Topic: Your favourite obscure local slang

[Sebastian Cobb]

“Ticket”- a tough guy.

As in “think yer a fuckin ticket wee man?”

Glasgow slang, but most weegies don’t know it.

i'm quite impressed with the versatility of the word 'rattle'.

[MidnightShambler]

My mate who's in his 70s often fondly recalls drinking in a certain pub in Bootle because he was 'turking' the barmaid and used to get a stay-behind on a Sunday night. Never heard that one used anywhere else.

'Stay-behind' as well, now I think of it. Most other places call it a lock-in I think.

[alan nagsworth]

I've a mate from Darlington who loves the word "radge". If something is mental or dangerous or scary, it's proper radged.

Glasgow slang amazes me. A bunch of my mates are Glaswags and some of the stuff I've picked up off them is brilliant. Insult terms like "wand", "jouster" and as has already been mentioned, "weapon". Love it.

[NattyDread 2]

I've a mate from Darlington who loves the word "radge". If something is mental or dangerous or scary, it's proper radged.

That'd be 'pure radge' in Edinburgh. 'Ticket' was mentioned earlier, I've never heard that relate to a hardman, but as a synonym for say, a numpty or a radge.
Do you get 'coupon' used for face anywhere else? Or 'pus' for that matter?
More Edinburgh ones I miss hearing - 'barry' - great and 'shan' - shite or unfair. Both also commonly preceded by 'pure'.

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

Glasgow slang amazes me. A bunch of my mates are Glaswags and some of the stuff I've picked up off them is brilliant. Insult terms like "wand", "jouster" and as has already been mentioned, "weapon". Love it.

"Roaster" is a good Glaswegian one too.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Rocket and all.

[Jockice]

Plenty of good Sheffield ones:

Clumpit - daft person
Loppy - dirty (a lop is a flea, in old Norse I think)
I'll stand hanging - I'm amazed
I'll go t' foot o' our stairs - I'm amazed
It's like plaiting fog - this is impossible
You've shit yer pot full - I am not giving you any more chances (a personal favourite)

Lopper.  That used to be the common name for rockers (mainly the 'grebo' type) when I was a lad.

And from my home town near Glasgow, women were regularly called hen and to be drunk is either to be steaming or burling.

[Ray Travez]

Nowty- someone who is both moody and aggressive. Manchester, possibly obselete.

Gimmer- an old person. Is this just Northern or is it national?

[hummingofevil]

Despite not being an authentic Geordie I have spent last dozen years working with thousands of the little shits. I can confirm that ”pagger“ is very commonly used to mean a fight or fighting and “bray“ is used to mean beating some one up.

So you might get brayed if you engage in a pagger.

You can also say you might get paggered if you engage in a pagger but I have only ever heard brayed used as a verb.

Other terms I like:

- Hockle - to produce a particularly viscous greeny (that what we would call it in Wrexham - is that universal). To gob on something. To spit.

- Honkers - haunches

The most localised one I know is the word “dut“ from Hartlepool that appears to only be in use in town centre areas as locals I spoke to from outskirts had never heard of it. Means a hat.

[Blinder Data]

“That’s Leeds is that”

Translation: “That’s fantastic”

Desolation.

Glasgow is very good for slang. Even if you're unfamiliar with the meaning, it's often quite self-explanatory.

My fave might be fouter, as in "stop foutering about!". I wonder if it's etymology is French ("foutre"). Though that might be pan-Scotland and not just west coast.

Can't think of any good Manchester ones. "Snide" must be pronounced "sniiiiiiiiiiiide" for full effect.

[hummingofevil]

Pure shan and gan radge are also very much part of the contemporary Geordie lexicon. I worked with loads of kids with English as second language and shan seemed to be the first word they all learned.

[buzby]

My mate who's in his 70s often fondly recalls drinking in a certain pub in Bootle because he was 'turking' the barmaid and used to get a stay-behind on a Sunday night. Never heard that one used anywhere else.

'Stay-behind' as well, now I think of it. Most other places call it a lock-in I think.

On the subject of 'ticket', we have dirty ticket, as in someone of low virtue.
Meff and Blert are my favourite scouse putdowns, the latter of which is thankfully making a bit of a comeback of late.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

That'd be 'pure radge' in Edinburgh. 'Ticket' was mentioned earlier, I've never heard that relate to a hardman, but as a synonym for say, a numpty or a radge.

A ‘hard ticket’ or ‘a right hard ticket’ is a hard man in Glasgow, although it’s a bit dated. Someone can also be a ‘useless ticket’ ie. a deadbeat/waster.

Another Glaswegianism you don’t hear much now is ‘vernear’ - a shortened version of  ‘very nearly’ - eg. “I vernear shat masel” or “that cost me vernear a hunner quid.”

[MiddleRabbit]

Duck in Hull is used for a kind of small meatloaf (the food, not the fat singer).


My favorite Hull one is patty, which is colloquial slang for a ladies american back fanny.

Never heard that one - 'duck' and Iwas born there.

Tenfoot - an alley round the back of houses.  On account of being ten feet wide.

Brayed comes from 'brained', given brain damage, doesn't it?  Had your brain knocked out of your head.

'Skeg' - having a quick look at something doesn't seem to crop up anywhere apart from Hull, so far as I've heard.  'Let's have a skeg.'

[kngen]

More Glesga:

Glaikit - stupid. A personal favourite.

Dullyin - ety. 'a dull one'. A particularly good, well-aimed punch or kick or some sort of attack on the person. 'Aye, I skelped him a total dullyin!' Sounds a wee bit like dillion, which I imagined to be a kind of mythical high score when I was younger.

Tan - break, attack, dispense of quickly. 'Tan yer pint and let's get gaun'. Think this has a certain Adamic quality, as my American wife told me she absent-mindedly implored her colleagues to 'tan their drinks' so they could move on during a works night out, to an assemblage of blank looks.

Edgy - to keep an eye out for the police, teacher or other authority figure while some sort of miscreancy is afoot. 'Keep an edgy while I tan these windaes!'

Stauner - an erection. 'A stander'

Re: Rocket, tube, weapon, roaster. Proof that Glaswegians can turn literally any noun into an insult provided there's enough invective behind it. Particularly if there's a wee pause beforehand, as if the deliverer of the insult is mentally flicking through their internal lexicon to find the most appropriate term for the situation. 'Ya fuckin' ..... PRAWN!' as heard on the legendary plumber tape. 'Ya fucking ... SPOON!' was one me and mates ran with for a wee while after hearing our bus driver shout it out the window to a taxi driver that cut him off while we were on the way to school one day.

[gilbertharding]

I know this forum doesn't represent a proper sample, but is there a reason why (so far) all the contributions to this thread have been from points to the North of the Wash/Severn line?

I was born and bred in the provincial South East (not quite East Anglia)... and I'm struggling to think of any slang, never mind obscure slang.

[Morrison Lard]

me tabs are eh so code wiiaaht an at on

[Chollis]

Fun little dialect quiz!!! Where are you from, cunt?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/15/upshot/british-irish-dialect-quiz.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage&auth=login-smartlock

[gilbertharding]

I heard today in some parts of the country a croggy goes by the name of 'pegging', which I always thought was the act of a lady giving a man a good seeing to up the arse with a strap-on dildo.

Always?

Blimey.

[ToneLa]

As a sprog if I webbed a queg in the goolies it would probably be the harmless messing about of a child

As an adult I'd be a complete monster (web: strike. Queg: like saying "poof". Goolies: knackers)

[Voltan (Man of Steel)]

Always?

Blimey.

My mom used to have a peg bag. God knows what was in it.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

My mom used to have a peg bag. God knows what was in it.

Old pickled hands divided by kingdom, phylum, order and class.

[Voltan (Man of Steel)]

Crumbs!

[Sebastian Cobb]

Doric has some ones I miss

Gype - (pronounced guyp') idiot.
Mink - disgusting person.
Loon - gentleman.

[Shit Good Nose]

"Nonceing" has always meant general mucking about (e.g. "look at that cat nonceing about with that piece of screwed up paper there") in parts of South-West Bristol (Yatton, Congresbury, Nailsea etc, and down to Weston-super-Mare), up until quite recently too.

[ToneLa]

I wanna know what a "draftpak" is and why (Irvine Welsh uses it to describe nutters)

I like jakey, I like bampot (which again seems to be nutter)

[Sebastian Cobb]

I wanna know what a "draftpak" is and why (Irvine Welsh uses it to describe nutters)

I like jakey, I like bampot (which again seems to be nutter)

I think draftpak was a type of consumer keg. A bit like these things:

[Sebastian Cobb]

"Nonceing" has always meant general mucking about (e.g. "look at that cat nonceing about with that piece of screwed up paper there") in parts of South-West Bristol (Yatton, Congresbury, Nailsea etc, and down to Weston-super-Mare), up until quite recently too.

Let's not forget the rapper:

[ToneLa]

I think draftpak was a type of consumer keg. A bit like these things:

Yeah, there's a bit in Trainspotting where Begbie wants Renton to bring a draftpak and Rents goes "there will be some draftpaks getting filled in on the way doon alright!"

But why does it mean nutter? Is it like drinking Stella makes you out to be a violent nutter, sort of thing?

[hummingofevil]

"Nonceing" has always meant general mucking about (e.g. "look at that cat nonceing about with that piece of screwed up paper there") in parts of South-West Bristol (Yatton, Congresbury, Nailsea etc, and down to Weston-super-Mare), up until quite recently too.

Is it Bristolians who use "Gurt lush"? I like that.

I had a long chat with a Doric speaker in Aberdeen and there are plenty of words in Doric that have Geordie counterparts. The obvious one is "glaikit" in Doric who's Geordie equivalent is "glakey". It means a someone who is a bit of an idiot; a dafty; it insulting but its not brutal. I think it comes from Middle English which preceded both Geordie and Scots. Feel free to correct me though.

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My random word fact of the day is the word Gibber comes from the Angloromani word Jib which means language. It was used as an insult for Roma who were speaking unintelligibly in their own language or "speaking Jibber" "Jibberish".

Here is one for the southerners:

The word "yob" is the only word in common English usage that originated in cockney market backslang (similar to Verlan in Paris is was a slang language developed so traders could speak to each other without customers understanding to keep prices high - maybe). If you haven't worked it out it simply means 'boy'.