What Do Americans Think Northern Slang Means?
by Evie Gregory
Yorkshire and Lancashire slang is filled with a variety of weird and wonderful words. As someone from Greater Manchester now studying in Huddersfield, I wonder what other people think of our dialect. So, I decided to ask four of my American friends what they think these words must mean.
Introducing The Americans
MITHERING
A word that usually means to ‘make a fuss’ or ‘irritate.’
The guessing for this word was quite funny and overall completely wrong.
The tamest one was ‘upset’, which is still funny because it is, in fact, how you would feel if someone was mithering you.
One guess from Kori was: ‘Maybe lurking about?’ While May said, ‘to poke at’ and Mason said, ‘it tastes good’.
PUT TH’WOOD IN TH’OLE
A word that usually means ‘to close the door behind you.’
Two of the guesses for this one were surprisingly close to the meaning:
‘To close something’ and ‘locking or shutting something.’
Other guesses were:
‘A towel on a door’ – Mayo
‘To stoke the fire’ – Mason.
SCRAN
A word that usually means ‘food’.
This was yet another word that completely stumped the Americans I asked.
Two separate guesses were: ‘to run away’, which is coincidentally the meaning of the next word.
By far the funniest one came from Kori: ‘This sounds like a word for a rodent’.
I am not quite sure where this guess came from!
PEG IT
A word that usually means ‘to run away’.
For this one, there were a couple of explicit ideas as to what it means.
However, other guesses were along the lines of ‘stop it’, ‘finish it’ and ‘break/ open it.’
The funniest guess was from May, who stated that it must be said in the context of ‘put a peg in it’ to shut someone up.
GINNEL
A word that usually means ‘alleyway’.
The answers for this were probably some of the funniest I have had so far, as well as some of the more far-fetched ones.
Andrew said, ‘a ball’, and Kori said, ‘a case of alcohol’.
The funniest guesses were:
‘A tunnel for a gerbil’ – May
‘Washing machine?’ – Mason
FAFFIN
A word that usually means ‘to mess about.’
Most of the people I asked nearly got it right, guessing: ‘Talking nonsense.’ Kori asked if it was ‘more of a mischievous word, like ‘quit faffin’ around’!’
However, Mason’s guess was: ‘Spiffy/nice looking’.
CHUFFED
A word that usually means ‘to be pleased or delighted’.
The guessing for this was a lot further away from what the word means:
‘Angry or upset about something’ – Andrew
‘Scuffed’ – Kori
‘Full from eating’ – Mason
BUTTY
A word that usually means ‘sandwich’.
While Andrew guessed ‘Some kind of food’, the other guesses were not as close.
Kori’s guess was: ‘A butterfly?’ and Mason’s was: ‘The back of a car.’
CHUDDY
A word that usually means ‘chewing gum.’
Andrew and May’s guess was that it meant ‘friend’ or ‘pal.’
While Mason said that it must be another word for ‘ugly.’
NOWT
A word that usually means ‘nothing.’
Kori thought this word meant ‘the equivalent of calling someone dumb.’
All other guesses were: ‘new’, ‘no’, ‘not’ and correctly: ‘nothing.’
And finally I asked my American friends
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE NORTHERN WORDS?
May – ‘They are hard to follow or understand.’
Mason – ‘Interesting, to say the least.’
Kori – ‘I think that they’re fun and creative!’
Andrew – ‘They’re funny, and I will be stealing them.’
NorthernLife March/April/May 25
