Monday, 17 September 2012
Doing me nut in - Manchester (Mancunian)
Ragged - as in 'it is ragged', being of not good order. Wing-Nut - a person of dubious intent/inteligence.
Angin - as in 'she/he is angin', being of not sound looks, should be hanged (Hanging).
Buzzin - Being in a state of high spirits.
Aye - Excuse me sir!
Chip - to leave your current location, 'gotta chip, its my bath time...'
Down my/our end-The area in which you live.
Raz!!!-somethings good/great
Buzzin-something good is gonna happen eg. it'll be a buzz, or someone who is excited eg. he woz buzzin over it. In A Bit-Bye Bad-Good looking, usually describing a girl go on a mooch-go on a really long walk around the streets for no particular reason.
go on a trek/mission-go on a really long walk for a reason eg. 'lets go to the park'...'Nah,it's a trek from ere!'
yoghurt(s): - someone with a rather confused outlook on life; someone who's view is opposed to your own; a group of people with whom you have nothing in common and who's actions you find mildly amusing.
"Fir coat n' no knickers" - ie not got much but think they have.
"Blinder" - as in to do very well. "Get yer mad up" - become angry.
"Dead" or "Well" - prefix of good, hard, soft, drunk etc. M
anchester = "Town" as goin' to Town.
"Skennin lika a whelk" - not seeing all that well. "Tutty" - lipstick/make-up in general.
http://blog.christinewongyap.com/2009/04/10/mancunian-slang-and-temperments/
One of the things I’ve been researching during the Breathe Residency is Mancunian slang and temperaments. (Mancunian means of Manchester, for you Yanks). Manchester is known as a rainy post-industrial city, but I’ve found its emphasis on cultural life and development to be very forward-looking. It’s sort of like an English Detriot or Oakland–perpetually stuck between an unrecoverable past and a difficult-to-realize future, but with glimpses of hope all around.
The first thing I noticed about Manchester is the accent–broad, flat vowels, and the way words like “early” (“arr-lah”) feel flipped around to me. The next thing I noticed is the colorful slang.
I did some drawings that attempted to quantify the Mancunian temperment by taxonomizing the slang words that I heard by chance. In other words, I noticed that there were more slang words to describe displeasure, than there were to describe pleasure.
Above, an initial early version of the project. For the benefit of my fellow Americans, here’s a run-down:
Stroppy and mardy are both unpleasant characteristics, sort of irritable, uncommunicative, whiny. Many Brits are surprised that Americans don’t use the word stroppy. Maybe in an Anne of Green Gables book, but not in Oakland.
Naff means not good. Janky might be a good American corollary.
Scally means chav, a young Briton who’s adopted American hip-hop style, generally regarded as tacky, trashy, low-life. They are usually described as wearingtrackie bottoms (track suit pants), flat caps (baseball hats), trainers (sneakers) and Burberry hats, though I haven’t seen any Burberry hats in Manchester. There are connotations of class, Northerner-ness (city mouse v. country mouse?), and probably racial ones, too, but I don’t know enough about it.
Grotty means dingy. It’s also used like the American slang adjective, ghetto.
Another word I heard was wanky, which is just a short way of saying like a wanker.
I only heard a few slang words that were positive:
Chuffed means enthusiastic, e.g., “I’m not too chuffed about it myself.”
As in America, Wicked means cool, e.g., “Hey, I’ve got an open studio coming up.” [Hands over a postcard.] “Wicked.” I’ve only heard it once or twice, which I attribute to a reluctance to express unbridled enthusiasm.
Sorted means sorted out, e.g., “Have you got it sorted?” or “Did you eat?” “Yeah, we went to Pizza Hut. Sorted.”
One more phrase is necessary to round out this list.
All right is the typically lukewarm, understated Mancunian way of expressing approval or appreciation. It can mean anything from OK to great. E.g., a Mancunian could enjoy an event, and describe it as “all right.”
This is in contrast with the American usage, which expresses neutrality or can even be a euphemism for bring underwhelmed, e.g., “How was ‘Marley and Me’?” “It was all right.” “Hm, didn’t really do it for you, huh?”
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