Scouse

Scouse is the accent and dialect of English found in the north-western English city of Liverpool and in some adjoining urban areas of Merseyside. The Scouse accent is highly distinctive and sounds wholly different from the accents used in the neighbouring regions of Cheshire and rural Lancashire. Inhabitants of Liverpool are called Liverpudlians, but are more often described by the slang term Scousers.

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The word Scouse was originally a variation of lobscouse (probably from the north German sailor's dish Labskaus), the name of a traditional dish of Scouse made with lamb stew mixed with hardtack eaten by sailors. Alternate recipes have included beef and thickened with the gelatin source found in cowheel or pig trotter in addition to various root vegetables. Other sources suggest that "labskaus" is a Norwegian term, and considering the number of Merseyside place-names ending in "-by" (Formby, Kirkby, Greasby, Pensby, Roby), a Viking rather than German source must be considered. Various spellings can still be traced, including "lobscows" from Wales, and some families refer to this stew as "lobby" rather than scouse. The dish was traditionally the fare of the poor people, using the cheapest cuts of meat available, and indeed when no meat at all was available scouse was still made, but this "vegetarian" version was known as "blind scouse".

The roots of the accent can be traced back to the large numbers of immigrants into the Liverpool area in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries including those from the Isle of Man, Scotland and, most importantly, Ireland. The influence of these different speech patterns became apparent in Liverpool, distinguishing the accent of its people from those of the surrounding Lancashire and Cheshire areas. It is only recently that Scouse has been treated as a cohesive accent/dialect; for many years, Liverpool was simply seen as a melting pot of different accents with no one to call its own. The Survey of English Dialects ignored Liverpool completely, and the dialect researcher Ellis said that Liverpool [and Birkenhead] had "no dialect proper".^[1]

Features

Scouse is noted for a fast, highly accented manner of speech, with a range of rising and falling tones not typical of most of northern England. This has led to some people from the Midlands referring to Liverpool people as "Sing-song Scousers".

Irish influences include the pronunciation of the letter 'h' as 'haitch' and the plural of 'you' as 'youse'.

There are variations on the Scouse accent; with the south side of the city adopting a softer, lyrical tone, and the north a rougher, more gritty dialect. These differences between both the north side and the south side of the city can be seen in the pronunciation of the vowels. The northern half of the city more frequently pronounce the words book, cook, look and took, as in the words boo, coo, loo and too, and then adding the k sound at the end. The southern half of the city show a greater likeness to the more common pronunciation of these words.

Comparison with recordings made since the 1960s support the notion that the Scouse accent is ever-changing. From the mid-1980s it has evolved into a more abrasive and less melodious form than it was in the 1960s.

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Scouse dialect

As with all dialects, there are many words in Scouse that would be strange to an outsider, some of the more common being:

• ackers - (money/cash)
• ale 'ouse - (pub)
• ali - (barber/hair dresser)
• antwakky - (antique/old fashioned)
• are-eh - pronounced "R A" - A complaint of misfortune or unfairness (e.g. "are-eh, that's proper arlarse that!")
• arlarse - (mean, unfair or crafty person or act, also 'arl')
• auld - (old)
• bag'ead - (heroin addict)
• bail - (run away)
• bang - (Threaten to harm somebody, e.g. 'I'll bang you lad')
• beak - (cocaine/(the) judge)
• bell end - (idiot [offensive])
• beast/beastie - (great/boss)
• bevvie/bevvy - (alcoholic drink)
• bevvied - (drunk)
• bezzy - (best)
• biddie - (woman (normally old))
• biff - (a poor person/idiot)
• bifta/bifter - (cigarette)
• big girl's blouse (wimp [male])
• bill - (alone/on one's own e.g. 'I'm on my bill')
• billy - (a loner)
• binnie - (binman)
• bizzies - (the police)
• blurt - (seman/idiot)
• boff - (fart)
• boss - (excellent)
• boxer - (coffin maker)
• busy/busies - (a policeman/policemen)
• bute - (a smug self righteous know-it-all/snob)
• cackhanded - (inept person or left-handed person)
• casey - (leather football)
• chest - (a muscley person 'He's a chest him')
• chief - (thief)
• chiefed - (stolen)
• class - (really good)
• cob on - (sulking / angry as in "He has a cob-on")
• come 'ed - (come on, contraction of "come ahead")
• cozzy - (costume, usually swimming-)
• dead - (really, e.g. 'dead smart')
• dipper - (pickpocket)
• Dirty Bastard - (a person from Manchester)
• divvy - (stupid person)
• do in - (to beat someone up/damage something e.g. 'I'll do you in!'/'I did in my back')
• duff up - (beat up)
• emmy oggie - (empty house)
• firebobby - (a fireman)
• freemans - (someone else paying for the ale)
• fit - (good looking)
• gary - (ecstasy [tablet]. Named after Gary Ablett)
• geg - (to interrupt or be nosey)
• get - (idiot, sometimes preceded with "dozey" or "dopey")
• gizza - (shortened form of the words "give me a...")
• gizzit - (give it to me, contraction of "give us it")
• go 'ed - (shortened form of "go ahead", "go on", or "ok then")
• gorra - (got to, have to)
• gozzie - (cross eyed)
• gripped (to be caught doing something)
• grock - (Phlegm. Also a large intimidating person)
• head - (someone who is physically tough. Also used as a suffix to anything, usually describing characteristics e.g. 'you mad'ead')
• ozzie/ozzy - (hospital)
• in a bit - (goodbye)
• is right - (an expression of support/approval/agreement)
• it's all going off - (to describe a physical fight)
• jarg - (fake)
• jigger - (back alley of a house)
• joey - (a person of mental handicapp)
• judy - (young woman)
• judy scuffer - (a policewoman)
• kecks - (underpants or trousers)
• knackers - (testicles)
• khazi - (toilet)
• kidda - (lad, mate)
• la - (lad, friend)
• latchlifter - (price of half a pint of ale)
• laughin' - (good)
• 'leccy - (electric)
• leg it - (run away)
• luzz - (throw)
• made up - (happy/pleased)
• meff - (idiot)
• messy - (intoxicated)
• nob'ead - (idiot [offensive])
• penguin house - (a convent)
• plums - (testicles)
• pure - (meaning really, or a lot, e.g. 'I was pure embarrassed lerd')
• prezzie - (present)
• privvy - (the toilet)
• properly - (pronouned 'prop'ly'. An intensifier e.g. 'that's properly good')
• Scally - (sub grouping of youths, similar to chav, shortened from scallywag meaning 'mischievous youth')
• rem - (idiot, person with mental disabilities)
• scatty - (dirty/disgusting)
• scone 'ead - (idiot)
• scran - (food)
• scrat end - (Burnt chips)
• scuffer - (a policeman)
• shady - (dubious, unfair)
• sketchy - (dodgy)
• skinny - (sly/unfair)
• sloobag - (promiscuous person)
• smart - (great, brilliant)
• Snaff - (multiplicitous)
• soft lad - (idiot - a term of endearment or aggression depending on context)
• sound - (good, well, I agree)
• sly - (devious, nefarious, sordid e.g 'That's sly that')
• spends - (money)
• spoon - (To kick a ball badly, to make a mistake)
• swede - (A person's head e.g 'He is doing my swede in')
• tatty'ead - (somebody with an objectionable/scruffy haircut)
• tod - (alone/on one's own e.g. 'I'm just on my tod')
• trainies/trabs - (sports footwear)
• twirlie/twirly - (a female pensioner)
• us - (me)
• west - (peculiar/unusual/mad)
• whackers - anyone who don't come from Liverpool
• whopper - (prone to exaggeration)
• Wool/Woollyback - (Non-Liverpudlians living in areas surrounding Liverpool)
• wrecks (to hurt/cause discomfort e.g. 'That's wreckin' my head')
• yews/youse - (plural version of "you")

References and Notes

Wiki Source

References Black, William. (2005). The Land that Thyme Forgot. Bantam. ISBN 0593 053621. p. 348 Honeybone, P. (2001), Lenition inhibition in Liverpool English, English Language and Linguistics 5.2, pp213-249. Marotta, G. and Barth, M., Acoustic and sociolingustic aspects of lenition in Liverpool English, Studi Linguistici e Filologici Online 3.2, pp377-413. Available online (including sound files). Shaw, F. and Spiegl, F., (1966). How to Talk Proper in Liverpool (Lern Yerself Scouse S.) Liverpool:Scouse Press. ISBN 0-901367-01-X Wells, J. C. (1982). Accents of English 2: The British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28540-2. The game Worms 4 Mayhem features a weapon called the inflatable Scouser.