Regional Dialect Problems?

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Hi

I've been thinking lately about regional dialects on here. There are a lot of people that don't speak English as a first language and I'm a bit worried that some local phrases might confuse people!

I know we all try not to be too 'local' when we post but I've seen a few examples occuring:

Guys - Is it a group of people regardless of gender or a 'men only' term?

Pet/love - Northern English term of endearment. I'm probably one of the few people on here who say it and I'm really not being patronising!

Crisps/chips - In england a crisp is a thin, crunchy fried slice of potato (American chips!) and chips are deep fried potato (American fries)

Does anybody else have any 'local' phrases that they think deserve an explanation?


By local I mean anything from regional to national

 

"Guys" can be either. If I'm "going out with the guys", it's men only, but if I say "hey guys" to a group of people, it's usually not gender specific.

Pet/love isn't used in North America, although while I haven't heard of "pet" before, I understand "love" (as a phrase, that is)

Chips are your crisps.

And if you want to discuss dialects, Barmy Army has one all of his own.

 

I use the word "joshing" instead of joking simply to be a little different. I like being individualistic. Not sure how broadly the word is used.

Pm Splunge's comment: If I'm going out with the female friends I would use gals. If the group is all male I would use guys. If mixed I might say just 'guys' or I might say 'Hi guys and gals'. On a bit more serious note, I do tend to jump on the use of 'guys' or any term I see as male oriented because so many people (males) tend to think that only males play computer games other than word games or Nancy Drew type. I'm a hard core cRPG player.

I think radio, TV and now the Internet have lessen regional differences. International differences are still being smoothed out as per this thread.

On that note, I have never gotten a clear answer to my question re the word 'mate'. Is it only used between people of the same gender or may I refer to anyone I like as 'mate' without implying anything more than friendship? I fell in love with that term when watching EastEnders.

 

Guys generally is meant to be addressing men. Guys used to address mixed groups was derived from certain circles wanted to address the men of a group. It came to represent a 'unisex' term after women and less exclusive circles started using it to address groups as well.

Generally, it is just a male orientated term though.

I've always found the northern 'terms of endearment' quite patronising, even people from up North I know tend to think they are as well.

In Dorset we have a word 'Grockle' which a lot of my friends at uni don't get. It's a derogatory term for certain visitors to the area; complete outsiders who have no respect for the locals or the area. For example it can be used in the sense, "Bloody grockles started a fire in the forest again last night" which is common in some camping areas to: "Here come the grocks!" which is pretty much a friday evening or saturday where there are huge queus of traffic on the main roads heading towards the coast in Summer with the cars packed right up to the roof, and even that is completely covered with bikes, surfboards, etc which probably won't even see use

 

Mate is generally -up here at least- just something you say

Now then mate - Hi friend of mine

Alright mate - hi, how are you friend

That's enough mate - stop causing trouble before I cause YOU trouble...i'll stay friendly for now but watch it


8, i don't mean to be patronising at all, it's just how i, and most of the people i know, speak. sorry if it offends you

 

We orate arent we! What's up wi thee youth? Nowt up wi a bit o' regional diawhatsit! Every bugger know's t'crack dun't thee? Gerra grip!

 

ha ha ha ha! In Kwazulu Natal, South Africa (which is a coastal region) we have visitors which we call Vaalies. The word "Vaalies" comes from the Transvaal, which is the old name for the region of South Africa in which most of the population and industry lies. So, Vaalies are people who come from Johannesburg and other cities on the High Veld. Every year, mostly around Christmas, hordes of Vaalies descend upon Durban (the largest coastal city in KZN), causing chaos with their 4x4s and bad Afrikaans accents.

 

Nice one, Barmy.

(The best bit is that I think I actually understand what you are saying.)