Kitchen Table Lingo - The English Project and other phrases?

Mothering is in constant use round here too. Someone from the south once asked me to explain the meaning of 'mardy'.

“Let’s 'ave a loook at these 'ere 'errins' 'eads”

I say this sometimes from my childhood. According to DD1 no-one else says it. Parents and grandparents all from Yorkshire but I spent tge second half of my childhood in Lancashire.

My kids referred to long-life milk as ‘God life milk’ and it became the family name for the stuff.

From Cornwall I thought this was a real word a tiflin on an item clothing means a piece of loose thread or threads Couldn't find the word anywhere.

Don't know if anyone heard of any of these

Sayings which was I thought funny was You got more tongue than teeth.

And Uglier than a cart load of monkeys.

Looks like an owl peeping through an ivy bush.

To someone being rather loud: “Tha’s gorra bell in every tooth, thee!”

We always used the word "kiddling" for balancing on one or two legs of the chair. "Stop kiddling at the table!"

My Merseyside relatives refer to something out of date or old fashioned as "Ann Twacky". I assume it is derived from 'antique'?

My MIL once gave me the fright of my life by telling me she'd fallen off a parapet, but I then found out that is the word for kerb in Widnes!

My Scottish granny referred to cupboards as 'presses'. My Northern Irish (Antrim) DiL refers to the airing cupboard as 'the hot press'.

My husband used to call the airing cupboard the press (Belfast).

How about 'What a scrow' for something that's untidy - such as an untidy room or desk?

If there were black clouds in the sky my grandmother (a Londoner) would say “it’s as black as Newgate’s knocker”

I occasionally say it myself and get blank looks!

If somebody was well off, my MiL used to say, 'I'd like to be a £1 behind him at the bank!'

My grandmother left her home town for about 10 years before returning, so many of her retorts were familiar in different parts of the North West. These include:

When you are searching for something ‘You’ll find in down that hole in Tib Street’ (refers to Tib Street Manchester).

When undecided what she is going to wear “It will either be my sky blue pink, or the dandy grey russet”.

To stop a long involved story “Just a say what you mean, not keep going all round the Wrekin”. (Shropshire)

“It’s cold enough for a walking stick”

“You would mither a nest of rats”

A storage cupboard was always referred to as the glory hole.

To someone she disagreed with “You are talking round shouldered”.

If she was late “I’m behind the pump today”

"Stop mithering" was used when I was little
. Grandad when surprised always said "Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs".
One of the answers you got when you asked an adult where they were going was "Back of Bill's mothers to see Mary," the alternative was "To see a man about a dog" or "There and back to see how far it is." Did anyone ever answer a child's question? Who was Bill?
My dad used to talk about swimming in the local drain when he was a boy. Took me years to realise that drains were small streams which might have been a bit polluted but nothing like the filthy stuff the word 'drain' conjured up in my mind.
One of the things I remember is the expression "He'll need to throw his cap in". It was used when someone was very late home (usually from the pub). If you threw the cap in and it stayed in you were OK to go into the house. If you threw it in and it was thrown out again you had to sleep in the shed or somewhere else.

My grandad used to call custard tart cow pie. That's one that I've never heard anyone else use.

A friend's mother, who was from Yorkshire used to say "Do give over, our Mary". My mother used to tell me to "stop mithering".
Callistemon both those expressions are still current at Ainsworth Mansions
Another one is ‘disherbelly’ as in, ‘Are you still in your disherbelly! It’s nearly lunchtime!’ if someone is still in their dressing gown in the late morning.
Apparently derives from the French deshabille and was a WW1 import.

Stop mithering is another that is still used in our family, Callistemon

You aren't from West Yorkshire by any chance, are you?

MadeinYorkshire - this also confused me! I married a Yorkshireman, our Brother in law was Bill, his mother lived with him so I had was really confused by that remark, 'It's raining over Bill's Mothers"
My phrase was normally 'Back to auld claes n' purridge!' after we'd been or done something special! That was after being brought up in Scotland.

A friend's mother, who was from Yorkshire used to say "Do give over, our Mary".
My mother used to tell me to "stop mithering".

It's always 'Will's mother's' in our house.

When we had our first baby my Yorkshire MiL told everyone I was 'right fussy about the baby.'

Being a fairly laid back southerner, I was a bit put out until DH's aunt told me that fussy meant proud.

Partisan cheese. Fickin chajitas.

My grandma used to use Callistemon!'s first saying , though probable with 'eeh' at the start rather than 'well'.
She also said, in the same context, "eeh, I'll go to our 'ouse!", and when I was little, and made her laugh, she would say "eeh, you're a cough drop!"

We still talk about 'dodo sauce' for ketchup, which was all son no 1 could say. I could never get the hang of 'municipal' so it is 'muncipal' to this day....

Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs!
I used to be sent 'Up the wooden hills to Bedfordshire'

Yes, some phrases and words are wonderful, with people from other areas looking askance!

Thanks for the link MadeinYorkshire



I'll take a look at the link