Where can I get a list of the local insults of the UK?
June 23, 2020 3:40 AM Subscribe
For instance I know there's some animus between Yorkshiremen and Lancastrians. Do they have special insults for each other? Yorkie Pies or something? Or Glaswegians vs. Edinburghers? Or Scousers vs. Mancs? Has anyone made a local insult guide to the UK?
As a Yorkshireman, I can tell you that as far as we are concerned, people from Manchester (particularly football players) are called Scum
posted by TheRaven at 5:41 AM on June 23, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by TheRaven at 5:41 AM on June 23, 2020 [2 favorites]
Hmm I think Edinburgh people call us Glasgwegians "soap dodgers" or "weegies" meanwhile we say "there's more fun at a Glasgow funeral than an Edinburgh wedding". If someone is a bit lazy about their personal hygiene and doesn't wash but instead just has an extra blast of deodorant we call that a "Dundee shower".
posted by AuroraSky at 5:47 AM on June 23, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by AuroraSky at 5:47 AM on June 23, 2020 [3 favorites]
People who live in the parts of Merseyside outside Liverpool and who speak with a Lancashire accent are known by scousers as "woollybacks".
And I can confirm that "Manc" is the correct term for people from Manchester.
posted by liebchen at 5:56 AM on June 23, 2020
And I can confirm that "Manc" is the correct term for people from Manchester.
posted by liebchen at 5:56 AM on June 23, 2020
Yup, came in to say that Edinburghers called Glaswegians soap dodgers - and yes, also weegies, though I wouldn't say that was particularly an insult, more just a nickname (though of course it's all in the delivery!).
posted by penguin pie at 6:22 AM on June 23, 2020
posted by penguin pie at 6:22 AM on June 23, 2020
Speaking as a Lancastrian now living in South Manchester I only know a few that haven't already been mentioned here:
posted by gmb at 8:44 AM on June 23, 2020
- Pie Eater: Someone from Wigan
- Dee-dah: Someone from Sheffield
- Dingle: Someone from Burnley (especially if you're from the Blackburn area)
posted by gmb at 8:44 AM on June 23, 2020
I learned about the dialect based
Yam Yamvia Good Karma Hospital:
Natives of Birmingham (Brummies) meanwhile often refer to their Black Country neighbours as "Yam Yams", a reference to the use of "yow am" instead of "you are".posted by zamboni at 9:19 AM on June 23, 2020 [3 favorites]
From living in Wales for many years:
People from the border are clarts.
People from Swansea are jacks.
People from North Wales are gogs (from gogledd, Welsh for north. This is the only one I know the roots of!)
I feel like there was a word for Cardiffians, beyond an exaggerated 'Kairrrrdiff' pronunciation, but I'm blanking on it right now...
posted by kalimac at 9:47 AM on June 23, 2020
People from the border are clarts.
People from Swansea are jacks.
People from North Wales are gogs (from gogledd, Welsh for north. This is the only one I know the roots of!)
I feel like there was a word for Cardiffians, beyond an exaggerated 'Kairrrrdiff' pronunciation, but I'm blanking on it right now...
posted by kalimac at 9:47 AM on June 23, 2020
Not an answer, mods please delete if necessary.
I feel a bit uncomfortable about this question (and not just because I'm from Southampton and very well aware of the Portsmouth-Southampton rivalry). I do see the appeal of interestingly phrased local insults, but wonder if we ought to be cheerily discussing in this way geographically-based insults, some of which may be based in mental health slurs. I mean, it's Taffy and Paddy territory, which verges on discriminatory language.
posted by paduasoy at 11:30 AM on June 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
I feel a bit uncomfortable about this question (and not just because I'm from Southampton and very well aware of the Portsmouth-Southampton rivalry). I do see the appeal of interestingly phrased local insults, but wonder if we ought to be cheerily discussing in this way geographically-based insults, some of which may be based in mental health slurs. I mean, it's Taffy and Paddy territory, which verges on discriminatory language.
posted by paduasoy at 11:30 AM on June 23, 2020 [1 favorite]
Emmet is used in Cornwall to refer to anyone from outside Cornwall who is visiting the county, but primarily tourists. Its from the Cornish word for 'ants' reflecting the swarms of tourists in Cornwall. Grockle is used in much the same way but more widely in the SW of England.
posted by biffa at 1:03 PM on June 23, 2020
posted by biffa at 1:03 PM on June 23, 2020
People from Hartlepool are called "monkey hangers" by folk in the surrounding areas, because of an incident from 200 years ago. A French ship was wrecked on the coast, and the sole survivor was the crew's pet monkey. The naive locals decided the monkey was a French spy (having never seen an actual Frenchman) and put in on trial, and eventually hanged the poor thing. The local sports teams have embraced the nickname, there is an Electric Six song about it, several books have been written, it's a whole thing.
Wiltshire people are called "moonrakers". I have heard various versions of the story, but here is mine. Wiltshire smugglers would transport illegal barrels of French brandy across country by night. If a smuggler had to stop somewhere along the way he might hide his barrel weighed down, at the bottom of the village duck pond.
One night the revenue men from London came into a village and found a smuggler holding a rake, trying to fish out his barrel. They asked him what he was doing. Thinking quickly, the smuggler pointed at the reflection of the full moon in the surface of the pond and said "I was just trying to get that big cheese there. It must have fallen in the pond.". The Londoners left and spread the story about how "simple" Wiltshire folk were, not knowing that the "moonraker" was the clever one in the story.
posted by w0mbat at 6:01 PM on June 23, 2020
Wiltshire people are called "moonrakers". I have heard various versions of the story, but here is mine. Wiltshire smugglers would transport illegal barrels of French brandy across country by night. If a smuggler had to stop somewhere along the way he might hide his barrel weighed down, at the bottom of the village duck pond.
One night the revenue men from London came into a village and found a smuggler holding a rake, trying to fish out his barrel. They asked him what he was doing. Thinking quickly, the smuggler pointed at the reflection of the full moon in the surface of the pond and said "I was just trying to get that big cheese there. It must have fallen in the pond.". The Londoners left and spread the story about how "simple" Wiltshire folk were, not knowing that the "moonraker" was the clever one in the story.
posted by w0mbat at 6:01 PM on June 23, 2020
People in Newcastle upon Tyne call people in South Shields (a town on the coast, on the edge of the Newcastle area) "Sand Dancers". People in North Shields on the other side of the river Tyne are not called Sand Dancers. I don't think there's much animosity behind it, or a known reason, it just happens.
posted by BinaryApe at 10:39 PM on June 23, 2020
posted by BinaryApe at 10:39 PM on June 23, 2020
BinaryApe, it's generally though that it's because South Shields was home to a Yemeni community (it has the oldest Mosque in the UK, Mohammad Ali had his wedding blessed there) from the 1860s onwards, so the name is most likely a racial slur, or was originally - the modern population of Yemeni descent is very small.
The alternative theory is that ships leaving the Tyne saw the men fishing on the sand at Shields trying not to get their feet too wet by the waves.
posted by sarahdal at 9:19 AM on June 24, 2020
The alternative theory is that ships leaving the Tyne saw the men fishing on the sand at Shields trying not to get their feet too wet by the waves.
posted by sarahdal at 9:19 AM on June 24, 2020
A few Yorkshire-specific mild insults:
posted by vincebowdren at 3:36 PM on June 24, 2020
- Dee-Dah: used in the Barnsley area of South Yorkshire to refer to a Sheffielder, because of the difference in local pronunciation of pronouns thee and thou
- Dingle: used in Sheffield to refer to someone from Barnsey (don't know why)
- Definition of a Yorkshireman: a Scot with the generosity removed (referring to Yorkshire folks' reputed stinginess, even surpassing the reputed stinginess of Scots)
- "You can tell a Yorkshireman, but you can't tell him much" : based on the reputation of Yorkshiremen for unapologetic plain speaking
posted by vincebowdren at 3:36 PM on June 24, 2020
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