Friday, January 15, 2016

Nostalgic language on Downton Abbey

Having just finished binge-watching the last series of Downton Abbey (yes, the VERY last series), I am kind of nostalgic for some of the quaint and often bizarre phrases and epithets of my northern English childhood.
I was brought up in North Derbyshire, not the North Yorkshire of Downton, but many of the phrases and idioms used in the servants' quarters are very similar to those of my childhood, and the accent is not dissimilar (North Derbyshire's accent is perhaps a bit rougher, although not as rough as that of nearby Sheffield).
Among the phrases that took me back were:
  • 'as 'ee 'eckers like (roughly translated as "he most certainly has not")
  • trouble at t'mill (there's something wrong)
  • 'owd yer 'orses (wait a little)
  • 'e can lump it (he can just accept it)
  • 'ey up mi duck ("hello my dear" - maybe I didn't hear that one exactly on Downton Abbey, it is VERY Derbyshire, but something quite similar)
  • gerrof wi' yer (I don't believe you)
  • ta very much (thank you)
These days, my own accent has deteriorated into a transatlantic beigeness. English people think I sound "American", and Canadians think I sound English, which I suppose makes me truly transatlantic - somewhere substantially east of Newfoundland, but west of Ireland, maybe just to the north of the Azores? Whenever I go back to England, though, my accent gradually changes back to a Derbyshire twang: it just kind of feels less false. Now, I don't enter into the depths of dialect of my nephew Nick, who I sometimes think makes a point of being exaggeratedly demotic, but I am still at times quite capable of Derbyshireisms like:
  • mardy (spoiled, easily upset)
  • manky (grubby, dirty)
  • sluther (shuffle along, dawdle)
  • it's silin' down (it's raining hard)
  • 'utch up (move over)
  • yawpin' (shouting)
  • summat's up (something is wrong)
  • 'e's got munk on (he's sulking)
  • any road (anyway)
  • mytherin' (harassing, bothering)
  • ready for a mash (ready for a cup of tea)
  • nowt to do wi' me (nothing to do with me)
  • fair chuffed (quite pleased)
  • dunna wittle (don't complain)
  • I'll bat yer tab (I'll slap you around the ears)
  • well, I'll gu' to t'top of our road! (well, I'm amazed!)

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