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.

Grey tide eel - what a brilliant name for a book

I actually used ark at ee seriously, as in non ironic, last week.

Northern Ireland:
School plimsoles are gutties.
A bacon sandwich is a bacon piece.
"Yer ma" is a comeback for anything and everything. If someones talking rubbish "och, yer ma" or "yer ma's yer da". Alternatively "away an shite".
"Lurred" for happy
"Scunnered" for fed up or in some places it means embarrassed

Knew an English fella who was delighted to be addressed as "big man" everywhere he went.

Personal favourite insult from elsewhere is the Scottish classic "yer da sells avon"

Does anyone else use the word 'grockles'?

Personal favourite insult from elsewhere is the Scottish classic "yer da sells avon"

... usually preceded by: "yer ma's a mattress"

From the NE: "You'll get wrong" - warning a child they'll get into trouble

Apocalyptic aye tha meybe reyt

ItsLikeNew Close. 20 odd miles away, via M18

I'm a Scot who as an army brat moved around a lot I LOVED learning the new phrases and word usage when we moved.

Eg - chinny - in one place meant "chinny reckon" ie you're pulling my leg come off it! In another "they've a chinny on" meant they were having a temper tantrum! So of course one word, 2 very different meanings - hence much confusion.

Plus all the scots phrases -

A piece - a sandwich (or even better as my mum pronounces it a sangwich)
But there's also "sit at peace" - ffs sit still!
Aw a' tae get the messages - popping to the local shops to run errands which may or may not include actually buying anything.
Yer washings showing (the wa in washing pronounced like the wa in wag) - I can see your petticoat, sort it out!
It's a midden/guddle - 'it' is a mess/looks like a bombs hit it!
How's yer man - how's your husband/partner/relationship doing?
WeeBarra (that's a whole essay in itself!) to me (weegie) close is indoors, the stairwell in a block of flats particularly a tenement.
Much confusion when we lived down south just at my not particularly young but youngest siblings of my parents only ever referred to by their parents or siblings as 'the wean' (meaning baby) youngest 'wean' now 60! Still both called 'the wean' in each family.
Slice - portion of square sausage (cue tons of non scots asking wtf a square sausage is!)
Pokey hat - ice cream cone
Ginger - fizzy juice not necessarily ginger ale but can include ginger ale
Wee Klipe - a tell tale little shit (usually sibling 😂) - to this day my dad has one sibling that gets told nothing that's been done that's dubious as they're a 'wee Klipe' they're in their 70's 😂😂
One very regional one - princes square tastes on a barras budget! - wants and buys things they can't afford to try and make out they're better than others
Fair puggled - absolutely knackered!
Tablet - as naughtylittleflea discovered a hard fudge like confection not drugs 😂
Macaroon - not meringue like treats but a confection made from...leftover mashed potato! Mixed with icing sugar then coated in chocolate and toasted coconut flakes.

"If someone moves house, they flit" flit is a legal term in Scotland.

Dd will tell me off for saying "fannying about" so generational as well as regional.

Tons of different words not only county to county but even town to town for bread rolls, trainers, flat shoes...

I learned fairly early on to use plain English until I understood what the local slang was.

Yes ineedsholidaynow I use grockles. It was what we called tourists and trippers in Bournemouth.

Arranging to meet someone on the ramp. Only those from Birmingham would know where that is.

Was that the ramp up to New St station, Constipated?

I’m LOVING these!

I grew up “on the Wirral”. Never in Wirral. Always on the Wirral.

Here we go to the offie. You can be a bad melt or a bit of a meff. Don’t get into a fight or we may kick seven shades of shite out of you.

My Mum used to call me a Dozy Looking Crate Egg but I don’t think that was a regional thing! 🤣

"Was that the ramp up to New St station, Constipated?"

Yes

Also piece - slice of bread and butter
Donnies - hands

I remember being at an ice cream van darn sarf when DD was little.

I asked if she could have monkey's blood on her 99. The look of horror on the ice cream man's face was a picture

I once told my friend to "stick her cup on the bunker" She was thought I had some kind of underground cellar 🤣 I meant put it on the draining board at the sink.

I'm in Fife, she was from Glasgow, but my other friend from Aberdeen understood it 🤷🏼‍♀️

Some of these are great.
I like that you can sometimes know what they mean by their context, and sometimes because they sound exactly what they mean.
Others are more puzzling though.

When my then boyfriend and I were driving up the road to my house, a few people were walking on the road despite the pavement being clear. This happens a lot. I said to him, "People don't know what a corsy is 'round here," and he told me that he had no idea what a corsy is either.

In the chipshop in Leeds I asked for a turnover and got a load of looks too.

My then boyfriend and I were at his friends' house. Their dog, a bitch, was in heat and they mentioned about the blood. I asked if she was "breaking down" and they had no idea what I meant.

My dad, who is not a big fan of anything Christmas, talks about how much he hates westlecups. Even I had to ask what they were (baubles).

Crackin' t' flags means it's really hot where I'm from.

I'll go to t' foot of our stairs kind of means you're surprised about something.

@ItsLikeNew does thick head mean hungover?

'Ow do ?
Gambole = forwards roll.
Big light, put wood in hole, you make a great window (said very sarcastically) were all in regular use by my parents.
I confused dp by telling him I was off to spend a penny. He grew up 15 miles away.

My Grandad used to go and sit on a form (bench) when watching crown green bowling

The shop that sells beer is the "Offy" or "Beer-off". Nottingham.

@soulrider I had a friend at university who was from Kirkby In Ashfield and she introduced us to "fuddle". I'm from South Derbyshire with family in Long Eaton which isn't far away but I'd never heard it before. I use it all the time now.

I have no accent but do love all these phrases. I can still hear my Grandad saying "'ey up sparra" and "'ey up me duck".

Yampy - no common sense
Piece - sandwich
Tunky Pig - carrying a bit of weight (but said in a nice way!)
Mi bally thinks mi throats bin cut - Im starving
Moidering - going on and on, whingeing

Im originally from the Black Country but the last one is from living in North Wales

My mother was from the north, my father from Essex and us kids were born on the south coast.
A lot of friends claimed we had an odd northern way of saying some words and other words were in an Essex accent.

Anyway the one word the confused me for years was appen. My mother constantly going appen this and appen that, I think I eventually googled it.