Slanglish Trivia Game | Varieties of English

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Here in the south-west of England we receive many visitors each year, in search of both business and leisure, but mainly those on their summer holidays. In Devon, Dorset and Somerset we have a name for these visitors. SisterSeagull asks you to select this name from the following list.

Answer: Grockle

The term 'Grockle' is often used in the southwest of England as a mildly derogatory term for a tourist or holidaymaker. Some old dictionaries suggest that it might be a West Country dialectic word. Others propose that it originated as a comparison with those old-time, sun-burned tourists who wear baggy clothes and knotted handkerchiefs on their heads, in a similar manner to a performer known as 'Grock', a clown and theatre performer who was something of a celebrity in the early years of the 20th century.

It is now believed that the word 'Grockle' was overheard by a film scriptwriter being used by local people during filming in the Devon resort of Torquay. It was not, and apparently never has been, an old local word - not unless you consider something that came into use as recently as 1964 as old!

2. Never mind the Eskimo's legendary 50 words for snow, the British Isles seem to have managed to find nearly as many just for the humble bread roll. Seurat asks which of these isn't a type of bread roll?

Answer: Jitty

Seurat has tucked into many a cob in the Midlands (and North West) and would be able to try a stottie in the North East and a barm cake in Lancashire. But you'd find little nourishment in a jitty, which is an East Midlands term for an alleyway between houses.

3. Although superhooppete lives in Swindon, Wiltshire, he was born and bred in another English city. He is often called by the slang term Janner by his friends and work mates. Where is he originally from?

Answer: Plymouth

The word 'Janner' is usually heard nowadays to describe anyone from Devon but it was originally a Plymouth term for anyone who hailed from the Devonport area of that city.

4. There are many strange terms associated with sailing, as you may have heard while watching the recent Olympic sailing events which took place around Weymouth and Portland. SisterSeagull asks whether you know what unusual slang term is used by Portlanders to describe someone from the nearby town of Weymouth?

Answer: Kimberlin

In actual fact, the word 'kimberlin' is used by the islanders to describe anyone who is not an islander. It only seems like a term for those from Weymouth as we are so close to them! When the term was first used is lost to antiquity, but those of us from Weymouth don't let the Portlanders have it all their own way as they used to be known to us as 'slingers'. If one wants to really upset the islanders just keep saying the word 'rabbit' loud enough for any of them to hear! And I'm most definitely not saying who some English people refer to as 'Cave-dwellers'!

5. Lil_miss_fickle lives in Lancashire where there is many a comical word in the local dialect. She has been called many things, but has never been described as an "oppenchops". What is an "oppenchops"?

Answer: A gossip

An "oppenchops" is an old Lancashire word for a gossip, and literally means 'open mouth' (or "chops").

6. Your good friend Seurat offers you a 'croggie'. What is it they're offering?

Answer: A lift on their bicycle

Riding two-up on a tatty old bicycle, no helmets, no kneepads - it's a wonder any child in the UK in the seventies survived.

7. "It's taken me ages to find your address, I've been around the 'Wrekin' looking for it", I exclaimed! Sisterseagull asks exactly what is this 'Wrekin' that he'd been around?

Answer: A long, low hill

The term 'All around the Wrekin' is a slang term used frequently in the West Midlands area of England as a metaphor for taking a long time and/or a long journey and can also be used to describe the action of over-explaining something. The Wrekin itself is a prominent feature in the county of Shropshire and lies in an area of outstanding natural beauty a few miles west of the town of Telford.

At a height of 407m or 1,335 feet, the Wrekin is a noticeable feature as you drive along the M54 motorway. Local legend says that the Wrekin is a spadeful of earth that had been dumped there by a giant who was on his way to flood the town of Shrewsbury by dropping the earth in the River Severn but was tricked out of doing so by a local cobbler returning home.

8. Monkey Hangers is a term used to describe the inhabitants of Hartlepool. This led to the local football club calling their mascot H'Angus the Monkey. Which of these events happened to H'Angus in 2002?

Answer: Elected Mayor

H'Angus the Monkey (Stuart Drummond) stood as an Independent candidate and won on a platform which included a promise of free bananas for school children. After the election he stood down as H'Angus and was successfully re-elected mayor in 2005 and 2009.

It was Swansea City's Cyril the Swan who decapitated Millwall's Zampa the Lion, Dunfermline's Sammy the Tammy in the 'tank' and Freddie the Fox, of the Countryside Appreciation Group, who was stripped of victory in the 2001 Mascot Grand National after being unmasked as a former Olympic 400m hurdle semi-finalist.

Oh, and Monkey Hangers... well the term originates from a shipwreck during the Napoleonic Wars when the only survivor was a monkey. Hartlepool residents, supposedly unaware of what a Frenchman looked like, decided that the monkey must be a French spy, sentenced him to death and hung him from the mast of a fishing boat.

9. If you visited Lil_miss_fickle's house in Lancashire and she told you to "put th'wood in'th'ole", what would she be asking you to do?

Answer: Close the door

This is one often heard during the winter months in Lil_miss_fickle's house. Meaning 'Close the door' (put the 'wood' in the 'hole').

10. The skies are darkening overhead. Looks like we might be in for a spot of rain (unusual in England, I know!). So Seurat warns you that "it's a bit black over _______'s Mother's". Whose mother?

Answer: Bill

This warning that a storm is coming is of uncertain provenance (and sometimes occurs with the name Will replacing Bill) and is known throughout England from the South East to the North West and, especially, the Midlands.

Source: Author Lil_Miss_Fickle

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Slanglish Trivia Quiz

This quiz has been served up to you by 'The Full English' team. Test your knowledge of English slang from around the country.

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