Tamping

It's time for a vocabulary lesson.

Today's Wenglish word is tamping.  According to Webster's Dictionary, tamping is the act of plugging up a hole prior to blasting with dynamite.  However, in Wenglish it has a very different meaning - very angry.  For example: " 'E was tampin' when 'e 'eard about what 'ad 'appened!".  For more emphasis, you can say " 'E was tampin' mad when 'e 'eard what 'ad 'appened!"

To differentiate from the word in Webster's Dictionary, it's all in the pronounciation.  You place the emphasis on the first syllable with a slight pause after the 'p', ie. TAMP'ing. 

Go on, give it a try...

Sources:
Lewis, Robert (2008) Wenglish: The Dialect of the South Wales Valleys, Y Lolfa.
Websters Third New International Dictionary, unabridged (1993)

Juliana

Big girl's blouse

In a small article in the Times on the 24th February 2011, on discussing Channing Tatum's experiences filming The Eagle (a Roman epic, pictured left) in Scotland in winter, describes the actor as a big girl's blouse.  Now, it was very surprising to read this phrase in the Times, as I always associated it with other types of media - such as the Daily Mirror and the Sun newspapers, OK and Chat magazines, etc.,  but not something like the Times.  So, it made me wonder, where did this ridiculous phrase come from?

General consensus is that this phrase originated in the dialect of the working class in Northern England.  The earliest recorded usage is in an episode of Nearest and Dearest (season 2, episode 1) in 1969.  This TV sitcom took place in Lancashire and had many examples of Northern dialect.  The phrase has come to mean an effeminate or ineffectual man, used mainly in a derogatory sense by women, which makes me think the Times journalist was female.

According to the Times, Channing Tatum, known for his tough, macho roles is a big girl's blouse when it comes to shooting a film in the remote depths of Scotland in winter.  And who can blame him?  I just hope all that suffering transferred over to the finished film and made it better.

Sources:
Green, Jonathan (2000) Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, Cassell & Co, London.
Quinion, Michael (2011) Big Girl's Blouse [online] http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-big3.htm (Accessed 24th May 2011).
The Times (2011) 'Sword, sandals and the Scottish winter', The Times, 24th February.
Images:
The Eagle (2010) [online] http://www.flicksandbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/the-eagle-poster-channing-tatum.jpg (Accessed 4th June 2011).



Juliana

Wenglish

Let me introduce you to Wenglish, a dialect widely spoken in the South Wales Valleys.  Wenglish is a mix of Welsh and English.  Sometimes english words are spoke in a 'welsh' manner - such as an emphasis on the second syllable, loveLEE and tiDEE.  The word tidy has extra meaning in Wenglish - not just clean and neat, but also nice, well and good.

I grew up in South-East Wales and was never taught Welsh at school or spoke it at home, or so I thought...
But when I went to university, I used some words that confused my English friends (which included Von).  I then found out that I was using Welsh words without even realising it!  Some of these words were poggy, coopy, looksee and cwtch. 
Poggy means messy, tangled, as in "I need a brush, my hair's all poggy". 
Coopy means to crouch down, as in "Coopy down and pick that pen off the floor". 
Looksee is another way to say 'look', as in "Looksee out there! E's washing 'is car again!"  It is also used at the end of a sentence for emphasis, as in "You're late again, looksee!"
Now cwtch is an important word.  The nearest translation is 'hug'.  But it's far more than that.  It's a hug full of love and warmth and goodwill.  Welsh mothers would wrap their children tightly in their shawl, so that mother and child were completely enveloped in a warm cocoon.  That's a cwtch.  No other word comes close.  An oft heard phrase from my elderly aunts is "Gis [give us] a cwtch" as they advence on you with open arms outstretched.

If you want to know more about Wenglish, I recommend two small books by John Edwards, Talk Tidy: The Art of Speaking Wenglish and More Talk Tidy, both of which are available on amazon. 


Juliana