The 50 top words and phrases that say you're from Birmingham or the Black Country

We asked you for the top words and phrases used by people in Birmingham and the Black Country - and here's what you told us

Birmingham and the Black Country are well known for their own accents, dialects and expressions.

We asked you for the region's top local words and phrases.

Language isn't as rigidly fixed within boundaries these days - especially with improved transport and communication over the past few decades - and so some sayings may also be used in other parts of the country, whether they were taken there from the West Midlands or the other way round.

There are many cases of pronunciations being different because of the local dialects - such as saying 'buzz' for bus and 'skelington' instead of skeleton - but here we've focused mainly on special words and phrases that are associated with the region.

1. Bostin(g) is a well-known word meaning amazing, brilliant or excellent. The g is rarely written or pronounced. Bost is (like the similar word bust) slang for broken, and so the word bostin' means the same as 'smashing.'

2. Our kid is a term for a younger brother or sister. It is also used to refer to any sibling (whether older or younger), or for any younger relative and sometimes also to address an unrelated friend or colleague who may be younger. 'Come on our kid, let's get the bus into town.'

3. Babby is a local variation of baby, and the shortened form bab is often used as an affectionate term for 'love or dear', as in 'How are you, bab?

4. Wench is an affectionate term for a girl or young woman.

5. On Twitter, @KTownsend1985 31 tweeted 'When you fall over you scrage yourself.' The word scrage means to scratch, scrape or graze the skin.

6. Fittle is a local word for food, and therefore 'bostin' fittle' is a way of saying great food - it's also the name of a restaurant in Dudley.

7. Going round the Wrekin is a popular local phrase, as was tweeted to us by @LeeStanleyWV and@clare_eliza. It means taking a long and rambling route to a destination or taking a long time to get to the point of a story. The Wrekin is a hill in Shropshire.

8. Also on Twitter, @narrowboaterboy tells us: "It’s a bit black over Bill’s mother’s means that the sky is dark with rain." It's been claimed that Bill is a reference to William Shakespeare, with his mother being Mary Arden of Stratford and the rainstorm usually approaching from the south-westerly direction (one of the main directions for incoming winds and storms to sweep into the UK from the Atlantic).

9. Yampy is a well-known Midlands word and, as @jakeyvilla tells us on Twitter, it is used to describe someone who is daft, mad or losing the plot.

10.A piece is a local word for a slice of bread and butter, and sometimes also for a sandwich.

11. Acccording to @AlisonHillis, the expression 'Never in a reign (rain?) of pigs pudding' means ‘it will never happen.'

12. Popping down 'the outdoor' means going to the off-licence, as @TomPodmore explained on Twitter

13. The word noggy means old-fashioned or outdated, according to @cjp22 31m via Twitter

14. A cob is the local word for a bread roll, supposedly because the small round loaves look like street cobbles.

15. To bawl is to cry loudly, such as the noisy wailing and sobbing of an upset child.

16. The phrase 'go and play up your own end' is shouted at children who are being a nuisance in the street, telling them to go away and play outside their own homes instead.

17. Pop means any fizzy soft drink such as lemonade.

18. Lamp means to hit or beat up as 'I'm going to lamp you if you carry on', 'He gave him a right lamping.'

19. On Twitter, @KieranJaye said: 'Birmingham folk call a forward roll a gambol'

20. Snap is a word for food or a meal - "I'm off to get my snap" is what someone might say when they are going to get their dinner.

Jasper Carrott, born in Acocks Green, Birmingham, is a well-known speaker of the Brummie accent and dialect

21. The West Midlands has an extensive canal network and Birmingham is said to have more miles of canal than Venice. Locally, residents refer to a canal as 'the cut' such as saying they are going 'up the cut' - meaning they are heading along the canal towpath to get somewhere.

22. Back of Rackhams - this phrase had its origins in the red-light spot once at the back of Rackhams department store (now House of Fraser) in Birmingham city centre. 'She'll be round the back o'Rackhams' might be said of someone accused of being promiscuous. 'I'll end up round the back o'Rackhams' might be heard if a woman jokingly felt she would be forced into prostitution to pay all the household expenses. A Birmingham brewery named a real ale Bhacker Ackhams after the infamous location.

23. If someone is accused of being cack-handed or caggy-handed, they are usually doing something in a clumsy or fumbling way. The phrase also describes someone who is left-handed.

24. Hard sweets are often known as rocks.

25. Someone who is half-soaked is stupid or slow-witted.

26. A bob-owler is a West Midlands name for a large moth.

27. The fizzog is a word for the face and you could tell someone to stop sulking and change their down-in-the-mouth expression by saying ‘Put yer fizzog straight.’ It comes from the word physiognomy meaning the facial features and the art of judging personality from them.

28. Ta-ra a bit is a Midlands phrase meaning 'Goodbye for now, see you later.'

29. Oil tot is a phrase for when someone feels satisfied and happy as in "I’m in my oil tot." It dates from the days when working men would have a tot of olive oil before drinking beer, in the belief that it would line their stomachs and stop them getting very drunk.

30. Wagging it or wagging school means a child is playing truant.

31. Keep out th’oss road is a Black Country expression for ‘mind how you go.’

32. Any road up means anyway or anyhow.

33. Ackers is a word used in the Midlands to mean money.

34. Barmy means mad or insane as in 'He was driving me barmy.'

35. You'll 'ave it dark is a phrase accusing someone of being too slow in doing something, meaning it will be night by the time they have finished a task.

36. A face as long as Livery Street means someone looks miserable.

37. If someone talks about a couple or three, they just mean two or more, a few but not very many.

38. 'Well, go to the foot of our stairs!' is a local exclamation of shock or surprise.

39. Blarting is a word meaning crying or sobbing.

40. An island is what we call a traffic roundabout in the West Midlands.

41. If you are told to deaf it, this means forget it, ignore it, don’t bother with it, walk away from it - it's similar to 'turning a deaf ear' to something.

42. When someone is said to have 'got a bob on himself/herself', it means they think they are better than others.

43. Your donnies are your hands. 'Give us your donnie' is what a parent might say to a child, meaning 'Hold my hand.'

44. If you hear someone say 'This ain’t gettin the babby a frock and pinny' it means 'this is getting us nowhere, we’re wasting time'.

45. Chobbling is a word for chomping or munching loudly, and youngsters crunching on sweets might well be told to 'stop chobbling yer rocks.'

46. Clarting about is a local phrase for messing around.

47. Riling describes the action of fidgeting or rolling about, usually directed at restless children clambering around on the furniture or play-fighting. They may be told to 'stop your roaming and riling', meaning 'sit still.'

48. Slummocking is standing, moving or walking in a slouching or slovenly way. It can also refer to lolling around while sitting or lying down. Children who don't get up in the morning might be accused of 'slummocking in bed all day.'

49. Got a cob on means to be in a foul mood. 'He's got a right cob on this morning.'

50. A pikelet is what people in the West Midlands call a crumpet - a small, thick pancake with holes in the top, usually toasted and eaten with butter.

If you can think of any other words and phrases, add them to the comments section below.

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47 more words and phrases that say you're from Birmingham or the Black Country


The town centre of Dudley, in the Black Country
The town centre of Dudley, in the Black Country



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