Do you want to learn lancastrian or want to know more about the Lancashire accent?
This is my little tutorial on speaking / learn Lancastrian along with sample voice files so you can hear the sounds.
So why have I don’t this? Well you know I was once told the following by one of my bosses “Mike, you’re an intelligent lad and you’ll go far if you could just lose your accent”
My response to this was something along the lines of “What the **** has my accent got to do with the price of fish?” I didn’t work there very long, my boss was an idiot!
Its not the only time I’ve been told my accent is a problem, when I worked for Ocean software I used to work on the customer service line and was told a few times by customers, “I’m sorry I don’t understand your accent”, Mind you the other lad I used to work with had a broad mancunian accent and once received a letter from a satisfied client which read “The phone was answered by the most aggressive man with a mancunian accent……although he did solve my problem, many thanks.”
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t sound like George Formby and I don’t see my accent as a problem as even my Japanese wife and her English speaking friends and family can understand me if I don’t speak in slang.
However if I do speak in slang, then unless you’re another Lancastrian then you may not understand. This is why I have included a few Learn Lancastrian phrases and words so that you might understand any words I say to you.
My accent is part of who I am, I am a Lancastrian, and it says so on my Birth Certificate.
Place of Birth: Littleborough, Lancashire.
Checkout this website for Confirmation – The friends of real Lancashire
Anyway here’s a brief guide to Learn Lancastrian (This is a work in progress and will be added to from time to time)
Anyone looking for someone to voice over an article, advert or film then I am available for voice over work and you can contact me about it here: https://www.mykp.co.uk/contact-mike-porter/
| Lancastrian | English | Listen |
| art al’reet | are you alright? |  |
| Nowt | nothing | |
| Ath | at the | |
| Amust | I must | |
| Art | are you | |
| Ast | have you | |
| As’tha | do you have | |
| Awlreet | alright | |
| Babby | baby | |
| Barmpot | idiot/simpleton | |
| Benny | go mad/ throw a tantrum | |
| Bickering | argueing | |
| Bout | without | |
| Bowt | bought (pronounced bow t) | |
| Bowton | Bolton | |
| Brass | money | |
| Britchies | breeches | |
| Browt | brought | |
| Burrie | Bury | |
| Butty | Sandwich | |
| Buzz | Bus | |
| Cack anded | clumsy | |
| Cakehole | mouth | |
| Champion | good as in I’m good/well | |
| Compin | chewing | |
| Chuck | throw something, also used to address an associate, “ow do chuck?” | |
| Clobber | item of clothing / To hit some one | |
| Clowt | item of clothing / To hit some one | |
| Cob on | annoyed | |
| Corporation pop | tap water | |
| Cowd | cold | |
| Dust | do you (as in “Dust tha like that”) | |
| D ya like that? | Did you like that (Catchphrase of Fred Dibnah esq) | |
| Ees | he | |
| Eigh up | move up | |
| Etten | eaten (Ged it etten) | |
| Feight | fight | |
| Flummoxed | flustered | |
| Forrin | foreign | |
| Foyer | fire (as in “Chuck it in foyer”) | |
| Frabbin | struggling (stop frabbin an givit ere) | |
| Fratch | argue | |
| Fust | first | |
| Gi | give | |
| Ginnel | passage between houses | |
| Gob | mouth (shut tha gob) | |
| Gooin | going | |
| Gormless | somebody whos slow (ees gormless) | |
| Gowd | gold | |
| Gradley | good (reet gradley) | |
| Gronny | grandma | |
| Guduz | good as | |
| Havin kittens | worried (ees avin kittens) | |
| Hauf | half | |
| Heause | house | |
| Heyt | height | |
| Hoo | she | |
| Howd | hold | |
| Howdim | hold him (As in “You howdim well I kick im inth knackers”) | |
| Im | him | |
| Imbook | hymnbook | |
| Int | isn’t, is not | |
| Inth | into the / in the | |
| Iti al’reet | are you alright? | |
| Itwer | it was | |
| Jiggered | exhausted | |
| Lang | long | |
| Lanky | Lancashire | |
| Larn | learn | |
| Leet | light | |
| Lerrim | let him | |
| Loife | life | |
| Loike | like | |
| Lugs | ears | |
| Mardy | spoilt child | |
| Met | might | |
| Meyt | meat | |
| Mi’sen | myself | |
| Mi’sel | myself | |
| Missus | Mrs, the wife | |
| Moggy | cat | |
| Moither | annoy (stop moitherin’ me) | |
| Mon | man | |
| Monny | many | |
| Musta | must I | |
| Nay | no | |
| Neet | night | |
| Nesh | cold (man its nesh) | |
| Noddy | fool | |
| No nouse | lack of intelligence | |
| Nought | nothing | |
| Nouse | sense | |
| Nowt | nothing | |
| Oi | I | |
| Our peg | my wife | |
| Owd | old | |
| Owdo | How do you do | |
| Owdonabit | slow down, just a moment | |
| Owt | anything | |
| Owtelse | anything else | |
| Papper | paper | |
| Parky | cold | |
| Peawnd | pound | |
| Po fagged | exhausted | |
| Pownd | stressed | |
| Reet | right | |
| Scoo | school | |
| Sell | self (Mi sell) | |
| Sez | says | |
| Shives | slices of bread | |
| Sin | seen (av sin’nit) | |
| Sken | look (av a sken at this) | |
| Slopstone | draining board | |
| Smook | smoke | |
| Sparrowfart | as in ‘I were up at crack o’ sparrowfart´ | |
| Spittin feathers | thirsty | |
| Summat | something (summat an nothin) | |
| T | the | |
| Tae | tea | |
| Tarra | goodbye | |
| Tawk | talk | |
| Teem | pour | |
| Tek | take | |
| Tha | you | |
| Tha knows | you know, aren’t you | |
| Th’art | thow art | |
| Thend | the end | |
| Thee | you | |
| Theer | there | |
| Thewt | thought | |
| Thi | you | |
| thowt | thought | |
| thowd’man | father | |
| thrutch | push | |
| towd | told | |
| tram stopper | thick sandwich | |
| umpteen | plenty, several | |
| un | and | |
| up t’stick | pregnant | |
| utch | move | |
| uz | we, us | |
| uz’ll | we will | |
| wacked | tired | |
| waggin | wagon | |
| wain’t | will not | |
| wantsta | want to | |
| warrabowt | what about | |
| wark | work | |
| watter | water | |
| weer | where | |
| wesh | wash | |
| wetch | watch | |
| wi | with | |
| wilt | will you | |
| wimmin | women | |
| worrel | what will (worrel this do ya?) | |
| wrang | wrong | |
| yawl | you all | |
| yed | head | |
| yerd | heard |
If you want to here more Lancashire dialect being spoken and sung then get thee sen over’t Lancashire Dialect poems pages
If you think anything above is wrong or would like to see your “Lancastrian” words up on this list, leave a comment on the Learn Lancastrian page below.
My Mother born in Oldham used to say.’arming after me’ meaning impersonating. I am not sure how arming was spelt.It could have been with an aitch.She also used to say ‘shap yer barrer’ meaning get your house in order.Shape your barrow for those born in England.I don’t like the way ‘ginnel’ is used today as a wide back alley.A ginnel is a narrow passage between two houses.Sometimes covered.The alleyway at the back of a house was referred to as simply’round t’back’ Mither is probably the most universally used Lanky word today.You hear that everywhere now possibly due to Coronation street.Charra is a great Lanky word and mard meaning soft.That becomes mardy towards St Helens and Liverpool.
ha..thats one i still use arming after me..I am from Littleborough ..and mard arse lol
On that list he says bowt means bought. In Oldham it means without. As in, “I came out bowt coat”
grand… summuve us still ave it. Even when were thinkin posh!
A long time ago I left Accrington along with much of my accent, for the sake of understanding in Europe and then Canada, but it’s only just beneath the surface and I often find myself thinking in Lancy.
Two sayings which keep coming back to me and possibly very local to Accrington, are sneck (door latch) and woating o’er (rhymes with boating) which describes the after-lunch sit down and/or nap as a digestive aid.
I’m sure with today’s mobility, that many local words and phrases are being lost, but 100 years ago it was not uncommon for people to live and die in their hometown and never venture much beyond.
BTW, I have a business card from my own village outside of Accrington (Baxenden) dating back 100 years or so – it’s for Cuthbert’s (?) cake shop and undertakers! Multi-tasking eh?
Thanks for those words Colin. I might start a “Give me your Lancastrian” page. Cake shop and Undertakers is quite amusing.
Only in Lancashire. Can you imagine a card like that in Surrey? The Undertakers in Milnrow where my Grandma lived,had a sign in the window, “Join our Christmas club”
Items of clothing my Dad used to wear: titfer – hat, britches – pants, wescut – waistcoat.
I enjoyed a look at this list and think it is well worthwhile. I would like to offer ‘Nathen, how ist? or ‘Nathen howster doin? which i doubt needs explaining other than to say ‘Hello, how are you? I am sure there must be others
Crammed meaning bad tempered
My Lancy just kicked in once again, with deggin (might have ended with a G, but we don’t care for such things) It means watering or soaking, as in gardening (by means of a deggin can) or being caught in a sudden downpour.
owt galavantin – going to a nightclub or having a few beers in a few different pubs.
Slummin it.
stone`int` step wit donkey stone. Scrubbing the front door step with hard stone, probably made in Ashton-u-lyne.
Purit ith esole.
Put it in the fire Hows tha kinder? how are the children.
Raised in Warrington Lancashire by a Yorkshire grandmother, not sure which side of the Pennines “side the table” or “side the pots” meaniing clear that table, comes from. Can anyone shed light?
Sidin’ t’table is definitely Lanky.
Warrabeawt “called” (pronounced “cawd”) as in “Ah wer cawd gooin easy burra decidet stop in.”? It means “meant to be” or “supposed to be” in English.
I’m from Hindley but lived in Yorkshire for 50+ years.
Love the website. One slight negative comment or question. Why use Lancastrian? A Yorkshireman is never called a Yorkist! These names from the Wars of the Roses apply to 2 branches of the then royal family and had little or nothing to do with people from the 2 counties.
At the battle of Towton Moor, for example, the Lancastrians were from York and Tadcastet, whilst the Yorkists came up from Oxford and “deawn south”.
I’m a preawd Lancashireman but never a Lancastrian!
Geoff, Lancastrian purely because it ranks higher in google (IE more hits) than Lancashireman. Plus thas gonna get thee in trouble fer usin masculine version o’t word.
Citizens of York are called Yorkists as citizens of Lancaster are called Lancastrians. I am without doubt a Lancastrian, born in Oldham. Lancashireman is a bit laboured and excludes Lancashire women. Historically though you are right.
Side the pots was used in Oldham. Cornish for mantlepiece too.
I was brought up in Hindley to age 15, and lived in Yorkshire for 51 years. I can assure you that siding the table is from Lancashire.
Words used by my grandmothers (from Abram and Leigh) seem to be unique to my family; at any rate I haven’t heard anyone else use them. I’d love to be proved wrong. The best example is the word “connyfodle”, which means something like “improvise” (e.g. “connyfodle pudding” means a dessert made out of leftovers). “Gobbin” (which I’m told is used in the Accrington area) was used by my grandmother and mother to mean the kind of person we’d now call a twit.
My mother would say “I’m stopped fer bobbins” whenever there was “owt to do but nowt to do ‘t with”. She was born in Bolton where a cotton mill bobbin winder had to call out “stopped fer bobbins” if they ran out of bobbins to wind onto.
As a lapsed Rochdalian and now fellow Littleborovian, can I offer ‘cruckle’ for the list? (to go over on one’s ankle). First time I used it in the presence of my other half (who’s from the Home Counties), she looked at me like I’d landed from Mars. It didn’t help the I suggested I put some nipbone on it…
My granny used to say “Sithee” meaning” look at”. She lived in Bardsley, Lancashire
Not sure that I’ve heard “uz’ll” used as “we will”, but commonly meant “as will” or “that will”. eg “Ah need socks uz’ll keep mi feet wahrm.”
Course you could awluz use wot’ll instead.
Im actually from Lancashire and none of these things are true. Literally im a teenager and i got learnt none of these things when growing up in school, people might use nay or waggin for example waggin school. But we don’t have our own language. Even though adults sound and say things differently like that no kids these days talk like that even me.
Riley, I don’t talk like that most of the time but this is historical Lancastrian and not what most of us use everyday. Hell, I’m from Rochdale and most of the time in Rochdale I struggle to even hear English. Over years our local language has become diluted but doesn’t mean that these words aren’t true, just not used as much as they used to be.
What about “slurring”? It means sliding as on ice, not slurring as when drunk (though I suppose there’s probably a connection).
Just looked up definition of slurring: “Middle English: originally as noun in sense ‘thin, fluid mud’, later as verb meaning ‘smear, smirch’, ‘disparage (a person)’, ‘gloss over (a fault)’.”
Slurry has the same origin – sliding as on mud. Many Lancashire dialect words are from old English, even Viking origins. At school we were told that it was all a corrupted form of “proper” English – bobbins!