Sometimes a word is familiar in Standard English but
is used in an unfamiliar way. For example: 'call' which
is used to mean 'insult' in Lancashire - e.g. 'he's
calling me' means 'he's insulting me' (If you come from
Lancashire and the list is too easy, see if you can
find ten more words to add to the list).
Sometimes
in dialect it's the grammar that is different. Look
carefully at these examples.
Underline
any word(s) which are not Standard English grammar,
eg : 'I've writ it.' which would be 'I've written
it' in Standard English.
Click
here to download a worksheet in Microsoft
Word format (23kb) showing a number of examples
of phrases in different dialects. Can you turn
all the examples into Standard English?
Cockney
rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming
slang is not Standard English either.
Here are some examples. They are easy to match because
they all rhyme, e.g. Rosy Lee means tea.
Apples
and pears
Butcher's
hook
China
plate
Daisy
roots
Dog
and bone
Frog
and toad
Loaf
of bread
Mince
pies
North
and South
Plates
of meat
Raspberry
tart
Adam
and Eve it
Trouble
and strife
Often only
the first word of the phrase is used, so that 'Loaf'
means 'head'.
Can
you translate the following?
Would
you Adam and Eve it? Me old china had crossed
the frog , tripped on the apples and fallen
on his loaf. I had a butchers but there
was nothing wrong with his raspberry so
I got on the dog to his trouble and fetched
him some rosy.
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