The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #136250 Message #3111494
Posted By: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
11-Mar-11 - 04:52 AM
Thread Name: Is Geordie a separate language?
Subject: RE: Is Geordie a separate language?
A Geordie goes into Greggs near closing time, his dismay at the near empty shelves as harsh as his hunger.
"Whit can a hev? Whit can a hev?" quoth the agitated customer to the lass behind the counter, who calmly surveys her remaining wares.
"Well, pet - ye can hev the cheese pasty or a meringue."
"Nah, yer reet - I'll hev the cheese pastie!"
Note to non Geordies, the joke here is in the homophone of or a maringue to or am I wrang (wrong) as pronounced in the Geprdie dialect. In any case the joke was current in Tyneside folk circles about thirty years ago (I suspect c/o George Welsh) and wasn't that funny back then either, unless George told it of course when he'd have us all rolling. There was a lesser one about Bounty chocolate bars along the lines of "It tastes of coconuts!" "Whey, it's bounty!" (bound tee (to)) - but the classic was "I'm not feeling too grand" which requires too much scene setting to be effective here.
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Once upon a time you could stand in the queue at Greggs (in the Grainger Market) and hear four or five different words for stotties (yeasties, flatties, roundies, moonies and several more I can't recall) depending on what area of Newcastle they were from. Funny how Greggs make the perfect stottie and yet haven't taken it with them on their quest to put a shop on every British high street - especially when you can buy something called a Stotty from Asda in Blackpool. Not bad either, though the North West has its own treasures in the Yeasty White Half-baked Bread class - all of which have been discussed over on the Re-Imagined Village thread.
Does anyone know if the famous Gregg's Seconds Shop is still there? A popular feature of Newcastle's West End (Arthur's Hill) it once featured in Pravda as an illustration of how the English Proletariat were so poverty stricken they were forced to queue for yesterday's bread. Fact is, Gregg's stuff was always better the next day and even sweeter at half-price! Heaven sent for the penny-pinching early risers of Tyneside who'd rather spend their money on fags and beer.
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Looking forward to Morpeth - note the singaround on the Friday night! Not just singers either - in previous years it's been an open session for musicians, poets, writers, storytellers and wrestlers... Come All Ye!