The Yorkshire Accent

Yorkshire in the North of England is actually made up of four areas: North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Humberside (The East Riding) and includes the cities of Leeds, Sheffield and Bradford.

Famous Yorkshiremen/women

Sean Bean, actor
Michael Marks, founder of Marks and Spencer
Michael Palin, actor and comedian (Monty Python's Flying Circus)
Chris Rea, singer
Kaiser Chiefs, indie band from Leeds


Pronunciation

-time sounds like 'tahhm'
-working sounds like 'wukking'
-name sounds like 'nem'


Dialect

The shortening of the to t`. "Down the pub" is pronounced "down t` pub" or 'down ter pub',

The use of owt and nowt for "anything" or "nothing".

Nouns describing units of value, weight, distance, height and sometimes volumes of liquid have no plural marker. For example, "ten pounds" becomes "ten pound"; "five miles" becomes "five mile". NEVER "He's got five dog".

Location descriptions gain an extra of. For example, "off the streets" becomes "off of the streets"; "alongside the table" becomes "alongside of the table".

The word us is often used in place of me or in the place of our (e.g. we should put us names on us property).

Use of the singular second-person pronoun thou (often written tha) and thee.

In the West Riding, all cases of the past tense of to be is were: "I were wearing t'red coat, but he were wearing t'green one". Amongst younger speakers this may be pronounced "woh" or "wuh". The East Riding does the opposite and makes all cases into was.

While is often used in the sense of until (e.g. unless we go at a fair lick, we'll not be home while seven.) "Stay here while it shuts" might cause a non-local to think that they should stay there during its shutting, when the order really means that they should only stay until it shuts. "Wait while lights flash" is seen on British road signs at railway level crossings (railroad grade crossings); the potential for misunderstanding is obvious.

In common with many other dialects, aye is frequently used for yes.

Generally in cities such as Sheffield and Leeds, love is a term used by anyone, said to anyone in any situation and in some environments it is used on the end of almost every sentence which is addressing someone (e.g. "That'll be three pounds please love").

The word daft has a slightly different connotation in parts of Yorkshire. In most of Britain, its usage corresponds to "silly", but it is often used to mean "unintelligent" in Yorkshire.

Remnants from the Vikings include the verb laik, to play.


Listen to an watch the 4 Yorkshiremen Monty Python Sketch here (including tapescript)

Translate from English to Yorkshire here

Monty Python: 4 Yorkshiremen

The Four Yorskiremen

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:
Aye, very passable, that, very passable bit of risotto.

SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:
Nothing like a good glass of Château de Chasselas, eh, Josiah?

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:
You're right there, Obadiah.

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:
Who'd have thought thirty year ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Château de Chasselas, eh?

FIRST:
In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o' tea.

SECOND:
A cup o' cold tea.

FOURTH:
Without milk or sugar.

THIRD:
Or tea.

FIRST:
In a cracked cup, an' all.

FOURTH:
Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.

SECOND:
The best we could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth.

THIRD:
But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor.

FIRST:
Because we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, "Money doesn't buy you happiness, son".

FOURTH:
Aye, 'e was right.

FIRST:
Aye, 'e was.

FOURTH:
I was happier then and I had nothin'. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof.

SECOND:
House! You were lucky to live in a house! We used to live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling.

THIRD:
Eh, you were lucky to have a room! We used to have to live in t' corridor!

FIRST:
Oh, we used to dream of livin' in a corridor! Would ha' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woke up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House? Huh.

FOURTH:
Well, when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us.

SECOND:
We were evicted from our 'ole in the ground; we 'ad to go and live in a lake.

THIRD:
You were lucky to have a lake! There were a hundred and fifty of us living in t' shoebox in t' middle o' road.

FIRST:
Cardboard box?

THIRD:
Aye.

FIRST:
You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down t' mill, fourteen hours a day, week-in week-out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep wi' his belt.

SECOND:
Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of 'ot gravel, work twenty hour day at mill for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky!

THIRD:
Well, of course, we had it tough. We used to 'ave to get up out of shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife.

FOURTH:
Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.

FIRST:
And you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you.

ALL:
They won't!

Birmingham: 'Brummie'

The word 'Brummie' comes from 'Brummagem' which was the way many locals pronounced and spelt 'Birmingham' from the Middle Ages.

It is not the only accent of the West Midlands, although the term is often used by outsiders to refer to all accents of that region. It is quite distinct from the traditional accent of the Black Country, although modern-day population mobility has blurred the distinction.

Some Famous Brummies

Ozzy Osbourne (rock musician)
George Cadbury (founder of Cadbury's chocolate)
Tolkien (writer of Lord of the Rings)
Julie Walters (actress, Billy Elliot)

Pronunciation

-bus sounds like "buzz"
-five sounds like "foiv"
-train sounds like "trine"
-goat sounds like "gout"
-bit sounds like "beat"
-words like bath, cast and chance with a short 'a'
-been sounds like "bin": " Wair ya bin?" (Where have you been?)

Listen to a Birmingham English sample here

Examples of the dialect

"Bab" ... Used by older generation to refer to a woman.
"Bostin" ... Excellent, brilliant.


For more examples of Brummie slang go here.

Or to 'translate' English into Brummie go here

London: Cockney Rhyming Slang

A Cockney is a Londoner; the original definition was someone born near enough to hear the bells of Bow, which meant people in the east of the city. The word Cockney means the egg of a cockerel (male hen) and was meant as an insult, implying dishonesty in business deals by trying to sell non-existent or low quality goods, or so the story goes. The term is now used happily and proudly by the people of the east and north of London, who regard themselves as the 'real' Londoners in a very cosmopolitan city where a lot of the population have come in from other areas of the country or abroad.

As well as having a distinctive pronunciation and many grammatical features, the language of London is most notable for its Rhyming Slang. This consists of using a phrase that rhymes, sounds the same, as the word you want to say, so 'telephone' becomes 'dog and bone'. Unfortunately, many of the phrases then lose the second word, making it very hard for the outsider to guess the original meaning; 'rabbit' for 'talk' comes from the phrase 'rabbit and pork', but few would be able to guess it.

A lot of the original rhyming slang appeared among the market traders in the east end of London in the 19th century, but it is still used and new words and phrases are being invented all the time. At the moment, it is very fashionable to use famous people's names, so the DJ Pete Tong is used meaning 'wrong'- 'thing's have gone Pete Tong' or Britney Spears is used meaning 'beers'

Examples:

Apples = apples and pears = stairs ("Get up them apples!")
Barnet = Barnet Fair = hair
Bristols = Bristol Cities = Titties
Bread = bread and honey = money
Loaf = loaf of bread = head
China = china plate = mate ("Alright, me old china!")
Frog = frog and toad = road
Rosie = Rosie Lee = tea ("Fancy a cup of Rosie?")
Butcher's = butcher's hook = look ("Let's have a butcher's!")
Dog and Bone=Telephone
Dead Horse=Sauce
Sky Rocket=Pocket
Boat= Boat Race = Face
Septic = Septic Tank = Yank (American) ("He's a septic!" This usage has also given rise to a non-rhyming slang term, 'Listerine' meaning one who is not enthralled with Americans -- because Listerine is "anti-septic"!)
Lionels = Lionel Blairs = Flares - e.g. "Look at those faaking Lionels"
Ruby = Ruby Murray = Curry ("Fancy a ruby?")
Ronan = Ronan Keating= Central Heating
Rub-a-dub-dub = Pub
Nuclear Sub = Pub
Ping Pong = strong
Iron = iron hoof - poof (derogatary slang for a homosexual)

For more examples go here

or to 'translate' English into Cockney Rhyming Slang go here

Please feel free to add any more in the comments section below

Monty Python: Dead Parrot Sketch

The Pet Shoppe

Below is the Parrot Sketch with full transcript and definitions of some of the vocabulary used (see bottom)

A customer enters a pet shop.

Customer: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.

(The owner does not respond.)

C: 'Ello, Miss?

Owner: What do you mean "miss"?

C: I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!

O: Sorry, we're closin' for lunch.

C: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.

O: Oh yes, the Norwegian Blue. What's wrong with it?

C: I'll tell you what's wrong with it. It's dead, that's what's wrong with it!

O: Nah, nah, it's resting, look!.

C: Look, my lad, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.

O: No no it's not dead, it's restin'!

C: Restin'?

O: Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, beautiful plumage, idn'it?

C: The plumage don't enter into it. It's stone dead.

O: Nah, nah it's resting!

C: All right then, if it's restin', I'll wake it up!

(shouting at the cage)

'Ello, Polly! I've got a nice cuttle fish for you when you wake up, Polly Parrot...
(owner hits the cage)

O: There, it moved!

C: No, it didn't, that was you pushing the cage!

O: I did not!!

C: Yes, you did!

(takes parrot out of the cage yelling at the parrot)

C: 'ELLO POLLY!!!!! POLLLLLLYYY!!!

(thumps its head on the counter)

C: POLLY PARROT, WAKE UP!!

(thumps its head on the counter, again, and shakes it)

C: POLLY!!!

.(throws it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor)

C: Now that's what I call a dead parrot.

O: Nah, no it's stunned!

C: Look, my lad, I've 'ad just about enough of this. That parrot is definitely deceased, and when I bought it not 'alf an hour ago, you assured me that its lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out after a long squawk.

O: Well, it's probably pining for the fjords.

C: PININ' for the FJORDS?!?!?!? What kind of talk is that?, look, why did it fall flat on its back the moment I got it home?

O: The Norwegian Blue prefers kippin' on it's back! It's a beautiful bird, lovely plumage! id'nit, squire?

C: Look, I took the liberty of examining that parrot, and I discovered that the only reason it had been sitting on its perch in the first place was that it had been NAILED there.

(pause)

O: Well, o'course it was nailed there, otherwise it would have nuzzled up to those bars, and VOOM!

C: Look matey
(picks up parrot)

C: This parrot wouldn't "voom" if I put four thousand volts through it! It's bleedin' demised!

O: It's not! It's pining!

C: It's not pinin'! It's passed on! This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet it's maker! This is a late parrot.

It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed it to the perch it'd be pushing up the daisies!

Its run down the curtain and joined the choir invisibile!

THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!

(pause)

O: Well, I'd better replace it, then.

C: If you want anything done in this country you've gotta complain until you're blue in the mouth

(O takes a quick peek behind the counter)

O: Sorry guv, we're right out of parrots.

C: I see. I see, I get the picture.

O: I got a slug.

(pause)

C: Does it talk?

O: Not really, no.

C: Well it's scarcely a replacement is it?

O: I'll tell you what, tell you what, if you go to my brother's pet shop in Bolton, he'll replace your parrot for you.

C: Bolton, eh? Alright

(The customer leaves.)

(The customer enters the same pet shop. The owner has on a false moustache.)

C: Excuse me. This is Bolton, is it?

O: (with a fake moustache) No, it's Ipswich.

C: (looking at the camera) That's inter-city rail for you.

(The customer goes to the train station.)

(He addresses a man standing behind a desk marked "Complaints".)

C: I wish to make a complaint.

Attendant: I DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS JOB, YOU KNOW!!!

C: I beg your pardon...?

A: I'm a qualified brain surgeon! I only do this because I like being my own boss!

C: Excuse me, this is irrelevant, isn't it?

A: Yeah, well it's not easy to pad these to minutes.

C: Well, I wish to make a complaint. I got on the Bolton train and found myself deposited here in Ipswich.

A: Nah, this is Bolton.

C: (to the camera) The pet shop owner's brother was lying!!

A: Well, you can't blame British Rail for that.

C: If this is Bolton, I shall return to the pet shop!

(He does.)

C: I understand this IS Bolton.

O: (still with the fake mustache) Yeah?

C: Well, you told me it was Ipswitch!

O: ...It was a pun.

C: (pause) A PUN?!?

O: Nah, no...not a pun...What's the other thing that reads the same backwards as forwards?

C: (Long pause) A palindrome...?

O: Yeah,...yeah.

C: It's not a palindrome! The palindrome of "Bolton" would be "Notlob"!! It don't work!!

O: Look, what do you want?

C: No I'm sorry, I'm not prepared to pursue my line of inquiry any further as I think this is getting too silly!

Sergeant-Major: Quite agree, quite agree, silly, silly, silly,...Right, get on with it...get on withit!!


Vocabulary

lad: a boy or youth
matey: a friend or a form of address
plumage: the covering of feathers on a bird
stunned: filled with the emotional impact of overwhelming surprise or shock
deceased: no longer living; dead.
shagged out: very tired
squawk: a harsh abrupt scream, a loud screech (the noise a parrot makes)
to pine: to have a nostalgic desire
to nuzzle up: to push up to or rub someone or something with the nose
voom: a noise that something makes when it moves very fast
demised/passed on: dead
a stiff: a dead person
pushing up the daisies: phrase meaning that he is dead
I get the picture: I understand the situation
a slug: it is similar to a snail, but without the shell
a pun: a humorous play on words