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Pier Head Dawn

Once full of ships, now empty except for the Ferries and posh yachts!
Lernin' Yerself Scouse

Updated: 18 May 2007

Part One - Warriz "Scouse?"  (What Is Scouse?)

Many people have visited my site over the past three or more years.  I have had many queries about "exactly what is a scouser" and, from Craig in Houston, "what is Scouse"? So I have decided to redo what used to be on my domain a few months ago; that is, "lernin' about scouse" and the language of the Scouser. Firstly here is Fritz Spiegel's explanation of what scouse actually is, from his mini book (pronounced boook!) entitled Lern Yerself Scouse, published by Scouse Press Liverpool 1984 edition, first published in 1965 at the height of the "Mersey Boom" in the music world. There are many definitive versions of Scouse, as in the food, but this has to be the nearest to "warriz da troof". Ma Boyle's, behind St Nicks Church on the Pier Head, does a lovely Scouse. But it goes quick, so you'd berra leg it if you want some. I also get the odd email about the exact usage of certain werds or phrases. The descriptives below and their meanings are from the 1960 era and before the wars. Certain phrases have come into the modern liverpool like one that was mentioned to me recently "ello darlin' - this is of course "cockney" - which is now officially a dead dialect as those "born in the sound of bow bells", no longer exist as the bells came down years ago. The modern words used in Liverpool are not proper scouse, not for another few decades anyway!! I recently had an email stating that he thought some of the "werds" were a bit dated. True. These are original scouse expressions that survived into the 60s, in the main, and that's the best scouse. Modern day "werds" get lost in translation and some are probably not unique to Liverpool. I actually had an email recently claiming they had never heard of the word "Wack"! I suggest a return to school la, wack was very defo a scouse werd! I got an email today ( June 31st 2006) from "down under" from an ex pat (Pete) who is coming home; this is what he has to say:

I'm a Scouser who has been living Down Under for the last 14 years but my wife and I are planning our return home because our little fella is one hell of a footy player and is aiming to become a pro. I read with interest on your web site about some people who believed "Wack" was not a part of the Scouse dialect. Living and growing up in Liverpool and Huyton during the 50s, 60s and 70s I know for a fact that "Wack" was an integral part of the Scouse dialect. When I was a kid it was deemed a real honour to be called Wack because, as kids, we associated it with being a hard knock. Also, I recall being called "Wacker" on occasion. You may already have heard of this usage and it might be worth mentioning it in future publications. For example, I used to be greeted thus: "Alright, Wacker! 'Ows it goin', Lah?"

Scouse - or to give it its full title, Lobscouse, is of course a food rather than a dialect; it is the native dish of the Liverpudlian, or Scouser.  Scouse is to Liverpool what Bouillabaisse is to Marseilles or Schnitzel is to Vienna. Scouse, unlike most dishes, derived from a place or origin, was born out of abject poverty. A simple stew made from the cheapest cuts of meat, usually mutton, boiled with potatoes and onions. The meat ingredient is optional, without which the Scouse becomes Blind Scouse.  Either kind is eaten with red cabbage pickled in vinegar. However, like the years of poverty, Scouse is now part of the history and the visitor to Liverpool will search in vain for a restaurant that serves Liverpool's own dish, although it is sometimes possible to find Irish Stew, a direct ancestor, on bills of fare.  The author found in a German Cookery Book the following translated recipe.

Labskaus (Sailors dish, original recipe)
Boil a piece of fairly lean salt beef (or equal quantities of beef and ham) till soft and chop it into coarse pieces. Meanwhile boil some potatoes in unsalted water and add a great quantity (!) of small onions which have been braised in butter. Mash all of this together, season with pepper and pour over it enough of the meat stock to produce a mash of soft consistency. This simple dish is extremely tasty and nourishing, especially when taken with pickled cucumber and a glass of beer.

There are several variations of this, in several countries, but this is the nearest and almost certainly arrived in Liverpool on German sailing vessels plying their trade.  However, we may safely conclude that the origin of Scouse is to be found in some ships galley on the high seas, it matters little which nationality, as sailors had a habit of giving international status to their songs, yarns and certainly, their diseases.

Ok - lets start with the lingo.  These are scouse (liverpudlian) phrases and their "Queen's English translation. References in this go back, many to Victorian times. Liverpool was a poor place to live. References to coloured people are neither rascist nor derogatory, it was purely descriptive, Liverpool being one of the original cosmopolitan cities in the whole of the UK. If anyone out der az an update fer me on new werds I wud be ferever grateful! I do not know modernisations like for example - what's scouse for skateboard or mountain bike? This is more by way of a Scouse history lesson than modern equivalents. By history, I mean - pre 70s, before Liverpool had a footy team, apart from Everton. oh and Tranmere Rovers across the river! I support none of these by the way.  Thanks to John Cook for some additions. He disagrees about some but most agree with most, so its not farroff, izit eh la? Its not the definitive list either - many werds are not wrote!

Part Two - Da Werds

Selected Verses from

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyãm (The Rubber Yacht of Omer Kayyam)

Gerrup der la! De knocker-up sleeps light;

Dawn taps yer winder, ends anudder night;

And Lo! The dog-eared moggies from next-door

Tear up the jigger fer an early fight.

Half-dreaming,  half par’latic on me back;

0 Jeez. another day before yiz, Jack;

And groping for de ciggies by me bed

I sought de drag dat frees me from de rack.

De Wend’s just like dat pub in ‘Ackins ‘Ey,

De towels on de taps all bleedin’ day;

Yer time is up before a decent sup

Dat mingy Landlord, late, says: “On yer way”.

Many’s the fella dat I use’ter mug;

Ard cases who could bevvy by the jug.

Dey’ve cadged dere last latch-lifter out a me

And werms live jockey-bar inside dere lug.

So shun de Cokes and join me in de Pub;

But ‘urry, Life is short, aye dere’s the rub.

De Liver Bird’s already on de wing

And Time’s de one thing, mates, yer’ll never sub!

0 Thou who didst wid Threlfalls and wid gin

Allow us all to take life on de chin;

Are you de self-same unrelenting Sod

Who slips us all de final Mickey-Finn?

So come, me mates, and fill yer boots wid Beer;

You may be in Ford Cemetery next year;

Termorrer? Listen La, it never comes,

Let Fally drown yer sorrows, its de gear.

Poor Uncle Tom no longer bears de ‘od,

Unless ee’s still a brickie up wid God;

And Clayballs, Guardian of de Mystery

In Smithie lies, six feet below de sod!

Dey say dat pile a bricks in Calderstones

Was once a Druids doss-house full of thrones;

But dig at around where kids now sport and play

And all you’ll find’s discarded rags and bones.

Alas dat Rose should vanish with me mate

And leave them unpaid bevvies on de slate;

With all dem fag ends, soaked beyond repair

And all dem hours lost though minutes late.

And a lad I seldom went ter school;

Just bare-arsed round de streets of Liverpool.

lost all me coloured ollies down de grid

And skipped de leckies to de stick of Doom!

O Christ I’d pawn me heart in Rotherhams

And even swap de buses for de trams
For a vintage butty spread wid Hartley’s Jam

Or a day at Blackler’s Grotto wid me Mam

O for a cob of chuck beneat de boughs

The Footy Echo an’ a pan of Scouse

A Black & Tan, and Maggie sweatin’ bricks

In Sevvies rough, dats paradise enough

De ref no question makes of rights or wrongs

Just makes de rules up as ‘e goes along.

And many a foul as penalized de weak

While many an offside rule supports de strong.

Life’s like a game of pitch ‘n toss

But youre de mug dats thrown up wid de boss

Its heads a penny, but de ‘ead is yours

Somehow you find dat every call’s a loss

When I was young half of me time was spent

Up jowlers playing ‘ookey wid de rent

Was always skint and found I use’ter go

Down de same jiggers as whereup I went

Dats put der top on ut!

http://www.pettitt.fsnet.co.uk/Dockers%20Nicnames.htm

Got this in an email from ped davis (March 2007) ........... a lady I work with is from Singapore - I heard her on the phone talking to friends speaking what she says is "singlish" - a kind of pigin / dialect. It sounded remarkably like scouse ...no lah, don do dat lah.. etc, with lots of use of the word la. She tells me lah is the way you say a particular chinese punctuation character which gives additional emphasis - a bit like an exclamation mark, but in chinese proper I don't think you actually say it (as we don't say 'exclamation mark'.) I had always thought la was short for lad but this has set me wondering, especially given Liverpools very old Chinese population and the huge trade with places like Singapore and elsewhere in the far east. Perhaps like Scouse itself the expression came out of the ships and the trade, but from a chinese source.