Let´s prepare for the journey - Essex Dialect

So as I mentioned earlier I´m going to Chelmsford in February...
I´m still so excited about that journey and even more because I´ve already been there and even spent long time there... It´s not so usual for me to come back to the places I´ve already been. I´m very curious how will that visit go.

And because I know many things about Chelmsford I wanted to prepare for something different. Something I could learn there. And about that is my today´s post.

Let me introduce you Essex Dialect !! :))

there are some ground rules for using Essex Dialect:

1. The dropping of ‘h’, common in London, but less so in the rural accents of East Anglia (“making ‘aystacks” = making haystacks; “´usband” = husband)
2. The ‘uh’ sound in words like ‘some’ and ‘cup’ pronounced as ‘a’ (“it was a wanderful sight to see” “You go in the pabs and have a good old singsong”)
3. ‘L’ pronounced as ‘ou’ (“The peopou wasn’t really scared” "I was ouways out the front singing songs”)
4. The ‘ow’ of ‘now’, ‘out’ etc pronounced as ‘air’: (“We all tried to swim airt of the h-air-s (house)” “You’d come airt and having summingk to eat”)

And others show more resemblance to Suffolk:

1. The ‘ow’ of ‘now’, ‘out’ etc pronounced as ‘eu’ (“We don’t get nothing of that neu (now)” “We had a pretty good greunding in most things”)
2. The ‘o’ of ‘go’ and ‘load’ pronounced with the ‘oo’ of ‘food’: (“ I know I used to be looded (loaded)”)
3. The dropping of the ‘y’ sound in words like ‘music’ and ‘few’ (“bootiful”).

Notice also:

1. The often criticised glottal stop is well represented in these old recordings from all parts of Essex ( ‘go’ ro’en eggs (got rotten eggs) “The only way to keep cockles is by sal’ing (salting) them”) I totally remember them talking like that!! especially the boy I was looking after...
2. The vowel in words like ‘buy’ and ‘dry’ pronounced as ‘oi’ (“we made ‘em loiter” (lighter)) – this is a feature which makes the Essex accent rather distinct from both London and East Anglia.

source

You can also find something about their Dialect on wikipedia.

And here you can find the whole essex dictionary.

When reading this rules I can see in my head those people talking in that dialect. Everything is coming back to me. Even if I didn´t really care when I was there... except avoiding using "t" in words as the boy was talking.

I also found other 2 websites with different words... you can check them out if you want, I´ll put here some my favourites... :)

afeared = scared
artnoon = afternoon
bange = light rain
barmed up = mud covered
bonkka = very large
four way want = crossroad
Lunnon = London
owd = old
source

donkeys years = long ago
independent = of no occupation, retired
jack in = to give up
ratty = angry
threadle = to thread a needle
wholly = altogether, thoroughly
source

yes, and don´t forget to look at this page... it´s also very funny... some expressions like:

eye-eels = women's shoes (highheels)
OI OI! = Traditional greeting. Often heard from the doorway of pubs or during banging dance tunes at clubs
up tan = the city of London, the big smoke (uptown)

wonnid = 1. Desired, needed. 2. Wanted by the police

zaggerate = to suggest that something is bigger or better than it actually is. (''I told ya a farzzand times already'') (exaggerate)

awss = a four legged animal, on which money is won, or more likely lost (''That awss ya tipped cost me a fiver t'day'') (horse)

alma chizzit = a request to find the cost of an item (how much is it)