BBC Voices Recordings: Treorchy, Rhondda Cynon

BBC VOICES RECORDINGS http://sounds.bl.uk

Title:

Treorchy, Rhondda Cynon Taf

Shelfmark:

C1190/41/22

Recording date:

12.1.2004

Speakers: Brown, Anna, b. 1939 Blaenclydach, Glamorgan; female; retired fashion designer Harris, David, b. 1935 London; male; retired coalminer Harris, Glenys, b. 1938 Treorchy; female; retired clothes factory worker Rowe, Beryl, b. 1923; female; retired electronics worker

The interviewees are all members of the Treorchy Senior Citizens’ Club.

PLEASE NOTE: this recording is still awaiting full linguistic description (i.e. phonological, grammatical and spontaneous lexical items).

A summary of the specific lexis elicited by the interviewer is given below.

ELICITED LEXIS

* see Survey of English Dialects Basic Material (1962-1971) ≠ see Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru (online)

♣ see Wenglish. The Dialect of the South Wales Valleys (2008) ∆ see New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) ◊ see Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) ♥ see Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (2014) ♦ see Urban Dictionary (online) ⌂ no previous source (with this sense) identified pleased thrilled; over the moon; happy; chuffed (used by grandson); elated; contented; on top of the world; delighted tired tired; shattered; weary; whacked; worn-out; knackered (“rude”); exhausted; bushed; dead- beat; done in

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 1 of 3 BBC Voices Recordings unwell not too good (“not feeling too good”); not with it1; out of sorts; ill; sick; bad (“classic Valley one” pronounced “baad” locally); sickly; poorly; indisposed; under the weather; below par; under the doctor (“I’m bad and under the doctor” common in Valleys); shattered∆ hot boiling; scorching; steaming; roasting; cooking◊; sweltering; sizzling◊2; blistering; burning up cold freezing; bitter; perishing; shivery; chilly; brass monkeyed◊ annoyed tamping♣ (“oh, I was tamping mad” common in Valleys); boiling; mad; infuriated; wound up throw chuck play truant mitching (used in past, “if you mitched you had the whiperín after you”3); bunking off (used now) sleep (not discussed) play a game (not discussed) hit hard (not discussed) clothes gear, clobber (used by young speakers) trousers trews; pants; kegs♥; slacks child’s shoe daps (most common locally); plimsolls; trainers mother mam; mami≠; mum; Glen⌂ (i.e. by familiar name, used by own daughter of self); mother (used by own daughter of self) gmother mamgu♣ (Welsh for ‘grandmother’ common in Valleys); nan (used by own grandchildren of self); nana (used by own grandson of self); gee4 (abbreviation of ‘mamgu’ used by daughter) m partner (not discussed) friend butty (associated with in mines in past); mate; chum gfather dadcu♣ (Welsh for ‘grandfather’ common in Valleys); tadcu♣ (used by own grandchildren of self); “by my Christian name” (i.e. by name, used by own grandchild of self); gransher*; dee⌂ (of/to own grandfather); gee-go⌂ (abbreviation of childhood mispronunciation of “dadcu” subsequently adopted within family) forgot name (not discussed) kit of tools (not discussed) trendy a bit of all right5; common; cheap; tarty; trendy; mod f partner (not discussed) baby (not discussed) rain heavily (not discussed) toilet lavatory (recommended as child by grandmother who claimed “the Queen calls it the lavatory”); lav (“I’m going to the lav” used of outside toilet in past); W.C.; ladies; gents; bathroom; little boys’/little girls’ room; john (thought to be name of inventor of toilet); loo; powder room; bog (“crude”); toilet (used now of inside toilet); tŷ bach♣ (used when younger, “very Welsh”) walkway (not discussed)

1 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘with it’ in sense of ‘mentally alert’. 2 Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) records ‘sizzler’ in sense of ‘very hot day’. 3 Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru (online) includes ‘whiperín’ in sense of ‘school attendance officer’; Robert Lewis’s Wenglish: The Dialect of the South Wales Valleys (2008) records ‘whipper-in’ in same sense. 4 Sarah Jamila Stevenson’s The Truth Against the World (2014, p.7) records ‘Gee Gee’ in sense of ‘great-grandmother’. 5 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘bit of all right’ in sense of ‘sexually attractive woman’.

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 2 of 3 BBC Voices Recordings long seat (not discussed) run water (not discussed) main room lounge; front room, parlour (used in past); living-room (used now and in past) rain lightly (not discussed) rich rolling in it6; crachach♣ (“derogatory term”, used in past of e.g. “colliery managers bosses the doctor etcetera etcetera”); well off; affluent left-handed llaw bwt♣ (Welsh for ‘left-handed’, “llawi”); lefty unattractive (not discussed) lack money broke; skint; short of the readies∆7; down on his uppers drunk legless; stoned; hammered∆; blotto (used by grandson/younger speakers); inebriated; sloshed; one over the top8; under the influence; piddled♦; intoxicated; pissed (modern) pregnant pregnant; expecting a child; in the way9; bun in the oven; up the duff; in the family way; in the club (common locally) attractive smart; striking; lush, mint◊ (used by 21-year-old grandson); appealing; pretty; good-looking; gorgeous; beautiful; eye-catching insane twpsyn♣; dopey; half-soaked∆; twp♣ (“Willy Twp/Dai Twp” typical local nickname in past); doolally (“doolally tap” thought to originate from soldiers’ overexposure to sun in World War One); “they wasn’t the furthest end of the oven”10 (i.e. “half-baked”); round the bend; not quite the ticket◊11 moody cob on∆ (“got a cob on”); morose; glum; irritable; temperamental; changeable; grumpy also supplied serchus♣ (not considered “correct Welsh” thought to derive from “sych” meaning ‘dry’≠); diflas♣

Assistance with transcription of Welsh entries provided by Cai Parry Jones British Library Oral History Curator (2017)

6 Macmillan Dictionary (online edition at http://www.macmillandictionary.com/) includes ‘rolling in it’ in this sense. 7 New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) records ‘readies in sense of ‘cash’. 8 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘over the top’ in sense of ‘to excess’. 9 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘in the family way’ in this sense. 10 Anna Idström & Elisabeth Piirainen’s Endangered Metaphors (2012, p.347) records Low Saxon metaphor ‘he mutt noch eenmaol in’n Backowwen [= he must (go) once again into the bread oven]’ in this sense. 11 Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) records ‘not all the ticket’ in this sense.

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