Other words for the same thing

[annemarie482]

(Appologies crazycuddles!)

Had to chuckle just now, seen that crazycuddles had posted an ad to sell a sack barrow.
Thought for a second, then chuckled..... A spanker! :D

What unusual or local words for every day items make you chuckle compared to the "correct" name for an item?

(Thread intended to be a bit of fun!)

[M Swanson]

My Scot's father always called sweeties, bullets. I never knew why! :D

[annemarie482]

They weren't little round black mints were they? Geordies (my mum is one!) have black bullet sweets! :)

[M Swanson]

No, it could be any kind of sweet, AnneMarie. 'Though he did love toffees and mints, so maybe it originated in GeordieLand. :D

[annemarie482]

I remember one of my first shifts behind the bar (years ago), two men were sitting talking about sqweebs....
After 10mins I couldn't take it anymore and had to ask what they were lol
Having a Glaswegian dad and Geordie mum I had no idea a sqweeb was a firework! :lol:

[Dadie]

Spanker isnt an unusual name for a sack barrow....heck if asked what a sack barrow was I might look like a village idiot..slack jawed and cogs turning etc...but ask for a spanker and I would know straight off!

[annemarie482]

Spanker isnt an unusual name for a sack barrow....heck if asked what a sack barrow was I might look like a village idiot..slack jawed and cogs turning etc...but ask for a spanker and I would know straight off!

I've only ever known it as a spanker until a couple years ago lol
Told a southern friend to use a spanker for a job and got a blank look, and after I explained I got a "oh a sack barrow" lol

[secrets in symmetry]

Spanker isnt an unusual name for a sack barrow....heck if asked what a sack barrow was I might look like a village idiot..slack jawed and cogs turning etc...but ask for a spanker and I would know straight off!Neither sack barrow nor spanker are common words in the country as a whole in my experience. I've never heard a spanker called a spanker anywhere outside of Wick and its environs. :cool:

The firework is a squib (pronounced squeeb). I've heard it used regularly in other parts of Scotland, including - I think - Glasgow!

[changilass]

Having lived all over the UK, I would have to disagree SIS, spanker is commonly used all over to my knowledge.

Must admit, I have never heard it called a sack barrow.

A spanker is a spanker, what else would you call it?

[secrets in symmetry]

Having lived all over the UK, I would have to disagree SIS, spanker is commonly used all over to my knowledge.

Must admit, I have never heard it called a sack barrow.

A spanker is a spanker, what else would you call it? A spanker isn't something I use every day, so you may be right.

Google it and click on images. :cool:

[squidge]

I use the word MAIDEN for clothes horse/airer thing. I didnt realise that not everyone called it that until Imoved to Caithness and asked my work colleagues where I could buy a Maiden from. I got some very strange looks.

[ywindythesecond]

I hadn't a clue what a local worthy was talking about when he visited one day and looking around said "so that's your spanker". It took some time to realise that he was looking at a very poor imitation I had bought from Screwfix.
When I was working in Russia, I needed to get some wood preserver fluid. I could not understand why the respectable lady interpreters had difficulty communicating my wishes to our driver/handyman until he took me on one side and explained graphically that pree-ser-va-teef meant condom in Russian .

[Southern-Gal]

We would have called a 'spanker' a sack truck. Never heard of spanker before this thread, well not in that context at least :o
A 'grape' confused me a bit at first. To me a grape is something that grows on a vine not a gardening or farming tool.

[billmoseley]

i had never heard of pieces meaning packed lunch till i moved up here or messages meaning to get something from a shop for someone

[M Swanson]

I love this thread. It's good to have some fun, now and again. :cool:

An adjective my father used, but nobody else in England that I knew of, was, "bampot." I think this is a much friendlier way of calling somebody stupid. :D

[Tugmistress]

I can't remember which way round (east yorks and staffs) but in one place a 'lemon' was an idiot and the other it was a lesbian - i got a few queer looks calling a bloke a lemon lol

[cherokee]

When I was a bairn, (yep, just yesterday :eek:) my Mum would tell us to "buckle up" when we went outside to play in the snow. It meant to put warm clothes; ie- coat, gloves and scarf, on you ! :)

[poppett]

Here`s me thinking it was a thread about synonyms!

[tonkatojo]

They weren't little round black mints were they? Geordies (my mum is one!) have black bullet sweets! :)

Aye they were made by a company called "Redheads" I think.

[Moira]

Having lived all over the UK, I would have to disagree SIS, spanker is commonly used all over to my knowledge.

Must admit, I have never heard it called a sack barrow.

A spanker is a spanker, what else would you call it?

I would agree Changi.

It's maybe only in SiS's world it would be called anything else. :roll:

[mi16]

A snips = side cutters

[Moira]

I sent some words of encouragement to a friend of mine on an American forum. She was going through a bad time and I told her to "keep her pecker up.." The Moderators were swamped with complaints. Luckily enough my American friends love the Scots and I was given the chance to explain myself. I still post on that forum. :)

[secrets in symmetry]

I would agree Changi.

It's maybe only in SiS's world it would be called anything else. :roll:Well, whatever you two say, I've never heard it called a spanker outside Wick.

It's called a sack trolley (or just a trolley) where I work.

Next time I need one, I'll try asking for a spanker - and I expect to get strange looks lol!

[secrets in symmetry]

Here`s me thinking it was a thread about synonyms!Does anyone know another word for synonym? :cool:

[RagnarRocks]

I was posted with the black watch for a while and one guy always asked who hid his baffies ! Took me a while to figure out he meant slippers

[Buttercup]

We were brought up calling a cupboard a press. And to go from one room to another you went "ben 'e hoose".

[Dadie]

Front room ...sitting room...as well as ben e hoose ..
Baffies = slippers easy osie
Press was the linen press ..towel and bedding cupboard ..home of the odd sock bag!
It was the tourist that wanted a fish supper and a white pudding(odd request but not odd enough to question) ...was sitting for a while after meal was eaten ..waiting for his pud....to be told he had already eaten it! btw its also called a mealie pudding as its made from oatmeal...as well as a buttery is called a rowey.....

[George Brims]

A snips = side cutters
Well even over here in the colonies they use that one, though it's usually "tin snips".

[George Brims]

We were brought up calling a cupboard a press. And to go from one room to another you went "ben 'e hoose".
Oh this was a big conversation at our house recently. A lady on the radio here, who went to Catholic school in New York State, said she was always told on rainy days to put her coat in the "coat press". The other people on the show didn't know what that was. They thought it was something to squeeze out the rain water! So I'm telling my wife this and she looks at me blankly. She didn't know what a press is either, and she's from Inversnecky. Strictly speaking a press is a cupboard with shelves (I've been Googling). Then a few weeks after there was an antique show on TV And the expert was telling this lady that her big (ugly, Victorian) cabinet is "strictly, a press" since it had shelves.

[Buttercup]

"Press" is also used in Ireland, George (well at least in the north). I wonder if that's how it travelled to America? ~ with the Irish Immigrants.