Learn how to speak Wiganese

Good morning or should I say artawreet! I love language and I love local dialects. Over the years I've heard all sorts of dialects and accents from all across England and for such a small country it really is amazing just how much the language can differ over such incredibly small distances.

I come from and currently live in Wigan which is a very working class town in the north west of England. The northern English accent is very different to the typical English accent which one usually hears on the BBC. In fact the typical BBC English accent cannot be attributed to a single place because it is the accent of the aristocracy and private education.

Because of this it seems that English people who do not speak in RP (Received Pronunciation) are often labelled as less well educated and of a lower class than their private school counterparts. Of course this is mostly nonsense as I've discovered over the years. Indeed in my travels over the years I've met quite a few people with the RP accent who didn't know what day it was as far as I was concerned. As for private education, well once again I've met quite a few privately educated people who didn't have two brain cells to rub together.

My Wigan accent and dialect is one of the more stereotypical northern English accents and I've seen people grimace at the harshness of it. I've even seen people react with fear at my accent as though I was some kind of wild man who has just emerged from a cave eating a raw dog. When this happens I notice their worry dissipate as soon as I utter a long and complex word which one with a reasonable level of education would use. It's as though my accent can be forgiven as long as I use educated language as it shows that I'm not some kind of savage.

When I first moved down to southern England as a 19 year old I was astonished to see the fear in people's faces as they came face to face with a 'northerner' for the first time. Many people looked at me as though I was about to give them a kicking. Now let's get this straight, I'm 5' 7" and weigh just over 9 stones so I'm not exactly a man mountain to be feared but there is this stereotype that northerners are rough and tough people who spent their childhoods beating the hell out of each other.

It is true that northern English people are a tough breed but that comes from the history of poverty ridden, overpopulated towns and cities in the north, the harsh working conditions and probably the harsher weather to found up here. I did find that once people got used to my personality they would relax and not be too worried that I was going to attack them or steal their possessions.

With all of this in mind I would like to introduce you to a little of the Lexicon of Wigan so here goes.

Alsithy - Pronounced (Al Si Thi) - Meaning goodbye from the words 'I'll see thee' or 'I'll see you'

Artawreet - Pronounced (Art Or Reet) - Meaning are you OK from the words 'Are you alright'

Babbiesyed - Pronounced (Bab Biz Yed) - Meaning a suet steak pudding from the words 'Babies head' as a suet steak pudding does resemble a babies head

Cheer - Chair

Clod - Throw

Cowd - Cold

Dee - Die

Eight - Eat

Fettle - Fix

Garridge - Garage

Hatayit - Pronounced (Ha' Tie It) - Meaning 'Have to have it'

Intit - Isn't it

Jackbit - Food

Klempt - Hungry

Maultdeerf - Pronounced (Mault Dee Erf) - Meaning stressed out from the words 'Mauled to death'

Nowt - Nothing

Owdonabit - Meaning just a moment from the words 'Hold on a bit'

Owzeeno - From the words 'How does he know?'

Prater - Pronounced (Pray ter) - Meaning potato

Reet - Right

Satdi - Saturday

Sowjer - Soldier

Thamaunt - Pronounced (Tha maunt) - Meaning you mustn't

Wick - Week

Wom - Home

Yonmon - Pronounced (Yon mon) - Meaning him over there from the words 'Man over in the yonder'

Some of the above words are used across the north of England but most of them are particular to the town of Wigan and would confuse some people even in the neighbouring towns and villages. I find this fascinating and would love to hear about some of the language that is particular to your home town or city.

Thanks for reading and alsithy soon.

STEEMONKEY🐒

Image: Google images