The Queen's English was good enough for Jesus Christ, so it's good enough for me

[venta]

We haven't had one of these in a while... yup, it's a word I use that no one else knows.

If I suggested you get someone to give you a croggy, would you know what I meant? I just used this phrase in the office (for context, to my boss who's currently having transport issues as his car's in dock). He looked at me funny.

He does that a lot anyway, but I think it was the word "croggy" in this instance.

Comments

[venta.livejournal.com]

Result :)

Kid's slang is the least likely to be harmonious country-wide, right?

I'd have thought so, but given the failure of Durham and Yorkshire respondents to know what I was talking about, the success of a Dorset boy sort of knocks a hole in that theory.

I believe "croggy" is an abbreviation of crossbar, but the most common mechanism when I was a kid was to let someone sit on the saddle (with their legs flapping free) while the bike's rider stood on the pedals.

[metame.livejournal.com]

Except I was just guessing from the context, and you having started cycling to work, and your reply about it being a kid's thing...

I think having someone else sittting in the seat while you pedalled was called a "backie" round our way.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Oh, shame. Actually, it was nothing to do with me cycling and all to do with the fact that the boss lives in the same town as another colleague who cycles in every day.

However, I now have two genuine people who genuinely claim to know what I meant, so I'm happy.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I know what a croggy is (said he belatedly), but I define it slightly differently -- it is specifically giving someone a lift on your handlebars or crossbar. If you let them sit on the saddle, it is instead a backie.

We gave backies when I was a kid in Essex, but croggy I got from an ex-partner from Hull. (And by the way it sounds very precarious compared with a nice comfortable backie.)

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Ah, that was known as a backsy or a twosy, depending on the position of the pillion rider.