General Chat

Just read Trish's message about Bucks vocabulary and it reminded me of a booklet I read years ago called Hull Speak. And guess what - there's some exerpts online. http://www(.)greengates(.)karoo(.)net/hull/speak.html It takes a commical view of the Hull accent (not that you can do anything else!) Arm off now, tarrar! Jeanette

Thanks Jannette will visit this site my mum is originally from Hull,Tara.

Jeanette, I used to work with two Geordie guys. Conversations used to go something like this: "Haway, are ya gan doon toon later?" or in English "Come on, are you going down town later on?"

Andy,,,my hubbie is a geordie and while he has had to refine his accent due to working with different nationalities,,,on a trip 'home' he often slips back into it and we have...'Dan nar boot yoo .Yem garn arm nar' Which really means...'dont know about you but Im going home now'.....or stuff like,,,,'tappy lappy doon the rood',,,,love it !!!!

Hi Claire, Yeah the Geordie dialect never fails to make me smile. One of the guys I mentioned almost seemed to be a spitting image of Oz (Jimmy Nail) in Auf Wiedersehen Pet, in terms of mannerisms. I understand all too well about not being understood when you're abroad. When I was living and working in Germany, no-one could understand a word I was saying, half the time so I had to slow down and enunciate my words more. I was born in Middlesbrough and whilst I have an accent, no-one can pin down where I come from when they hear me speak; someone once said that I had an accent all of my own - a bizarre cocktail of accents blended together! Not sure I'd recognise a Hull accent if I heard it. I know 'The Beautiful South' come from Hull and I've heard the main guy who sings (Paul Heaton?), speak before but can't really remember what it sounds like. Andy.

Hello I'm new on here....couldn't help but read this and have a giggle. I'm from Hull and know of the book you mention, infact I have it somewhere. We speak I would say a 'slang yorkshire' (though not all the time) and when you see it written down as to how we can pronounce words it can be really funny. Here are some expressions we use and how they sound like... Errrrrr naaaaahhhhhhh (oh no!) cringe!! Fern caall (phone call) Britesh Herrm sterrs (British Home Stores) Ehhhhh my gerd (oh my god) naty narn (99) ... this is one we all laugh about Anyway they go something like this. All I can say is thank goodness some of my past jobs have been a receptionist and I had to have my 'proper telephone voice' hee hee. Great site by the way. Hugs mandi

What I have found interesting about the Geordie accent is this. If you are trying to read something written in Old English it almost makes sense if it is read out loud with a Geordie/Northern accent. Jim

I am part Geordie(me dad).I lived in Sunderland (abt 10 miles from newcastle)most of my life.Now im up in Scotland,I find that not a lot of people can understand me ,but when I was in London,all my friends used to make me repeat things over and over so they could laugh at the way I pronounced words!! Even after 30 years,I still cant understand my dads broad geordie accent sometimes anna

Hi Mandi and welcome to a fellow Cod Head! Many years ago I used to play darts with a geordie who always used to take the micky out of the way we pronounce five (farv) and nine (narn). He now teaches English (how can a geordie teach English!!!) to my eldest daughter and still finds it rather amusing. I love the geordie accent though and find it quite contagious. Much better than a Hull accent which sounds dead common if you hear it on the radio don't you think?! Andy Not sure all of the Beautiful South are from Hull but think Paul Heaton is. Don't think his accent is quite as broad as some though. The bonus for Hullies is that they quite often play small private gigs in locations around Hull. The devil of it is trying to get your hands on a ticket! Jeanette

Andy You sound quite cosmopolitan!! Refering back to working with different nationalities,,when my hubbie was working in Singapore,one of his managers was italian. They attended several meeting where the italian guy would refer to the job as ''penis'..After several days of this and lots of disbalieving looks,,,they finally clicked on what he was trying to say....'This job is peanuts.' Another time when hy hubbie was working in germany,,he needed to get to an hotel and took a taxi, He couldnt pronounce the street it was in so he gave the driver the e-mail he had printed out the the details on. After driving around for a while and swearing in german...the driver pulled over and got on his radio asking the control office,,,'Vor ist 'Hotel Details'

Amanda,,, I love that,,,'British Herm Steers,,' I live over the water in Holton-le-Clay near Grimsby,,,its amazing how the accent differs from one side of the river to the other,

Hi Jeanette Yes the Hull accent can sound quite common when you hear it on the tv/radio...the girl on pop idol is from hull and I cringe when I hear her, or anyone else speak it. Mind you we're great, friendly people and will chat away to anyone and when we all get together that hull accent takes on a life of its own! By the way look out for the Beautiful South are playing at the new stadium (in Hull) in Jan/Feb I think, tickets not on sale yet, but check out the Kingston Communications Stadium website (unsure of e-mail addy). Yes Paul Heaton from Hull and was recently playing at one of his old haunts a month or so ago, heard he was great, esp as he never forgets his roots. Have a great day everyone, Mandi

Hi Claire Who put the 'grim' in Grimsby! (We won't do the one about Scunthorpe!) Looks like I'll have to watch what I'm saying about South bankers now! I've worked quite a bit over your side of the river and though the accent may be different, the people are just as friendly and down to earth as they are this side. Mandi Will look out for that Beautiful South gig. I went to see Elton John at the stadium back in the summer. He was brill! I think it's about time Hull had somewhere to stage big concerts instead of having to travel to Sheffield or further. And as for that girl on pop idle - super singing voice but she shouldn't be allowed to talk. Errrrrr Maaaarrr God!!!!!!

Believe me, the Teesside accent can be pretty ghastly..thankfully I'm not afflicted with it or at least not greatly. Here's an example of sorts: "Me dad wairks in the wairks anni wairs a dairty shairt". Translated - "My dad works in the works and he wears a dirty shirt" There are subtle differences between the Geordie accent and a Sunderland accent (as Anna can probably tell you), though I don't think I can ably demonstrate that one. Claire, liked your taxi driver tale. :-) Andy.

Hi all Just been having a giggle at this thread. I think the Yorkshire accent is a wonderful accent to have because it varies soooo much, I'm from West Yorkshire, and I've found that you can always tell which part of Yorkshire someone is from, because North, East, West and South Yorkshire accents are all just that little bit different from each other in sound and what I like to call lazyness, like I've spoke to people in York and the accent its dead lazy, whereas in somewhere like Barnsley its more broader. Alaina

Claire, This tale is more to do with differences in culture rather than speech/dialects. I was working at Vodafone in Dusseldorf and joined a team, which was full of Germans (people from other countries joined a couple of months later). It was a slightly awkward experience for all of us, as I only knew a few words of German although they could speak English. Anyway, they welcomed me into the team, and some days later, the team leader mentions to me that they were planning on going to see this comedy act in Duisburg (the next town away) and would I like to come along. I said that I probably wouldn't understand it as it'll all be in German. He said something along the lines of that it was also a visual thing and that I would find parts of it funny. He seemed so eager for me to fit in and I was feeling a little self conscious being the only non-German on the team, so I said yes in order to preserve team harmony. Anyway, that night when we went to see the act, I had forgotten of course what a serious bunch of folks the Germans are and consequently their sense of humour is..how can I put it..somewhat under-developed. The act consisted of this slapstick style performance involving these two women wearing slightly hideous pantomime costumes and talking loudly for no discernable reason that I could fathom. I was convinced that it wouldn't have been funny, no matter what language was being spoken. This woman sat next to me in the audience thought it was a complete hoot, whilst I decided to grin and bear it. When I spoke with the team leader afterwards, he told me one of the "jokes" that had been said on stage, which involved some guy ordering a Calzone flavoured pizza and when he told me the punchline (so bad I don't remember it), he was in fits of laughter and couldn't understand why I didn't find it equally hilarious. Needless to say, I didn't join them again on an "understanding German culture" social outing! Andy.

Hello Andy. Yes there are differences between geordie and "mackem"(sunderland) accents.People from down South think they sound the same and I used to get mad when they called me a geordie!! My dad pronounces dirty shirt as "dorty short" and bird is "bord"My little brother once was looking for a "flying black board"and he was upset when we told him dad meant a blackbird not a black board lol Anna :-)

Hi Anna, Yeah, I know what you mean. When I was away at uni, I shared a house with 5 others who were all Southerners, and we placed a map of the UK on the kitchen wall, then marked a 'X' on the map to show where we each came from. Of course, my 'X' was a lot further north than anyone else's, which prompted howls of derision, such as "My God, I didn't think you would still be in England by the time you've driven that far north!" :-o Andy

My mum is from Hull, I was born and bred in Bristol, and now live in Plymouth. Hubby always knows when I am talking to mum on the phone, I tend to launch into the Hull accent.

Hi Jeanette Yes I saw the Elton John gig too...and the Westlife one too, oh wow, and another 12 or 13 bands with them (including Louise, Mark Owen, Girls Aloud, Lisa Scott Lee etc) viking radio sure know how to put on a gig!! Will definately go again to the next one, May/June I think, look out for it. I live the next street to the stadium so can walk to the gigs, how great to do this and not travel miles in a car. To everyone else... Just another thought about accent/heritage...I was born in Hull (England), my dad was born in Scotland, mum in Wales and my husband (and my surname) is Irish....mmm family tree will be really interesting once I get into it =) Tara for now Mandi