An Alphabetical Compilation of Lancashire Dialect, Phrases, Lancashire Slang and Lancashire Words
Posted On 27/11/2024
By Nikki Wordsmith
hello@nikkiwordsmith.com
WhatsApp: 07905 456704
The Ever-Growing List Of Lancashire Dialect Words, Sayings, Phrases & Lancashire Slang
Search Tip: If you hit CTRL or CMD F while on this webpage you can search and find the exact word or phrase you are looking for.
Got some suggestions of your own for Lancashire words, phrases and stories? Add them to the comments below with full name credit or email hello@nikkiwordsmith.com or message Business WhatsApp +447905 456704
Also don’t forget to subscribe, read, add to the comments too. There are lots of interesting local history stories relating to the words.
This project has grown! It is now a national language project called Talk Dialect.
This is a national interactive talking dictionary for all of us who live in England’s 39 Historic Counties. For the first time Talk Dialect records and revitalise all of our dialects in one central time and place www.talkdialect.co.uk
Featured Word: Gradely
The word ‘gradely’ (proper) reminds me of an incident, allegedly in Hesketh Bank. A rather haughty schoolteacher asked her class of 8 year olds to step to the front and use a phrase involving the word ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ etc. One very nervous (country) boy stepped forward and declared “Mi fathers gett’n a gradely tractor.” “No, No, that will not do” said the teacher. “Tommy, there is no such word in the English dictionary as gradely. “Well then,” says Tommy “it’s not a gradely dictionary.” — Keith Sutton
Featured Phrase: Blackpool Illuminations
Mum always says, “It’s like Blackpool Illuminations!” when the lights are left on in our house. Or when there cars jamming up the narrow Lancashire country roads where we live. — Nikki Wordsmith
- A-be, bi thersell (alone)
- Abeawt (about)
- Aboon (above)
- Ackersprit (potato)
- Actilly (actually)
- Addle (earn, get)
- Addled (drunk)
- Afoor (before)
- Aftite (as soon)
- Afterings (last of cow’s milk)
- Agate (I was saying — Norma Hart, Rochdale)
- Agate (working, on the way)
- Ageen, agen (again)
- Agog (set on, begun)
- Aighs (axe)
- Aiker (nute/newt?)
- Ah’ll see thee (goodbye — Geoff Partington)
- An’ (and)
- An’ all (too or as well – Jim McDonald)
- Ankitcher (handkerchief— via John Sharples who said his Grandmother Margaret Sharples from Preston said this)
- Apeth (a halfpenny, a dimwit)
- Arter (are ya? John Sharples)
- Are you fast? (Are you stuck on something such as a crossword)
- At t’far end (at the end of one’s tether — derived from reaching the far end of the warp when weaving cloth, when the loom has stopped from beaming up)
- Axs or Ash (ask – old form seen in the The King James Bible still heard all over – Jim McDonald)
- Aye (yes)
- Bap (round piece of bread shaped like a bun)
- Banjo Butty (Egg and bacon barm— when you eat your butty the egg yolk drips down your tie, you hold it out at arms length and brush the yolk off it)
- Barm cake (round piece of bread)
- Barm (yeast for making bread — Geoff Partington, he said his Grandad “Barm Joe” sold yeast from a handcart in Hindley and Westhoughton)
- Bassinet (bed for baby that looks like a basket)
- Beltin’ (very good)
- Bleb (blister or blob of something – Jim McDonald)
- Bloomin’ (blooming – as in, It’s like bloomin’ Blackpool illuminations in ‘ere)
- Bowd (bold)
- Bob (hit)
- Bobbins (rubbish)
- Boggarts (ghosts – Margaret)
- Bonkers (crazy – Jim McDonald)
- Bowton (Bolton)
- Brassick (broke)
- Brasted (broke – Jim McDonald)
- Brat (mischievous child)
- Brew (cup of tea)
- Brew (hill — John Thorpe)
- Brid (bird)
- Brunt (burnt, this one goes way back and is more like brown which it is related to – Jim McDonald)
- Burr left (turn left)
- Burr reet (turn right)
- Buzz (bus)
- By thee eck (wow that’s amazing — Deb Freeman)
- Ceawnt ’em (count them)
- Carr (high hill)
- Cartimandua (Queen of the Brigantes, possibly Britain’s first queen around AD60 ish)
- Chap (man)
- Cheers big ears (thank you)
- Childer (children — via John Sharples’s who said his Grandmother Margaret Sharples from Preston said this.)
- Chippy tea (a Friday evening meal tradition)
- Chuffed (proud)
- Chur (chair)
- Clarty (sticky – Jim McDonald)
- Clemmed (hungry – John Thorpe)
- Clench yer flotch (clean your face)
- Clod hoppers (shoes)
- Clog it (run away fast)
- Cloggy bogies ( snow caught between heel and sole of a shoe)
- Clomp (stamp)
- Clompin’ about lark a fury elephant (stomping about heavy footed – Jim MDonald)
- Cloth arms (someone who doesn’t reach out to help with a job — an extension of cloth ears according to commenter below)
- Cloth ears (someone who doesn’t hear or doesn’t listen, from the cotton mills)
- Coal, lump of (a common present in a childer’s Xmas stocking)
- Cob (throw)
- Cotch (catch – Jim McDonald)
- Cowd (cold)
- Cower thee down whilst I pouse thee (sit down while I cut your hair – John Thorpe)
- Crammed (upset)
- Creating (going on with yourself, being a bit of a theatrical drama queen)
- Crowboggart (scarecrow)
- Crukel (going over sideways on your ankle — a Rochdale word)
- Daft (stupid)
- Deeuth (death)
- Demic (a person who can’t function properly — Ann Ward, her grandparents used to say this, they lived in Patricroft, Eccles)
- Dickies meda (big trouble)
- Dinner (12pm, see tea time)
- Do you want owt or nowt? (Would you like something or nothing?)
- Dobbers (lumps or marbles – Jim McDonald)
- Doesto (do you)
- Ducky (a game of some sorts?)
- Dun yew a thickun (messed things up in your life)
- Duster (do ya — John Sharples)
- Ecky thump (a humorous expression of pleasure or surprise, supposedly part of the dialect)
- Ee am jiggered — (worn out tired — Alice’s Gran, see the entry “Jiggered”)
- Ee, tha shap like thee bin suppin cowd tea (you look like you don’t seem to be enjoying your work — heard by Millard who used to work in Hawthorn Mill in Oldham)
- Eggshell Blonde (a bald man — Tony Reid)
- Eggy butty (soft, wimpish — M. D. Smith)
- Ester (have ya? John Sharples)
- Eyup cocker (hello)
- Fancy pants (see lardi dar)
- Fathered (resembled, pronounced with a short a as in math — Andy Speak)
- Feight (fight – Jim McDonald)
- Feorin’ (frightening things, supernatural beings)
- Flannel Ginnel (awning outside a hotel)
- Flittin’ (moving house)
- Floozy (see Frizzen)
- Flushing bog (a posh person’s toilet)
- Fod (forehead)
- Fotch (fetch – Jim McDonald)
- Fow (awful — Gill Hargraves)
- Frettin’ (worrying)
- Frickened (frightened)
- Frickened ‘deeuth (frightened to death – Jim McDonald)
- Frizzen (jumped up floozy, Mum would say M— was a jumped up floozy — Jim P. Hewitt; see Floozy)
- Fury (fairy)
- Galluses (braces to hold up your trousers, possibly a Scottish word but in widespread use in Lancashire in the 1950s)
- Gawmless (stupid – Jim McDonald)
- Geet (got)
- Get little pully on ( get going)
- Get weaving ( get going)
Ginnel or Snicket ( narrow alley way) - Ginnel (tunnel or alley between two houses)
- Ginny Green Teeth (Ginny Green Teeth is an old nursery bogie. She used to hang around the edge of ponds and drag unsuspecting children into the reeds and drown them. Later on during the Industrial Revolution when people moved to the towns to work at the mills, she was used by mothers to keep their daughters and sons away from mirrors for vanity reasons I suppose— from a contributor born in Ashton-under-Lyne)
- Good egg (good human, see rotten egg)
- Goosey, as in, it sends me goosey (a huge wave of emotion)
- Gradely (great)Gr
- Gradely (proper — Keith Sutton)
- Grand (great)
- Gud (good)
- He’s tighter than a bullfighter’s pants (M. D. Smith)
- Hond (hand)
- You’re like ‘orse muck, always in th’road (Mum used to always say this to me, to be fair she was right
- Howd (hold)
- Hurr (hair)
- If yer Bob , dunt gi er Bob, that Bob that yer Bob owes er Bob, er Bob is bount gi yer Bob, a Bob on the nose. (Bob saying contributed by John Thorpe)
- I’ll go the foot of our stairs (I’m astounded!)
- It’ll be reet (everything is going to be okay)
- It’s like Blackpool illuminations here (it is either very bright or there’s lots of traffic — Ann Smith)
- It would that it were (If only this were true)
- Jiggered — (worn out tired not sleepy tired — as in “ee am jiggered” by Alice’s Gran who are Salford people)
- Jip (pain, as in giving me jip – Jim McDonald)
- Keaw Yed City (Hindley and Westhoughton)
- Kecked o’er (fallen over – Lorcan Moriarty)
- Keks (trousers, see long keks)
- Klempt (starving, as said in Wigan — Andy Speak)
- La di da (used if someone puts on airs and graces, see fancy pants)
- Lad (boy)
- Laikin’ (playing — are you coming to laik at football?)
- Lanky (awkwardly tall)
- Lanky (the Lancashire dialect)
- Lark (like)
- Lass (girl)
- Leathered (smacked or beaten, from the leather belt)
- Leathered (drunk)
- Leyholes (meddlers)
- Long keks (long trousers, see keks)
- Lumber (trouble)
- Lunch (doesn’t exist)
- Mardy (moody)
- Me or mi (my)
- Mek us a brew (Would you mind making me a cup of tea please?)
- Mickey Drippin’ (a pet name Ann Ward was called by her Great Gran Mary Jane Edwards of Patricroft, Eccles)
- Mind tha ther riggot i street (watch out for the water running down the gutter in the street)
- Mither (moan)
- Moor (more)
- Moor (open uncultivated land)
- Moor Grime (fine rain)
- Motion (bowel movement)
- Mythering (someone repeatedly asking you to do something you don’t want to do)
- Nae (no)
- Nae tha munnah goo theer (no don’t go there)
- Nebbut (nearly or almost – John Thorpe)
- Neighburr (anyone in a 5 mile radius)
- Neet (night – Jim McDonald)
- Nesh (cold)
- Nice one (thanks)
- Noice (thank you)
- Nought (nothing, see nowt)
- Nowt (nothing, see nought)
- Orkard (awkward – Jim McDonald)
- Orp (hope, the thing that beats in thy heart)
- Over were (the land between Knott End-on-Sea and the River Wyre – ARB)
- Ow do (hello)
- Ow much? (How much?)
- Owd (old, see cowd, bowd, howd, showder, towd – Jim McDonald)
- Peighs above sticks (peas above sticks, too big for your boots — Jim P. Hewitt)
- Pillock (an idiot)
- Poo (pull – Jim McDonald)
- Posser (laundary tub agitator)
- Pots fer rags (seriously daft – John Thorpe)
- Pot towel (a towel used in the kitchen – John Thorpe)
- Pow slap (after a hair cut)
- Power smack (clip to your head after a haircut)
- Prop (support for clothes line)
- Proper (right and good, see gradely)
- Pummers (big – Jim McDonald)
- Put wood inth’ole (shut the door)
- Put clog down (drive faster — Pamela Earlam)
- Punse (kick – John Thorpe)
- Reet (right)
- Reet gud (right good — Deb Freeman)
- Rotten egg (bad human, see good egg)
- Scrunts (underpants — Jack Alexander)
- See what they’re giving (see what the shops are selling – Lorraine)
- Shap is moving (you move like your drinking cold tea)
- Sharpie (a hard human, someone all about the money)
- Shep ( Starling)
- Showder (shoulder)
- Side thable (clear the table)
- Side up (tidy up)
- Skenning (looking at – John Thorpe)
- Skew (school – John Thorpe)
- Skew wiff (not quite straight)
- Skrike (cry)
- Skrickin ( crying)
- Slash (pee)
- Slop stone (where you wash your pots — John Thorpe)
- Slutch (mud – Jim McDonald)
- Soss it out (work it out)
- Soz (I’m sorry)
- Sponny un (good one — Deb Freeman)
- Sneck (gate latch)
- Stink a mons heith (It smells as high as a man, it stinks rotten — Deb Freeman)
- Sun’s cracking the flags (it’s sunny out)
- Sup (drink)
- Supper (8pm, see dinner and tea time)
- Swime (climb — John Kay says: I want to mention the regular verb ‘to swime’, as I still use it, having picked it up from both my granddads when I was growing up in Heywood, Lancs. One granddad from Bolton/Bowton.
Swime means to climb and was used with prepositions swime over/up/down/through.
Burglars frequently ‘swimed up drainpipes’ and we swimed up trees and over back yard walls. - Swirling (sweating — Ann Speak)
- Ta (thanks)
- Takes one to know one (every judgement you make is a judgement on your self)
- Ta ra! (the Lancashire way of saying goodbye)
- Teacake (teacake)
- Tea time (6pm, see dinner)
- Tellint tale (I was saying — Norma Hart, Rochdale
- Tha corn reed (I can’t read — M. D. Smith)
- Thas mixed me a bottle (you have created a problem for me — Deb Freeman)
- Thee (you)
- Thesole (fire place)
- Thez nor hast? (you haven’t have you?)
- The dog is hossing (the dog is mythering for their food)
- They don’t take you on (not being friendly, which is a serious crime in the North of England)
- Thi (your)To
- Titivate ((tidy or smarten)
- Tother (the other)
- Thowt (thought)
- Towd (told)
- Tret (treat — Nurse Gemma — thank you for helping my daughter)
- Trouble at mill (something had gone wrong)
- Tubs ull come (things will get sorted, it will come to pass, said by miners underground — Deb Freeman)
- Un (one)
- Up hills and down dales (an exciting journey)
- Us’n (EG from Bolton 1950s – us’n, we’re going to th’pub)
- Wassail — (good health, wellbeing)
- Watter (water — Andy Speak)
- Waz (wee – as in: going for a Waz.
- Wazzock (a donkey’s foreskin, also see Pillock)
- Weer at gooin? (where are you going?)
- Weers tha bin? (where have you been?)
- Well I’ll go to the foot of our stairs (amazing)
- When I were young, and in mi prime, I cud ate a buttercake eni time, now I’m gettin old and grey, it vernee taks me ayf a day. —- John Thorpe
- Were reet down in coal hole where muck slats ont windas / we’ve used all the coal up and were down to t’cinders / when there yon bon bailiff comes he’ll never findus / coz were reet down in coal hole where muck slats on windas (Ann Smith)
- Where were we Walter, when the Westinghouse whistle went ? We were where we were weren’t we Walter? (contributed by John Thorpe)
- Whips and Tops (a game, with one top called a window breaker – John Thorpe)
- Who’da thowt it? (the name of a few local pubs around the country – John Thorpe)
- Wi (with)
- Wilter (will ya?)
- Woatin O’er (resting after a big meal)Wo
- Wovven up (woven up, finished what you are doing)
- Yed (head)
- Yeet! (an enthusiatic shout when throwing something, okay probably not originally from Lancashire but it goes so well with reet!)
- Yed wartch or an ‘ed wartch (head ache, as in: A’ve geet un ‘ed wartch – Jim McDonald )
- Yer (you are)
- Yer wornt feel th’ benefit when yer owt in theckold (Why are you wearing a coat inside?)
- Yonder (over there, far away — Andy Speak)
- Yonks (ages)
- Yer not as green as yer cabbage looking (smarter than you look — Ann Smith)
An Alphabetical Compilation of the Lancashire Dialect
The Historic County Of Lancashire In The North Of England
Northern Sayings – The Lancashire Dialect Itself Has Its Own Lancashire Slang Known Colloquially As Lanky
The Lancashire dialect, known colloquially as Lanky, refers to the Northern English vernacular speech of our county, or in other words how we all talk to each other in this area.
Not to be confused with the other definition of Lanky detailed above as describing someone who is awkwardly tall.
The Lancashire dialect phrases and Lancashire slang only sound right said in a Lancashire accent.
If you want to hear what a real Lanky accent sounds like, a real Lancashire accent listen to Frank Speak from Blackrod reading my poem The Pike.
Feel free, should you be so kind, as to add your own Lancashire dialect words and northern sayings relating to Lancashire in the comments below.
I will then happily add them to this list.
HUGE thanks to all the people who have helped and contributed to this list including a special mention to the local dialect groups.
The next historic county up is…the Cumberland dialect, then the Northumberland dialect.
Please note these lists are a blend of Internet research, talking to people and asking the right questions. It is, as we say in Adlington, Lancashire, based on the gradley skill of the no-nonsense reet good communication method of using yer loaf.
All these blogs are being collated to contribute to the national Talk Dialect Living Dictionary launching in January 2026 by Nikki Wordsmith.
Read more about the Lancashire accent and Lindsay Hoyle…
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128 Comments
Here are some phrases I have heard growing up in Radcliffe Lancs.
Ee’s a bit be-ind the door that one (not all there , a bit of a numpty or a bit thick)
Ee wur three sheets tut wind ( rather drunk)
“e Cudn’t ‘it a barn door wi’ya shotgun
(Not very accurate or perceptive, person) later became “e Cudn’t ‘it his own arse with a banjo
Shanks’s Pony (travel somewhere by walking, as opposed to the bus for example)
Daft as a brush ( funny or silly in a sweet way)
Yuv got olla legs ( you have hollow legs, means you have a very good appetite)
Put ya face straight or it’ll stick that.way (usually to a child that has been skrikin’ aka crying)
PS I was so lucky to have a wonderful and free childhood growing up, but the tale of Ginny Greenteeth scared the heck out of me, and it kept me away from ponds and rivers!
Thanks for your great collection of memories x
Ha great! These are fantastic I will add on to both sites — I broadened the project for the whole of England too: http://www.talkdialect.co.uk
If you want to tell me your name I can attribute the sayings to you too? Talk Dialect is very forward looking ️
I am Originally from Oldham and remember my Grandparents saying the following
Going for a Waz ( Going for a wee)
Nesh (cold)
Moor Grime ( fine rain)
Thesole ( fire place)
Side the table ( clear the table)
Shep ( Starling)
Skrickin ( crying)
Brid ( bird)
Childer ( children)
Pow slap ( after a hair cut)
Cloggy bogies ( snow caught between heel and sole of a shoe)
Get little pully on ( get going)
Get weaving ( get going)
Ginnel or Snicket ( narrow alley way)
Flannel Ginnel (awning outside a hotel)
Hello Thank you for these. I will add them on this week. Do you want me to attribute them to your Grandparents? If so tell me their names and I will make sure their words and sayings are recorded forever. This is because this blog is being developed into a full website called Talk Dialect for all the 39 English counties. It will be a place for people to add entries themselves. Thank you once again for this list, Nikki
I am uploading these now. Thank you Anon for these sayings 🙂 They are really interesting.
Crowboggart = Scarecrow.
Ahhh thank you. That’s a really good one. I will add on now. If you want me to attribute to you let me know your name.
Cruckel. Is a Rochdale word used when someone goes side ways on their ankle.
Ah ok! Thanks. I’ll add it on. If you give me your name too I can attribute it to you. This blog is expanding nationally in 2026 and becoming a living dialect dictionary.
The word ‘gradely’ (proper) reminds me of an incident, allegedly in Hesketh Bank. A rather haughty schoolteacher asked her class of 8 year olds to step to the front and use a phrase involving the word ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ etc. One very nervous (country) boy stepped forward and declared “Mi fathers gett’n a gradely tractor.” “No, No, that will not do” said the teacher. “Tommy, there is no such word in the English dictionary as gradely. “Well then,” says Tommy “it’s not a gradely dictionary.”
Hello Keith,
This is gradely for sure:-) I will add this on as a featured Dialect Word Story. Thank you for sending it in. I am developing this blog this autumn into so your contribution is highly valued. Thanks Nikki
Ligging – e.g. “Stop ligging about, get up and do summat”. Definitely used in Lancashire in 1950s and 1960s.
Possibly derived directly from German “Liegen” – to lie around or recline.
Bene’n’hot – (Bennie*) – Benedictine and hot water. Used in and around Burnley. The Burnley Miners Working Men’s Club opened at the end of WW1 and returning soldiers from the 11th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment had been stationed near to the Benedictine Monastery where they make the liqueur and they brought the drink back home with them. The club is reportedly the biggest customer of the drink.
Thank you for these. I am just collecting and collating everything contributed by cool and kind people like you for the last couple of years. Will publish all online and as a hard copy in the autumn. I love all these old sayings and am so happy to keep them alive for everyone in the future. If you are happy to give me your name all the sayings get attributed to their contributor with any associated memories and stories. Thanks once again. Yura reet good egg
Thanks for the memories, teks me back.
Here´s some more from Oldham area (Owdam)
Thárt a bonny lad = you are a handsome boy
Am feyned to si thi = I am pleased to see you
I wer gradely feyned = I was really pleased
tintintin = it isn´t in the tin
He wunt do t´buyin´in = He wouldnt do the shopping
Pack in gawpin´= stop staring
Dont talk wet = dont be stupid
shut tha mush = stop talking
ow art ti doin´= how are you doing?
Gawby = someone from Shaw
Av ed like Waterhead = I have a headache
I have loads more but cant think of them just now, feel free to use any
Suited – pleased “He was suited that you remembered his birthday”
“Standing there like cheese at fourpence”
Standing there like cheese at a four pence
What does that translate as?
Standing there looking stupid
Thanks Mark. I’m just getting some help to get all these added on and turned into something that can be published online and in the autumn. Thank you for your contribution. Every word counts.
Fratching – fighting (Often children squabbling)
Maiden – clothes horse (Drying rack to Millennials)
Minding – looking after
Wick – fast moving, or infested (insects)
Panned out – tired
Shape thi’sen – hurry up, get ready
Sken – to look, or have a squint
Happen (‘appen) – perhaps “‘appen he will and ‘appen he won’t”
Sken specifically means a sideways glance or look, or be cross-eyed, as in “skens like a ribble fluke”
Laikin’ = playing. “Coming to laik at football?”
Leathered = smacked or beaten, presumably from the use of a leather belt
Titivate = tidy or smarten, probably not exclusive to Lancashire
My father had an employee nicknamed “Attawimmy” because of his pronunciation of his commonly used interrogerative question “Are you with me?” i.e. do you understand what I’m saying?
Would you like me to attribute this one in honour of your Father?
I do wonder if some of the contributors have ever been to Lancashire as some of these words should more accurately be attributed to Yorkshire and some are definitely 20th Century “mock dialect”.
However, I will offer, “At t’far end”, meaning at the end of one’s tether – derived from reaching the far end of the warp when weaving cloth, when the loom has to be stopped for beaming up again. (NOT beaming up in the Star Trek sense!)
“Galluses” – Braces (to hold up trousers), possibly a Scottish word originally but certainly in widespread use in Lancashire in the 1950s.
“Are you fast”? – are you stuck (could be stuck on a crossword even)
“Wovven up” – Woven up = finished what you were doing.
Hello Thanks for all these words and phrases. I shall endeavour to upload them this week 🙂 Do you want me to attribute them to you? Your name is coming up as Anonymous on the comment. And yes I have decided to let in people’s suggestions according to their usage as oppose to a strict standard dictionary definition. A lot of people have memories of their friends and family staying things or little stories that they want to honour.
Thanks once again for your multiple contributions. I am hoping to get the list to 1,000 this year and then think about how to put them all together in a nice bewk for everyone who has contributed.
Yes. I am guilty of using some mock dialect too. I am trying not to be too proscriptive because I honestly believe language connects us in unique ways. Say for instance my daughter says “yeet!” as an enthusiastic expression when she throws something. It sounds so much like reet and all the kids have such thick Lancashire accents it seems so natural for that to cross-over and link the generations. Well that’s my humble take on it.
Hello again Nikki, I had just been thinking that things had gone very quiet on your site then we’ve just had a flurry of messages. I look forward to seeing your alphabetical list when available, in the meantime, apologies for any duplication from me. Two words just recalled, that you may not have, middin, and hutch up !
The middin was in the back yard next to the ash pit for rubbish to be left and then collected weekly by the Council bin men and hutch up meant move over to make room for me to sit down.
Best Wishes from John Thorpe.
Ahhh hello John! Yes I have been busy trying to sort my health out. But I think I’ve managed to get to a good place. You are such an amazing contributor thank you. It would be great to get you more involved in the autumn time somehow when I should have a nice and easy way for people to be a part of keeping our languages alive 🙂 I hope you and your family are well.
I am 110% committed to this project. Like everybody else time and energy and resources play a huge part in my productivity!
Not sure if this might be on your latest list but one I’ve remembered, before the days of stainless steel sinks and double drainers, we put dirty pots & pans & cutlery on the Slop Stone for washing, then used the pot towel to dry !
The slop stone! On the list it goes…
I should be a bit freer next week so am hoping to get the list up to 1,000!
Here’s some moor – some more
Orkard – awkward.
A yed wartch or an ‘ed wartch – a head ache. A’ve geet un ‘ed wartch. – I’ve got a headache.
Axs or Ash – Ask – old form seen in the The King James Bible still heard all over.
Pummer – Big “Put thi hond o’ th’ top o’ mi yed,” said Ben.
“Doesto feel nought?” ” Some lumps,” said Randal. “Lumps!” replied Ben; ”Ay, an pummers too. Ceawnt ’em. Aw think they’n come to seven — gradely dobbers”
Sneck-Bant, c. ii., p. 30. Waugh.
Of course, that’s ‘dobbers’ too ie. lumps or marbles
an’ all – too or as well.
Giving mi jip. Hurting
Neet – night
Bonkers – crazy.
Brunt – burnt, this one goes way back and is more like brown which it is related to.
Clarty – sticky
Slutch – mud
-old -> -owd ie cowd, owd, bowd, howd, showder, towd…
poo – pull. Poo up a chur an’ sit wi mi a bit.
Bleb – blister or blob of something
Clomp – Stamp. Clompin’ about lark a fury elephant. Stomping about heavy footed. Obviously related to Clog or Clomp in Dutch
Frickened ‘ deeuth – Frightened to death. where ‘ is a glottal stop.
Feight – fight
Fotch – bring
Cotch – Catch
Brasted – broken.
Gawmless – stupid
Yed – head
Yedweshin – wetting the baby’s head.
Yure – hair
Wam – home
Gee – give
Goo – go
Dee – Do (not too sure on this one since I live in the North East now)
Weer – where
Theer – there
Heck/Yeck after a vowel – hell
Bah yeck – wow.
Hutch up – move up (might be related to Welsh, cutch up to cuddle up)
Doffy – doughy
Urreated – aerated or hot under the collar.
Giddy – silly
Hangin’ – Dirty.
Cob on – in a mood.
Cob – big round lump or something. Cob – spider hence, Cobweb. Also round loaf of bread.
To Kem – to comb. Kem thi yer, yer look a rart mess.
Moss – bog
Bog – toilet
Apeth – Half penny or just a person. Tha’s not geet un apeth o’ sense. Yer daft apeth.
Neb – nose or front of a cap.
A to do – a commotion. ‘What’s the to do?’ – What’s going on? What’s th do? What’s wrong?
What’s do? What’s wrong?
Hoo or Hu – She (can also be ‘it’)
Thrutch – push
Maiden – clothes horse (probably taken for granted by most in Lancashire but it’s not used in other places)
Snewed – Snowed. A’m snewed under wi wu’k.
A Dreawnt th’ miller – I put too much water in my dough.
Edders – Dragon Flies.
Meyt – meet pronounced like ‘mate’ in RP. A leftover from the great vowel shift.
Clod hoppers – Big shoes.
Door step – thick piece of bread.
Pah yeyter – a Wiganer
Wiggin – Wigan
Lobby eyter – a Leyther – someone from Leigh
Gowbenner – someone from Golborne.
Jem – Jim
(H)Eh up – Hello, move, watch out. probably from Old Norse Seh upp meaning look up, watch out. S getting morphed to an H
Road – way. Ger owt ‘road – Get out of the way.
Woo! Thanks for all these Jim, I’ll add them on 🙂 The list is really growing. So good to see.
Just found your website and tried to add but couldn’t so forgive me for replying to your reply!!
My grandad used to tell me to “put wood ith hole” shut the door and “mind tha ther riggot i street” water running down the gutter in the street
Hello and thanks.
I will add these on now. If you want to tell me you and your Grandad’s name I can attribute the entries to you and him 🙂 I am developing this blog in the next few months as it is a good way to preserve our language and stories. I hope you would like to be a part of it.
Is that the Jim Macdonald who lived off new hall Lane near Cemetery?
I don’t know. You would have to reply to his comment directly and see if he responds…
Sun’s cracking flags (it’s sunny out)
That’s a good one. Mum says that. Thanks will add on now. Do you want me to attribute it to your contribution?
We’re Salford people, my gran, born in 1907 would always say, “ee am jiggered” when she was worn out from doing tasks. It meant tired but worn out tired, not sleepy tired.
That’s ace. Thanks I will add your gran’s saying on and attribute it to her :-)))
An expression I heard when working at Hawthorn mill in Oldham:
Ee, tha shap as if thas suppin cowd tay
You don’t seem to be enjoying your work
Ahh thanks that’s a new one on me :-))) Will add on! Does “shap” mean “look” do you think?
And you worked in a mill? Doing what?
Shap is moving, translation means you move like your drinking cold tea.
Thanks. That’s a really good one :-))) I’ve never heard anything like that one before. Will add on now.
Thanks for the latest list update Nikki.
I notice one word we used that isn’t there, “brew”, meaning a hill or slope, not cuppa char ! In Middleton, next to Th’hare an ounds ( Hare & Hounds), pub on Oldham Road, is William Street, there are 2 or 3 terraced houses on the left side and then it goes up hill to what we knew as Cookie’s farm . That hill is known as a brew. William Street, lovingly called Billy Brew ! A long story but I hope someone will remember it ?
Thanks John. I will add your extra definition on and attribute it to you 🙂
There’s an “aipenny brew” in Preston
Thanks Mark will add these on next week and have a good look at them 🙂
There’s a halfpenny brew in Preston? ie it’s good value?
You have a great website here. Brings back a lot of memories. There was something my mum used to say: ‘you’re like ‘orse muck, always in th’road.’ To be fair she was usually right.
Ahhhh thank you. Yes just on the cusp of turning into a little book so loads of oldies who aren’t on the internet can contribute too.
I’ll add your Mum’s hilarious saying on. If you want to tell me your and her name I will attribute the saying properly. For now I will add it on anonymously. Thanks for sending it in. It’s a good one!
My beautiful wife, a Lancashire Lass, used to say “side up” meaning “tidy up”
Awww that’s a nice one. I’ll add this one on. What’s her name I’ll attribute it to her, if you think that’s a good idea? Thanks for your comment.
talking about side up, side th’ table, meaning clear the table.
my grandad would say ” us’n, we’re going to’th’pub” or “us’n, we believe…..” this was Bolton 1950s
Ahhh that’s a good one, thanks, will add on.
What does it mean do you think?
Skew wiff meaning not quite straight and get your brat on meaning wear your apron or overall. La di da if someone was putting on airs and graces.
Ah yes good ones 🙂 It’s so cool how these bring back the memories. Thanks JAD! Will add on
I very much doubt Yeet is a word that originates in Lancashire, it comes from a video back in the mid 2010s from America. It’s such a wide spread word with people under 30 because of the video.
I very much think you are probably right I put that word on as a bit of a tongue in cheek word because it rhymes with rest. And my daughter and all her school friends say it in the most adorable Lancashire accent.
Do you have any Lancashire words you would like to contribute?
Nae tha munnah goo theer
No don’t go there
Good one! Thanks. Will add on.
Only just found this site. Interesting for lots of reasons, I was born & bred in Middleton, Manchester. My brother & I brought up in our family which included our grandpa, born in 1885 in Ashton Under Lyne. We learnt lots of old Lancashire sayings & descriptions.
We used pot s for rags, meaning daft.
We had a ginnel between us and next door.
Clemmed, meaning hungry.
Long keks were long trousers.
A local pub called “Who’d a thowt it”.
Our mum used a pot towel in the kitchen.
Cower the down whilst I pouse the meant sit down, whilst I cut your hair.
Lunch was 10.00pm
Dinner time was 12.00pm
Tea time was 6.00pm
Supper time 8.00pm
Skew was school.
Nebbut just meant nearly, or almost.
Skenning meant looking at.
Punse meant kick.
We played a game ducky.
Whips and tops with one top called a window breaker.
I’ll think of some more for future posts.
Correction from John. Breakfast 10.00am not pm !
Silly lad.
Thanks John! I did wonder LOL
Whoop and wow! Thanks for all these John. Will add them in 🙂
My dad used to say “kecked o’er” as in fallen over (like “he kecked o’er”). I’ve never heard or seen it anywhere else, but he said it in a very strong Blackburn accent, so I can only assume it was a thing he’d definitely heard. I still say it a lot!
Ha ha good for you! The people we love live on in our words ❤️ I’ll add yours now. Thank you for telling me about your Dad and the way he used words. Very much appreciated 🙂
Cloth ears (for someone who doesn’t hear or is not listening). It originates from the cotton mills.
My Mum extended this to ‘Cloth arms’ as in, “Hold this. You’ve not got cloth arms.” However, I think this was a family thing because other Northerners don’t recognise it.
Thank you. Very good! I used to get called cloth ears quite a lot. Didn’t know it was from the cotton mills. Cloth arms LOL I’ll still add it onto the list as I’m collecting all sayings, even the micro ones between family and friends. I find it all really interesting and hope others do too. It’s people who keep languages alive 🙂 So thank you for your contribution once again.
Hey Nikki, being Bolton-born, Bury-bred, now resident in Rome teaching English as a second language and always on the lookout for material upon which I can base an interesting lesson for the more advanced students, this page is just the job. You have also taken me back to growing up listening to my Dad’s Fivepenny Piece On Stage albums, which are full of this rich and beautiful language, for example “put wood inth’ole’ (close the door). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkvLpW1rXt8
In this one, there’s “ginnel” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLdRnif1WoA – a passageway, usually between two houses – (hard /g/ as in Gate)
Ah ok fantastic. Please feel free to link to the post as part of your lessons. I’ve noticed a few other teachers in English speaking countries and at International schools have been referring this post too. I’ll add these one as I keep updating this blog. It’s so interesting to do.
Especially as I am starting publish a Northern English fiction book and use this blog a lot myself 🙂
Will check out the YT vid too. Thanks ☺️
Added your phrases on now — thanks
I was born ‘over were’ which means between Knott End and the river Wyre
Phrases we use in the 50’s and early 60’s included
– he’s in dickies meda (big trouble)
– well I’ll go to foot of our stairs (amazing)
– clean yer flotch (clean your face)
Thank you ARB! I’ll add them on too right now 🙂 so good to get the really local one too about ‘over were’ I really really like the words that people use just for themselves or between small groups. Such a great way to bond.
I’ll go to the foot of our stairs just made me laugh. The oldies in my family used to say that.
Will try and check-out Knott End when I next go up the coast road.
Thanks for all your phrases. Really really good stuff.
Thanks for these 🙂
Hello Teacher of English, I have been given hundreds more Lancashire dialect words in the last few weeks from many kind contributors, so the list is rapidly growing. Thought you might like to know for your lessons to help the more advanced students. Hope Rome life is La Dolce Vita!
Hi Nikki,
My family, neighbours and I , sometimes use this phrase when about to go to the shops, I’m going to Tesco eg, ‘See what they’re giving’ lol.
I can’t find this phrase anywhere on Google, and was wondering if it was old Lancashire slang ? Or maybe even more local than that. We’re in the Tyldesley area. Any ideas ?
Thanks x
Hi Lorraine, I can’t find any reference for that phrase either online. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It might just be part of your family’s lingo too.
I’m happy to add it on the list, if you are?
As a former Lancastrian, born and raised in Baxenden and with many family ties to Oswaldtwistle, I have found memories of my grandparents and village folk using all of these words and many more. Long gone now of course.
Ahhh yes certain words and phrases are great for bringing back memories from our kinfolk and ancestors.
They still live down the lines of the generations. Important to try and keep them alive.
Can you remember any specific words or phrases they used from your childhood?
Great to know 🙂
How about….
Flittin. Moving house.
Pots fer Rags. Seriously daft.
Sneck. Gate latch.
Slash. Urinate.
Crammed. Upset.
Woatin O’er. Resting after a big meal.
Skrike. Cry.
Posser. Laundry tub agitator.
Prop. Support for clothes line.
Thanks! Yes these are good 🙂
Never heard of pots fer rags.
I will add them on to the blog list.
Ok, thanks the list is building nicely now 🙂
You words have been added!
I really like pots fer rags
I’m writing a live blog book about Lancashire family life called Hermes Baby!
So this list will really help with the dialogue.
Once again many thanks
How about.Mard or Mardy.Bassinet.Leyholes for meddlers.
Weer at gooin weers tha bin?
Good ones!
My Grandad many years ago bought a pony and cart in a sale in Manchester for my Dad when he was a boy for a delivery round.The pony appeared to be very gentle on the way home but when they tried to hitch it up to the cart in the morning it went wild and galloped of up the road with the cart behind it.My Dad told me it had got boggarts,That’s an old Lancashire saying ?
.
Hi Margaret, thanks for this new Lancashire word in my vocabulary! So according to Wikipedia it means: Boggart was a generic name for a solitary supernatural being. Another Lancashire dialect word for supernatural beings was ‘Feorin” (frightening things).
So sounds like your Dad was saying the horse was possessed by a ghost or evil spirit? Ooooooh!
As a child in Blackpool, my granny made me recite ‘Boggart thwart Stump’. It’s online somewhere. And when I hadn’t brushed my teeth, she called me Ginny Green Teeth. She was from Middleton, Oldham, and they moved to Blackpool for grandpa’s health. My daughter was born on the same date, she died. She went to work in London and a finally fell in love with a guy from Middleton, with family in Oldham. Ten years together.
Hello Kathryn,
Thanks for these memories. So good!
I’ll look up Boggart thwart Stump and see what it’s all about.
Ginny green teeth LOL
I’ve added your phrases on now 🙂
The list is building really nicely and will come in very handy when I’m doing my live blog book at the end of the year!
It’s about a Lancashire family so should be great for making the dialogue as accurate as possible.
I have made a note to research Boggart Thwart Stump too. That might get a mention too.
Thank you for all your messages and words and stories.
Nikki
In fact the Ginny saying is so funny can I use it as a quote in the blog?
The dog is hossing meaning he’s mythering for his food.
Great, will add to blog, thanks.
Added!
These words will come in really useful for a book I am writing about a Lancashire family called Hermes Baby! So thank you very much for your comment.
Nikki
“thez nor hast?” (Translation : “you haven’t have you?”
I have! I have added this saying onto the list. Thanks 🙂
Power smack. Clip to your head after haircut
Ha. Didn’t know about that one. Glad I don’t get my haircut too often
A pou slap.
What does this mean?
Added now! Thanks
O’reet?!
Eee-yup!
Ows tha gannin on?
That’s more of a Geordi saying….Ows tha gannin….. How are you doing.. I am as Lancashire as you can get I’m from Thornton…… I was stationed in a Geordi Regiment
Ahh yes. Good spot. A lot of the language gets mixed up as people move about.
Ows tha gerrin on
Ack. I’m fairly bruising. I ken we war gunna have a proper psuedo Lanky chinwag. Amma reet? Or amma cracked in the yed? There’s nowt more pressing in tha life, Shirley?
EH!? You wot, mate!? Was you sayin’ summit?!
Actually I’m in Preston tomorrow with a fellow Chorley lad so will have time to practice me Northernisms then. Got to get back into the swing of this Lancashire lingo pronto, one is moving there in February. They’ll be calling me “posh” again, like they used to. Blasted fiends!