Brummagem Sayings

dont know if this topic has been covered before, but after my talks with sb yesterday i said 'harley barley' which i understand to be a brummie saying. he did remember saying 'barley' as a child playing tig.

when i first came to the midands in 1960 from north wales we would say coook and boook, whilst the brummies would say cuck and buck and buz. we got the pee taken out of the way we spoke as kids, but adapted.

so i met my first brummie boyfriend, married and divorced him, i could not understand half the things he was saying, such as: i am going for a 'swill' meaning to have a quick wash, i had never heard this before.

i am now on my third brummie partner (24 yrs) this one has stood the test of time, but there are still times when i dont understand him and i have to ask him to repeat himself quite a lot - to which i get the reply - "wash your fxxxxxx ears out you daft bat".

any one else got any other brummie sayings (not black country, yams etc.) because they are a different lot altogether.

steph

No good asking me I'm way too posh.

Yes Volty we believe you.

Phil

volty i would not like to comment as i dont know you.

i am sure i saw a programme once that carl chinn was doing about brummagem sayings and the phrase 'going for a swill' was one of them, thats how i said to my other half, you say that.

pity if the old sayings are dying out. sb certainly remembers saying barley as a child when playing tig and that has been shortened from harley barley.

steph

I think "horseroad" is a Birmingham saying as I have never heard it called that elsewhere. I also think Island as in traffic island is peculiar to the midlands as elsewhere I have heard them called circles and roundabouts but never islands.

Phil

I've known Volty forever, he's as. Posh as Steptoes horse.

One saying I got very used to growing up in a house full of adults was Shurrit.
Another from one of my sisters was Gerrup you I wanna mekkya bed..

never gave it a thought about island and roundabouts, will ask my cousins in wales, yorkshire, hampshire, lancashire, berkshire what they are called down there, you may be right. i know kevin beresford does his books/calendars and calls them roundabouts. altho kevin is a brummie from the bordesley area of the city. do you know him sb.

i think in other parts of the country (not cities) it was called the 'hoss road' certainly heard it called that up here in redditch by the old timers. its a shame if these sayings die out, the cockneys have their rhyming slang.

volty you must be ever so posh if you are anything like steptoes horse, he looked a real gentleman!!

steph

A piece for a slice of bread, and bread & scrape from the times that you bought butter by weight from a large block at the local shop and it was scraped on your piece by your mom.

Phil

Of course we used to have a piece and of course a crust. Which was actually a thick crusty crust not like the thin bits of card we get now, I used to love a nice crust with a generous spreading of dripping and salt.

I believe a "piece", in reference to bread, is a Scottish term.

Nice to see you back Volty
We used the term piece in the 1950s Scotland hadn't been invented then.

Thanks SB.
I think Scotland was there, we just didn't take any notice.

If we could have nicked some of their water like we did from the Welsh we may have had an idea they were up there.

hi im back, yes piece was a brummie saying, i had no idea what they were talking about, i used to think, piece of what. bread and dripping with salt on it, my other halves mom used to swear by it and she lived until she was 87.

with reference to the welsh sb you did not pick up on my rant about st george and the royals that henry 8 was a welshman, well if you did not agree with him he chopped your head off.

i shall be going to the homeland this friday, so if you want to set up a border control at new street station on friday evening feel free, there again when i go walkabout i get home by all different means, new street, hereford, ludlow. as long as i get home i dont care, if the weather gets bad i shall bed down with one of my relatives.

steph