Crazy English dialects?

Miss_apollo7

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I am from YOKOHAMA,Japan!!
Hiya!

I was just thinking if any of you have heard any crazy English dialects which you can't comprehend without asking: "what does that mean?!"
Or: Do you speak a dialect which no one understands outside from where you live?

I have lived some years in Yorkshire, England, and there I sometimes (not often) met a very funny local dialect. The reason for not meeting this funny old Yorkshire dialects often, although living in Yorkshire, is that this old dialect is declining (it had its heyday in 19th and early 20th centuries), moreover, I lived in a university precinct where there was no Yorkshire dialect as standard due to mix of people from all over the country and world.

All the differing local versions of Yorkshire dialect are characterised by short staccato bursts of glottalised words with the aspirant absent, and vowels are short and clear.
Yorkshire is on the linguistic border of two varieties of English called Northern and North-Midland English, thus it shares some characteristics with Lowland Scots as well as the dialect spoken in the Midlands.

Some examples:
Yorkshire: English:
Cant -------------------> healthy
famished ---------------------> hungry
egg on -------------------------> to urge someone to do something bad
jock-----------------------------> food


What is funny is that the Yorkshire dialect has some similaries with Scandinavian languages due to Anglo-Saxon speakers mixed with Scandinavian settlers during the 8th to the 11th centuries. E.g. "Beck" means small stream or river (which is the same in Danish, spelled differently though).
 
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Miss_apollo7 said:
famished ---------------------> hungry
egg on -------------------------> to urge someone to do something bad

So that's where we got them! That's pretty interesting stuff.

Now what about:

-Take a gander ------> Have a look
-Believe you me ------> weird saying
-Take a snort (pronounced shnort) -------> Take a drink

That sounds like my Grandma from Minnesota.

-Jeff
 
"I gotta go make grocery." (I have to go buy groceries.)

"I'm fixin' to go." (I'm about to go.)

"We went go eat." (We went eat.) I'm not really sure where the redundant "go" came from. Maybe people just thought that "go eat" was a set phrase without tense.

"Hang a Larry." (Make a left.)

"Hang a Randy." (Make a right.) Also, for this and the previous one, "catch" is an acceptable substitute for "hang."

The above is from the small towns of the Baton Rouge area. The last two are my brother's.
 
Glenn said:
"Hang a Larry." (Make a left.)

"Hang a Randy." (Make a right.) Also, for this and the previous one, "catch" is an acceptable substitute for "hang."

:D I don't know why, but I find those hilarious. I think I'll start using them. Most of the others that people listed, I've heard before, with a few exceptions. If someone were to say "Hang a Larry/Randy" though, I might assume they were telling me to use the toilet. :blush: I think I'll use the "catch" version. I like that better.

I was once taking a train through Scotland to catch a ferry to Northern Ireland and I started chatting with some factory workers from Northern Ireland. I could barely understand a word they were saying. And they couldn't understand me either. I would say something, and they would just look at each other blankly. And when they spoke I just nodded and smiled. I did catch something like, "Why are YOU bombing *insert name of place America was bombing at the time*" Ah, so nice to be an American traveler. :eek:kashii:

I also had some coworkers in Japan from Ireland and Northern England who were pretty hard to follow. But it often wasn't just their accent, but also the fact that they spoke quickly and mushily (not a word, I know). I don't have too much trouble with the Scottish accent, but I think that's at least in part because I've seen the movie, "Trainspotting" like thirty times or more.

Some common Seattle phrases...
-"Stop goofing around" = "Focus on the task at hand."
-"Give me that dealibobber/thingamajiggy/doohickey/whatchamacallit" = "Hand me that thing that I can't remember the name of."
- A "****** hole" = A break in the clouds that may lead you to believe the weather is improving. (Edit: for some reason the word "SUCK-ER" is being bleeped out)

I'm sure some of these are used elsewhere too.
 
My own father came from England's North-East, on the River Tyne. He, (and to a much greater degree, his brother and sister...) used a quite strong "Geordy" dialect, in conversation, that often left me quite bemused.

A "sparrow" was always a "spoogie".

Excrement, garbage, (or nonsense, euphemistically referred to as excrement) was "clarts".

The alley that ran at the back of the house was always "the lane" (...sounded much better than 'alley' !)

And I was always quite alarmed at the name that they gave to a local flat loaf of (rather delicious) bread - it sounded like "Stottikyek" ... but I could never get my tongue round it ! (The name that is ... I got my tongue around the bread with no problem !)

Regards

?W????
 
Sensuikan San said:
Excrement, garbage, (or nonsense, euphemistically referred to as excrement) was "clarts".

Haha, I like that one. "Clarts," eh? I'll have to remember that one.

Here's one that I'm not sure about how widespread it is: "spin the cut." It means to leave someplace that you're tired of being, or to go someplace that you'd rather be, kind of like "blow this joint."

A: Alright, you ready?
B: Yeah, let's spin the cut.
 
How `bout some Newfie (from Newfoundland) English. Their brand of English is like a whole new language from what little I've heard.
 
Brooker said:
How `bout some Newfie (from Newfoundland) English. Their brand of English is like a whole new language from what little I've heard.

Ah, yes "bay" ! It is - but we may need a little help from Lexico with that one !

Personally, I can hardly understand 'em ! And I believe they really do drink a moonshine rum - with a human toe in the bottle ...... ! Really !

Strange folk ......!

Regards,

?W????
 
The guy seems to know more about languages than anybody I've ever met !

Boy .... we sure are jumping around today, aren't we ....!

I'm getting exhausted !

Regards,

?W????
 
hmmm, interesting topic--I'm from Oklahoma and I'm sure that we have plenty weird idioms...but I can't really think of any that are region specific. I do know that it's sometimes hard to understand people from the "dirty" south, but that's due to the emergence of a ton of slang that too many people believe to be a cool way of talking...so I'll contribute some of the more bizarre sayings to have passed my ears recently.

what's crackin'?-----> What's going on? or how are you?
What it do? -----> What's going on?
That's real talk. ----> a person is saying something of truth or that the listener agrees with

Then of course there are the ever popular "Snoop-isms"-- remove the last syllable or portion of a word and add the suffix -(h)izzle...for example: for sure becomes for shizzle, a ride becomes a rizzle...see cute huh? I don't really think so, but hey it's the way of the youth :)

Well I guess that's my two cents...Think if I offer enough opinions around here I could get a donator moniker beneath my name?
 
Irish Galore on Newfoundland

Martian on Earthlings' Linguistic Survey Probe at your service. :biggrin:
Not personal knowledge, but just passing on my colleagues' declassified material. The only personal knowledge is from my Oxford driving instructor who would say, 'm'ka rroi ta'ta rrein da beit !' for 'take a right turn at the round about.' But he wasn't Irish. :p
Brooker said:
How `bout some Newfie (from Newfoundland) English. Their brand of English is like a whole new language from what little I've heard.
Sensuikan San said:
Ah, yes "bay" ! ...Personally, I can hardly understand 'em ! And I believe they really do drink a moonshine rum - with a human toe in the bottle ...... ! Really !
Strange folk ......!
I know little 'bout the human-toe flavorued Newfoundland rum, but the Newfoundlanders are the descendents of the Irish Celts who came to this island (off the coast of Labrador at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, commanding the North Atlantic sea lanes to Canada). Settling in the 1570's under the leadership of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, they were the first English speaking colonists in the New World. Newfoundland was claimed for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in 1588.

Irish is an Old English word, and galore is Gaelic, both claimed for the English dictionary. Because Irish has been assimilated to English culture so completely, the extent of contribution of Irish to English is often overlooked and undervalued. Newfoundland is one exception. Its inhabitants preserve a kind of Irish English almost indistinguishable from the original 4,000 km away (2,500 miles).

The island's Gaelic name Talav-An-Easg means "land and fish", and Newfoundlanders have been fishermen by tradition. Visitors to St. John, its capital, listen to the local people and are amused how they sound like Dublin or Waterford. One 18th century travelogue recounts,
They speak English but they have a manner peculier to themselves - the common people lisp ... they would on enquirys say - "Yes, dat is the way" or "O No, we tant do it so; but den we do it the other way, tafter we bring it home because it is taffer."
Unlike those Irish who went to New England and rapidly participated in the establised town life which would have levelled the unique accent, the Irish in Nefoundland returned to their village ways, living in communities of 200-300 people. They earned their living from the sea in the salt-fish business with no incentive to travel further than the nearest salt-fish factory. In the winter they would be cut off for weeks at a time by blizzards. Thus the English of Newfoundland and that of Kilkenny (SE of Eire) are remarkably similar.

Dictionary for Newfoundland English lists such Irish words as froster "a nail/cleat on a horse hoof to prevent slipping on the ice", maneen "a boy who acts the part of a man", and sulick "juice from cooking fish or meat". In St. Shott's settlement at the tip of the Avalon Peninsula one can still be greeted with a self-conscious parody, "Welcome, my sweet fellow, would you be after having some tea ?" Newfoundland is the earliest and the best-preserved of all the Irish communities scattered around the world. (abridged from Robert McCrum, William Cran, Robert MacNeil, The Story of English, 4th ed., 1987, pp. 97, 176-179, ISBN 0-670-80467-3)
 
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Could some tell me where the Canadian 'Ay' accent came from. I didn't believe it at first. Thought it was some American joke at the Canadians, but then I visited my cousins and some of them use it all the time; 'I've been to the mall, ay', 'Let's go and have a beer, ay'. It drives you nuts.

A few local phrases:
It's a bit black over bills mothers - It is very cloudy over there
A batch - A roll, bun, bap. As in 'A bacon batch'
An outdoor - An off license, liquor store
ockard - awkward
 
Mycernius said:
Could some tell me where the Canadian 'Ay' accent came from. I didn't believe it at first. Thought it was some American joke at the Canadians, but then I visited my cousins and some of them use it all the time; 'I've been to the mall, ay', 'Let's go and have a beer, ay'. It drives you nuts.

A few local phrases:
It's a bit black over bills mothers - It is very cloudy over there
A batch - A roll, bun, bap. As in 'A bacon batch'
An outdoor - An off license, liquor store
ockard - awkward
Some pronunciation questions. What part of Canada are they in ? How are they pronouncing it ?

1) ay: /a-i/ or /e-i/ ?
2) ay: intonationwise, does it go tail up with a question, ay ? or a suggestion, ay ?
3) bills mothers: stress on 'bills', 'mothers', or both ?
4) outdoor: stress on 'out' or 'door' ?
5) ockard: stress on 'oc' or 'kard' ?
:clueless:
 
There ! I said Lexico would have some input!

On the Canadian "Ay" or "Eh" .... yeah, it can drive you nuts!

My own experience seems to tell me that it's at it's most prevalent in Northern Ontario.The pronunciation is somewhere between "Eh?" and "Eeh?" (Always begging a response.....!) Somehow it seems to demonstrate a remarkable lack of decision ... !

"Eh?" I'm right, aren't I?


Regards,

?W????
 
lexico said:
Martian on Earthlings' Linguistic Survey Probe at your service. :biggrin:
Not personal knowledge, but just passing on my colleagues' declassified material. The only personal knowledge is from my Oxford driving instructor who would say, 'm'ka rroi ta'ta rrein da beit !' for 'take a right turn at the round about.' But he wasn't Irish. :p


HAHAH...funny!! :D :D

Thanks for giving contributions everyone!!

One thing which was hard getting used to in the Yorkshire area (and also Oxford) was strangers calling me "love" or "luv".......hehe...Especially the first time I heard a strange man calling me this: which was a professor: "Can you please hold my bag for me love?"....I wasn't used to this behaviour and was a bit embarrassed, but luckily my coursemate calmed me down after lecture telling me that I will get used to it, as this is normal behaviour - calling people "love"....
 

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