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David Banks
19-Aug-09, 18:08
Assistance with "new" word BERKS is required.
I remember someone being called "a right Burke" which was usually pronounced with an English accent - thanks to the old telly.

I request:
(1) Pronunciation - berks, barks, birks, burks etc??
(2) Meaning(s)

Thank y'all
joxville
19-Aug-09, 18:14
The correct pronuciation is birk, though spelt berk. It's from Cockney rhyming slang, from Berkshire Hunt-I'll leave you to search Google for the meaning of that. :eek:
northener
19-Aug-09, 18:14
Berk: pronounced the same as 'Quirk'

These days, a relatively inoffensive way to describe someone who is thick, stupid, naieve etc...

Unfortunately, it was originally short for C19th rhyming slang: 'Berkshire Hunt':eek:
George Brims
19-Aug-09, 18:21
When did the pronunciation change? I have never heard it said any other way than rhyming with "jerk". It was Berkeley Hunt, not Berkshire. The latter would mean it should rhyme with "bark".
joxville
19-Aug-09, 18:24
When did the pronunciation change? I have never heard it said any other way than rhyming with "jerk". It was Berkeley Hunt, not Berkshire. The latter would mean it should rhyme with "bark".

Aye, you could be right, maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.

I'll get my coat.......:(
tonkatojo
19-Aug-09, 18:28
Assistance with "new" word BERKS is required.
I remember someone being called "a right Burke" which was usually pronounced with an English accent - thanks to the old telly.

I request:
(1) Pronunciation - berks, barks, birks, burks etc??
(2) Meaning(s)

Thank y'all

You should look in the "chambers concise" dictionary
for the complete interpretation, part of the interpretation is "English slang for fool" the other part would incur an infringement penalty.
Alan16
19-Aug-09, 18:34
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?burke001=berk to hear it.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/berk for definition.
Gene Hunt
19-Aug-09, 19:26
Sounds like a good excuse to start an "Orgpedia" to define all the terms that Caithness Folk use. Might be useful for visitors to have a defintion for local dialect words.

Wheres Trix these days anyway ?? .. I love the way she writes in dialect. When I popped up and actually heard the accent I realised just how accurate she was.
northener
19-Aug-09, 21:55
When did the pronunciation change? I have never heard it said any other way than rhyming with "jerk". It was Berkeley Hunt, not Berkshire. The latter would mean it should rhyme with "bark".

It's interchangeable. A lot of people pronounce 'Barkshire' as Berkshire.
George Brims
19-Aug-09, 22:17
It's interchangeable. A lot of people pronounce 'Barkshire' as Berkshire.
I've heard Americans do that, never Brits.
northener
20-Aug-09, 07:50
I've heard Americans do that, never Brits.

Well, that makes me and at leat half of Yorkshire American, then!

http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:M2FCXbftT3CIoM:http://www.tvworthwatching.com/werts/Yankee_Doodle_Dandy.jpg (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.tvworthwatching.com/werts/Yankee_Doodle_Dandy.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tvworthwatching.com/werts/2009/06/&usg=__yMpgMVmY_uhlweb1K42BPwF-4Oc=&h=350&w=442&sz=63&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=M2FCXbftT3CIoM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dyankee%2Bdoodle%2Bdandy%2Bmovie%26hl% 3Den%26safe%3Doff%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1)

[edit]: And Lancashire - they pronounce it the same way. There's and old joke about Lancashire fowk:

Customer: Have yer got any Turps?

Shopkeeper: Aye. Video turps or cassete turps?

:Razz