Brummie

Brummie (sometimes spelt Brummy) refers to things connected with the city of Birmingham in England: particularly its people, known as Brummies, and their accent and dialect of the English language. The word is derived from Brummagem (commonly shortened to Brum) which is a local name for the city.

Contents

1 Accent

2 Dialect

3 Old chat

4 Current Lingo

5 Fake Accent (used in advertising)

6 External links

Accent

Brummie is a prominent example of a UK regional accent. While it is perceived as a perfectly legitimate version of the spoken English language in the Midlands. The accent is regarded as "lifting and melodious" by overseas visitors, though it sometimes comes under attack from the British press due to many popular misconceptions and the obvious iniability of many non-brummie actors to grasp the unusual tones of the accent which some have described as similar to Scandanavian in sound.

Brummie should not be regarded as the only accent of the Midlands or West Midlands, although the term is often used by outsiders to refer to all accents of the region. For example, speakers from Wolverhampton or the Black Country (the conurbation to the north-west of Birmingham) have an accent and dialect which is very different from Brummie in many respects. The Birmingham and Coventry accents are quite distinct, even though the cities are not very far apart. To the untrained ear, however, the accents may sound very similar, in the same way that British speakers of English can find it hard to distinguish between the accents of Canada and the USA.

There are many examples of realistic Brummie accents on the television and in music: for example, Julie Walters (who has acted in many films and comedy shows), Cat Deeley (who presents many prime time T.V. shows including CD UK), The Streets rapper Mike Skinner, and Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath, who has appeared in The Osbournes, one the most popular programmes on MTV, which has been broadcast worldwide to much acclaim.

Other well known Brummies include:

John "Brummie" Stokes , famous SAS soldier and author.
Jasper Carrott, comedian
Carl Chinn, historian and broadcaster
Les Ross , broadcaster
Clare Short, politician

Dialect

A large number of local words and phrases exist derived from an amalgamation of various cultures and dialects which have combined to produce an unusual but familiar voice. Some claim that 'old' Brummie is the most likely accent that William Shakespeare would have used, at that time Birmingham would have been in Warwickshire. Some words are simple variations of those used elsewhere, such as mom for instead of Standard English mum, while others are unique to Birmingham.

Old chat

bab ~ The older generation sometimes use this when referring to a spouse or female.

it's lookin a bit black over bills mothers ~ A saying that is not often heard anymore which referred to the prospect of rain. (sometimes used in the East Midlands also.

keep away from the 'oss road ~ Often said as a warning to children who were thinking of playing on the busy tracks frequented by horses, carts, trams and early cars.

aou'rite r kid or aowz it gowin kid replacing kid with man also ~ Derived from old Brummie and it is still used today and means, "how are you mate".

yu got a beak on ya ent ya ~ A term used against someone that was nosey without reason, or wallowing in others misfortune. This is still used today.

Our nip ~ Another word for younger brother or son.

Yu talkin tu me or chewin a brick ~ A confrontational term.

ded yampee ~ A north west Birmingham term for scatty and lively, to the point of madness.

You ad yer eyeful ~ Used if someone was staring in your direction for too long.

Ee talks like he's gor a quid in is gob ~ referred to someone who was thought to have an affected accent.

Face like a bosted arse ~ A way of saying someone looked unnatractive.

Giz a rock ~ 'can i have a sweet' a rock was often used as an alternative to sweet, before chocolate became more readily available sweets were usually anacide balls or sticks of rock.

Got a face as long as Livery Street that one ~ A way of saying that someone looked misserable.

Up the cut ~ Up the canal.

bostin ~ Sometimes used as an alternative to brilliant.

Go 'n' play up your own end ~ A common phrase used when children from a different street or area were making a nuisance of themselves, a musical play by this name has recently been written and is performed which is based on inner city life.

Current Lingo

'Alright' which in Birmingham can become O'rite

'Mate' which can become Man

'Off-licence' becomes Outdoor

'Roundabout' becomes an Island

'Lazing about' becomes Having a doss

'Well done' becomes Fair play

'Bus' becomes Buzz

and:

'Leave it alone' can often be Def it out or if someone is ignored they can be Deffed out

'Go to the toilet' sometimes can be Go for a gipsy (Gypsy's kiss = piss. Also recorded as Cockney rhyming slang)

'Go to the toilet' can also be Go to the Jacksy

'Sorry' is sometimes shortened to Soz

'To go' is occasionally chip or chip off

Also, many younger Brummies have adopted the Carribean pronounciations of 'this' and 'that' - 'dis' and 'dat'.

Fake Accent (used in advertising)

There are many popular misconceptions over how people of the city of Birmingham actually "tork!. These misconceptions are influenced in part by the use of certain actors that are not from the city or region and attempt to learn a similar type of accent, like for instance Benny from Cross Roads or Barry from Auf Wiedersehen Pet. The irony with Auf Wiedersehen Pet is that the true Brummie actor was Bomber aka Big Pat Roach.

Today a prime example of inaccurate depiction of the Brummie accent is on recent Halifax bank adverts. A Halifax employee from Birmingham was used initially to promote the bank, unfortunately his own voice was over-dubbed with an exaggerated, comical accent. This kind of misrepresentation of the accent may contribute to negative attitudes to people with the Brummie accent.