The traveller's essential guide to Geordie
Visiting Newcastle upon Tyne for the first time? Brush up on your Geordie lingo and history in our guide.
So you're thinking of taking a trip to Newcastle upon Tyne. Fantastic! There are lots of great reasons to visit – from the fine cuisine to its thriving music scene.
Our city is like no other place on Earth. Some call it a northern powerhouse, thanks to its thriving economy and rich industrial heritage. Others know it as "the jewel of North East England" – such is its special status within our small but perfectly formed corner of the UK.
But ask a local and you're more likely to hear it called "the Toon".
Congratulations. You've just met a Geordie – and you've just heard your first Geordie phrase.
Spend any time in Newcastle and you'll hear a lot more where that came from. Here's how to make sense of it all.
What is Geordie?
A Geordie is a person and a dialect. Some might say it's also a way of life.
A person from Tyneside is called a Geordie. Tyneside is a built-up area close to the mouth of the River Tyne. It includes Newcastle, along with Gateshead, Tynemouth, South Shields and a few other districts.
Not everyone agrees on this definition of "Geordie", though. A Newcastle City Council factsheet delicately notes that "there are various viewpoints", adding "local folklore has it that a Geordie is someone born on the north side of the Tyne within a one-mile radius of Newcastle".
However you define a Geordie, one thing's for sure: Geordies speak Geordie.
The Geordie dialect is one of the most recognisable features of our fair city – and it's part of what makes it so special.
It takes some getting used to, though. Geordie has a reputation for being difficult to understand, even for native Brits – or native northerners, for that matter.
But even if you can't make out all the words, you'll fall in love with it anyway. In 2010, the Geordie accent was
voted the "sexiest in Britain" by fellow Brits – and it consistently places among the top five in similar polls.
Why are Geordies called Geordies?
Nobody knows for sure. But there are a few theories.
The first points back to the 18th-century Jacobite rising, when supporters of James Stuart fought to wrest the throne from King George II. Newcastle and its neighbours were on George's side – and the Jacobites avoided the area like the plague. According to this theory, the Jacobites dubbed us "Geordies" in a nod to our unwavering loyalty to the king.
The second theory has its roots in Tyneside's old mines. Until fairly recently, the local industry was dominated by mining. The early miners, it's said, used a particular brand of lamp designed by railway pioneer George Stephenson. These lamps became known as "Geordies" – and before long, so did the workers who used them.
For the final theory, we turn to the late historian Frank Graham. He believed that "Geordie" originated as an insult, pointing to an 1823 quote from local singer and comedian William Purvis. "Noo yor a fair doon feul, not an artificial feul like Billy Purvis," said the showman. "Thous a real Geordie!"
In true, amiable Geordie fashion, the would-be insult was adopted as a term of endearment – and, if Graham is to be believed, it's stuck around ever since.
Where did the Geordie dialect come from?
Geordie isn't like other dialects. It's unique.
As one language enthusiast
puts it, "[Geordie] is obviously quite different than the English of Southern England. But it is also different from other types of Northern English, to the extent that I would almost leave it out of discussions of Urban Northern dialects entirely. It’s in a category all its own."
Geordie is more than just an accent. It has a rich and varied vocabulary that's all its own. There are enough Geordie words to fill a dictionary – and, indeed, many local dialect experts have
done just that.
Some claim that these linguistic differences go right back to Anglo-Saxon times.
Standard English, it's said, was chiefly influenced by the Saxon invaders, who came from present-day Germany and the Netherlands. But Geordie borrowed much of its words from the Angles, who occupied much of what we now call Denmark.
Proponents of this theory point to startling similarities between Geordie and modern Danish. In Tyneside, we use the word "bairn" to refer to a child, while in Denmark they use "barn". Similarly, while we say "hyem" to mean "home", the Danes say "hjem".
"Out" is "oot" in Geordie and "ud" in Danish. "Flea" is "lop" and "loppe". You get the picture.
There may well be some truth in this assertion – and it's certainly fun to think of Tyneside's residents as living relatives of the Vikings. However, it's more likely that Geordie developed like any other dialect. It was carved into shape, over many centuries, by the character of the place and its people.
So, perhaps the Geordie dialect is so special because the people who speak it are special too. Just a thought.
A quick Geordie cheat sheet
If you want to make the most of your visit to Newcastle, it pays to learn a few common Geordie words and phrases. Here are a few to get you started.
- Whey aye: the quintessential Geordie phrase. It's usually used to show agreement and is roughly analogous to "Of course" in Standard English.
- Howay: "Come on". As in, "Howay man, let's go doon the Toon".
- Haddaway: don't get this confused with "howay". Depending on context, it either means "Go away" or something like "You must be joking". In American English, a rough equivalent would be "Get outta here".
- Canny: the Swiss Army Knife of Geordie vocabulary. "Canny" can mean "good", "tasty", "carefully" or "very", among other things. Compare "He's a canny lad" with "It's canny hard" and "Gan canny" ("Go carefully").
- Bonnie: beautiful or good-looking. As in, "She's a bonnie lass".
- Pet: a term of endearment, like "dear" or "darling".
Now you know the lingo, it's time to get out there and start exploring. Need to
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