h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

God bless the M6 is all I can say! Truthfully though, I remember seeing a survey in which Brum was voted the least desirable place to live in Britain. It even beat your usual Tox-Sides and Brix-Worths that usually spring to mind. I think half of this is due to the fact that The M6 passes through some of the bleakest industrial landscape on earth, and usually very slowly. Nicer areas such as Harborne or, er, other places are often overlooked. Most people see Brum as looking like Aston or Kingstanding. That said, I also recall that women found it to be the sexiest accent. On my part, I have never met a Brummie who is nothing short of good value for money. Great humour, although they coud teach the Scousers a trick or two.

Hey there Chestnut Muzzy where are you from as I live in harborne, & it's not all beautiful, in fact some of it is posatively vile, & it stinks, especially when it rains, but other than that Harbornes great, we've got loads of pubs & some good pizza places, oh yeah & Grove Park

Ah, Harborne. It ain't what it used to be. I was born there and lived there for eighteen years (until the early eighties). It went downhill when it was discovered by the scourge of the mid-eighties, the Yuppie, and the entire High Street became estate agents and building societies. Now it all seems to be restaurants.

Anyway, before the Yuppie scourge it was a place of long golden summers and idyllic suburban life. As an adult, passing through it on my infrequent visits to Birmingham, it all seems so small now!

Anyway, I love this entry. Despite being a born and bred Brummie I have never really acquired the accent, and ten years of living amonst poncy Southerners has eliminated most of what was there. Oh well.

To finish, are there any Brummie dialect words worthy of inclusion in this piece? The only one I can think of is 'bostin'.

ive lived there all my life, & ur right, it has changed, mostely for the worse

My Nan's a Brummie and she says that "tart" is a perfectly acceptable alternative word for "girlfriend" in Brummie and that "miskin" is Brummie for "dustbin".

tho most of d gals round ere r tarts i wud (& do) object if i'm calld one!

omy