words I picked up and carried back with me.
Bristolian Slang/ Words heard in Bristol/ Work Words
-Winkle- to move the right control for an excavator left-to-right vigourously, making the digger bucket curl and uncurl quickly, chipping or scraping away at rock or compact clay.
-Bruck up- broken or messed up.
-Dervs- Diesel fuel (old technical anacronym for Diesel Engine Road Vehicle.)
-Disco Biscuit- Ecstasy Pill.
-Macky- massive. Bristolian slang.
-Wester/ Proper Wester- Someone 'born and bred' in Knowle West, a notriously rough area of South Bristol
-Meader- someone 'born and bred' in Southmead, a notoriously rough area of North Bristol
-Hedgehogs- tufts of grass (especially stalks from flowers or seed heads) that remain sticking up high after a mower has gone over it. Sometimes called 'Mohawk' as well.
-Grey Fleet- Bristol City Council term for the vehicles owned by employees and used for work for the Council.
-A Gurt lush 'un- a very ('gurt') lovely ('lush' possibly short for 'luscious') thing/ person ('un', English slang for 'one' possibly derived from Norman French.) Though a very Bristolian utterance, these words are also common in the West Country in general, and in my native Gloucestershire I think of 'gurt' spelt as 'gert,' reflecting the different vowel vocalisation.
Possibly invented by myself (nothing to be proud of)
Spug/ to be Spugged- a negative connotation. to get spugged could be beaten up, paraletic, being stupid or injured. to be a spug, or a 'spug head' is to be an idiot, bonehead, or junkie.
Gumbled- mashed or mixed up. To feel gumbled is to feel disoriented or strongly hungover or tired. For something to look gumbled is to not look right.
Blorf-Norf- phrase used to describe feeling somewhat nauseous
Scrunge- mess of miscellaneous size. While working I was struggling how to describe the dirt and bits & pieces left when you hedge cut and then pick up the clippings.
Flamf- bits & pieces, 'stuff', mess.
Wickering- That strange chatter cats do when they're anticipating pouncing on something.
Domestic (at least to me) English terms
-The Side- The kitchen counter/ kitchen side. I thought this was common until I told my partner something was 'on the side' and she asked 'the side of what'?
-Her Indoors- sexist term to describe ones female partner, more likely wife. Incredible how assumptions about gendered spaces, roles and tasks can be packed into two words.
-Big Light- the main light for a room, usually the ceiling light(s) as opposed to other lighting like desk lamps or low level lighting.
-Nice Bread- of the two bread options, the other being 'normal' or 'regular' bread. 'Nice bread' is not only characterised as the nicer bread, it is saved for special uses only, and generally you always have to slice it yourself.
-The Wooden Hill- the staircase. When I was a child, my Dad would often say "Up the Wooden Hill" meaning 'time for bed.'
General English/ Unsure of Origin
-Stink Pit- The pit or pile made of shot game birds or mammals after a hunt. These are the animals not destined to be eaten, the surplus necessary of blood sport. First learned this phrase in Mary & Bryan Talbot's Rain.
-Sacrifice Zone- an area given over to activities that ecologically damage or economically devalue the zone i.e. landfill sites, bomb test areas, etc.
-Whale Fall- when the carcass of a whale falls to the floor of the ocean and creates a feast moment for the bottom dwellers of the deep.
-Kayfabe- portrayal of staged events in wrestling as authentic and real.
-Cunch- London slang for 'countryside' as a concept, place etc. (thank you to my friend Samia for telling me about this.)
-Smoko- smoke break, Australian. Heard in this song by the Chats
-Cheesed in- the intense need or craving for cheese. Heard from an old work colleague; use; "Paul pull over, I need to get cheesed in."
-Jolly Bite- the final bite or forkful of a meal, that consists of the best-saved-for-last, perfectly seasoned for a final delicious bite. Thanks to my friend Finn for introducing me to this phrase.
-The Pit- an insatiable appetite the result of being hungover or on one's period.
-The Filth- The Police. Obvious reasons.
-West Briton- derogatory term for an Irish person who is perceived as an anglophile (Ireland) Possibly less used is the opposite 'East Yank,' meaning an Irish person perceived to be an Americanophile.
-The Fifth Column- a group already existing in a nation (e.g immigrants and their descendents) that are perceived as a threat during war for their possible treachery. Usually fanatic, for example the internment of Japanese & Japanese-Americans during WWII.
-Ecumenopolis- Conceptual planet-spanning city. Coined by Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis
-Eperopolis- Conceptual continent-spanning city. Coined by Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis
-Transitional Love Object- For children, a totem object that represents home and the comforts of familial/ parental love therein, such as a stuffed toy or a blanket. 'Transitional' because it helps with transitioning from the home to the wider world, such as school.
From Graham Greene's Brighton Rock (Implied Shelta Inlfuence)
Bogies- Police
Milky- weak, soft, untrustworthy
Polony- slightly derogatory slang for 'woman'
Buer- definitely derogatory slang for 'woman' possibly from Shelta/ Irish Cant 'Byor'
Other Languages
-Ladino- Judeo-Spanish language spoken by Spanish Jews who then took this language with them after they were forced out by the Spanish requisition. Became the language of Jewish populations in places such as Thessaloniki, Greece, before the Jewish population was decimated by Nazi occupation. Learned from 'The Apostate' by James Angelos in The Passenger Volume 2: Greece about former Thessoniliki mayor Yiannis Boutaris. First stumbled upon this in Primo Levi's The Truce, where I was becoming confused by Levi describing the Greek Jews from 'Salonika' speaking 'Spanish.'
-Fressen- to wolf down, to eat like an animal, as opposed to Essen, the verb for eating. Learned from Primo Levi’s If This is a Man (German)
-Oubliette- secret dungeon with access only through a trapdoor. (French?)
-Milaya- Darling (Ukrainian.)
-Pal of the Boor- Brother of the Hedge/ Hedgehog (Romany-English)
-Avos- What if (Russian.)
-Lethe- 'oblivion' 'forgetfulness' or 'concealment' one of the five rivers of Hades (Classical Greek)
-Varangian- term given to Vikings by Greeks, Slavs, Arabs and Khazars among others.
-Pietá- refers to paintings or sculptures depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus (Italian)
-Skræling- word used by Norse settlers of Greenland and the Labrador coast for the Inuit natives- survives in Icelandic word 'Skrælingi' meaning 'barbarian.' (Greenlandic Norse.)
-Kavdlunait- word used to refer to foreigners and Europeans in the age of the Norse settlement of Greenland. (Inuit.)
-'Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori'- phrase included in Horace's Odes, translating to 'It is sweet and fitting to die for the homeland.' (Latin.)
-Subla- 'guy' or 'man,' informal. Outside of traveller community has stronger connotations of 'chav,' 'bogan' etc. (Irish/ Irish Traveller 'Shelta')
-Gowl- slang for 'pussy' Gaelic in origin. Often used in Limerick. (Irish)
-Guerilla- 'Little War', a fighting force acting on it's independent causes. (Spanish)
-Tre(-)- prefix denoting a farm, estate, or perhaps hamlet. (Cornish)
-Mamootie- a kind of South Asian draw-hoe
-Tetragrammaton- the four letters in hebrew used to describe the forbidden name of God- YHWH or JHVH articulated as Yahweh or Jehovah. Learned about this in Jorge Luis Borges' 'Death and the Compass.'
-Gweilo- Cantonese slur for a Westerner. (learnt from The Good Asian- by Pornsak Pichetshote & Alexandre Tefengki)
-Haole- Hawaiian slang for non-native. (learnt from The Good Asian- by Pornsak Pichetshote & Alexandre Tefengki)
-Carabineros- Carabinier, in its literal form a soldier with a carbine rifle, but in Chile it is the name of the national police force- the Carabineros de Chile. (Learnt from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Clandestine in Chile) (Spanish)
-Poblaciones- In Chile, slums or shanty towns. Possibly not in use any more. (Learnt from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Clandestine in Chile) (Spanish)
-Mordros- The sound of the sea (Cornish) (learnt from 'The Visions of Kurt Jackson' by Mark Cocker, GRANTA 102, 2008)
-Cromlech- ancient Brythonic or Celtic stone tombs (Welsh) (learnt from 'Land's End' by Phillip Marsden, GRANTA 102, 2008)
