The Wide, Wide World Of Slang

[monsterzero]

Okay, I must know: why are New Zealanders called Kiwis? And what is a Geordie again? I'm afraid my practical experience of the UK is limited only to the Mancs and the Scousers.

[spider]

pissed: metereological ("rained a lot") or movement ("ran away") sense.

hole in the wall: A cash machine or automated teller.

All of those are in comon use in Dublin too.

[queequeg]

Okay, I must know: why are New Zealanders called Kiwis?

Because the Kiwi (the bird, not the fruit, although that would be pretty funny) is the national icon of NZ and it isn't (I think) found anywhere else in the World.

Also, a Geordie is someone from Newcastle but the exact origins of the term are unknown.

[underjoyed]

Also, a Geordie is someone from Newcastle but the exact origins of the term are unknown.

If I recall correctly, technically a "true" Geordie is someone not only from Newcastle, but from a part of the city on a certain side of the Tyne (the river running through Newcastle), not just Newcastle, per se. I recollect a certain amount of possessiveness about who qualified as a "Geordie". People get very particular about it.

[Deleted]

I was born in Durham, close to Newcastle in NE England. My family considered ourselves Geordies. No idea where the name came from. The accent is atrocious, worse than Scouse, if you can believe that. [smiley of your choice here]

The Kiwi is a flightless bird with a long beak that is found only in New Zealand (and, probably, zoos.) No idea how they came to represent NZ'ers, maybe because of their uniqueness? When I was a kid we'd call a nosy person a "sticky beak" for sticking their nose in where it didn't belong, maybe because of the Kiwi.

[spider]

Nothing can be worse than Scouse. I lived in Liverpool for a year and I still couldn't understand about 90% of what people said to me. Which was a pity because there are some brilliant Liverpool slang and expressions for things, it's a very witty place. I did get all my friends saying "tall cans" for beer so I like to think I left a little mark there.

[tunia2]

Dwanollah said:

Automated Teller Machine Machine. I'd like to stamp out and abolish redundancy.

Yeah...same with "VIN Number" - duh.

[outlier]

spider said:

All of those are in comon use in Dublin too.

Aha! I've often wondered where a lot of Queensland slang came from. Now I suspect they're holdovers from immigrants. Thanks!

spider said:

Nothing can be worse than Scouse. I lived in Liverpool for a year and I still couldn't understand about 90% of what people said to me. Which was a pity because there are some brilliant Liverpool slang and expressions for things, it's a very witty place. I did get all my friends saying "tall cans" for beer so I like to think I left a little mark there.

I was in Newcastle for a meeting once and the cleaning ladies showed up to do my hotel room. We exchanged some small talk and as they left they started talking to each other:

And I couldn't understand a single thing they were saying.

Completely opaque. They switched mildly accented English to local argot drawing breathe.

[Chenoeh]

I went to Uni in Newcastle. One of my friends came to visit me, and she couldn't understand a word anyone said. Even after I'd lived there a couple of years, I'd get in a taxi (there are a lot of taxi drivers of Asian origin in Newcastle), and they'd start talking to other drivers over the radio, and I'd think they were talking in Punjabi or something, and it would take several sentances until I realised it was English, but in a Geordie accent so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Anyhoo, does any one know bingo wings? Or those good old euphamisms, uphill gardener and fudge packer?

[Deleted]

We do? What exactly are "off sales"?

We do in Regina, at least. They are liquor stores owned by bars and stuff.