David , you sound rather bitter ; that is not the mark of a true Brummie . Moaning , yes , as in
"Hello , mucker , How are you?" .
"Well it's me back an' me leg the cold gets in yer bonez doanit an' our Peggies down wi' summat the dog's got fleez I dunno wot the worlds cumminto"
Just remember , old fossils can tell you a heck of a lot .
Paul , I don't see that we are off thread , talking about our pride in being Brummies and the things that we experience because of it . Do you ever hear people say "Ah , you from Landan , ven?". No , I think that envy of the Brummie leads to the mick take .
And Stitcher , you are right , but the dockers got what they deserved---there are no London Docks now , they struck themselves out of a job . They were like a mafia , if your family wasn't docker , you didn't become one . My wife came from a dock area and was glad to join the RAF to get away .
I don't remember any "mafia" sort of jobs in Brum , but I do remember the suicidal car strikers . I believe that jobs in Birmingham were obtained on merit .
Except my first one , but me Dad wuz boss .