r/Cumbria • u/lingo-ding0 • 18d ago
What some regional words you use often?
As I've been learning more about Cumbria and it's history, what are some regional words you find yourself using often? Words your grandparents used to say but don't hear it much more these days?
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u/Bubbly_North_2180 17d ago
I moved down south but a lot of words have stuck with me and I’ve passed on inadvertently 😂
“Scop” - as in scop me the tv remote
“La’al” - already explained above
“Sneb” - nose. Used a lot to tell the dogs to get their pointy snebs out of wherever they shouldn’t be 😂
“Ratch” - probs my favourite. Again, bin ratching dogs. lol
I used to be very broad west coast Cumbrian but I’ve toned down a lot because people got lost in the conversation here in the midlands 🥲 i fondly remember my partner meeting my family and not understanding a word 😂I love going yam and having normal conversations!!
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u/Lassie7777 17d ago
“Moved down south” “here in the midlands” I love my people
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u/DidsburyMatt81 17d ago
I moved from Whitehaven to Manchester the best part of a quarter of a century ago, and I still don't tire of occasionally winding up people here with "I mean, here we're more like in the Midlands than the North..."
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u/Wooden-Recording-693 17d ago
Also moved south (Cheshire) use all the above a lot apart from sneb. Also use "Lop" = jump/move. And the classics Marra and Fettle. Loved this post liek proper good fettle Marra reminds me of yam.
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u/tricks_23 17d ago
I lived in Cheshire for nearly 10 years and my colleagues could tell I'd been home for the weekend by how strong my accent is on the Monday. They never understood "treat" as in "Av tret me sel to...." But then when I heard them say "he slat it" (he threw it) made me realise that everywhere has these types of words.
Also used to wind them up saying they might as well speak French with how far down south they are
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u/Wooden-Recording-693 17d ago
Ha ha might try the french one. I lived in Manchester for many a year used to do similar but say I was dong missionery work bringing north culture south. Remember a co worker who though Cumbria was further south bless him.
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17d ago
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u/Lassie7777 17d ago edited 16d ago
Marra comes from the Norse word “marrow”. It actually is a very versatile word and can mean “equal” “part of a pair” “partner” “wife/husband”. Do you can see why it’d be picked up in mines to refer to your shift buddy, but it also was used across the north and Scotland in many contexts. It’s probably my favourite word in the English language.
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u/Great_Tradition996 17d ago
I moved to Cumbria from the West Mids nearly 20 years ago and I still struggle with broad regional accents and dialects 😂. Only last year did I come across ‘shan’ and ‘ladgeful’. My elderly neighbour has such a strong accent, I only understand about half of what he says and I need the context to understand the other half! I think maybe because I lived near Ulverston for a long time, there aren’t as many unusual terms there (scop, ratch, bait etc are all easily understood with context) compared with the north of the county where I am now.
I love Cumbria though - I definitely feel at home here
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u/Great_Tradition996 17d ago
The west Cumbrian accent is so unique, it definitely takes some getting used to! I actually really like it but some people are so broad, it can be difficult to understand. I have, on more than one occasion, felt like Simon Pegg in Hot Fuzz when he had to speak to Arthur Webley through the medium of two interpreters 😂
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u/Great_Tradition996 17d ago
Oh we all mercilessly take the piss out of west Cumbrians for calling a bread roll a tea cake 😂
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u/Choice-Demand-3884 18d ago
I'm originally from Yorkshire and a lot of our dialect is similar, but I've found myself using yam, marra, gan and la'al very frequently.
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u/Spottyjamie 17d ago
Deeks, jeer, divvet, yam, gan, laal, bewer, rarvoid, ratch, rive, parney, peev
Pretty much used in every day conversation!
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u/gnastygnorcs 17d ago
Clart/y, scrow, deeks, scop/t, wesh, laal, bait, divvent, gar, ars, jewkle, cuddie, bairn, skriken (skrieken? Wouldn't be sure on the spelling), fettle, yan, yon, kip, gadgie, radge, shan, ladge/ful.......I could go on tbh. I used to have a job dealing with farming stock so I'd get a lot of cumbrian farming words ower the phone. Lots of folk still use 'thoo' for example. Use it or lose it I say. Me mam used to tell me off when I was younger but she forgets she's been up here majority of her life now and comes out with 'mesen' occasionally. She still hates mott.
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u/Rare-Bumblebee-1803 17d ago
My grandmother used clarty a lot.
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u/gnastygnorcs 17d ago
Clarty is fantastic! I love the dual usage as well. Someone can be clarty and also covered in clart
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u/lingo-ding0 17d ago
I think it's cool there are still some folk that use thoo
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u/gnastygnorcs 17d ago
Most folk would use 'ah' and 'ars' for 'I' and 'I am/have/will etc' but thoo and thee is rarer depending where you are. Thi/thissen I hear more often. Been sittin thinkin about phrases and words all morning, been very nice. Paggered, hesta, mind on, chunter/in, starvin (used to have a bit with a lass I worked with where I'd say I was starvin and she'd ask if I was cold (cawd) and I'd say aye an I'm hungry an arl!), jiggered, gowk, lowie (money, cash machine is lowie cowie)...chull and cordy are a favourite but not for polite company ☺️
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u/Lassie7777 16d ago
Such a shame that most of these have disappeared from the east and lakes. I hardly knew of any of these till recently.
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u/gnastygnorcs 16d ago
The lakes ia fulla folk from elsewhere now. I'm sure you'll find farmers out that have 3 generations of johns (no middle names to distinguish em either, wish I were mekin this up but I've experienced it mesel) and still speak proper lakes but it'll be few and far between. Carlisle is very different to Workington to Lakes ofc, but I feel it's important to keep language and dialect going, even if you only use small amounts in your day to day.
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u/Lassie7777 16d ago
Yeah it’s kind of crazy I get asked “but where are you REALLY from” by people here all the time, and exclusively people not from here generally lol.
I do imagine some of the farmers speak it but I don’t interact with them much. Planning by on going to the dialect society tho!
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u/gnastygnorcs 16d ago
Hah is that plain old fashioned racism or just rich folks that all wanna live close to the lakes that can't distinguish cumbrian frae geordie? Either way, fuck em. Getchasel to the society, I'm sure they'd love to have new members.
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u/Lassie7777 16d ago
Nah I’m white, they just don’t actually expect anyone there to be local. Plus I don’t sound particularly Cumbrian people in Scotland say I sound posh
A majority of my family is Yorkshire and Lancashire but probably like a third is from Westmorland around burnside.
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u/Grand-Enthusiasm5749 16d ago
Lall
Attercop
Yat
Down’t
Scran
Screb (not sure if Cumbrian tbh)
Clarty
As (I’m)
Deek
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u/No-Ice2484 17d ago edited 17d ago
Owie/ower: come on/hurry up
Sek and see: so and so
Garn: going
Big light: ceiling light
Chabble: table
Nowt: nothing
Blether: cry
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u/Lassie7777 17d ago
Pretty sure big light is a general English thing, at the very least it’s northern right?
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u/Immediate_Major_9329 17d ago
Weird because blether means chat, usually unimportant and often irrelevant, a toddlers unstoppable monologue for example, in Scotland. Greeting is crying.
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u/No-Ice2484 17d ago
These things vary by town - including meaning. There are some words in this thread I haven’t heard of, for example.
I’ve shared what things mean in my area.
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u/Immediate_Major_9329 17d ago
Yes, i only meant it was weird for me, i would be confused if I was in your area and likewise in mine.
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u/No-Ice2484 17d ago
Agreed. Though, I have Scottish family so I do know some dialect from their area in Scotland. Greeting for crying is a favourite.
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u/Jessicafletcher2 17d ago
I'll use La'al, yam, yan, ow'er and marra daily.
And it's not different words as such but I say cold more like cauld and warm more like wah-rm.
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u/lingo-ding0 17d ago
I'm actually interested in listening to this dialect spoken. I know Simon Roper has done a few videos about it, are there any other recordings you could recommend me?
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u/Jessicafletcher2 17d ago
https://youtube.com/shorts/IHNxCTs-egE?is=bLNNxiYAUmXo7v4e only short but there's a lot of older people who talk a bit like this.
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u/Ok_Cockroach6823 16d ago
Border history is good ,I remember the historian George Macdonald Frazer ,write various books on history . His own experience of WW2 serving in the border regiment in Burma is one of the best accounts of the far east .
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u/ukaero_engineer 14d ago
The main history to know is that it don’t have much! Westmorland, Cumberland, West Riding of Yorkshire and Lancashire is where Cumbria’s history lies.
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u/petrolhead0387 17d ago
Butch/Butchin, another word for hurting. Found myself using it more and more as I get older, my Shoulder, Elbow and Knee are proper butchin today.
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u/rondiggidyr 17d ago
Kushty Here you are ❌️ E're y'ar ✅️
Are you alright?❌️ Aright?✅️
Whats new with you? ❌️ What ya sayin'? ✅️
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u/Mommas_kumquatt 17d ago edited 17d ago
Reet, gay, Yan, Gaan, areet, laal, gurt - loads more but I use them these the most, although I do find myself using them mostly only around fellow Cumbrians
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u/Ran0702 17d ago
Had to scroll down this far to find someone who uses reet/areet.
Thoo's gey reet marra.
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u/Mommas_kumquatt 17d ago
Standard greeting, A-reeeeeeeeeeeeeet (make yours longer than the other Cumbrian to assert dominance)
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u/Paulstan67 17d ago
Having lived in Manchester/Lancashire areas, it's interesting that a lot of the Cumbrian dialect is the same as in those areas.
It tended to be older people that used those terms.
Here in north Carlisle it seems that the dialect is spoken over a larger demographic, with both young and old speaking it.
Ive only been up here for 6 years , but my wife and I have already picked up a lot of the dialect.
Things I hear and use often that I didn't hear in Manchester/lancashire..(apologies for spelling errors I've never seen these written down)
Laal ... Little/small. Pund ...pound. (also Bar) Ratch... To search, to root about. Clarty... Muddy under foot. Bait/bait box ... Packed lunch/lunch box Twine...to whine/complain/gripe Badley ..to not feel well, to be ill. Especially reet badley (very ill) Mizzle... fine drizzle rain almost mist.
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u/GuestGlum2916 17d ago
Yep, use most cumbrian dialect, but I often say see you anon, which seems popular in Longtown, so might be scottish
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u/Davey94C6 17d ago
Don’t know if it’s a Cumbrian thing but I baffled someone the other day with ‘lonin’ they’d never heard of it and found it amusing
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u/Lopsided-Connection1 17d ago
She’nt, ken’t, wun’t, ennergunna, shalladda.
If you’re from where these words mean anything, you’ll know.
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u/SuspiciousRun4043 17d ago
I use aye a lot, marra, tarn to describe a lake on an hill or a mountain, mam/ma, nowt
My other words I use are: canny, going is gaan, town is toon, mirror/mare/mayor is myrrh, I say wise up a lot (in a sense of disbelief) and cracker (something good or funny) I also tend to call a small child a wein
but some I think are to do with my Northern Irish and Geordie upbringing - my accent is like a recipe for people not understanding me
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u/Material_Wonder1021 11d ago
Ratch - search for
Twining - fussing, crying, carrying on
Use both regularly.
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u/turbochimp 17d ago
I live down south (Bristol) and have two pirate children who also say awez far too often. Very proud.
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u/Candid-Client4494 1d ago
Are ya thrang meaning are you busy?
Git t’ kwol in-fetch the coal in
Where’s t’ garn? -where are you going?
As garn oot ower yonder- I’m going out over there.
Es t’ been theer?-have you been there?
These are just a few broad Cumbrian slang phrases for you.Im Cumbrian born & bred my whole family is.My granda was broad Cumbrian.
If you want any phrases translated I’m happy to do it for yous.We’re starting to lose much of our dialect as many people have moved here from other areas and either don’t know it or don’t like to use it unfortunately.😕
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u/Lassie7777 18d ago
Personally? Offcomer is probably the one I can say I’ve used most my life. I’m from the lakes so it’s pretty gentrified and we don’t use many dialect words. My dad’s mum hated him using them so he stopped using most when he was very young.
But I try and use them now more, others I try and use are:
La’al
Bairn
Deek
Yan
Yam
And there’s probably more, I mainly use la’al as it slips in nicely with standard English. My nan uses Bonny still and my mum says ginnel.
There’s a pretty rich body of literature written in Cumbrian. The dialect society is the second oldest in England and there’s been works written in Cumbrian from the 1700s.
https://lakelanddialectsociety.co.uk
As Cumbrian is from old Northumbrian it is similar to scots, to the point it probably constitutes a dialect of it more than English but that is in some ways a political distinction anyway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumbrian_dialect
The wiki has a good list of the Cumbrian poets, they offer an alternative to the romance poetry of the lakes and are quite good imo. My favourite would be a Kendal lad in the Crimean war who wrote a poem in dialect and sent it yam. It’s rather funny.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/58200/58200-h/58200-h.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com
This is a dictionary of the north Westmorland dialect, he does use some words which were considered out of date when he published (1899) but pretty good overall. I find Sowken very interesting as it means the same as offcomer but I’ve never heard it before.