_How do Norfolk people speak

The Norfolk accent is very hard to imitate, moi ole bewties. It does help if you come from Norfolk to capture its many nuances naturally, but it’s not impossible to learn, even fur furriners, as long as you don’t end up speaking as if you’re from Zummerzet.

The Norfolk dialect is quite different from dialects of the south of England, such as the West Country and the Home Counties.

We do not say, in a jaunty manner, ‘Orl roite, my luvva?’, but it’s fair to say we do have a unique lexicon in Norfolk, possibly affected by settlers from the Low Countries.

One innovation that most other people in the English-speaking world haven’t got round to yet is that we are very happy to pronounce fear as fair, really as rarely, here as hair. If a friendly Norfolk person calls you dare, you’ll know what they mean. And you might like a nice pint of bear in a traditional Norwich pub or sitting by a river on the Broads – where it will help if you remember that boat may well sound like boot to you. 

Another example: the last command of Norfolk hero Nelson, ‘Do you anchor Hardy?’ which contains Norfolk dialect in as much as the ‘do’ is idiom for ‘now you must’. ‘Do’ has two other idiomatic meanings in Norfolk, ‘otherwise’ and ‘if’, as this story demonstrates: a young Norfolk mother is turning her son over to a cousin for a holiday in London and says to her cousin, ‘Do you make him do as you do, do he ‘on’t do as he oughta do. Do he do as he do do, do you let me know.  And do he play you up, do you give him a doin’ to, I do our other two’.

We are proud of our innovative grammar too. We no longer bother with that pointless verbal -s that encumbers other less streamlined dialects. We say, ‘He drive very fast’, ‘She write books’, ‘My friend like you’. 

And we say that rather than it: ‘Tha’ wus cold las’night’. On one of our hot summer days, we might ask ‘Is that hot enough for you?’ And if we really, really like the fish and chips in Cromer, we are quite capable of saying ‘That in’t too bad’. We are polite people and our verbal style prefers under to overstatement. 

That all make sense?

Okay, let’s get started… 

Here’s a list of terms and phrases that will stand you in good stead when you’re having a mardle down The Smuckling Duck.

Norfolk phrases

‘Oid loike a bear’ – ‘I say good man, I wonder if you could pour me a pint of ale’

‘Oh dare, oi hit a dare’ – ‘Oh bother, my car appears to have had a collision with a deer’

‘Moy har’ aloive! Slow yew down an’ holed you harhd’ – ‘Well I never! Please take things easy’

‘Dew yew keep a troshin. Moined ‘ow yer go’ – ‘Toodle pip! Take care of yourself’

‘Hold y’r blaaren’ – ‘I say, could you stop the commotion?’

‘Bor, thassa lud a squit’ – ‘My man, what you say is a load of rubbish’

‘Afta a few bears I wuz on the huh. That’ll larn me’ – ‘My libations left me feeling slightly awry. I’ve been taught my lesson’

‘Ha yer fa got a dickey, bor?’ – ‘I say, has your father got a donkey, boy?’ To which the required response is: ‘Yis, an' he want a fule’ter roid 'im, will yew cum?’ – ‘Yes, and he requires a nincompoop to ride him, will you do it?’

‘I driv alla way a Yarmouth, an on way back tha snew’  –‘ I drove my automobile all the way to Great Yarmouth and on the way back there was a snow flurry’

‘Come yew hair, I in't goin’ out no more’ – ‘Would you mind awfully coming to my abode, I’ve put my slippers on for the evening’

‘Thassa loada ole squit, bor’ – ‘I’m not quite sure we’re on the same wavelength, old chap’

‘Orm guhha roide moi boike dana Carra Ruhd’ – ‘I am going to ride my bicycle to Norwich City’s football stadium’

‘He larned me owta roide a hoss’ – ‘He taught me how to ride a fine specimen of the equine species’

‘Ha ya got a loight boy?’ – ‘Might you have a match?’

‘Cor blarst me, oi watta be gittin on hum suhn!’ – ‘Goodness me, I’d like to return to my abode forthwith’

‘I shink so, thas ryte’ – ‘I should jolly well think so – I think you’re correct’

‘Do that rain, git yew under a tree’ – ‘If there is any precipitation, I’d advise you to shelter under a tree’

‘Ar ya reet bor? How you gewin?’ – ‘Good day!’

‘Thass a rum do! That slummocking gret mawther cum a-runnin’ an’ she wuz suffun savidge. She was puttin’ on ‘er parts. She dint ortera dun it’ – ‘That’s odd! That large girl was jolly angry, having a tantrum, when she arrived. She really shouldn’t have behaved that way’

‘Co’ter heck, thass a rum ‘un’ – ‘My goodness! How odd!’

‘Dew yew keep a troshin’ – ‘Do mind how you go’

‘Ul ding you over’ – ‘I’m going to sock you in the jaw’

‘Um nowagorn cos e’s putting on ‘is parts’ – ‘I’m leaving now because he’s misbehaving’

‘Wus up?’ – ‘I say, is everything okay?’ Later found in New England, an area settled by people from Norfolk. Yes, it was the origin of Budweiser’s ‘Wassup’, for which we apologise.  Also, ‘Ill a bed an wus up’ – ‘I’m feeling very unwell’

‘You might as well have went in the beginning, ‘cause you had to go in the finish’ – we’ve no idea! Answers on a postcard please…

Norfolk words

Abed - In bed

Afore - Before

Afred - Afraid

Afront - In front

Agin - Again or Against, often when meaning ‘next to’ as in ‘e’ live agin the Kings Arms’

Ahind - Behind

Alonga-me - Come with me

Arst - Ask/asked

Arta-noon - Afternoon

Atop - On top, this is also used in New England, an area that was originally settled by East Anglians

A'smornun - This morning, as in 'I saw her a'smornun' also 'a'sarternun' and 'a'sevenun'

Atwin - Between, as in 'E’ dornt know the difference atwin the two', or 'a rose atwin two thorns'

A-Friday - On Friday, as in 'I see him a-Friday', meaning I saw him on Friday, or 'I shall go to Carrer Rud a-Saturday’

Backards - Backwards, 'I betta keep goin' backards and forrards up to Norwich’

Bare - Beer

Bare - Bear

Barney - Quarrel

Bishy Barney Bee - Ladybird, apparently from a Bishop Barnaby who wore a red and black coat

Blar - Cry

Bootiful - Beautiful 

Bor - A term of address for boy or neighbour often used as 'ah bor', an exclamatory confirmation, such as in the following exchange: Jimmur - 'Thas suffun hot today ent it', Arnie - 'Ah bor'

Charleypig/Barneypig - Wood louse

Chimley - Chimney

Claggy - Sticky or moist

Craze - To nag, as in ‘E’ kep’ crazin’ me to buy ‘im sweets’

Crockin - Crying

Dawg - Dog

Deen - A 'sound', usually to emphasise that someone who was in pain did not cry out, as in 'when she bumped her head, she never made a deen'

Dickey - Donkey, however note that the word 'donkey' appears only to have been in use in English since the late 18th century. The Oxford English Dictionary quotes 'dicky' as one of the alternative slang terms for an ass

Diffus - Difference

Dint - Did not

Dodman/Dundmun/Doderman - Snail

Drant - Drawl

Drift - A lane

Dudder - Shiver or tremble. It is not unique to Norfolk. Appears in the OED as 'dodder'

Duzzy - Stupid or silly

Dwile - Floor cloth, sometimes dishcloth, from the Dutch ‘dweil’ meaning floorcloth or cloth

Erriwiggle - Earwig

Ewe - Owed, as in ‘E’ ewe me a pinta bear’

Fear - Fair

Finicky - Fussy

Fillum - Movie

Foo - Few, as in ‘E’ ‘ad a foo pints a bear’

Forrards - Forwards

Friz - Froze

Fumble fisted - Clumsy

Furriner - Someone not from Norfolk

Gret - Big, as in ‘A gret big lollopin’ lummock’

Gawp - To stare, as in ‘Wha’ u gawpin a’?’

Guzunder - Goes-under, another word for chamber-pot

Harnser - Heron or more usually, a goose for which the Latin name is ‘Anser’

Hare - Here

Hintut - Isn't it, as either statement or question

Hint, Hant, Hent - Have not

Hoddy-doddy - Very small

Hopp'n toad - Frog

Howsomever - However

Hoss - Horse

Huh - Uneven, not level, as in, ‘Arfer a pinta bear I wuz on the huh’

Hull - Throw or hurl, as in 'Hull us that spanner'

Hunny car’ - Vehicle to collect ‘night soil’

Jasper - Wasp

Jiffle - Fidget

Jill hooter - Owl

Jip - Pain, as in, ‘Moi leg’s givin’ me jip’

Jollifercayshuns - To have fun

Kewter - Money

Larn - To learn, used in place of to teach, as in ‘E’ larned me owta roide a hoss’

Loight - Light,  this was once common in New England, an area that was originally settled by East Anglians, though is rarely heard nowadays

Loke - Narrow lane, unmade road, often a cul-de-sac

Lollop - Progress slowly, walk ungainly

Lug’ole - Ear: ‘Lend us a lug’

Luggy  - Eavesdropping, as in ‘E’ was roit luggy’

Lummok, Lummox - Clumsy or ungainly person)

Mardle - Idle chat, gossip

Mawkin – Scarecrow

Mawther (a young woman – how to address a female)

Mine - My husband or wife, as in ‘I shall see mine when I ge’ ‘ohm’

Mob - To tell off, as in 'Is’ missus mobbed him for going to the pub', also to complain: 'E’ was always mobbun about suffun'. In Allan Smethurst's song 'Hae the bottum dropped out' there are two lines that run 'A fisherman's life's a rum ole job; the winter winds blow, and the women, they mob’

Muckwash - Dirty or sweaty

Nonicking - Horseplay

Occard - Awkward

Ollust - Always

Pear - Pier, as in ‘I’ma roidin’ moi boike a Cruhmer Pear’

Pightle - Enclosure or small field, paddock

Pingle - To mess about with food, especially when talking to children, as in 'stop ya pinglin’'

Pishmire - Ant

Pollywiggle-  Tadpole

Puckaterry - Confusion, panic

Pootrud - Awful, terrible, useless, particularly when applied to the performance of a sports player such as a footballer, as in 'tha numba nine was pootrud'. This particular meaning of 'putrid' is, according to the OED, available in standard English, but it is rarely heard, the term almost always being associated with decomposition of organic material.

Push - Pimple, spot, from the Dutch ‘puist’

Quant - To punt or pole a boat

Queer - Ill, out of sorts, but not unique to Norfolk

Rare - Anything unusual

Rarely - Really

Rubbub - Rhubarb

Rud - Road

Rum - Odd or unusual, as in ‘Thassa rum do’ or ‘E’s a rum’un’

Shink - I should think so, as in ‘Shink so’

Savidge - Angry

Shud - Shed

Slummockun - Someone who is overweight, and perhaps inclined to idleness, as in 'A slummockun gret mawther'

Slar - Spread, usually meaning spread thickly or crudely, a shorter version of slather

Smook - Smoke

Snew - Snowed, as in ‘It snew yisty’

Sorft - Silly, as in ‘E’ was sorft in the head’

Squit - Nonsense

Stannicle - Tadpole

Skew-wiff - Unlevel, not straight, not unique to Norfolk

Skerrick - A morsel of food

Staithe - Landing stage for loading or unloading cargo boats

Suffun - Something or somewhat, as in ‘E’ was suffin savidge’

Teetermatorter - See-saw

Terl - Towel

Thack - Push hard or hit, as in ‘you betta thack it coz 'is a bi’ stiff’

Titty-totty - Very small

Tizzock  - Cough

Troshin’ - Originally 'threshing,' now ‘working’ in general

Uhmtie-tumps - Mole hills

Uppards - Upwards

Whooge - Large

Yesterdi - Yesterday, the same applies for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc.

Zackly - Exactly

PS You may have come across Normal for Norfolk, a derogatory term devised by doctors at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital to categorise some of their more 'intellectually challenged' patients (we actually think they may have come from Clenchbottom, in a neighbouring county). The term was then abbreviated to N.F.N. which could easily be added to case notes for the purposes of quick reference.

In some ways N.F.N. (or N.4.N) has been embraced as a term of endearment and its popularity demonstrates clearly the admirable ability of 'Norfolkers' to laugh at ourselves. For example, Norfolk comedian Sidney Grapes, who used to appear on stage wearing a traditional smock, wropper (scarf or neckerchief) and chummy hat, once said: ‘Yew can always tella Norfolk man, but yew can't tell him much!'