Jacqueline Wilson - character slang

[Dandelionchaser]

I'm revisiting some of my old favourite Jacqueline Wilson books and reading a couple I haven't read before. I do love them! But I've only noticed as an adult that every character uses the same slang, and has the same level of vocabulary no matter their age or how educated they are 😅
I'm wondering though about the phrase "can't stick", like "I can't stick Louise". I've never heard anyone say this outside of Jacqueline Wilson books! Does anyone know if it's regional slang I haven't heard of? Or maybe from a particular decade?

I have heard it as a synonym for can’t stand. Maybe it’s dying out.
I think I’ve heard it in the Midlands but I’m not sure it is regional.

We used to say it as kids, Humberside 70s and 80s urgh double pe, I can't stick cross country,

I heard this phrase growing up in the 80's and 90's.

They are very Cockney I find!

We used that expression when I was growing up in Belfast during the 70's/80's. I think most people would still be familiar with it now. I use it once in a while and nobody has looked bemused!

We used that expression a lot in the 80s/90s, in the north west. My DM nicknamed my gran's friend Dulcie 'Mrs Teflon' because she couldn't stick anyone.

Same, although I’m not sure I ever used it myself. This thread has made me realise I haven’t heard it for years, so perhaps it was dying out then.

Ultra is used in JW books a lot as well.

I've heard of it. I think a lot of slang words in her books are out of date and not words kids would use. I know some were written in the 90s but I was a kid then and don't remember the phrases in real life.

We used to use it a lot, South Wales in the 80s and 90s

Come to think of it, I've never heard that phrase outside of Jacqueline Wilson books! Takes me right back to my schooldays.

She also frequently uses 'ever so' as an intensifier, which didn't sit right even when I read them as a child in the mid-90s!

And the phrase “can’t do XYZ for toffee” is constant, but I’ve never heard it outside of Jacqueline Wilson.

Oh that takes me back. We used to say that a lot. Is there a modern equivalent?

Yes I have never heard "can't stick...." outside of a Jacky book 😂
It's kind of her thing really.
Of course Tracy Beaker wasn't actually saying "Bog Off".....it was clearly an unsuitable for publication word starting with F 🤔😂

All her characters have a thing for colourful gel pens too.
I love Jacky 😍

I had to quickly “censor” and change the language when reading The Suitcase Kid aloud to my year 4 class recently when the mum calls the dad’s new girlfriend a slut! I think the meaning has changed over time where the primary meaning used to be lazy and untidy (like “slattern”) but the sexual promiscuity meaning has come more to the fore.

Also in the that book the character uses a VHS video box as a boat for her toy rabbit to sail on a pond, the kids didn’t have a clue! I couldn’t even use a DVD box as a point of reference, they’re also obsolete now. The closest I could get was an x-box game box.

I’ve just googled and that was published in 1992! I would definitely have thought of the current meaning of “slut” then.

Suitcase Kid is 😢

I suppose a lot of them are but Andy has a more superficially ‘normal’ life than some of the more chaotic families. But no one really is interested in putting her first.

I’m Scottish, we say it!

Yep we used to say it, 1990s/2000s Dorset.

I say that all the time. So and so cant act for toffee, sing for toffee, tie his shoe laces for toffee

Plymouth-would use it often to say I couldn't stand something.

My mum says 'can't stick' a lot, she's from Derry. But agree with the others, never heard 'ever so', 'ultra' or 'for toffee' in day to day life..
'Jolly well' and 'stuff this for a game of soldiers' used to feature a good bit as well and always struck me as very prim 🤣