In the past few months of being in Leeds, there have been plenty of interesting and strange Yorkshire sayings that I’ve encountered. In Australia, we have words such as “snag”, “arvo”, “grog” that are native to the Australian language. Similarly, there are newfound words found in the ‘Yorkshire’ dialect found in places like Leeds, York and Sheffield.
As part of my Leeds Survival Guide, I’m going to share a few crucial and the most interesting words I’ve heard so far.
Most importantly, when you first make eye contact with a Yorkshire person you’ll most likely be greeted with “you alright?”. This happens to mean “how are you?” but if you’re not expecting it, it feels strange being asked if you’re alright by the cashier at a supermarket or a stranger you pass by.
Why yes I am okay… Do I not look okay?!
You are supposed to respond with something like, “yes I’m good, and you?”, but it is definitely something I had to get used to.
Aside from that, the following are some more intriguing things I’ve heard that I thought would be good for an incoming student to wrap their head around:
- Ey up – Hello?
- Aye – Yes (Kind of like a pirate with a British accent)
- Clever clogs – Conceited person
- Egg on – To urge someone to do something
- Endways – Forward
- Fancy dress – Costume (Not in fact nice clothing, but something like a Halloween costume)
- Jiggered – Exhausted
- Jock – Food or lunch (similar to the Australian use of ‘tucker’)
- Lark – Good fun
- Teem – Pour (e.g. “It’s teeming!” – “It’s pouring rain!”)
- Us – Me, my or our
- Usen – Plural of ‘us’ (Kind of like the way some Aussies say ‘youse’ as a plural of ‘you’)
And here are some Yorkshire idioms that are fun to say:
- As daft as a dormhouse – Not very intelligent
- As sharp as a Sheffield – Someone who is quick-witted
- Catch as catch can – Everyone for themselves
- Where there’s muck there’s brass – Where there’s hard work, there’s money
There are plenty more England ‘easter eggs’ like this to be found and it is most definitely worth it to explore and find them all. To quote a plaque I found in Whitby, I personally really ‘luv it ere’.
