Have you ever used a word or phrase that you thought everyone knew but they didn't?

[CaramelJones]

Prompted by a discussion with a friend. When we first met she kept saying mardy and I had no idea what she meant.

Has anyone experienced similar with a regional word or a term that only your family use? It's making me wonder which regional words I might be using without thinking of it.

Its not usually used in a nasty or insulting way. And people will often refer to themselves as nesh too. It basically just means you feel the cold.

@Queenelsarules the language of my childhood!

Seems a alien now but also instantly recognisable.

Mafting is a personal Favourite "me mams gonna bray me, she gonna chow at me" or "it was mafting this year"

I was quite bemused when an American didn't recognise the term 'pins and needles '.

In Liverpool people it's chocker to mean really crowded.

I stayed in my home city for uni. I remember in my first week giving someone directions "go straight on at the circle" and he had no clue what I was on about. I had never previously realised people actually said "roundabout" and it wasn't just in books!

I worked for an American company and when I suggested to my boss we should have a fortnightly catch-up she had no idea what frequency I meant.

Using "while" to mean "until"

"Don't get off the bus while the town hall"

"I'm working 9 while 5 today"

Snap as in packed lunch as well, my ex was a Scot though and easily beat me with made up unfathomable words. Ken.

Similarly, 'stop' for 'stay'.

I'm stopping at home to day
I stopped at my sister's house last night

I'm Irish and when I lived in England this happened a lot!

I’m from the midlands, my folks are from the NE and now I live in London so I often get weird looks.

Tiptop (as in freeze pop- had no ideal this was regional)
Noggin - I think my mom made this word up, it’s your head

I’m gannin…
Clammin

Hull?

Where I currently live bray is used, never heard chow in that context.

Round the Wrekin. As in going the long way round.

My other half (Southerner) was like WTF are you on about?

Dogging.

I went to secondary school in Scotland we used this phrase to mean skipping school. When I used it down south eg “Did you ever go digging from school?” I got quite a reaction.

*dogging

My mil says whittle (wittle?) to mean worry about something which I've never heard anyone else use ever.

Like "oh I'll whittle the whole night if you don't text when you get home"

Thought it was some sort of woodwork at first.

Round the wrekin - yeh heard that a lot growing up.
down the cut
it’s Baltic - cold

Hahaha that is NOT what it means down here 🤣

I was coming to say yampy!

Also - the cut (canal) and the outdoor (off licence)

Many a conversation where I've made perfect sense and others haven't understood 🤣

I refer to my child as "his nibs", ie, I'm just going to pick his nibs up from school.
My DH finally asked me the other day, after years of saying it, what the hell I was on about.
My mum always said it so I assumed it was a common way to refer to someone, like saying, his lordship etc ironically. Evidently I was wrong.

We use "island" here. I really have to make an effort to say roundabout if I'm talking to someone not local.

My mum was a right clat, and also talked of braying - but not from Yorkshire!

On the other hand, she was fond of a la'al ratch through t'shops followed by a slice of cyak and a reet good crack wid her marras.

(She did not talk like this all the time. She would actually kill me if she was still here to read this.)

We say spelk (splinter) had no idea it was a Northern term, didn't even know the word splinter existed until I moved to a different part of the UK!

I came to say nesh 😂 although not an insult for me, just a description.

I have now just learnt that mither isn’t universally though…