Misunderstood Regional Sayings (totally stolen idea from another thread!)

[strawberrisc]

When we moved from the North of England to London my partner had this conversation with a colleague:

Partner: “The cleaner proper saw her arse last night”
Baffled Collegue: “You saw the cleaner’s arse?”
Partner: “No! She seen her arse”
Baffled Colleague: “She was looking at her arse?”

This went on for some time!

When I started my new job they all laughed when I announced “the butty woman’s here” in my flat, Northern accent.

It's "nesh", not "neche"
One saying I found was met with complete incomprehension when I moved down south was "mardy", no-one had heard of it.
I'm originally from NE Derbyshire.

I know "yer man" is a random male usually (though I've seen /heard it followed by the person's name) but it always makes me think of Joey Dunlop.

What is a 'henry'?!

Mithered! I haven't heard that for years...my grandad (stoke on trent) used to say "Oh it's no mither" as in "it's no trouble" he used to speak in a dialect that no one else could understand sometimes aswell

He said mardy and nesh aswell

Sass it's orange juice and lemonade

"I was hard on!" = I was fast asleep (Hull/East Yorks).

She's broad= has a strong accent
She's narrah= she's narrow, I.e. Narrow minded, rigid.

A ginnel is a ten-foot in Hull.

Nanny I think my housemate at uni must have discombobulated half the barmen in Brighton by asking for a “Henry” (she was from Wiltshire). I think they thought she was looking for the hoover...

We say vennel in south Scotland instead of ginnel!

When I lived in the South East for a while I was asked at work to avoid using the phrase "fannying about" (meaning to faff / not get something done efficiently). I hadn't known before that it was such a controversial saying

When I was at school we would say 'twagging it' for bunking off school. What do they say darn sarf?

We have constant arguments about Daps in this house. DH (Glos) claims Daps only refer to black school plimsolls. I (Bristol) uses Daps for any non-leather/non-smart shoes. Our southern children refuse to use the word at all

My DM is from Staffordshire so mither, mardy, duck etc all make sense.

My dads from the north east but my mom is from West Midlands and I now live in London so people frequently do not understand me 😆

My favourite is “I’m ganin out for a jar” 😆

I know what a henry is ... live in London now but grew up in a GL postcode

Must admit I hadn’t twigged it was a regional thing - although have vague recollections of my dad being confused when someone didn’t know what it was

It’s mardy arse round here, although I think the Artic Monkeys opted for Mardy Bum to get more air play
In never thought of fannying about as being offensive to people

artemis i'm with your DH - daps are black school pilmsols!

yes 'Henry' is an orange juice and lemonade! didn't know it was regional until i went north!! very confused bar man!

neshoma we used to 'skive off' school in Glos

when i was a teen my dad used to remind me to 'keep your hand on your ha'penny', i used it in jest to friends and they look at me like i'm mad!

Not regional but you should have seen the barman’s face, when my Polish friend asked for two cocks please. I couldn’t speak for laughing 😂

Not heard that in a while Nanny

In my part of Bristle we said knocking off for missing lessons.

Once had to rewrite an accident form as Northern teacher didn't understand scradge. I explained that the parents would and it had, in fact, been used by a local first aid trainer as acceptable.

Although he did it in front of the children I didn''t have a beamer

Vennel here in Edinburgh but Close in Glasgow where I grew up.
Shan?
Choring?

Nithered= cold.
Mafted= hot.
And tea doesn't brew, it mashed.

Mashes!

From East Midlands and heard of most of these expressions. My friend calls the alleyway near her the Twitchall, though it is more of a steep stepped cut through rather than a fenced alleyway between houses.

I knew a man from Mansfield that said Snap for packed lunch, never understood where that came from.