister
 
my mom used to say give your donny too, I used it with my kids too..lovely saying. where does the phrase cheeker bleeeder originate from, any ideas? steve
 
My wife is from Lancashire where we now live. She moved to Birmingham when she got her first teaching post. Shortly after we met we were out walking when I said " Come here I want to hold your Donny". Even now 40 odd years later I still remember the look of horror /fear as I quickly explained I wanted to hold their Hand.
 
That was natural to me in the 1950s, Micky, but I haven't heard that expression for more than 50 years now!

Maurice :cool:
 
Donny was a word I always used but not heard it for donkeys years, My dad used to say Mussy
for face is that another Brummie saying I wonder ?
 
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