I keep accidentally speaking Coventry-ish

audiodave

Jeremy1012 wrote:

I know what you mean, and of course all cities have bad parts but they usually have redeeming factors too, I've just never found that in Coventry. Apart from Sian and Sarah of course London is absolutely horrible in parts but it literally has everything you could ever need. Coventry just always kind of depressed me as a kid, you know when you have places your parents would drag you to and you just knew it was going to be a bad day?

Having said that, this is all based on when I was a kid. I haven't been for a couple of years. Maybe the fun is there when you look for it?

I can understand that, I hated being dragged around places by my parents. It isn't really the fun i'm here for. It's the people, or rather the person. But i've always been very much of the mind that it doesn't matter where you are as long as you're in good company.

Heineken Helen

surfanddestroy wrote:

I know teacakes dont have crosses on them, but neither do they have currants. That is not a teacake in that picture.

do you mean a scone then?

Heineken Helen

Sian-of-the-dead wrote:

:rolleyes:

Tsk... I doon't know what yer all talkin' abarrt. Us Cov lot doon't speak no diff-rent to uver people. Wunce you all get the 'ang of it, cov speak ain't nuffin.

by the way, it's batch, not 'cob' or 'roll'.... batch. It's a bread fing innit.

oh an' 'bath' is said lark 'baff' innit.

You people know nuffink.

luv an' 'ugs an' that.

~ disgruntled Coventry resident.

chime... your translation skills are needed

Sian-of-the-dead

A brief Coventry / Nuneaton dictionary and accent guide....

innit - 'Isn't it?', as in 'don't you agree?'
N'all - 'And all' / 'as well'
ain't - 'Isn't'
Batch - a bread roll, cob or bun
Snap - 'lunch' (Nuneaton)
Chuffin' nora - 'oh bloody hell!' (Nuneaton)
Wunce - 'Once' (Nuneaton)
Sen / yersen - 'Self' / 'Yourself' (Nuneaton)
Nowt - 'Nothing'
Owt - 'Anything'
Just... - 'I have just done that'
Well good - 'That's rather pleasing to me'
She duz me 'ed in! - 'she does my head in' / 'she's rather irritating'
Me - 'My'

* 'th' becomes 'f' sound - "I fink I know what you're on about..." ("I think I know what you're talking about") UNLESS it's coupled with a vowel, then it becomes a 'v' sound - "Don't bovver!" ("Don't bother") or "Anuver" ("Another")
* 'U's are heavily pronouced with a 'UH' sound - "MUHM" ("Mum")
* drop 'g's from the end of words and drop 'H's from the front of words - "Doin' me 'ead in!" ("Doing my head in")
* 'us' and 'oes' sounds become 'uz' - "buz" ("bus") and "duz" ("does")

dunkman

* amurNay - I am not

* aslaat - "I was like that"; i.e., I was remarked to say (So the boss sez tae me that I was lazy, and aslaat "Naw amurNay!")

* Aye - Yes

Am'no - I'm not

[edit] B

* baltic - really cold (It is the Baltic!)

* bampot - an idiot, unhinged person (He is a bampot)

* bawbag - scrotum, pejorative (That guy's a bawbag)

* bawsed - drunk (I was pure bawsed the other night)

* blootered - drunk

* boggin - smelly, dirty (That's boggin'!)

* bowfin - smelly, similar to howfin.

[edit] C

* chib/chibbin - a chib is a weapon (knife, bat, wood) - chibbin is the adjective ("He's gonnae get a chibbin!")

* coupon - face ("What's the matter with your coupon?")

* cunt - dual meaning; either an insult (You're a total cunt) or as part of a threat ("I'm gonnae kick your cunt in")

[edit] D

* dog/doggin - Having sexual intercourse in the back of a car ("Oh my God. they were doggin'!")

* dug - a dog

* Doss - brilliant, good. . ("that chicken soup was doss like!")

Dondur - a walk (comin fur a wee donder doon yonder?)

[edit] F

* feert - to be scared (I am faird of the dark)

* fousty - dark/damp

[edit] G

* geggy - mouth - "( Wheesht yer geggy")

* ginger - carbonated drink,

* gowpin/lowpin - sore body part - (My knee is gowpin)

* Gock* - to stare ("wits that bawbag gockin at?")

* Ged* - meaningless term ("wit ya dain ged?")

[edit] H

* hackit - ugly

* howfin/howlin - smelly

[edit] I

Isnae - Is not ("He isnae there")

[edit] J

* jaked - being in a state of drunkenness (I was jaked last night)

* jake(y) - a homeless or unkempt person (usually describing an alcoholic)

* jessie/jessy - wimp/big girl's blouse

* jobby - a single stool; plural form "jobbies"

[edit] L

* liftit - to be arrested by the police

* loaby - hallway

[edit] M

* maw - mum (Aye yer maw)

* mawkit - very dirty (Your trousers are mawkit!!)

* mince - rubbish/nonsense - (Don't talk mince)

* minger/mingin - originally a Scottish word for dirty/smelly/horrible thing or person

[edit] N

* napper - head

* naw- no

* nippin - nagging

* numpty - a useless individual/moron

[edit] P

* pan - break or disfigure (pan the windows in)
* pan breid - rhyming slang for deid/dead (my dad's pan breid)
* pure - very, totally (I was pure drunk last night)

[edit] S

* skonn - to hit with a thrown object -(Some diddy just skonned the back of ma napper wi a pie)

* scooby - clueless, (Don't have a scooby) ((Scooby Doo=clue)

* scramble - a wedding tradition where the father of the bride would throw small change from the departing wedding car to neighbouring kids

* skiddle - to play in water

* skoosh - easy (That exam was a skoosh)

* slitter - to dribble food/miss the mouth

* steamin - drunk

* stocious - heavily drunk, (He was blootered; totally stocious!)

* store dug - lazy/laid back

* stowed oot - busy, full (That pub is stowed out!)

* swallae - to swallow

* swatch - to look at

[edit] T

* tan/tanned - to drink (I tanned ten pints last night!)

* toaty - small/tiny

* tube - an idiot/fool

Sian-of-the-dead

Oh and I forgot, 'doesn't' becomes 'don't'

surfanddestroy

Sian-of-the-dead wrote:

A brief Coventry / Nuneaton dictionary and accent guide....

innit - 'Isn't it?', as in 'don't you agree?'
N'all - 'And all' / 'as well'
ain't - 'Isn't'
Batch - a bread roll, cob or bun
Snap - 'lunch' (Nuneaton)
Chuffin' nora - 'oh bloody hell!' (Nuneaton)
Wunce - 'Once' (Nuneaton)
Sen / yersen - 'Self' / 'Yourself' (Nuneaton)
Nowt - 'Nothing'
Owt - 'Anything'
Just... - 'I have just done that'
Well good - 'That's rather pleasing to me'
She duz me 'ed in! - 'she does my head in' / 'she's rather irritating'
Me - 'My'

* 'th' becomes 'f' sound - "I fink I know what you're on about..." ("I think I know what you're talking about") UNLESS it's coupled with a vowel, then it becomes a 'v' sound - "Don't bovver!" ("Don't bother") or "Anuver" ("Another")
* 'U's are heavily pronouced with a 'UH' sound - "MUHM" ("Mum")
* drop 'g's from the end of words and drop 'H's from the front of words - "Doin' me 'ead in!" ("Doing my head in")
* 'us' and 'oes' sounds become 'uz' - "buz" ("bus") and "duz" ("does")

I think you will find that this applies to a lot of the north as well.

Sian-of-the-dead

surfanddestroy wrote:

I think you will find that this applies to a lot of the north as well.

It does! It's amazing how similar they are considering that Cov and Nuneaton are right in the middle of the country

harmless_little_f***

audiodave wrote:

Mark, if you're picking up this accent after a week and a half, I really, REALLY feel for you. Do you pick up accents easily? Thankfully, I don't seem to. After four years of living in Birmingham, no one has ever said that I have any kind of brummie twang, and so far, I can say the same of Coventry after living here for...3 months. Not that there's anything WRONG with the Coventry accent...but there isn't much right with it either.

As for Coventry being horrible...it's just a city. Most cities are horrible. Especially London (IMO...I hate that place). It has it's good parts and it's bad parts. Granted, there's a distinct lack of any sort of logic in the town centre, and I can't find anything apart from Ikea, which you can see from Sweden, but i'll let the off as they got bomed to fook in some sort of war.

No matter how many times I hear the word 'batch' in reference to a bread roll, it doesn't fit. Alarms go off in my head...cuz it's not a fecking batch! I work in Birmingham and I heard people arguing about it the other week.

To answer your question, I've never found out whether I pick up accents easily as I've never moved more than a few hours from my town.. However, I did know a good South African friend in Uni and it wasn't long til whenever I hung out with him, I'd be saying 'Harzit?' instead of 'How's it going?'... I loved the accent and we had so many giggles over drinks, I couldn't help it.

I too am of the mind that it doesn't matter where you are, it's the people who make a place. And everyone here has made me feel like Coventry is home from home I think the reason I've slipped into the accent is that it seems even easier than my own... one thing that's already going is the 'u' sound in the middle of words like 'much'... so it's 'mch' now. And Sarah laughs at me when in the morning I'll say 'Alright lov?' instead of 'Alright luv?' That's happened in nearly 2 weeks.....

God/Eddie Vedder help me

surfanddestroy

Sian-of-the-dead wrote:

It does! It's amazing how similar they are considering that Cov and Nuneaton are right in the middle of the country

Tis very strange, I think alot of the things are said the same but with a very different accent.

It's just a lazy way of speaking really.

Sian-of-the-dead

surfanddestroy wrote:

Tis very strange, I think alot of the things are said the same but with a very different accent.

It's just a lazy way of speaking really.

That's what Dave says about me. I'm so lazy I don't even pronounce 'L's properly... 'Owl' has evolved to 'Ow' :rolleyes:

urbanhippie

Oi! It's us Cov lot what talk proper innit? Youse lot jus keep geddin it all wrong.

audiodave

Sian-of-the-dead wrote:

That's what Dave says about me. I'm so lazy I don't even pronounce 'L's properly... 'Owl' has evolved to 'Ow' :rolleyes:

I don't understand why you're worse than I am...i'm a lot more northern than you are! I'm from near Yorkshire, so I should sound really stupid.

No offense to anyone from there.

Sian-of-the-dead

audiodave wrote:

I don't understand why you're worse than I am...i'm a lot more northern than you are! I'm from near Yorkshire, so I should sound really stupid.

No offense to anyone from there.

I never said you didn't sound stupid! (there's another Coventry-ism - 'never' instead of 'didn't')

I don't know why I sound like this, I just do... You've met my parents, my Dad's worse than I am! :eek::D

dunkman

urbanhippie wrote:

Oi! It's us Cov lot what talk proper innit? Youse lot jus keep geddin it all wrong.

is it just me or is your accent (as it reads on here) just like listening to Lauren by Catherine Tate

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qSNK-9v7_JI


she does all that 'innit though' .... and isnt she from Luhnduhn or summfink innit?

Sian-of-the-dead

dunkman wrote:

is it just me or is your accent (as it reads on here) just like listening to Lauren by Catherine Tate

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qSNK-9v7_JI


she does all that 'innit though' .... and isnt she from Luhnduhn or summfink innit?

We do sound very similar to Lauren but minus the London twang.

We also sound similar to Vicki Pollard from Little Britain.

Sad, but very very true :(

dunkman

Sian-of-the-dead wrote:

We do sound very similar to Lauren but minus the London twang.

We also sound similar to Vicki Pollard from Little Britain.

Sad, but very very true :(

i offer my condolences :(

Sian-of-the-dead

dunkman wrote:

i offer my condolences :(

ah no, it's alriiiight! we doon't mind! Gives uz character innit! Nuffink to worry abart... safe.

dunkman

Sian-of-the-dead wrote:

ah no, it's alriiiight! we doon't mind! Gives uz character innit! Nuffink to worry abart... safe.

it gives you character... that is then routinely mocked on national tv

everyone i spoke to in Warwick, Stratford, etc were all posh... you've destroyed a memory of mine :(

Sian-of-the-dead

dunkman wrote:

it gives you character... that is then routinely mocked on national tv

everyone i spoke to in Warwick, Stratford, etc were all posh... you've destroyed a memory of mine :(

People in Warwick, Stratford and Leamington do all speak posh. We don't like their types...

You should've headed towards Tilehill... or even Hillfields! Damn classy areas them.

I'm sorry I've destroyed your memories :(