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

[j4.livejournal.com]

I'd think you meant a ride on the back of your bike (other folk I know seem to call this a 'backie', but they are clearly wrong. :)

[j4.livejournal.com]

PS I did post this before looking at comments :)

PPS Everybody who finds kids' slang fascinating should read "The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren" by Iona and Peter Opie (I may have recommended this before, I often do)

[ringbark.livejournal.com]

I had no idea what she was talking about.

For Liverpool kids' slang, I would recommend YOU KNOW ME ANTY NELLY? (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0010I12WQ?ie=UTF8&tag=thesmirks-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B0010I12WQ) by Frank Shaw, sadly out of print.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Excellent!
Whereabouts did you grow up (or think you might have heard such a word used)? I'm sure I ought to know this, but don't.

[j4.livejournal.com]

The relevant bit of growing-up (ie the bit where bikes started becoming relevant) was probably done in Leicestershire. That area of the country is also responsible for me knowing, using, and occasionally baffling people with the word "mardy". :)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Oh, we definitely had 'mardy' in Darlington too. Very useful word :)

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

We used mardy too in the North West. And paddy and eppy to mean the same thing too.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, they mean three different things to me :)

Paddy and eppy are more related to temper than mardy - a kid might have a paddy because it didn't get what it wanted, but a teacher would throw an eppy if you hadn't done your homework :)

I strongly suspect eppy of being politically incorrect, as I believe it to be derived from "epileptic". Though why epileptics should be crosser than other people is a mystery. Possibly just misunderstanding of "fit" as a medical condition and "fit" as in having a fit (of temper) about something.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

Urban dictionary (which *must* be true eh?) reckons it is short for episode.

And, yeah, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if it came from a really incredibly offensive root, because that was the 1980s after all.

I suppose mardy also covered a broader range of things and was something you either just *were* or was episodic in nature like a tantrum.

[glittertigger]

This is what I thought too, but then I also grew up in Leicestershire.