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Kitchen Table Lingo - The English Project and other phrases?

(100 Posts)
MadeInYorkshire Tue 06-Oct-20 11:07:44

Thinking about the thread about the loo/lavatory/khazi/bog/toilet got me remembering The English Project and the book 'Kitchen Table Lingo' from 2008.

Does it sometimes seem like your family speaks its own language? Families up and down the UK have their own special vocabularies. Discover tinsellitis sufferers in Tunbridge Wells, elephant users in Edinburgh and chobblers in Cardiff. Whether it's a slip of the tongue that becomes a permanent part of the family vernacular or a word invented when all others fail, "Kitchen Table Lingo" is part of what makes our language so rich and creative. This collection of hundreds of words from English speakers around the world - complete with space and an invitation to add your own - is a wonderfully entertaining celebration of the spoken word and the people who take pleasure in it. After all, what other language has fifty-seven words for the TV remote control?

www.englishproject.org/activities/kitchen-table-lingo

I did actually get a word in there, so am now a published author! Lol ....

But it also got me thinking about a phrase that my family always used, which was "it's a bit black over Bill's Mothers" - now as a child this did confuse me as my Dad was called Bill and his Mother, my Gran lived in Filey, so it must have rained a lot in Filey I assumed?

Anyone else get confused by some of the phrases people said?

sodapop Sat 10-Oct-20 12:44:59

In Hull the space between houses or at the back was called 'the ten foot' also an alleyway was a snicket.
When trying to get the children to do something properly it was ' will you frame '

Love these sayings and remember many of them,

Callistemon Sat 10-Oct-20 11:44:53

trisher the only person I've heard use that expression is the antiques man.
David Dickinson?

It's a reall Bobby dazzler
And it was cheap as chips

Callistemon Sat 10-Oct-20 11:42:17

Three kicks at the pantry door was the answer to "what's for dinner?"

trisher Sat 10-Oct-20 11:39:54

When someone had a new hat or outfit it was called a "bobby dazzler". It was sometimes used about someone who was dressed up for a special occasion- "She's a right bobby dazzler". Where on earth that came from I don't know.

Txquiltz Fri 09-Oct-20 21:35:33

“Don’t use Gooblegook”. Translation, use words the rest of humanity can understand! ?

MissAdventure Fri 09-Oct-20 21:20:13

I saw earlier someone say the phrase Mardy Bum.

I think there is a song with that title.

Lancslass1 Fri 09-Oct-20 21:07:06

I moved to Lancashire from Oxford when I was 6 and coukdn't I understand what was meant when other children asked me me where I had flitted from.

MissAdventure Fri 09-Oct-20 21:01:22

The baby bonnet one was said by my mum, and the lick and promise.
2 shakes of a cows tail, anyone?

Doodledog Fri 09-Oct-20 20:34:15

As well as many that have already been posted, phrases I remember include:
'S/he hangs around like a smell on a landing'
'You couldn't knock him/her back with a shovel'
'This won't get the baby a new bonnet' (when people were sitting drinking tea or something - being unproductive, at any rate).

trisher Fri 09-Oct-20 20:02:56

When we had to be got ready in a hurry and needed a wash we were given "a lick and a promise" never understood that one.

MissAdventure Fri 09-Oct-20 15:50:12

I'm not as green as I'm cabbage looking was a nan one, too.

trisher Fri 09-Oct-20 10:38:35

You're welcom Trisha57 My mum explained it to me when I was quite little- I think I must have been asking questions about the fairy. I was awfully keen on knowing every detail and think I must have been asking about the "San Fairy" called Anne and she cracked and told me.

Trisha57 Fri 09-Oct-20 09:11:25

Trisher. Ah, now that makes sense! Thank you for explaining smile

Urmstongran Thu 08-Oct-20 20:23:42

My mum, bemoaning her fine hair, used to say she’d seen ‘better on bacon’.

MissAdventure Thu 08-Oct-20 20:11:58

A rasher of wind is what my nan called someone slim, but too slim and she'd say "That ain't a 'uman bean, it's a 'uman pullthrough".

Mamardoit Thu 08-Oct-20 20:05:21

When I was little I remember grandparents referring to the floor as the dog shelf.

Also little children being called mardy bums if they whined on and on or cried for no reason. If it was an annoying adult they would have been called a mardy arse.

Short arms and deep pockets for anyone who avoided paying their share.

Urmstongran Thu 08-Oct-20 20:01:43

My uncle in his mid-80’s always calls children ‘nippers’. They live in Oldham. Makes me smile every time!
?

MissAdventure Thu 08-Oct-20 19:02:35

Yorkshire.? I love these sayings.
I'm going to try and include one in real life conversations at least once a week.

GrandmaKT Thu 08-Oct-20 19:00:35

Today, when my DH wandered off leaving me looking for him (yet again) I remonstrated that he had left me standing there "like piffy on a rock bun". Where on earth does that come from??!

Spangler Thu 08-Oct-20 07:11:28

Arriving at work looking a bit windswept, a young man in the office commented about it being a bit breezy out. "The car's in for a service and then it's MOT," I explained, adding, "so I came on Shanks' Pony." He looked perplexed and replied, "WTF is Shanks' Pony?" I turned to an older member of staff and asked her. "Walking," she replied. "None the wiser," said the young fellow. "Google it," I told him, adding, you know what Google is.

Five minutes later he shouts over, "the shank is the bottom half of your leg." "You got there," I said.

MiniMoon Wed 07-Oct-20 14:53:36

We have a "washing it clean" in the utility room, so named by my then 2 Yr old granddaughter who misheard washing machine.

If mother thought someone wasn't being honest he was "as fly as a box of monkeys".
Asked where he was going Dad used to say "to the back of beyond where they clog ducks".

trisher Wed 07-Oct-20 13:35:24

Trisha57 San fairy Ann comes from the French "Ca ne faire rien" (hope that's right) allegedly brought home from WW1 by soldiers. My grandfather also used "Ferme le port" for shut the door.

Trisha57 Wed 07-Oct-20 13:06:20

Tom and Dick for sick in our family - I couldn't understand why my teacher didn't understand what it meant when I felt ill in class as a 5 year old! Also "jollop" for medicine, "the quack" for the doctor and, for some reason "San fairy ann" instead of what today would be "No problem"

Grandmafrench Wed 07-Oct-20 12:54:45

MamaCaz

In our family, if one of the dgc breaks wind, it's usually known as a bang-botty.
This has come via my dil's family, because one of her sisters once said it when little, and it stuck grin

Botty Burps named by our little GC

MissAdventure Wed 07-Oct-20 11:35:50

If someone had something wrong with an eye, my nan would say they had "One eye and a whilk" (whelk)