Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf

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

Title:

Shelfmark:

C1190/41/15

Recording date:

22.11.2004

Speakers: Burgess, Albert John, b. 1935 Trehafod, Glamorgan; male; local government officer (father soldier) Burgess, Enid, b. 1938 Pontypridd; female; legal secretary Goodwin, Marion Margaret, b. 1938 Pontypridd; female; secretary & adult education tutor Lewis, Ann, b. 1948 Pontypridd; female; teacher & environmental health officer Morris, Lindsay, b. 1952 London; female; librarian Watkins, Karen, b. 1948 Pontypridd; female; novelist

The interviewees are all regular users of Pontypridd Library; Marion and Enid and Marion are lifelong friends who grew up in Graig, Pontypridd.

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 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 chuffed to beans1 (possibly “London one”); chuffed; thrilled to bits2; great

1 Jessica Flynn’s ‘Cardiff family asks people to support charity with tea and scones following daughter's diagnosis’ (16.05.16 – see Wales Online at http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/cardiff-family-asks-people-support-11338969) includes ‘chuffed to beans’ in this sense.

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 1 of 3 BBC Voices Recordings tired on my knees3; worn-out; tired; shattered unwell poorly; feeling yeuch; feel bad; rotten; don’t feel very good hot hot; boiling cold freezing; chilly; perished annoyed fed up; narked; angry; in a rip♥4; tamping♣ (“tamping mad”); really mad throw throw; chuck; chuck something out (“chuck it in the bin”) play truant skiving off; skive; mitching; mitch (most common locally) sleep sleep; go for a kip; go for forty winks; out like a light; going to sleep play a game play; join in; have a game hit hard thump; clobber; smash; clout; belting clothes outfit; clothes trousers trousers child’s shoe plimsolls (used in London); daps (most common locally) mother mum (of English mother); “by her name” (i.e. by name, to own mother); mam; mammy; mami≠ (disliked by own mother) gmother granny; omi (of German grandmother); nan; nanny; old mam Jones5 m partner partner (of own partner); “by his name” (i.e. by name, of/to husband); husband; hubby, better half (suggested by interviewer, not used); dad6 (of husband to own daughters) friend mates (of male/female); friends; mate; friend gfather grandpa (pronounced “grampah/gramper”); the old man; grandad; grampy◊ forgot name what’s-her-name; thingummyjig∆ (of object); whatchamacallit; whatsit; what’s-his-name; thingy kit of tools (not discussed) trendy completely naff; bling7 (considered “in word”, not used); tarty (of female); gaudy; tacky; common-looking (“looks quite common”) f partner wife; partner (of unmarried partner); her indoors (to friends, associated with Arthur Daley8) baby baby; babes (to baby, also used as form of address to adult); kids rain heavily pissing down; tipping down♦; pouring; tamping down♣9; hammering down; chucking it down∆ toilet loo; down the bottom of the garden10 (used of outside toilet when younger); toilet; out the back11 walkway alley; back lane; gully○, gwli♣ (common locally) long seat settee; couch; sofa run water stream; brook

2 New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) records ‘to bits’ in sense of ‘extremely’. 3 Macmillan Dictionary (online edition at http://www.macmillandictionary.com/) includes ‘one one’s knees’ in sense of ‘extremely weak after difficult period’. 4 Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (2014) records ‘ripped’ in sense of ‘unhappy/disappointed’. 5 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘mam’ in sense of ‘mother’. 6 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘dad’ in sense of ‘father’. 7 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘bling’ in sense of ‘ostentatious/flashy’. 8 Fictional character played by British actor George Cole (b.1929) in ITV television comedy drama series ‘Minder’ originally broadcast 1979-1994. 9 Robert Lewis’s Wenglish: The Dialect of the South Wales Valleys (2008) records ‘tamp’ in sense of ‘to bounce’. 10 Roger Evans’ Don’t Tell I Tell ’Ee (2005) records ‘goin’ down the garden’ in sense of ‘going to the toilet’. 11 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘back-house’ in this sense.

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 2 of 3 BBC Voices Recordings main room living-room; front room (reserved for special occasions in past, e.g. Christmas/funerals/“high days and holidays”); lounge; kitchen, middle room⌂, back-kitchen (used as child of main living area in past) rain lightly drizzling; drizzle rich well off; rolling in it12; crachach♣ (Welsh for “upper crust” used by mother, “the crachach of Pontypridd”); well-oiled⌂ (disputed: used for ‘drunk’); well-heeled left-handed left-handed; southpaw; cag-handed○ unattractive no oil painting; ugly; munting∆ (used by own sons); like the back end of a bus∆; dead ugly (“cutting”); quite plain (considered more polite); unfortunate-looking♦13; sad lack money skint; broke drunk pissed as a fart; pie-eyed; canned◊; paralytic; P dot dot dot dot dot⌂ (i.e. presumably ‘pissed’); drunk; well-oiled (suggested by interviewer, used) pregnant pregnant; in the way14 (old); having a baby attractive gorgeous; stunning; pretty; lovely-looking; beautiful-looking; smart insane mad; doolally; nuts; crazy; barmy; doolally tap moody moody; got them on○15; got her arse in her hand♦ (of daughter); got a face like a ripped dap16 (of daughter, common locally); got a cob on∆ (suggested by interviewer, used); miserable; you never know what she’s like⌂; she’s got the skin of her arse on her face◊17 (used by mother in past)

12 Macmillan Dictionary (online edition at http://www.macmillandictionary.com/) includes ‘rolling in it’ in this sense. 13 Urban Dictionary (online) records ‘unfortunate’ in this sense. 14 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘on the way’ and ‘in the family way’ in this sense. 15 English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905) records ‘to be on with oneself’ in sense of ‘to be in a disturbed or agitated state of mind’. 16 Tom Davies’s Fire in the Bay (1989, p.20) records ‘you’ve got a face about as beautiful as a ripped dab’ in this sense. 17 Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) records ‘skin up one’s face’ in sense of ‘to make a grimace of displeasure’.

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