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

Jordi

Yeah, Jordi.
Whenever I see Jean Luc Picard's chum with the Fancy Dan sunglasses, I can hardly control myself.
There seems to be some debate about whether this should apply to any Northumbrian or just to inhabitants of Newcastle on Tyne (locally pronounced NewCASSell) but definitely NOT to inhabitants of County Durham.
You've got yer Tykes from Yorkshire,
Scousers (pronounced Scowssers) from Liverpool,
Brummies from Birmingham,
then further South than that they're all Southern Jessies as far as I'm concerned but Madame Kat may have a different boundary.
There are Wurzels from Somerset,
There is the abbreviation "N.F.N" which is "normal for Norfolk" indicating the none-too-bright offspring from a "particularly close family relationship" said to be prevalent in that county.

These are mostly harmless and can be used by amateurs, apart from "Southern Jessie" which will normally assure you of a ride in an ambulance unless you're a Geordie, in which case your transport will be provided by the local constabulary.

Who's next ...?

Geordies are residents of Newcastle which is in the very far north of England, on the east coast. The name Geordie is pronounce with a soft g as in George. The Geordie accent has to be heard to be believed, being one of the most incomprehensible in the country. For example, the Geordie pronunciation of 'Geordie' is something like 'joe-oo-duh'.

And just down the east coast from Newcastle is Sunderland, on the River Wear. Wearsiders are commonly known as Mackems, NOT geordies, deriving (I think, but am open to debate on this) from the history of shipbuilding on the Wear. "We mackem, others brackem" (We make them, others break them).

Most people, certainly that I have met, in the city of Durham, will describe themselves as either Geordies or Mackems, depending on whether they support Newcastle United or Sunderland respectively.

Other common appellations in the North east that I know of are "Monkey Hangers" for the people of Hartlepool, and "Smogmonsters/Smoggies" for Middlesborough folk. Not sure why though.

Perseus

From a Scottish perspective anyone south of Gretna is a Sassenach (I think comes from Gaelic for Southerner, but not sure), those from Glasgow are Weegies (GlasWEEGIan), from Paisley are Buddies (no idea why, but I am one) and those north of the Highland Line are Teuchters, which is probably something to do with .
Living in Surrey (Home Counties England) as I do at the moment we of the drinking classes refer to those who drive their kids half a mile in a four by four to the school bus, work in the city, own half a million pound houses and vote Tory as Surreyites, but that is more a state of mind which I have met throughout the South, interspersed with some very nice people who get very annoyed at being lumped in geographically with them.
Are you looking for slang names of towns, as well as the people? Like Pompey for Portsmouth?

"Monkey Hanger" comes from a story from the Napoleonic war, when legend has it that locals hanged an escaped monkey, believing it to be a Frenchman.


Hed

The Scottish word Sassenach (meaning an English person) comes from the Gaelic for "Saxon".

And it's similar to that used by the Welsh - Sassenaeg - if I've remembered that correctly.

People from Grimsby (and Cleethorpes) are typically known as "Cod heads" which dates back to when England had a fishing industry. Those from Scunthorpe are known as Scunnies or Schooners.

Scousers are only from Liverpool proper, I've had those from Crosby (I think?) telling me off for that. A real scouser would be from Bootle, an area in central Liverpool.

Manks are from manchester.

Oh, and Tiprats for those living south of the mersey, although I'm unsure of the exact geographical definition (bacause theres large amounts of wasteland and tips there, a highly dderogatory term as I understand it).

My fave scouse term is 'biffa', equivalent of trailer trash or the like which comes from the bin company called Biffa.

Everyone who has a radio or television is a Cockney since the definition is to be born within the sound of Bow Bells

From http://www.electricscotland.com/tourist/sh_700.htm

saxon - sassenach

The origin of the Gaelic word Shasannach is most likely traced to the reign of Maelcon Cean-mor (Malcolm III, cean = head mor = big).

When the Normans invaded England in 1066, most Saxon nobles fled to Scotland where they were welcomed by Malcolm III. (Malcolm Canmore and his brother Donald Bane, instead of being killed by Macbeth, had been simply sent into exile. Malcolm lived in the Saxon court under the protection of Edward, the Confessor.) After Malcolm killed Macbeth, he eventually introduced the Patriarchal system into the method of succession to the throne of Scotland (and used the Saxon language in his royal court). That extinguished the "nation" of Alba, much to the annoyance of the Highland supporters of Macbeth.

Thus, the term for the "Saxon" evolved from the Gaelic Shasannach - into a term for foreigner and southerner (in relation to the Highlanders). The Scots term, sassenach, still retains the definition of "foreigner", but is usually reserved for offensively referring to the Englishmen further south

Children, children:

Fascinating though that may be, remember that T. Revenge asked about "England" not the rag, tag and bobtail (Ooh, have we covered that?) of the Empire. As he is an inhabitant of the colonies himself, I am sure that he does not need these unimportant snippets.
Yours, etc.,
T. Blimp. Colonel (ret'd) 1st Regiment, Royal Foot and Mouth.

The Welsh term is sais.

that's got far too many vowels in it to be welsh!

I always thoght Biffo was "Big ignorant f from Offaly"?

it propably is, hence the 'o' on the end instead of 'a'.

Right! Plaguesville! Uh-huh, yeah.
Anyway, do go on, you lot.
This is very fascinating.
Town nicknames would be wonderful, too.

The hellhole I grew up in was known as Mousetown by those who coul spell.
The hellhole I live in now was once known as Ratsville...
so, as you can see, I am swimming in a dearth of imagination...

Mousetown? Ratsville? Are we neighbours?

probably relatives, too...
knowing where I live...

I've just found out, according to Pheloxi, that 'snot' is a dutch word meaning the same as the english word snot. I can see from various sources that snot in english comes through from middle english 15thC from gesnot OE but not much more. So anyone know if the dutch nicked it from us, we nicked it from them or is this a case on convergent linguistic evolution?