1. Cwpi down - to squat (cwpi down by 'ere a bit while we wait)
[We had a teacher in Secondary School called 'twti' presumably because, coming from elsewhere in Wales, he asked boys to twti down rather than cwpi down]
2. Scram - scratch (I'll scram yer eyes out you come near me)
3. Wisp - a stye (I think I've gorra wisp coming in me eye)
4. Daps - plimsolls (Miss said we've gorra bring daps today for PE)
5. Scag - snag (I just scagged my jumper)
6. Obstropolous - Obstrepereous (She was an obstropolous type, always causing trouble)
7. Ashcart - Refuse lorry (You'll end up working on the ashcarts if you don't buck up yer ideas)
8. Cwtch -To be fondled and snuggled up in an especially loving way (Come and have a cwtch with yer mam/dad)
9. Caibosh - messed up (That's put the caibosh on that then)
10. Dobber - ballbearing used as a marble ('E lost 'is 10-er dobber to a kid in Standard 4)
11. Conflab - long discussion or meeting (Come up about 11 and we'll have a good old conflab)
12. Ructions - big trouble (There'll be ructions if your father sees it like that)
13. Skewiff - Awry not straight (You've stuck it in the album all skewiff)
14. Tampin' - Angry ('E 'ad it on 'im, aye, when 'e realised. 'E was tampin')
15. Parched - Gasping for a cup of tea (Get that kettle on love, I'm parched)
16. Jibbons - spring onions (My dad used to like jibbons with his salad)
7 comments:
What about "twp" meaning mad and "achavi" meaning disgusting? If you say "achavi" to a toddler who is about to pick up some chewing gum from the treat and eat it, they soon learn that doing such things is wrong.
Until I went to LTS and was learned how to talk tidy I was all "over by there" and "I'll see you now, in a minute" etc. Hywel Jones used to gently tease me about it.
There is lovely now mun innit.
I'm pining for the homeland now.
Achafi yes but not twp, which in Welsh is stupid rather than mad. I first heard it when a supply teacher asked a friend if he was twp. 'By 'ere' and 'by there' I still use even though they tried to get that out at junior school. Innit or ennit, as we said, was a great 'no, no' as was mun, which my bampie (referred to by my nana as yer gransha) always used. 'Now in a minute' makes perfect sense to me but I remember a tutor in college rushing in and out saying 'I'll be back now' and confusing some of the class rather. By the sound of Martin N Wales is more of an exile than Wiltshire.
The thing with being a reformed Wenglish speaker is that I don't feel entirely comfortable with English and I can't speak Welsh.
On twp, I meant mad in the sense of silly or stupid rather than totally deranged: "Ee's a mad 'un, ee is, twp, mun, aye".
When we lived in Dorset, we had some Christian friends over for Sunday luch. My daughter, who was about three at the time asked the lady for a cwtch. Out English friend didn't know what to make of the request. She said, ""I don't think I've got a cwtch."
Still use over b'there and over b'yere ? Well aye, mun !
Not to mention quatting your gambo in the gwli down your bopa's back.
We had degrees of twp. If someone was really twp he was a twpsyn.
Now Alan, that's real Wenglish and a you know we didn't use that in Comb-brann (Cwmbraan to you). I think one or two words listed are very wide spread. I used cwtch in the pulpit once - a man from Cumbria knew what I meant. I've also been picked up on "ridikluss" Some people want to give the word four syllables - ridic'lous!
My niece says "fablarss" (fabulous) if she likes a present or a gift, but in a really flat voice. I have to pinch myself to stop myself cracking up.
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