Partner's slang language

[oreo2020]

My partner was born in 1970s and grew up in London. I am an immigrant.
He's now in his 40s and fairly professional and still uses a lot of slang language that he grew up with intermittently with friends and colleagues, for example:

Jack diddly squat
Brown bread
Bird (talking of me)
Snuff it
You get me
Bump off

And similar...

He also says 'Valentimes' instead Valentine's although he spells it correctly!

I don't correct him as English is not my native language but I find it somewhat stuck in 1980s and do think a grown up man would have grown his vocabulary as he was building up his life and career.
But maybe it's more common than I think?

I can't think of more ways than one to spell words, other than ones that have two distinct spellings, for example, nought and naught. Even they sound slightly different

Similarly:

Lead
Lead
Read
Read

Spelled exactly the same, pronounced entirely different in different contexts. 'English' is a reet bugger & no mistake. Mix of so many other languages melded into whatever we spoke before all the invasions in history and what we picked up elsewhere . Then chuck in Welsh, Gaelic, Kernow.....

@KirstenBlest - I apologise for my abrasive tone earlier, and for my follow up comment. I didn't mean to come across so rude.

Plus none of my colleagues in my professional field use that slang. But maybe they are not strictly Londoners.

Maybe they do at home with their family and friends....

My DH is 50 this year and uses a lot of local slang / colloquialisms but not in a professional setting. I don't see any issue with this. Isn't it normal?

Lead and lead are different words.

Apology accepted. ikl, I don't think we disagree.

A neutral accent is one where people can't usually guess where in the UK I am from. Some words give me away and people from that area will sometimes pick up on them. If you knew which words would give me away, you could get me to say them

@oreo2020

Well my partner is not the only Londoner I know but he is the only I hear him using those, but maybe that's because I talk to him the most.

Moving out of London for a minute but very similar examples could be Scottish. The way lots (most probably) of people at work or in polite situations speak is very different to the language used at home or in relaxed social settings.

Or not words or language use as such, swearing is common but not at work.

[quote JorisBonson]@MustardMitt mine pronounces "towel" and "tail" exactly the same way and it gives me the rage 🤣[/quote]
So did my exH. Me and the DCs ripped the piss out of him.

*I live in South London with a man born in Lambeth and has never lived anywhere but London. He tones down (dahn) his accent for me but when he's with his family or losess his temper it really comes out (aht)

@StillGoingToWork My mum is from Lambeth. My childhood was punctuated by ‘get your arris up them stairs before I tan your ide’ To be fair, I was a saucy mare on occasion 😁

Aks / ax is Jamaican isn't it?

I use some of the slang OP mentions same era as her DH and also London.

Wouldn't want to be called a bird.

Pacific is annoying
Never heard valentimes

@KirstenBlest - have you heard the old song 'On Ikley Moor'? A great example of a broad dialect which is easier to understand if you're from the region.

Appen I 'ave ikl.

If you go up t'moor without an 'at you'll catch yer death.

Lol at neutral accent.

I’ve been saying towel and tail in my head on repeat since I first started reading this thread and I can’t make it work so that they sound the same, so frustrating. Can someone post a video of this in action?

I come from Nottingham, though, where we pronounce couldn’t as cunt.

@Pup

Not sure why the LOL. It is pretty neutral.

@KirstenBlest - so, for example, how do you pronounce grass?

[quote JorisBonson]@MustardMitt mine pronounces "towel" and "tail" exactly the same way and it gives me the rage 🤣[/quote]
Are you married to my husband as well.

Grass. Rhymes with brass, glass, lass, class, pass.

I say "reet" instead of right. I can spell fine though. My dad says chimbley instead of chimney but he can also spell it correctly. I drop t's a lot but I don't spell words without t's. I think written and spoken english are two very different things.
Threads like this always remind me of when I was at Uni, I used to talk about the lad I knew in the flat across. My flatmate wasn't a native english speaker and for about 2 months she thought he was called lad. Thankfully someone corrected her before she said it to his face haha.

It is pretty neutral.

To you. I’m sure some people here would find it quite lazy. It would certainly stick out.

Kirsten - does it rhyme with arse or ass though?

arse and ass sound the same. grass and ass rhyme with lass.

@ClaudiaWankleman, do one.

@oreo2020

Not a problem per say, but when it goes along with Valentimes and pacific (instead of specific) you do wonder about the vocabulary. Plus none of my colleagues in my professional field use that slang. But maybe they are not strictly Londoners.

But that's because they are in a professional environment, you've no idea how they speak at home!

I have a very professional job and there is no way I speak the same way around my colleagues as I do with my DH and DS!

@iklboo

I was in the ginnel yesterday and had forgotten to put the door on the sneck. I only noticed when I put wood in t'hole. No use skriking as I was going out for barmcakes anyway.

Our kid lent me a nicker, which was sound. I got scraps from the chippy but they were 'anging. That chippy has gone proper bobbins.

I think you live near me 🤣

I live in Yorkshire (tha knows) but thanks to a Private education and non Yorkshire parents I don’t have a very broad accent but it IS there
I am dealing with a lot of American clients on the phone at the moment and I find I end up sounding like Mary Poppins!

Isn’t it awful to be confronted with your own self?

Arse and ass sound the same?

Anyway, if you say lass the same as grass, you’ve probably got a northern or Midlands hint in your accent, so a lot of the UK wouldn’t say that was neutral.

Grass like lass is regional surely?

Ass =arse???!!!