SHA Small Heath Alliance

Brummagem Sayings

Dennis Langan 21:02, Sun 24 May

foghorn leghorn   2
Replying to Ricky Blotto   00:15, Wed 27 May
foghorn leghorn
Ginger nut fell in the cut
And frightened all the fishes
A pike came up and gobbled him up
That was the end of Ginger nut

Yes 😂💙

Any road up...

Mary had a metal cow
She milked it with a spanner
The milk came out in shilling tins
The small ones cost a tanner
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Wyndcliff   0
Replying to ForeverFrancis   08:51, Wed 27 May
ForeverFrancis
Wyndcliff
ForeverFrancis
bobharford
Warro- an informal greeting

Yer know Warri mean.?- a useful but meaningless interjection

That doesn't sound right .I've Googled it and that is used everywhere going 100's of years back .

My old man and his mates used to say that. A lower class equivalent of “what ho!” Maybe?

[english.stackexchange.com]

No I believe you fella and enjoyed your post👍

I was just on the wind up , but not at you .

I know warro you mean .👍

What ho, FF 👍
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Bluemachine22   0
Replying to ChimneySweepover   09:15, Wed 27 May
ChimneySweepover
ChimneySweepover
Do kids still call sweets "rocks"?

Anyone know ?☺️

Not really in my experience. I still call them "rocks" and I'm in late 50's.

My mom used to say to me , its like you've been dragged up round the back end of Summer Lane or words to that effect. Which was ironic as she was brought up there
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Weird and Teary   0
Replying to sydneyblue   09:55, Wed 27 May
sydneyblue
And I seem to remember him saying:
“As long as Livery Street”

I think the full phrase here is "a face as long as Livery Street", which I took to be when someone pulling a sad face because they didn't get what they wanted
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Weird and Teary   1
Replying to Dennis Langan   09:58, Wed 27 May
Dennis Langan
My Mom (88) round for dinner tonight, chatting about this and that, as you do…

Subject of having kids out of wedlock came up in conversation and she said it was “living over the brush”, one I hadn’t heard before.

My (now) mother-in-law used this one when my girlfriend and I first moved in together (~1999).

She recently used it again for a friend of her's in her 70s who moved in with a chap So I guess it's still in "regular" use.
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foghorn leghorn   2
Replying to Weird and Teary   11:03, Wed 27 May
Dennis Langan
My Mom (88) round for dinner tonight, chatting about this and that, as you do…

Subject of having kids out of wedlock came up in conversation and she said it was “living over the brush”, one I hadn’t heard before.

My (now) mother-in-law used this one when my girlfriend and I first moved in together (~1999).

She recently used it again for a friend of her's in her 70s who moved in with a chap So I guess it's still in "regular" use.

Its an old gypsy custom. To sweep away any bad spirits, before the union of matrimony. A purification ritual, if you like.
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quark   0
Replying to Weird and Teary   13:56, Wed 27 May
Weird and Teary
sydneyblue
And I seem to remember him saying:
“As long as Livery Street”

I think the full phrase here is "a face as long as Livery Street", which I took to be when someone pulling a sad face because they didn't
get what they wanted[/quot

Yep as faccad long as livery street was one
It’s a bit black over Arthur’s For of it looks like rain

I’ve most of these from my mom and dad. Proper Brummies
The fact that Jellyfish have survived for over 500 million years without a brain, must give hope to a lot of people
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Fat Buddha OBE   -1
Replying to foghorn leghorn   14:12, Wed 27 May
Dennis Langan
My Mom (88) round for dinner tonight, chatting about this and that, as you do…

Subject of having kids out of wedlock came up in conversation and she said it was “living over the brush”, one I hadn’t heard before.

My (now) mother-in-law used this one when my girlfriend and I first moved in together (~1999).

She recently used it again for a friend of her's in her 70s who moved in with a chap So I guess it's still in "regular" use.

Its an old gypsy custom. To sweep away any bad spirits, before the union of matrimony. A purification ritual, if you like.

In common usage all over the place and nothing to do with Romani.
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Angelsey Blue   1
Replying to Fat Buddha OBE   19:48, Wed 27 May
Most of these were common across the country. Very few 'Birmingham' sayings. Remember, pre 1900s, almost everyone in Birmingham came from somewhere else, even if it was just the fields of Warwickshire.
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Vista Green   0
Replying to tiltonbilly   21:41, Wed 27 May
tiltonbilly
Has "Shit with egg on " surfaced yet?

I thought my Mom was the only one that used that one. The usual response to us asking what's for tea.
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Muzz   1
Replying to Vista Green   22:49, Wed 27 May
We used to be told after asking what’s for tea,
Shit with sugar on.
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ForeverFrancis   -2
Replying to Angelsey Blue   23:20, Wed 27 May
Angelsey Blue
Most of these were common across the country. Very few 'Birmingham' sayings. Remember, pre 1900s, almost everyone in Birmingham came from somewhere else, even if it was just the fields of Warwickshire.


You could say about the etymology of all English language.

Must be why when I said " I went to the outdoor at the back of Rackham's for a pop.As a came out I nearly got hit by a hoss at the island which sent me gambolling landing on my dumpling.My jubli and all my rocks went flying ,and my Dudley was broken ,which left me with a face as long as Livery Street"
Everybody in Yorkshire understood me .👍
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foghorn leghorn   -1
Replying to Fat Buddha OBE   09:49, Thu 28 May
In common usage all over the place and nothing to do with Romani.

Thats an adamant no. If you have the time, then perhaps you could look into the Welsh Kale and their besom wedding ritual. I would be interested to see what you can unearth.
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Fat Buddha OBE   1
Replying to foghorn leghorn   10:25, Thu 28 May
Originated among tunnel builders and various itinerant labourers who couldn't afford an official marriage.they would hold hands and jump over a brush. Signifying hope over experience.

Pertinent point being it is not a brummie phrase.
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Phillystine   0
Replying to Angelsey Blue   17:49, Thu 28 May
Angelsey Blue
Most of these were common across the country. Very few 'Birmingham' sayings. Remember, pre 1900s, almost everyone in Birmingham came from somewhere else, even if it was just the fields of Warwickshire.

Not quite everyone. Birmingham wasn't a massive place before the industrial revolution, but it was a major town from the early 1600s onwards.

London had a negative birth rate and relied entirely on national and international migrants just to maintain population through the entire early modern period, let alone keep up its massive growth. A London dialect inarguably exists and existed despite that.

Even with waves of immigration, people adapt their language to suit the way it's spoken in the place where they live, just in the same way they pick up jargon in their workplace. Having a Brummie identity will always have involved speaking a certain way.
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