Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets

Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 21 Apr 10 - 03:34 PM

"Take a dekko" (sic) I'd imagine comes easily from the British experience colonizing India. It's a "Hobson-Jobson" word, the Anglo-Indian vocabulary. However, I believe some Romani words also entered UK slang via Romanies & travellers' language. If they are pronouncing it "deekh" (rhymes with 'week'), that sounds like the Romani one, whereas "dekh" (rhymes with 'break') is Hindi-Urdu (Punjabi is dekh or vekh; not sure about Bangla). deekh (look) + ing (English progressive) = deeking/deekin' (looking). That would be my conjecture.

GS: To me, it's more likely that "deekin'" is a corruption of "dicking" which has been British army slang for "observers" (most specifically for people observing army movements on behalf of insurgents/ terrorists/ freedom fighters [select according to politics])for at least 35 years, and which itself originally came from "dekko".

Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 21 Apr 10 - 05:24 AM

I noticed another one from days of yore -

Tick us a ben for lend me £10.

I would guess the ben = ten connection is obvious but loan being 'tick' harks back to my 'yute'. If you could not afford something you either did without or bought it 'on tick' or, in English, on credit. I don't know the root though.

Cheers

DeG

Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: Leadfingers
Date: 21 Apr 10 - 04:50 AM

Round here MOST of the street talk seems to be basic Anglo Saxon !
WHY do so many people apparently have NO communication without Obscenity every other F*****g word ?

Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 21 Apr 10 - 12:15 AM

Hindi:

dekh- = root of "look/see"

dekhna = to look (infinitive.)

dekh = look! (impolite imperative)

dekho = look! (polite imperative)


Romani (Gypsy):

dik (long 'i', like deeek) = root of "look"

"Take a dekko" (sic) I'd imagine comes easily from the British experience colonizing India. It's a "Hobson-Jobson" word, the Anglo-Indian vocabulary. However, I believe some Romani words also entered UK slang via Romanies & travellers' language. If they are pronouncing it "deekh" (rhymes with 'week'), that sounds like the Romani one, whereas "dekh" (rhymes with 'break') is Hindi-Urdu (Punjabi is dekh or vekh; not sure about Bangla). deekh (look) + ing (English progressive) = deeking/deekin' (looking). That would be my conjecture.

Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 11:58 PM

G'day Gibb Sahib and Richard Bridge,

I was just checking derivation of 'dekko' ... as used in Australia: "take a dekko ..." - "Have a good look at ...".

I see that dekho is the imperative of the Hindi dehkna ... so the original actually means the whole of our phrase(s)!

Regard(les)s,

Bob

Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 05:52 PM

A raasclaat is a sanitary towel.
Deekin looks as if it is formed from the same root as "dekko".
In fact quite a lot of those are very retro!

Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 05:38 PM

Poppa,

yout' is also the common Jamaican pronunciation. As in "wha gwan, mi yout?" = What's going on, my ~friend~? It's not a "term," just the pronunciation in dialects that tend no to used "th," including NYC...but I'd guess the Jamaican influence was stronger in this case.

Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: PoppaGator
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 05:32 PM

"Yute" (or "yoot") for "young person" (youth) is definitely North American, and I was surprised to see it on a list of British slang expressions.

Of course, the term has been most famously propagated by a Hollywood film ("My Cousin Vinny"), which has been distributed worldwide (if only because of supporting actress Marisa Tomei's Oscar-winning performance).

In the film, the expression is presented as the product of an extreme New York City accent, spoken by Joe Pesci's character and indecipherable to the Southern judge in whose courtroom he is presenting arguments. ("The two yoots? What are you talking about?")

Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 05:07 PM

Besides local English, there are plenty of straight borrows from American, Jamaican, and Hindi (probably some through older cant, I'd guess).

For example, this "RAAAAHS" is just short for Jamaican 'ras-claat' (literally, a cloth soiled with body excretions), though in this use it is just like exclaiming "Hot Dang!"

Pukka is the old British-in-India word, from Hindi "proper" (fully-cooked)

Deekin' must be from the Romany (ultimately Indo-Aryan, cf. Hindi 'dekh') 'dik' - to look/see.

Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: Anne Lister
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 04:48 PM

Somewhere on the BBC website (and I wish I could remember how I found it) there's a fascinating site giving various (UK)regional translations of a bit of dialogue. Some words are easily worked out - others take a bit more thinking about, rather like the list DeG gives above.

Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 04:17 PM

It does, Q. Yute or Yoof depending where you are from

D.

Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 04:11 PM

moochin'- in U. S., begging or borrowing or living off someone else's money, living off the avails...

Does yute =youth?

Forgot to list yonder, an old word still common in Southern U. S.

Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 04:03 PM

David, an interesting list. And it will always be changing; always new ones, some enter folk usage, some will just disappear.

A few are not new, in U. S. or North America at any rate- or have somewhat similar meanings:

jacked
vexed (common word in English). May have gone out of general use for a while but coming back.
liquored
you get me?
gettin on it-going to get to work on the problem, in N. Am.
Getting on top- Taking care of a problem
standard
chiv for knife- shiv, in U. S.
cueball- old term for a bald person, in N. Am.
chill ....; similar group of uses in N. Am., but differ to some degree. Chill, or chill out, means to relax, or back off from a situation.

Some have different meanings, in U. S.:
Rod- a gun
yard- $1000

Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 02:07 PM

I thought that I was logged in - Do I really want to know "street" talk??

Subject: RE: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 02:05 PM

Do I really want to?

Subject: Folklore: (ish) the language of the streets
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Apr 10 - 02:02 PM

I found this quite amusing. Compiled by a friend when she realised she had no idea what was meant when someone said they had left their job because his boss was chatting bare macca:-) Got me thinking though - This stuff will be in folk song in 50 years. We had better get used to it!

The Manchester Dick-tionary

Your very own guide to understanding 'whats gwarning' on with the locals. You need never feel lost or confused again when the yute of today are talking to you in the scally language none of us understand.

'Your official guide to being street'


That's Live -        Its really good

Pukka -        Good

Stush -        Big headed, full of yourself because you know you look good

Baloonin -        Getting angry / mad

Reppin ma endz -        Representing my local area

Ill Member -        A person in a group of friends who is a bit crazy / audacious / off the wall

Jacked -        To have something stolen from you / to steal

Give yer head a wobble -        Sort your head out

Wind yer neck in -        mind your own business

Take your face for a shit -        Stop giving me dirty looks

Deekin -        giving someone a dirty look

Vexed -        getting angry


Word up G -        General greeting

Chattin bare macca -        speaking nonsense

Mint out of its face -        something that is extremely good

Havin a bangin shit -        passing potent solids

In da endzs -        in my local area

Murkin me -        being disrespectful to me

Fachizle -        For sure / I agree

Tackle -        Drug paraphernalia

Tool, spanner, weapon, whopper, muppet -        insult for a stupid person / idiot

Getting on it like a bag of vomit - You are on the case

Goff and im off -        Im leaving

Getting twisted -        inebriated

Liquored -        Drunk

On the Henny -        Drinking Brandy

Mendellas / wife beaters -        Drinking stella

0121 Do one - Im not giving you my phone number

Do dem grafts -        Going out stealing / going to work / working hard

Massive -        Really good / a group of people from an area

Mandem -        Members of your own gang

Boydem -        Members of a rival gang

Sket -        unscrupulous lady

Yonder -        far away

Moochin -        long journey

Yutes -        Young people

He thought he was sic -        he thinks that he is really tough

you gets me? -        do you comprehend?

Last swigs on the milk -        please save me the last sip of milk (normally said after an all night binge

Blueie - £5

Ben - £10

Score - £20

3 Ton - £300

3 bags - £3000

Bag of sand - £1000

EEE ARR YO! -        may I have your attention please

Whats crackalackin? -        whats going on?

Tap dat ass -        id love to have sexual intercourse with that person

peng -        an attractive person

lickin off a shot -        selling drugs

That's bate -        open to danger

Getting on top -        in a bad situation

Getting on it -        getting drunk / high / involved with a person or situation

giz lay on -        to borrow something

tick us a ben -        can I have a loan?

Julember -        imaginary date to indicate that something is never going to happen

chillin billin -        relaxing on your own

chillin like a villain on penicillin -        relaxing a lot

chill your beanz yo -        relax / calm down / wait a minute

RAAAHS! -        To express shock – no way / I cant believe it

Standard -        expected / the norm

Gwarnin -        whats going on?

Chiv -        knife

Jibbed -        stabbed / to leave

blazed -        getting high on weed / being shot

A strap - a gun

Rod -        source of transport

my whip -        my car

yard -        my house

bum ting gwarn there -        someone attractive walking past

scran -        to eat / food

hench -        someone of a large muscular build

cueball -        bald person

Easy now -        general greeting


So, now you know:-)

Cheers

DeG