The English language seems to have developed and changed through time as well as geography. In the UK we say chips to mean fried sticks of potatoes, (French fries), and in the USA it means those crispy slices of potatoes which we call crisps. We say lift, you say elevator. We say petrol you say gas ... and so on.
Even in the UK, a small island just North of Europe the size of a postage stamp, we have different meanings for the same words. And different accents too.
Up in Scotland we have different accents in Edinburgh and in Glasgow, a distance of just a few miles, (or inches if viewed on the map).
Then we also have Welsh and Irish accents as well as the many accents in England itself. Someone from Liverpool would sound totally different than from Manchester, or from Birmingham, Norfolk, Cornwall or London. In fact in London you'd find different accents depending from which part of London you come from.
Here are some Scottish words and their meaning:
You ken - you know.
Braw - excellent or pleasant.
Dreich - dreary, dull or gloomy.
Eejit – Idiot (this word is also used in Ireland).
Canny – Careful, or sometimes Clever
Dinnae – Don’t
I’ll gie ye a skelpit lug – I’ll give you a slap on the ear!
Yer bum’s oot the windae - actual translation: ‘your bottom is out of the window’; meaning You are talking rubbish, or even You’re not making any sense.
And now some Cockney London Rhyming Slang.
Adam and Eve - meaning "believe" - Would you Adam and Eve it? (Would you believe it?)
Apples and Pears - meaning "stairs" - He went up the apples and pears.
Barney Rubble - meaning "trouble" - He is real Barney Rubble he is!
Brahms and Liszt - meaning "pissed" (drunk) - He came out of the pub totally Brahms and Liszt.
Bristol - short for a football team called Bristol City - which rhymes
with titty meaning breast. So you would say - She had some large
Bristols on her. Or, look at those Bristols.
Butcher's - short for butcher's hook - rhyming with and meaning "look" - Let me have a butchers at it. (Let me look at it).
Dog and bone - phone.
I spoke to her on the dog and bone. She said her dog's meat (feet) hurt
her and she had an itch on her fireman's hose (nose) and a pain in her
Gregory Peck (neck). She went out and crossed the frog and toad (road)
to fetch her dustbin lid (kid). When he got home, her dustbin lid (kid)
was Hank Marvin (starving) and wanted feeding; but he said he wanted a
Jimmy Riddle (piddle = urinate) first. So he went up the apples and
pears - or tables and chairs (stairs) and pointed Percy to the porcelain
(pointed his man bits to the porcelain urinal or toilet). She called
him down but he must have been Mutt and Jeff (deaf) at the time because
he didn't answer her.
She heard him wash his hands with a bit of Bob Hope (soap) and then he
had a bread and cheese (sneeze) because he was coming down with a cold.
He sat in front of the custard and jelly (telly = TV) and watched the
baked bean (queen) give her Christmas address to the nation.
Enough Cockney Rhyming Slang for now. I'll say goodbye
and go to the trouble and strife (wife) in the hope that she's got a
Vera Lynn (gin) ready for me.
Tara now!
Hi Victor, yes, so true. There are many accents and sayings all around the UK that I find hard to understand. Bore da.
ReplyDeleteI try to learn other peoples' dialects and language but it does not always help. I once ordered a meal in a restaurant in French. The waiter did not understand a word. It was a Greek restaurant.
DeleteGod bless, Brenda.
...as a language, English is shared by many. Each group puts their own twist on it.
ReplyDeleteIt's all Greek to me, with a bit of Double Dutch.
DeleteGod bless, Tom.
Slang changes so quickly that by the time I've figured it out the phrase has been replaced by another one.
ReplyDeleteThat's true - especially with changing technology. Like "building a head of steam", dating back to steam engines no doubt.
DeleteGod bless, Kathy.
And I thought I knew English all this time, but you have corrected me here, Victor. So many ways to express different things using the same basic language - wow! Blessings always!
ReplyDeleteYes, it's amazing how one language has so many different interpretations and meanings. Then we also have idioms - phrases used to mean something else - like "Don't fly off the handle, keep your hair on, let sleeping dogs lie" and so on.
DeleteGod bless, Martha.
This is great, Victor! I can't tell you how many books I've read by English authors where I had to pause throughout to look up the definition of a certain word.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many words whose meaning one only picks up through conversation and by being there at the time: like your American word side-walk and we say pavement, or our words geezer or bloke meaning a man or fellow.
DeleteAt least it is not as difficult as learning Shakespeare. I hated that.
God bless, Mevely.
Strange indeed!
ReplyDeleteStrange but true. God bless, Bill.
DeleteFascinating!
ReplyDeleteThanx CM. God bless.
DeleteI've only heard of a few of those. Dogs for feet for sure. We often say Let the dogs out...when you've been on your feet all day and their hot, you take off your shoes......let the dogs out, lol Hubby drinks Vera Lynn when I make his Martini's, which it's almost time for. Hope you enjoyed yours.
ReplyDeleteDogs for feet is a new one to me. I never heard this one before. Dog's meat rhymes with feet, so that's probably where the saying originates.
DeleteGod bless always, Sandy.
English is a strange language that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteIt sure is, K. God bless you.
DeleteThanks, I enjoyed that!
ReplyDeleteGod bless, Mimi.
DeleteAh waalked doon the road
ReplyDeleteAh saa a coo; so I says,
Friendlilike, "Hi, coo!".
The little-known origin of the haiku!
I've never been good at haikus. God bless, David.
DeleteThanks!! Love it, especially .... Yer bum’s oot the windae.
ReplyDeleteJust getting around maybe catch up!! This was a fun one..
Yes, I liked that one too, Jack. God bless you and your family.
Delete