Train evesdropping & the Geordie lingo

First posted 24th and 25th August 2009

 

We spent last weekend with Big Sister in London so that the boys could see their auntie and cousin and explore the outer reaches of London’s transport system.  I got my wish to see the fourth plinth, Number One son his to see Big Ben and Number Two to ride on a Routemaster.  Fester was frustrated in his desire to visit any sort of fish or food market so it was a winner all round for me.

The train journeys were good too and, coming home, I overheard the following from a Geordie lad (possibly a soldier) sitting behind me and on his mobile ‘phone:-

“Did you put your finger in to see if it would bite you?”

Long, listening pause …

“Did it nack like?”

Following that last post I received this plaintive email from our Colonial Cousin of Island Thyme Morris on Vancouver Island.

“Encore, je ne comprend pas!. That's two in a row that went over my head, and this time the problem is not generational, but dialectal.  Google told me what a Routemaster is ... but "nack"?”

As Big Sister also didn’t understand the term here is a translation for those unfamiliar with current Geordie vernacular …

"Nack" means to hurt and is used to describe a pain, although it is sometimes used as a threat.   

It is derived from, but should not be confused with, "knacker" which means to break, destroy or exhaust (old horses were send to the knackers yard).

So in the blog the question "Did it nack?" means "Did it hurt?".

The reply might be "Aye it didn't 'alf nack" or “Aye it nacked like buggery” meaning 

"Yes it was very painful and smarted somewhat."

The more threatening "Aah’ll nack yee" means either "I shall cause you severe pain" or 

"I shall destroy you" depending on tone of voice, severity and potential to violence of the speaker.

“Aah’m nacked” however means “I am exceedingly tired.”

Back in 1940 my Welsh father was horrified to hear my apparently refined Northumbrian grandma come in from shopping, sit down and say "Eeh Jacky lad Aah'm knacked".  This is because unfortunately knacker has another cruder meaning in Standard English as a euphemism for male genitalia: the bits most men have two of.

 

This all reminds me of when Auntie Edna sent Mum a copy of Scott Dobson’s wonderful “Larn Yersel’Geordie”; possibly the first book in the dialect.  

I was 13 when it came out and was surprised, coming home from school one afternoon, to find Mum in tears of laughter repeating “Wey’s buggered the bandit?   

Who has rendered the fruit machine inoperative?”

At the time “bugger” was not normally part of Mother’s vocabulary: at least not in my hearing.