Speak Nottinghameze

[philmayfield 4,938]

I worked in Basford for 25 years so I had to modify my accent to make myself understood. One of my co- directors, who was public school educated, often needed me to translate!

 

My parents, both originally from the Meadows via Sneinton Dale never spoke with a Nottingham accent. Neither did their siblings.

[annswabey 588]

The only one I haven't heard of is gorra bag on.  My Mum and Dad often said most of the others on the list

[benjamin1945 14,875]

Gorra bag on.......=...in a mardy mood   

[Cliff Ton 9,446]

I'm surprised so many people hadn't heard of "bag on".  I remember it although I haven't heard it for a few years.

[MargieH 7,151]

CT but where did the expression actually come from?   .... it must refer to a bag of something not very nice as it’s a negative comment

[LizzieM 9,025]

4 hours ago, benjamin1945 said:

Gorra bag on.......=...in a mardy mood   

Ok, what I’ve always heard as ‘gorra gob on’ then.  I’ve never used the expression though.  

[benjamin1945 14,875]

Mouthing off

[Brew 4,899]

The usual expression is "He/She aint arf gorra gob on her/him" or similar - meaning loud and, as Ben sez, prone to mouthing off.

 

[letsavagoo 758]

I believe that Nottingham had slight variations of accents in areas quite close to one another. My wife’s uncle born 1900 and lived Hyson Green all his life had a distinctive accent, different but not far removed from my Radford accent. When asked how he was he would always say “I’m all reet”  

At school it was common for some kids to say things like ‘is it yorn’

”it’s mine un” “gerroff” “giz it ere” and “int it ot. I’m not saying I used these, my parents discouraged it and never thought I had an accent but going down south I’m immediately outed as a northerner. 
When I started work in Hucknall there was a very distinctive accent as have Mansfield, Worksop and Huthwaite. Many areas in Nottinghamshire had an influx of people from Scotland Wales and the Northeast to work in the mines and certain expressions and words creep in not strictly native to the local area. 
My grandsons live near Eastwood so I spend time there. I note those born locally will serve you in a shop and ask “what can I get you MY duck” where as the Radford of my youth it was always ME Duck.

My wife still speaks to her childhood friend born, raised and still living in Radford and she still has her accent. It’s not full of geroffs and gizit ere’s but still distinctive. Now TV film and immigration have put paid to many local accents. My father in law still lives in Radford and the local accent is Hindi, Urdu and West Indian patois. 
My wife recalls that at school she was with Mr Cooke in class and asked to think of words beginning with C O. She answered code sir. He said no Jane you mean cold. No she said code like morse code. One nil I think. 

[Stavertongirl 1,629]

From what I can remember wasn’t the Sneinton accent very distinctive? I can remember working with a girl who came from there and her accent was quite broad, although it is a long time ago and I might be wrong. 
 
 

[philmayfield 4,938]

I think that area did have its own peculiarities but the most indecipherable accents to my ears were those from the Eastwood, Awsworth and Jacksdale areas.

[Jill Sparrow 9,179]

For almost 14 years, I lived in Brinsley at a time when many of the residents were indigenous. They could be difficult to understand at times due to their use of dialect words I'd never heard of.   MY duck, as opposed to MI duck and even now some of it escapes me. From the gossip of years gone by, I understood there had been a lot of inbreeding which led to some rather strange outcomes but I suppose that would apply to any small village in times gone by.  When I first moved there, virtually everyone I spoke to was related to the next person I spoke to!  Quite disconcerting.

 

The situation has changed as those residents have largely passed on or moved elsewhere and far fewer people who live there now were born anywhere near the area.

[Ayupmeducks 1,705]

Just to add something that might throw some light on accents, a long term study going on this side of the pond, the group recording peoples accents across the nation before most disappear, found regional accents are different by approx one mile distance. They found this during the recordings they made in the north east states in rural areas. Most folk know a NY City accent is different from the Bronx area of NY, as New Orleans accents are varied from the blacks, to the "Cajun"  accents. even here where I live we have varying Arkansas, border Missouri, Ozarks accents.

When I moved from Nottingham to North Yorkshire and worked at Boulby Mine very close to Staithes, the amount of local accents from Middlesbrough to Whitby was pretty pronounced.

Now being away from the old city many years, I'd probably notice different dialects far easier.

Even when I was in Oz, I picked up many different accents/dialects, Tasmania was where I first worked, and mid state accents were different to north coast accents, then on the mainland, a Melbourne accent was different to a Sydney accent, add variations and you'd probably get thousands of accents.

 

[philmayfield 4,938]

When we moved to our village in ‘62 everybody seemed to be someone else’s cousin. With the advent of newer housing there are lots of people who work in Nottingham and just treat it as a dormitory suburb. I have to remember that I was an ‘incomer’ once and I’m still not the oldest inhabitant. There’s nothing wrong with incest as long as you keep it in the family! 

[The Pianoman 1,413]

The 'proper' Eastwood accent has almost disappeared now and has become infiltrated with that very ugly Derbyshire accent from Heanor and Ripley areas. The old Eastwood accent is very much the same as Nottingham accent but is much 'thicker'.

[radfordred 6,000]

I worked with a youth from Ruddington he said I spoke the most Nottm he'd ever heard, he had to think about most things I said   

[benjamin1945 14,875]

When i worked for a London (Tooting) based Security company ..as soon as i arrived in the Office it was all ''ey up Duck''  and  ee by gum'' tha knows''' from all the Geezers...great bunch...loved my time with em............

[philmayfield 4,938]

It used to be said that the most perfect English was spoken in Inverness (of all places!). I gather that’s no longer the case and they speak with a Scottish inflexion now. The best spoken English now seems to be spoken by the Queen and my wife!

[MRS B 40]

Is “nesh” a Nottingham word ? (as in being muffled up when it’s not that cold) I just used it today as I was walking round the house in 4 layers and a scarf. Not that I’m trying to save on fuel costs or anything. 

[Jill Sparrow 9,179]

Never realized it was so cold in Leicestershire!

 

Nesh is common parlance in Derbyshire, too!

[MRS B 40]

Bloomin cold today in Leic. Looks like it’s going to get warmer tho 

[letsavagoo 758]

On 1/26/2021 at 12:24 PM, Jill Sparrow said:

I understood there had been a lot of inbreeding which led to some rather strange outcomes but I suppose that would apply to any small village in times gone by.  When I first moved there, virtually everyone I spoke to was related to the next person I spoke to!  Quite disconcerting.

I was a very keen cyclist before my body gave up and so being interested in cycling I have read up on the history of the bicycle. Not quite in living memory but not far off, it was not uncommon for someone to be born, live and die without travelling outside the area they were born in. Consequently marriage to close relatives was quite common. When the bicycle became popular, cheaper and available, young men in particular would get out of their immediate residential area and meet girls from more distant towns and villages. So the humble bicycle is acknowledged as improving the gene pool.