Talk:Yorkshire colloquialisms

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[edit] Clarification of definitions

I think that the groupings for West Riding could be better. First off, the West Riding included large parts of the Dales and the area around Goole. Also, the West-South boundary doesn't translate well to dialect. For example, there are more similarities between Wakefield and Barnsley than between Barnsley and Doncaster. This isn't so surprising, when you consider how much easier it is to get to Wakefield than to get to Doncaster, when going from Barnsley.

Is the word "the" really absent? In much of Yorkshire it is present as a glottal stop and a change in emphasis in the surrounding words - see Definite article reduction for more details.BaseTurnComplete 21:48, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

Yes, a lot of people drop "the" from sentences. "Put milk in fridge" "Was only talking about that other day". Non Yorkshire people would expect "t'" to replace "the", but it doesn't at all.
I'm a Yorkshireman, "the" was present as a weak glottal stop and a change in the emphasis in the surrounding words "when I were a lad afore I learned to speak all poncey Southern, like :-)"BaseTurnComplete 23:39, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
Not entirely sure if you're agreeing or disagreeing with me! My accent's never been particularly strong due to neither of my parents being from Yorkshire but I definitely still drop "the" from sentences in my broader moments Orbtastic 17:08, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Are you sure about bairn and growler? I'm from Yorkshire and I've never heard Yorkshire people use bairn, I only ever heard people from the North East use it. Growler means vagina to me, not pork pie! Orbtastic

'The' is definitely replaced with a glottal stop /:/, it is not dropped completely and only rarely becomes 't'. I think this is only before a vowel - the 't' is pronounced in "t'other" but not in "t'pub".GordyB 20:57, 10 August 2006 (UTC)
"Bairn" was in frequent use by older folk when I during my youth in South Yorkshire (and I'm not that old) BaseTurnComplete 23:40, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
"Growler certainly is a Pork Pie to me - NEVER heard it to be meant as in your sense! (I'm Leeds born and bred).
Maybe it's a South vs. West Yorkshire thing...I've never heard it refer to pork pies and I actually work in Leeds with people born and bred in Leeds and Bradford...BTW, Bairn is without question a North East/Geordie term. I think it's got Anglo/Saxon and Viking origins and I don't doubt it's used outside the North East these days, but it's definitely not Yorkshire. Orbtastic 17:08, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
I'm from Bradford (in France now though) and the only person I knew that said 'bairns' was from Sunderland. Slinky Puppet
Bairn is definitely not specific to Yorkshire; it's used in Darlington, Hartlepool and probably the rest of County Durham --Greg K Nicholson 08:38, 28 May 2006 (UTC) (Darlington/Hartlepool/York)
They say "bairn" in York, and that is the capital of Yorkshire, after all. 212.159.30.47 12:04, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
The B.B.C. Voices research has found "bairn" to be used in most of Yorkshire and no less than in the

North-East. It's going back on. Epa101 20:16, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Isn't "nowt" spelt "nought"?Paulgush 05:21, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

I've never seen it written like that and I don't pronounce 'nothing' like 'nought' (if you get my drift). I some people would say something like 'It was all for nought' but I think that might refer to 'zero' rather than 'nothing'. Slinky Puppet 15:50, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
For sure the pronunciation is different. According the to Oxford English dictionary though, as I just found out, the standard spelling for "nowt" is naught, and the spelling of it's opposite, is aught. Check it out: Oxford English Dictionary, naught Paulgush 04:21, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Bab, to mean faeces or the act of excretion is a Yorkshire word I recently discovered is only remembered by people obove the age of around 30. It really desparatley needs adding to this list.

I always thought 'bab' was a childish word. I'm only 14 and am well aware of the word, however I wouldn't use it at my age and would think it more appropriate for an eight year old to use. I live in South-West Leeds. Jonwood1 18:06, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

May be of some interest:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/3724110.stm http://www.bbc.co.uk/northyorkshire/voices2005/glossary/glossary.shtml (which has bairn listed but note the article is North Yorkshire.... Orbtastic 22:26, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Definitions

While I realize "wretch" may be more technically correct as a definition for "gip," (I'm not entirely sure, but this page combined with Yorkshire dialect and accent leads me to believe I am), if someone doesn't already know that the word relates to vomiting, they might think of it in the insulting sense of "wretch". I don't have the slightest clue how to approach fixing it, though, without some better understanding of the true meaning. 07:45, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Surely the article means 'retch' right? :-). I don't know which description is more accurate, I'm from East Yorkshire and I've never heard of 'gip' before {or growler, or laik or ...}. Personally I'm a bit dubious about including words for vomitting in this kind of dialect article as every sub-culture seems to have numerous, humorous, words and phrases for this 'activity' and I think it would be hard to determine if a word was widely used in the Yorkshire dialect and also not used in other places. But if enough local speakers think it makes sense ... Dave w74 00:59, 4 April 2006 (UTC)


Re; BAIRN I was told by my father (from South Yorkshire) that they had a van that used to come around called "Boots for Bairns", which gave donated boots to young (presumably shoeless) children. This was at the start of the depression, circa 1929.

Re; GIP I only ever heard "gip" being used to signify a feeling of being ill. "I´m feeling a bit gip today, tha knaws..."

I went to school in Wakefield, and "gip" always meant to vomit. That's why the name Gipton is so funny.
I currently go to school in South West Leeds and to gip definitely means to vomit around where I live. It even takes pride of place, generally, above the words 'to puke' and 'to barf'.

I found this on this site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/leeds/altogether/compton/old_days.shtml

"Boots for bairns, this was a handout from Leeds City Council for children whose parents were practically destitute, it was the same with Silverdale, a holiday camp for children in the same circumstances, but we were grateful for it."

andreasegde 16:03, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

Luxioury--Crestville 09:28, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Re; MACK OFF Heard in Leeds/Huddersfield/Morley/Dewsbury - means big as in "a big mack-off truck" in the same way one might say "a big f*ck off truck". Unlike "f*ck off" it's used purely as a slightly comedic expression to indicate something's size however and cannot be used as an insult.--Cavie78 14:02, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Purpose of Article

This article seems to be fairly new, but it looks like the basic idea is already fragmenting, as to whether there should be pages/links for different areas. This could lead to hundreds of links that may even sub-divide areas of towns and cities; "Used in Heckmondwike, but not in Batley", for example.

In my humble opinion, the dialect words used in various towns could be added as a link to a specific town; as extra information about that town´s cultural/daily life.

As most dialect words are hard to research - being, as they were, mostly used verbally and not written down - this page can only be a collection of words and phrases that we have all heard at one time or another (or maybe not :)) and still remember, before they are lost forever.

There tha´ goes - I´ve put me two-pennorth in... I´ve thrown me ´at in´t ring, etc...etc...

andreasegde 10:50, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Food

I've removed the food section in it's entirety, because, with respect, it was silly. There wasn't a single item on it that wasn't called by the same name throughout England, and probably the rest of Britain.

I have cut it down, because I got carried away with myself, and I don´t where I am now. Sorry. andreasegde 10:40, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Black pudding is not specifically a Yorkshire dish. I added the interwiki link so you can see for yourself, but it's a northern/scottish dish and a pan-European delicacy in general. Richardjames444 13:26, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Yorkshireisms?

I suggest renaming the article to something sensible, because Yorkshireisms is not a word in the English language. TheMadBaron 18:10, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Also, does this article conflict with Yorkshire dialect and accent? Strikes me they might be the same thing.--Crestville 08:58, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

I think they might, but the dialect page deals with the syntax of Yorkshire, and this one deals with the vocabulary. I don´t agree with other one saying that there are two "Ts" in a sentence, though. "I´m off t´ t´pub", for example.

  • the double "t" is appropriate, in my recollection. It sounds almost like 'tut' but with the 'ut' somewhat swallowed. Richardjames444 13:24, 25 July 2006 (UTC)


Nice one lads, (The Mad Baron and Crestville) - I´ll treat thee to a swift half one of these days, if I can find me wallet. Being left-handed and keeping it me right-hand pocket don´t help none...

andreasegde 10:05, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Doncatraz

I don´t know who put it in, but I love the name "Doncatraz". I´m still laughing... andreasegde 10:36, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article claims widely-used words & phrases are specific to Yorkshire

Much of this article comprises words and phrases that are in use throughout the UK - or, at least, throughout the north of England. It is preposterous to claim them as Yorkshirisms. I have known many of these alleged Yorkshireisms from childhood, which I did not spend east of the Pennines! Indeed, many of the words listed are standard words of the English language, and are found in the Oxford Dictionary: no special "Yorkshire" meaning is being claimed for them in this article.

I suggest removing the following on the grounds that they are plain English words whose meaning will be found in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Third Edition: bogus, fathom, flags, gaffer, gob, lake/laik, nipper, pee, piddle, piddling, scrawny, sharp, thick, tripe.

I would suggest the following ought to be removed on the grounds that they are widely used outside Yorkshire: banger, brew, bugger, Ah-reet kid (twice) Baccy (used in a poem by that well known Yorkshireman, Rudyard Kipling), back passage, back end, bevvy, breadcake, broddle, buggered, bugger me, bugger, off, cack-handed, chuffed, chunter, cloth ears, crackers, crocodile tears, dawn chorus, folk, gang (surely this is a Scots word), gawp, ginnel, gip, gobby, goodies, growler, half-cocked, keks, lug/lughole, loaf, loony bin, love, means test, knackered, noggin, our kid, pillock, pit, scallywag, skint, snotty, snotty-nosed, spice, starved, them, twat, waccy-baccy, wedding tak-el, were, yonks.

Many of the other entries ought to be removed on the grounds that they are ordinary words or phrases spelled in such a way as to reflect Yorkshire pronunciation, viz.: all-us (this pronuniciation isn't even specific to Yorkshire either), barn-te'r (pron. of "bound to"), berth' day suit, coil-oil, me (= my), middin (= midden), owt, young-un.

Most of the phrases could also be removed on one of these grounds.

Then we could start adding proper Yorkshireisms such as "gizzend" or "cal" (which rhymes with "pal"), words I have never heard used outside Yorkshire.

mallardview 05:23, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

And I've never heard them in Yorkshire.--Compo Simmonite 12:49, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
Or me. I've removed a lot of the words that are in general use but I think that it is okay to include words also used in Lancashire, the North East, the North Midlands etc otherwise there'd be virtually no vocab at all. Just because Lancastrians also say 'tha' does not mean that it is not a Yorkshireism.GordyB 13:09, 11 August 2006 (UTC)


I´ve never heard them either.

The whole point is to list the words that we have heard in Yorkshire, and not to start wrangling about which are "true" Yorkshire words and which are not. Nobody can work that one out, after all... I have lived in various parts of Britain and if I sometimes used the words that you suggest taking out, I have had the experience that nobody had a clue what I was talking about.

Further point: Who says that these words were not exported to other places? There have been hundreds of plays, books, TV series and films that have used Yorkshire words. Where are you (NickBennett) from, by the way? Just a question... andreasegde 17:45, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Hod-on a tick... Nick suggests taking "luv-Love" out? I know cockneys say "mate/John", Nottingham people say "duck", Liverpudlians say "La", and Newcastle people say "man", but I have the firmest of convictions that saying "Alright love?" is definitely a Yorkshireism. I´m reet ticked off, tha´ knows... (laugh)... andreasegde 17:51, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

I thought ", love?" signified Lancastrian. --AlmostReadytoFly 08:45, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
Nay lad, tha´s got it´ bakk-uds. I don´t know what Lancastrians say, but I´ll check to see what they do use. andreasegde 18:26, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

It´s not here: [1], and I sent a mail to here: [2]. Let´s wait and see, but I´ll bet thee a pint they don´t use it. andreasegde 18:39, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Beef and Benny

I have definitely heard "Beef" lots of times in American Mafia Movies, and "Benny" from that Motel TV series that was shot in Birmingham. "Youz gotta beef wit me ´bout dat?" andreasegde 16:12, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

It doens't mean the same thing in Yorkshire - beef means specifically to cry, I've never heard it used in the same way outside Yorkshire nor have I heard 'throw a benny' used anywhere else to mean 'throw a paddy' so 've put them back in--Cavie78 18:44, 12 July 2006 (UTC)
I think Benny is a reference to a type of drug given to psychotic patients.GordyB 21:07, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Where the ducks play football

There are more verses to Ilkley Moor, but I'm wary of putting them in when the section needs cleanup anyway. There is a moral to this tale... Don't go a courtin' Mary Jane... AlmostReadytoFly 08:47, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Isn´t the ducks verse post-Monty Python? andreasegde 18:22, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

The full verse is included on the On Ilkla Moor Baht'at page, so perhaps we don't need the verse at all, rather a summary of the song and iot's notability--Crestville 18:33, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sections

I think words and phrases should be split up into different headings. Any ideas? Alfred Long-Thornint´bottom 18:20, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Yorkshireisms

A lot of these are just general UK English and not specific to Yorkshire at all. I'll have a prune tomorrow.GordyB 21:07, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

The following words were taken out, most are just UK English slang, some are just Standard English and 'bogus' and 'barney' are American and Australian respectively. A banger, Baccy, barney, Berth´ day suit, Bogus, Bugger off, Bugger me, Clobber, Crackers, Crocodile tears, Dawn Chorus, Fathom, Loaf, Loony bin, Means Test, Money-spinner, Number Ones & Number Twos, Pee/piddle, Sharp, Skint, Smid-jin, Thick, Thingy-me-bob, Twat, Waccy-baccy, Weddin´ tak-el
I've given the benefit of the doubt to quite a few others which are dubious and left in a lot which are more Northernisms than Yorkshireisms. What this article really needs is somebody from the South to take out all the words that are meaningful to them.GordyB 12:21, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
Why were the words you deleted not exported to the south? andreasegde 00:03, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
I'm not sure what you mean by this, the words I deleted are words that I know to be widespread throughtout England. They are neither Yorkshire dialect nor Southern dialect, they are mostly just UK slang. Some words are simply Standard English and would be known to Australians and Americans as well.GordyB 21:14, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Purge of phrases. These in my view are not Yorkshireisms. The 'translation' is very often exactly the same as the phrase only in Standard Orthography.

A bunch a-fives, Ah-cud eet-an´ors, A piece a´cake, A reet gud do, As thick as two short planks, Black-as´ ace-a-spades, Bold-as-brass, Clobber-thee, Can´t fathom it, Don´t be daft, Ee´s not-reet-in´ ed, Feather in ´is cap, Furtha a-field, Get-thee skates on, Gi´ it some welly, Got out-ta wrong side a´bed, Got up at crack o´dawn, Head-in´t clouds, Hard lines, He knows which side his bread´s buttered, I can´t face it, I don´t mind if I do, It´ meks me-blud boy-el, I´ll have him, Not a-full-shilling, No´t mah cuppa-tea, Pull t´other leg, it´s got bells on, Pushin´ up´t daisys, Put a sock in-it, Put thy/thee foot darn, Sent darn, Six a-one an ´arf-a-dozen a´ t´other, Smallest room in´ t´house, Swingin´led, Tekkin´t mick, Ten-a-penny, Thar´s done-it nar, Think on, Thy´ll catch thee death a´co-ed, Thick-in´t head, Too right, Up to me neck in-it, Up yours!GordyB 22:06, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

  • I repeat my previous point: What makes one think that these words were not exported to other parts of Britain? They must have originated somewhere. Where did they originate? That´s a puzzler...
  • Are you further suggesting that Yorkshire took on all the above (deleted) words and phrases wholesale from somewhere else?
  • Because one can buy Yorkshire beer throughout England, does that make it national, and not local?
  • I would readily defer to editors that have lived their whole lives (thus far) solely in Yorkshire (and I don´t mean myself, by the way.)
Who knows where words originate? At best you can find the earliest known usage of any particular phrase. The article is pretty much original research, claims should be sourced before being made. If somebody is going to claim that the phrase (for example) Six a-one an ´arf-a-dozen a´ t´other originates in Yorkshire then they would need to source that.
For me the definition of Yorkshire colliqualisms is how they differ from standard UK English and / or UK slang.GordyB 12:43, 6 September 2006 (UTC)
Right about the original research, but the problem is that has anyone written a book about it? All I have found is old Norse words and the like. There are only a few options:
  • Delete all of it apart from the opening paragraphs (leaving one or two examples of sentences).
  • Leave it to the concensus to decide (which may take forever).
  • Allow everything in, because Yorkshire has differing dialects within itself.
Something has to be done, and soon, because editors will disagree until the end of time if nothing happens. andreasegde 15:18, 6 September 2006 (UTC)
Technically what should be done is delete the lot and then add them back in from sources. Anybody could vandalise the article by adding words that don't really exist and none of us will ever delete them because none of us have a complete knowledge of Yorkshire dialect. There are several books on sale in various Tourist Informations such as 'Learn thysen Yorksher' but they tend not to be very well researched. I've never come across a serious work but I'm not a dialectologist.GordyB 15:32, 6 September 2006 (UTC)
Right; that´s sorted. Are you going to do it? andreasegde 15:44, 6 September 2006 (UTC)
Okay but not now.GordyB 15:52, 6 September 2006 (UTC)
P.S. I would leave in Yok-sha puddin' (Yorkshire Pudding; batter-based that has nothing to do with sweet puddings) and 'On Ilkla Moor Baht'at'. andreasegde 15:53, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

I'll be starting shortly. I've just discovered how to create a sandbox, rather than delete everybody's work and leave a blank screen until I have finished (may take some time). I'll post a link to my sandbox User:GordyB/Sandbox (others welcome to edit / view / make comments) and replace the section when I've finished. Internet based sources are going to be particularly useful, I hope to reference each word as being attested to by each source. I think splitting the dialect up into 'Batley dialect' versus 'Huddersfield dialect' etc is too ambitious but noting each source may given some indication of geographical range.GordyB 13:02, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Links

Here are some links for anyone that is interested: [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] andreasegde 15:26, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pronunciation

Definitely needs some changes. The explanations of the pronunciations in Yok-sha (a good example of a misleading pronunciation) are just wrong137.138.46.155 15:57, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Yorkshire is a very large place and has a population of around five million (on a par with Scotland). It is ridiculous to presume that everybody speaks the same. A Hull accent is not the same as a Sheffield accent. To me the pronunciations seem fine but then I'm from North Yorkshire / West Riding. I'll try to convert most of them to IPA when I get chance as abc doesn't really work very well for dialects.GordyB 22:04, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Why are they wrong, 137.138.46.155? andreasegde 22:48, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Phonetic

Ehh bah gum, it´s reet ´ard to get the phonetics. I can´t seem to copy them from the on-line dictionary. Don´t tell me we´ve got to do them all by hand... --andreasegde 15:38, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

Pretty much. I used to work in applied linguitics and know the IPA symbols for Standard English, dialects are another matter. In addition there are many regional vaariations within Yorkshire, my edits would only be correct for me. Not to mention there are many words that I have never heard spoken. This is going to be a major task.GordyB 20:30, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
It terms of using IPA symbols, I understand that the purpose is so that the pronounciations can be more easily understood, but how many Wikipedia readers actually know IPA? I would be against changing the words.
A) It's not going to happen for a very, very long time as recompiling the word list is goping to take a long time B) I would not remove the pron guide written in standard orthography in any case, the IPA should be a supplement.GordyB 13:52, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Copyright

Seeing as this article seems to have got very long very quickly, can I ask whether it was copied out of "The Yorkshire Dictionary" or a similar dialect handbook? If so, it may violate Wikipedia's policy on copywrite. 195.12.230.133 13:50, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

I have my suspicions myself. I am in the process of recompiling the vocabulary list and sourcing the vocab correctly. If you are in doubt then try to google some of the phrases and see if it brings up a website. The imitated pronunciation would be the easiest to search on, if you add '-Wikipedia' to the search then it will avoid bring up all the Wiki mirror sites.GordyB 13:56, 14 September 2006 (UTC)
Just a thought, but has anybody thought that maybe someone should/should have written a book about this? They haven´t. We´re on the Front Line. Nobody has ever done this before. If we concentrate on what has been written in the past, are we forgetting the present? Any comments? --andreasegde 23:52, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
The Yorkshire Dialect Society published The Yorkshire Dictionary, and it's available in most bookshops in Yorkshire.
Any tourist information in Yorkshire will sell you one. There are at least a dozen.GordyB 13:30, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nacker

added Nacker (a slug) don't know if this is the correct spelling, never seen it written down.

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