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Brummie sayings & language

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Laurie_B said:
Brummies would say goodbye to each other in a distinctive way,I noticed.
For example,taking one's leave from another person,it would be:
"Tarrar a bit"
Saying farewell to two people,it would be;
"Tarrar both"
And for more than two people it would be:
"Tarrar each"
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Although we regard 'tarrar' as being merely a colloquial expression, the word has illustrious antecedents: it is a direct 'folk' link to our Angle/Saxon past. The word crops-up in many areas, but its major, widespread use, is the Black Country/Birmingham area; that convergent point of the prime Midland shires of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. Similarly, the more child-like 'tat-ta' is similarly derived.

That hapless bloke who stashed the 'Staffordshire Hoard' probably said ''tarra-abit'' as he wiped the soil from his shovel!
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sandracoley said:
anyone remember ....wockers and duckers wockers were big bricks we used to chuck. and duckers were thin bits of stone or slate we used to skim ..
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On the same 'projectile' theme, is the word 'bibble' i.e.. a small pebble. There was a third size-grade that I've forgotten...anyone know it - bibble, pebble and ......?
 
sandracoley said:
is ok reg lo....my husband now deceased was anthony john coley his dad was albert coley he had sisters but cant recall names at moment...his mom was elizabeth bailey...deceased...
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Morning Sandra. Non of those names ring any bells for me, at the moment but it is 20 past three in the morning. They're more than likely linked somewhere down the line,

My Great Granddad, was George Henry Coley, he married Charlotte Gertrude Beech. My Mom's name, Jean Charlotte Coley, Aunts and Uncles.

Rita, Rosa, Valarie, Maureen, Janet, Reg, George, Roy, Barry.
 
hello reg
just seen your gt grandparents names
my grandads sister sarah gallagher married josiah coley in 1905
the witnesses were george coley and lottie beech
josiahs father was george

lynne
 
Hiya Lynne. Ye! I've got a Josiah Coley, George and Lottie are Mine, too. If you send mr your E-mail addy in an IM I'll send you you some info. I've got a photograph Of Grt Granddad George Henry, and Charlotte.
 
Not sure this is the right thread, but we never lose our accent do we? I have lived in Yorkshire for 35 years and know that after I visited Brum my accent would come back a bit, but its been a year now since our last visit and sitting talking to someone here who mentioned her daughter was living in Bournbrook as she is at the University she said she knew I was from Birmingham because of my accent! The same thing happened to me in Australia! I must subconsciously revert when the name "Birmingham" is mentioned!
 
im the same .ive lived in devon for 32 yrs and thought id lost my brummie accent but the minute i am in the company of my family it comes back....once a brummie always a brummie.......
 
Brummie born and bred
now living london

and i still use my list of brumie sayings .lol and the cockneys are looking dazed and confused. confused dot com..

1. just go down the gully = down the alley.
2. just popping to the offy = going to the off licence.
3. i do fancy a cheese cob = cheese roll
4. Go and get some spuds = Potatoes
5. My parents use to say go and get me the buckle = run for your life/childline.

lol happy days
 
One of our grandaughters, is, at this moment,baking Anzac and ginger biscuits...
She is in her "oil tot".
 
My Gran used to say that too . Any one know its origin ?
I know San fairy Ann comes from the first world war people returning from France .' Ce Ne Fait Rien' Meaning It is Nothing .
Jean x
 
Elizabeth,
She is in her "oil tot"...but I am getting "mahdi"and having "a jib on" because my kitchen is not available,for me to prepare dinner before the football starts.
 
We Used to Call them Dicks and Nits . I remember vividly running up the road from school waving my brown paper envelope shouting at the top of my voice . 'Mum I got Nits I got Nits !!'
Couldn't understand why she clipped my earole and told me to get in ! I embarrassed her .

She then cut all of our hair off and we had to wear our hair short from then on :(

Jean x
 
I wonder where the saying 'say when' came from. It used to be as you were pouring something out like milk in a cup of tea and they used to say, 'say when'.
 
I've really enjoyed reading this thread. Thanks everyone!

My maternal grandfather Isaac Strothers was born and bred in Wolverhampton, but lived for most of his life in Erdington. He worked for a while in London, and adopted some cockney rhyming slang. He always used to say: "Shift yer plates!" ("plates" = "plates of meat" = "feet"). It is said that when his eldest daughter (my Auntie Betty) brought home her first (rather posh) boyfriend, Isaac greeted him with: "Hello Stanley, how's yer belly off fer spots?". I can well remember, if you told him something amazing, he'd say: "Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs!".

When she was REALLY angry with us, my Mom (always "Mom", never "Mum") used to say: "I'll flay you alive!". When I later learned what this meant, I was relieved that it had only been a threat.

I also remember: "to go round the Wrekin" for "to take the long way round" (Wrekin is a very old word derived from "Wrocensaeten", the name of the Anglo-Saxon settlers in that region of Shropshire, which is in turn derived from the Roman "Viroconium"); "fizzog" for "face" (from the posh word "physiognomy"); "mithering" and "blarting" (both frowned on in our house); "say when"; and "bum starver" for "a short jacket".

Another distinctive feature of the Brummie accent (and the Midlands generally) is the intonation or "sing song", instantly recognizable, but hard to explain in writing. Eric Idle (of Monty Python) is very good at it; I think he's from Leicester (WRONG - see note below). Even though I've lived in Australia since I was 15 (nearly 46 years now), and my "natural" accent is pure Aussie, I can still revert to Brummie in the right company. My Dad, who is now 93, still talks pure Brum.

[Note: the multi-talented Eric Idle was born in South Shields, but boarded from age seven at the Royal Wolverhampton School, where he became a keen Wolves supporter. There's a brilliant Python sketch in which he raves on and on about roads, intersections, traffic and verges in a broad Brummie accent.]
 
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Hello Thylacine, I remember my father using a lot of cockney slang too. His sister he alway's called his 'skin and blister' his shirt was his dickie dirt and so on. I wonder how Brummies picked this up, my dad certainly didn't spend any time in London. Perhap's theatre and music hall's spread some of it. Like you I have been away from Brum for many years, but when I get with Brummies it is so easy to slip into the accent again.
 
Couple of years ago I remember telling my daughter to stop Blartin. I was surprised myself...hadnt heard that in years and cant think why it came into my head out of the blue like that.
 
One saying is are ya gonna shut up and do as your told or im gonna box your ear holes
get down that rd now and go and fetch the tate,rs now or ya gonna get a thick ear ole
best wishes for now ter ra Astonian ;;
 
HI CAROLYN
The last time i heard that expression being used was way back in 1949
my grand mother and my oldest brother used to usd that expression when they used to asked me do i want any
or what cuk cuks you want rom the shop or if i had to go to the papr shop in whiteouse street to fetch her tin of snuf ; thnks for the memory ;; best wishes Astonian ;;;;
 
There wasn't a lot of sympathy in those day's Catsclaws was there. I would have got the same clip round the head too. We used to call them Dick's and nits too. I also had the brown envelope on one occasion, my step mother washed my hair in Jeyes Fluid, talk about panic. It's a wonder I didn't go bald.
 
Oh the dreaded brown envelope the walk of shame,one poor girl in my class used to get the envelope every time the nurse came,and children can be so cruel,I remember cuckies lol,i think they are something to do with computers now
 
We had the same sort of thing Liz, the same poor girl's would get the envelope. Yes cuckies and computer's go together now.
 
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