The British-Irish Dialect Quiz

[Icehaven]

Blackpool. I'm from Coventry and now live in Birmingham, and spent 4 years at Uni in Wales. I went to Blackpool once for one day in 1997. Ergo, it's bollix.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Blackpool. I'm from Coventry and now live in Birmingham, and spent 4 years at Uni in Wales. I went to Blackpool once for one day in 1997. Ergo, it's bollix.

I grew up just outside of brum and some of my mates now seem to think calling your mum 'mom' is a midlands thing but I don't recall that at all at the time.

I also find it bemusing that 'fit' and 'a ride' are somehow comparable.

[Bingo Fury]

I seem to speak a sort of East Coast of Scotland mash-up, with a surprisingly strong showing for Aberdeenshire and Tayside as well as my actual place of origin, Edinburgh. Surprising in the sense that I was under the impression I'd absorbed a fair bit of West Coast/Glasgow terminology over the years, but apparently less than I'd thought. Just as interesting was the number of words I'd got off my mum which are of Irish or Northern Irish provenance although we've no direct Irish ancestry.

[ToneLa]

I went to uni in Brum and me bird for a few years was from Tipton, and she called her mother Mom.

Which, having seen this lass on Facebook recently, turns out 'Mom' quite a reliable preview of how she'd turn out...! Mad religious leanings included.

[Sebastian Cobb]

19 years midlands/worcestershire
12 Aberdeen
1 Glasgow

🤷

[ToneLa]

Does the Isle of Man / Douglas have its own slang?

[Twed]

Just remembered another EA thing i still do from time to time and that's throwing in the word 'old' as a completely meaningless adjunct: https://youtu.be/UTVwdv9Pzo8?t=122

He managed to even say "wristband" in the past tense.

[gib]

He managed to even say "wristband" in the past tense.

'them days are gone boy'

'them' instead of 'those' is another one i do, fucking hell boy

[Twed]

"a big old" prefixed every quantity of anything during my teens.

[Ferris]

There's an US English one as well. Some of the phrases are pure Chris Morris.

[Glebe]

"Wow, the devil's really beating his wife today!"

"Fuck off y'loonie!"

[hermitical]

Pretty accurate for me too. It's interesting to see which words most strongly indicate where you grew up. In my case it was, along with a couple of others, the use of "mom" and "cob".

There were a couple that zero'd right in for me, one being dobby

[Ferris]

"Wow, the devil's really beating his wife today!"

"Fuck off y'loonie!"

Yeah it's a real Monkey's Wedding - pineapple rain, liquid sun, man!

[Glebe]

Down my way, we quip, "Looks like Mr. Gunthorpe's off on one again!" whenever the clouds open! With a nod and a wink and a diddle-dye-doe!

[Dex Sawash]

There's an US English one as well. Some of the phrases are pure Chris Morris.

I did that one A few years ago and it was off by about 30 miles too inbred.

[Ferris]

I did that one A few years ago and it was off by about 30 miles too inbred.

What was your answer for "raining but also sunny"?

[easytarget]

Pretty much the same as mine.

Ditto.

Me too.
Tick/Barmcake/Pumps - you are from urban NW England.

[Dex Sawash]

What was your answer for "raining but also sunny"?

I have no expression for it.  Wife says devil is beating his wife but I didn't learn about it until it was too late.

[Jockice]

Apparently I'm Scottish. Haven't lived there since 1973 though. But you know what they say, give me the child until he is seven and he'll know what ginger is. And I'm not talking hair colours here!!!!!!

[Jerzy Bondov]

I accidentally refreshed the page with my fat yokel fingers and lost the picture but I had a big red Devon and Cornwall. I'll have to redo it so I can take it round to show all the people who laughed at me in the Cubs for having a posh accent.

[Ferris]

I have no expression for it.  Wife says devil is beating his wife but I didn't learn about it until it was too late.

I couldn't figure out if that was a real phrase or not! Even Wikipedia uses the term "sun showers" so I'm in the right there.

[Attila]

I answered it using my home accent rather than the one I'll use to blend in here -- it guessed correctly that I was from outside the UK/Ireland BUT I was probably living near either Portsmouth or London. And a small possibility near Dover.

Most of my time in the UK (when not travelling about for a conference or whatever) over the past 30 years has been...either in London or Portsmouth. And Mr Attila is from Tenterden, so I guess there's the Dover connection.

Off to Gunwharf Quays to buy myself a new tin hat.


PS Someone said above with enough knowledge of local vocab, you can manipulate the quiz -- yep, had a go at fooling it.

[Attila]

There's an US English one as well. Some of the phrases are pure Chris Morris.

I've done that quiz before, and it's plunked me right down in the Philadelphia area -- which makes sense, as there's a lot of distinct vocab, turns of phrase, and accent quirks from that area.

The 'devil is beating his wife' is, I believe, distinctive to Pittsburgh.

[Mango Chimes]

Just remembered another EA thing i still do from time to time and that's throwing in the word 'old' as a completely meaningless adjunct: https://youtu.be/UTVwdv9Pzo8?t=122

Fucking hell, the conversation at the end of that is magnificent.

[another Mr. Lizard]

Turned out to be pretty accurate for me - the map showed a big red splodge right over Derby, though the placenames that displayed were Wolverhampton and Notts. If there had been a question containing the option "it's a bit black ovver Bill's motther's", I suspect the result would have been spot on.

[Voltan (Man of Steel)]

Turned out to be pretty accurate for me - the map showed a big red splodge right over Derby, though the placenames that displayed were Wolverhampton and Notts. If there had been a question containing the option "it's a bit black ovver Bill's motther's", I suspect the result would have been spot on.

That's an expression used here (Wolverhampton) too and I'm pretty used it's widely used throughout the country. Not everywhere though - when I said it to a lad who had recently moved from London he looked out the window, asking where Bill (a colleague) lived.

[buttgammon]

This placed me around Manchester and the surrounding area; I'm actually from North Wales, but I can see why. Then I did the additional series of questions at the end and it was absolutely spot on.

[Ferris]

That's an expression used here (Wolverhampton) too and I'm pretty used it's widely used throughout the country. Not everywhere though - when I said it to a lad who had recently moved from London he looked out the window, asking where Bill (a colleague) lived.

It's a Black Country phrase isn't it? I heard it growing up a fair amount.

[Sebastian Cobb]

"a big old" prefixed every quantity of anything during my teens.

wank?

[chveik]

I've done that quiz before, and it's plunked me right down in the Philadelphia area -- which makes sense, as there's a lot of distinct vocab, turns of phrase, and accent quirks from that area.

yeah hello it's Philly Boy Roy!