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

Title: Gorey, Jersey

Shelfmark: C1190/39/02

Recording date: 06.05.2005

Speakers: Bond, Theresa Ann (Teri), b. 1954 Torquay, Devon; female; supply teacher (father b. Torquay, middle management; mother b. Exeter, civil servant & housewife) Luxton, Suzanne Valerie (Val), b. Timperley, Cheshire; female; retired PE teacher (father b. Jersey, civil servant; mother b. Cheshire, secretary) Walker, Jean Elizabeth, b. 1951 Shillong, Assam, India; female; retired teacher (father b. Wallsend, Northumberland, engineer; mother b. Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, secretary)

The interviewees are all school teachers in Grouville.

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 English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905) † see Dictionary of the Scots Language (online) ♪ see Dictionnaithe Jerriais-Angliais (2005) ∆ 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 chuffed (“I’m reet chuffed”○1 used as child in north in past); thrilled; happy; ecstatic (recently used in assignment by pupil) tired all in; knackered (“I’m bloody knackered” considered impolite); very tired; exhausted; worn-out; at the end of my tether; tired unwell poorly (“proper poorly”); sick; under the weather; out of sorts (also used for ‘moody’); fragile; hung-over; unnecessary2 (“I came over all unnecessary” considered common used

1 English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905) records ‘reet’ in sense of ‘right/very’.

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locally, liked); “I came over a bit queer” (associated with ‘Round the Horne’3, considered inappropriate now) hot boiling; menopausal⌂; sweating; roasting; hot and bothered4; baking; clarty5 (“it’s reet clarty”○1 used of “sticky” weather); clammy cold freezing; parky (“proper parky”); brass monkeys (“it’s a bit brass monkeys” used frequently by father, thought to derive from Services’ expression “it’s cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey”) annoyed furious; pissed off; fed up; irritated; aggravated; fuming; cross; mad (“I’m mad with you”); chuffed-off6 (heard used for “pissed off”) throw toss; hurl; chuck (used negatively of “unfocused/haphazard/undirected” throw); jettison (not used); pitch (“pitch it up” used of e.g. cricket ball); welly; bowl, lob (“lob it gently under- arm” used of e.g. cricket ball) play truant hookey; skiving; taking a sickie; throw a sickie◊; AWOL, going AWOL (used by Forces, still used now); French leave◊7 (used in past); bunk off∆; done a bunk∆; on a course⌂ (used jokingly within family) sleep snooze (of evening sleep in front of TV); nod off; doze (of “drifting/semi-consciousness” sleep while e.g. listening to BBC Radio Jersey); kip (of “decent sleep”); shut-eye (of daytime sleep); forty winks (of brief sleep that “sometimes turns into eighty winks/hundred- and-twenty winks”); go for a nap (of afternoon sleep) play a game play hit hard welly (“give it a bit more welly” also used of volume when e.g. singing); hammer; bash; clout; whack (of uncontrolled shot in tennis, also used of person); thump, thrashed, smacked, walloped (of hitting person) clothes gear; kit (esp. of sports clothes) trousers kecks; pants; trews (esp. of tartan trousers in past); slacks (esp. of beige trousers in past); chinos; jeans child’s shoe plimmies∆; pumps (of black elasticated shoes worn for PE, not used locally, used now of “fashion ballet shoes”); daps (“put your daps on” used locally by infant school children of black elasticated shoes); sand-shoes (used in past of lace-up shoes worn outdoors); plimsolls (“can you pop your plimsolls on?” of elasticated shoes worn by infant school/nursery class children, also used of white lace-up shoes worn for tennis); trainers (worn by children of all ages now); Green Flash8 (of shoes worn for tennis in past, thought to be forerunner of modern ‘trainers’); Nikes♦ (“can I wear my Nikes?” heard used recently by child at school) mother mum (used as older child); mummy (used as young child, “affectionate”); mater (used when learning Latin); mother (suggested by interviewer, “oh, mother” used to own mother when angry); ma

2 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘to come over all unnecessary’ in sense of ‘to be suddenly overcome with excitement’. 3 British radio comedy series originally broadcast 1965 to 1968 on BBC Light Programme. 4 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘hot and bothered’ in sense of ‘agitated/flustered/uncomfortable’. 5 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘clarty’ in sense of ‘sticky/viscous’; English Dialect Dictionary (1898- 1905) records ‘clarty’ in sense of ‘(of weather) bad/foul’. 6 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘chuffing’ in sense of ‘fucking’ and ‘fucked-off’ in this sense. 7 Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) records ‘French leave’ in sense of ‘absenting oneself from job/duty without permission’. 8 Long-established sports shoe brand manufactured by British sporting goods company Dunlop since 1930s .

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 2 of 4 BBC Voices Recordings gmother granny; ma9 (used of Jersey grandmother); manman♪ (used in Jersey); oma (used by Dutch neighbour, liked); granny Phil (used to distinguish between maternal/paternal grandmother); nana (pronunciation “nannah” preferred by husband’s mother of self as considered more “upmarket” than “grandma”); nannan10 (suggested by interviewer, not used); nan (used by sister’s grandchildren); grandma (thought to sound younger than “nana”) m partner boyfriend; significant other (“do you have a significant other you’d like to bring along?” used to in order to avoid potential embarrassment about marital status when e.g. inviting work colleague to party, disliked); “his name” (i.e. by name), my lover (of own husband when living together before marriage); partner (disliked); other half; hubby, better half (disliked when used by others of own husband) friend (not discussed) gfather pop♦ (suggested by interviewer, used by uncle’s grandchildren); gramps11 (used by sister’s grandchildren, liked); pa♦; papa♪ (used in Jersey); grandad; grandpa; opa (used by Dutch neighbour, liked); poppy♦12; pops♦ (thought to sound old) forgot name thing; thingummybobba♦; whatsit; thingmebob◊; thingummybob∆; you know; widget (“where’s the widget thing to unscrew the radiator cap?” of tool); thingummyjig∆ (suggested by interviewer, used, old-fashioned); oojah-ma-flip∆ (used by father) kit of tools DIY box13; tool-kit; tool-box trendy chav; tart; slapper; sex-kitten14 f partner girlfriend; partner (“my father’s partner”), “by name” (i.e. by name), friend (of own father’s co-habiting partner); significant other (“do you have a significant other you’d like to bring along?” used to in order to avoid potential embarrassment about marital status when e.g. inviting work colleague to party, disliked) baby bairn; babby○; kid; baby; sproglet◊; brat; ankle-biter (“American”); sprog (“naval term”); offspring (“do you have to bring the offspring?” used by others of own children in past, disliked) rain heavily pelting; pouring; cloud-bursts; stair-rods; sheeting down; raining cats and dogs; cats and dogs toilet loo; bog; bathroom; john; George◊15 (used by in past, considered “posh way of saying going to the john”); shunkie† (“Scotticism”); throne; throne room◊; houses of parliament◊ (used by grandmother); biffy (used in Canada of outside toilet); can; pot (“are you on the pot”, also used of ‘cannabis’) walkway passage; lane; snicket; ginnel; alleyway; back alley; alley; cut (used in Somerset, “up the cut” used in Midlands for ‘canal’) long seat sofa (of seat in drawing-room); settee (of seat in sitting-room); settle (of hard seat) run water brook; beck; burn; stream; spring; leat (used in Devon); reans, rhines (used in Somerset) main room drawing-room (used in past of family room not used by children/used after withdrawing from dining-room); sitting-room (“family sitting-room” in past); lounge; parlour; front room; living-room; morning room (used of ‘breakfast room’ in contrast to main room)

9 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘ma’ in sense of ‘mother’. 10 ‘London marathon bid for Sheffield Nannan of Steel’ (see http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/london-marathon-bid-for- sheffield-nannan-of-steel-1-6555999) includes ‘nannan’ in this sense. 11 Collins Dictionary (online edition at https://www.collinsdictionary.com/) includes ‘garmps’ in this sense. 12 Urban Dictionary (online) records ‘pop’ in this sense. 13 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘DIY’ in sense of ‘do-it-yourself’. 14 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘sex-kitten’ in sense of ‘young woman who asserts/exploits her sexual attractiveness’. 15 Green’s Dictionary of Slang (3020) records ‘George the Third’ in sense of ‘piece of excrement/turd’.

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 3 of 4 BBC Voices Recordings rain lightly mizzle (of “misty drizzle/mixture of mist and drizzle”); drizzle; dreich† (“Scottish” for “miserable and drizzly” esp. in phrase “a dreich day”); drizzling rich Jersey local⌂ (used within family, suggested jokingly as used within family); loaded; rolling16; rolling in it17; posh (associated with Posh and Becks18, thought to derive from “port out starboard home”19) left-handed keggy-fisted○20; southpaw (used in boxing); cack-handed (used in Devon; contested: used for ‘clumsy’) unattractive plain Jane; sad; she fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down (liked, current within family); complete dog (“oh, don’t go out with her she’s a complete dog” used by son); dork∆ (disputed: thought to be used for “stupid/dopey”) lack money broke; skint; on our/your uppers (thought to be “wartime expression” of being so “poor that your shoes have worn out so much”) drunk boozed; on the booze; pissed; well-oiled; out of his skull∆; one over the eight (thought to be naval expression); fou (“Scotticism”) pregnant bun in the oven; in the family way; up the duff; up the spout attractive bonny (“oh, she’s a bonny lass” thought be used for “fat/cheerful” in past); pretty (suggested by interviewer); lovely; beautiful; delightful; attractive; pleasant; a stonker, stunning (used by husband of female); well fit (used by son of female); quite hunky (of e.g. Chippendales21) insane gaga; one stick short of a bundle22; not the full shilling◊; nutty as a fruitcake; seriously weird; away with the fairies∆; a bit special♥23 (“one for teachers”); barking; pennyworth short of a bob◊24 (not used as children, used frequently now); sandwich short of a picnic∆; bit loopy; crazy; loopy; special♥25 (“he’s a little bit special, liked); “the windows are open the lights are on but there’s no one at home” (used by teachers of child considered “slow to respond”) moody menopausal♦26 (suggested by husband, only used by males); mardy (used in North West England for “out of sorts”); stroppy; in a strop27; in a moody (“bit of a moo”); ornery (“he’s a very ornery bloke” (used by Canadians); moody

© Robinson, Herring, Gilbert Voices of the UK, 2009-2012 A British Library project funded by The Leverhulme Trust

16 Macmillan Dictionary (online edition at http://www.macmillandictionary.com/) includes ‘rolling in it’ in this sense. 17 Macmillan Dictionary (online edition at http://www.macmillandictionary.com/) includes ‘rolling in it’ in this sense. 18 Media-inspired nickname for English celebrity supercouple Victoria Beckham (English singer & fashion designer, b. 1974 Victoria Adams aka ‘Posh Spice’) and David Beckham (English former professional footballer, b.1975). 19 Michael Quinion’s Port Out Starboard Home: And Other Language Myths (2005, p.209-211) discusses this popular etymology. 20 English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905) records ‘keggy’ in this sense. 21 US touring dance troupe founded 1979 best known for male striptease performances. 22 The Dictionary of Business Bullshit (2013) includes ‘Bundle, one stick short of a’in this sense. 23 Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (2014) records ‘special’in sense of ‘slow-witted/foolish’. 24 Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) records ‘two pence short of a bob’ in this sense. 25 Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (2014) records ‘special’in sense of ‘slow-witted/foolish’. 26 Urban Dictionary (online) records ‘menopause’ in this sense. 27 Macmillan Dictionary (online edition at http://www.macmillandictionary.com/) includes ‘in a strop’ in this sense.

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