Cracking Cheese Gromit

A Lancashire Linguistic Education

As the world becomes ever-more-connected, it’s natural that our regional and national language should neutralise, take a little bit from each other and leave some parts behind. Often I find myself accidentally using the American spelling of a word, or even forgetting certain phrases from my own language exist (until I am reminded of them by my Dad’s eloquent vocabulary). He has always used an extensive variety of words, enjoying being a bit flamboyant in his language use. My parents even go as far as to tell me that since I moved to a Southern University in 2020, I speak differently - both in accent and in language use.

This week at work I heard the word ‘moribund’ from my coworker, and I realised I had no idea what it meant. [Note: it means at the point of death. We were discussing the Cornish and Irish languages and their (lack of) usage. This was one more discussion from my week that inspired this blog post] Discerned, I decided I needed to be more like my Dad (as if we’re not alike enough already… but that’s a whole other blog post) and make a proper effort to extend my vocabulary.

Today, reading the book I’m preparing for my works’ book club, the word ‘smashing’ caught my eye - one that I hadn’t heard for a good while. Shout out to Richard Osmand for including a lovely range of literary expressions in his book, it’s really cleansed my vocab palette. And so, I was inspired to write this blog.

Now, the English language is becoming homogenised across the UK, Ireland, America, etc. etc. thanks to the likes of social media, hyper-connectivity, even perhaps dear old Substack has a part to play. Perhaps, reader, this is happening in your language too? I recently passed by a group of schoolgirls on the street and heard, “os voy a contar un storytime”, the injection of English into their Castilian conversation unsurprising given the prevalence of TikTok slang amongst GenZ-ers. I myself am guilty of using ‘slay’ in place of many other words that I have at my command.

Being in Galicia I hear people speaking their regional language all the time (Galician), and although the Lancashire slang doesn’t quite scale up to a whole language, I thought I’d enlighten you with some language you might never have encountered before. Like many people here in Galicia, I think it’s of utmost importance to conserve nuances in language - it’s a massive part of regional/national identity!

So, instead of dwelling on lack, I want to introduce you to some new Northern/English sayings that I think are fun and intend to use more, if I don’t already. Maybe you know them already, but I sort of hope I can give you a fresh education on how I use English. It’s the teacher in me.

A Northern Education

1. Cracking

   1. See: cracking cheese Gromit

   2. Well-used by one of Wigan’s top celebrities, cracking is a great word to use for something great, delicious, grand.

2. Ginnel

   1. A small alleyway, usually between two houses/buildings

   2. Substack wants to correct me and tell me this isn’t a word. Repression of dialects much?

3. To ‘pop’ to the ‘loo’

   1. Colloquial way to say you’re going to the toilet.

   2. Maybe not specifically Northern, but I say it and I’m from Lancashire.

   3. Additional note: you can ‘pop’ anywhere. Popping to the shop infers that you are making a quick trip to the shop. Popping in to see someone infers you won’t stay long.

4. What’s …. when it’s at home?

   1. A more extended and possibly dramatic way to say ‘what is that?’

   2. Re: earlier on in this blog: “what’s moribund when it’s at home?”

5. Harping on about something

   1. When someone won’t shut up about something, they just keep on talking

6. Mithering on

   1. Pronounced: My-thering

   2. Bothering or whining at someone about something incessantly

   3. ‘She keeps mithering on about her knee pain’

7. Mog/Moggie

   1. A cat

8. Grockle

   1. A tourist, usually seen in a large group of other tourists

   2. Similar to ‘guiri’ in Spanish

9. Mizzling

   1. Rain that’s in between drizzle and mist, ie. the annoying frizzy-hair wet-face kind of rain that doesn’t elicit the use of an umbrella

   2. This type of rain is potentially unique to the rainy north-west of the UK, where bad weather is an almost daily occurrence.

10. Use your loaf

    1. Use your brain, think a bit!

11. Willie heckers like

    1. Translates to ‘no he won’t’

    2. I’’ll give you an example: “Do you reckon John will take the bins out today?”, “Willie heckers like”. In this case we can assume that John is a bit of a lazy character, it’s inferred that his laziness is obvious/a known trait.

12. To clobber someone

    1. To hit someone hard, perhaps around the head

13. Chuffed to bits

    1. You use this when you’re really happy about something, perhaps you’re chuffed to bits with a new purchase or a job promotion.

14. This one was new to me, but it made me laugh:

I didn’t know many phrases on this list, Lancashire is a pretty big county with diverse language use all over.

This blog was a little different to my usual, but I felt inspired to whip up something fun this afternoon - I hope you enjoyed reading!

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