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Brummie sayings & language

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Graham,

I assume that "Fries" refers to the Frisian Languages (rather than so-called French Fries, which are a Belgian invention, I believe! lol). According to that Wikipedia article, Old Frisian and Old English are very closely related, which might say something about exactly where the Anglo-Saxons came from!

Peter.
 
Just looking at the thread on marbles, it reminded me that if someone had gone a bit doolalley tap, he had lost his marbles.
 
"Gone Doolally", "doolally tap", or "doodle alley" - a phrase meaning to 'lose ones mind', derived from the boredom felt at the Deolali British Army transit camp for British troops in Deolali, India, notorious for its unpleasant environment, boredom, and the psychological problems of soldiers that passed through it. It was mentioned as part of this weeks "Who do you think you are" programme of Alan Cumming.

'Tap' may refer to the Urdu word tap a malarial fever, therefore doolally tap refers to 'camp fever'. Reminds me that I need to get out more!

See "The Madness of Deolali" for more https://www.ramcjournal.com/2006/jun06/martin.pdf
 

There's more found on Google:


  • Deolali, India, former site of a British Army transit camp
  • Deolali transit camp itself
  • "Gone Doolally", "doolally tap", or "doodle alley" - a phrase meaning to 'lose ones mind', derived from the boredom felt at the Deolali British Army transit camp. 'Tap' may refer to the Urdu word tap a malarial fever, therefore doolally tap refers to 'camp fever'.
  • Doolally- Gone mad, crazy behavior
  • An Indian craft beer brand [1].
  • The former name of Shanks & Bigfoot, a British dance act
 
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IF YOU HAD BEEN NAUGHTY OUR MOM WOULD SAY" YO,VE
"DROVE ME ROUND THE BEND" GET UP THEM DANCERS AND
DON,T YOU DARE OLE BUCK ME ON THE WAY UP OR I,LL LEATHER YA.
i wouldn,t mind but i can,t ever remember our mom laying a finger
she had a heart of gold.
 
Thats right topsyturvy I must say I'm a little suprised no else commented on it as it was wide spread and spoken daily amongst the market traders and fairground showmen back then, I believe that some of the Brummie Pikyes still use it.
paul
 
Been having a good read through this thread and it has raised many a smile, favourite so far is Kuk Kuks still use today to my kids and g/kids amusement.
Anybody remember the following:

Hurt yourself and your Mom would say " It'll be a Pigs Foot in the morning"
Something unlikely: Never in the Reign of Pigs Pudding
and if you caught a glimpse of a young ladies underskirt peeking below her hemline you'd say
" Charlies Dead" and she would respond
"So's Nelson but he ain't braggin"
Danimac
 
What about what was said to us ladies - keep your hands on your ha'penny. But I dont think it was just a brummie saying though.
 
danimac - thanks for that! My both my Grandmother and my Dad used to say ''Never in the Reign of Pigs Pudding!'' when exclaiming at something unexpected; or something difficult to believe.

My Mom used to say ''If wishes were kisses we'd all have chapped-lips!'' Mind you, she was from Tipton!
 
funny thing that astonian my mom was the same never cross on the stairs its unlucky and another one was a whistling woman and a crying hen brings the devil from hes den amazes me where these sayings oriiginate from
 
Carolynn,

The ambulance superstition is common all over the UK and you may recall you could only be released from the spell if you saw a four legged animal.
A rhyme that went with it, and particular to Brum was :-
"Cross my fingers,
Cross my toes,
I hope I don't go
in one of those"
 
Christopher, yes I agree a lot of these rhymes are common in UK. I have a great book called I never knew that about London by Christopher Wynn and in it gives you lots of info as to how some of these rhymes began. I wish he would do one for Birmingham
 
Carolynn,
I have that book but thanks for the info.
The book you need is "The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren" by Iona and Peter Opie which contains many references to Birmingham.
It is available from Amazon in paperback.
 
Carolynn said:
Also, if we saw an ambulance, we used to say 'hold your collar, never swallow, never die in ambulance'.
Click to expand...

Around my way we used to say " Hold ya collar never swallow till you see a four legged animal " i thought i would cark it looking around and trying not to swallow lol . Max
 
We used to shout after the Scribbans breadman " scribbans bread, just like lead, eat one piece and ya drop down dead " Max
 
We used to sing " The nine oclock men come out at ten
they always take their shovels with them
To shovel up the shite in the middle of the night
and take it to the gaffer in the morning"
I Think this is a very old rhyme, i have a theory that it refers to the "The night dirt men" , and got changed over time to Nine oclock men, does anyone have any thought on this ? Max
 
My mom used to say "you've bought a pig in a poke" if it was rubbish and called black pudding "pigs plonk". Jean.
 
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