Transcript of Premium Bonus 046 - Transcript

Charlie:
Hello and welcome to another episode of the British English podcast. I'm Charlie, your guide on this linguistic journey, and this week we'll be exploring the dialect and culture of a vibrant pocket of the UK. And within that pocket there lies a city that, depending on who you ask, proudly stands as one of the top three largest in the country, boasting a population of over 1 million diverse humans. There's no shortage of linguistic quirks and cultural treats to discover and to ensure we have an authentic tour. I've persuaded a bona fide local to join us and shine a light on the city's unique characteristics. Our guests are charming. Brummie lass named Jess will be educating us on all things Brummie. Now, I must confess, though, my preliminary research may not quite do justice to the rich culture and language of this part of the country, So Jess will likely be setting me straight, dispelling any misconceptions and giving us a true feel for her hometown. And if we're fortunate, she'll share her personal experiences of growing up there and offering her perspective on the topics we delve into today. Without further ado, let's extend a warm welcome to Jess. Hello, Jess. How are you?

Jess:
Hello, Charlie. Very well, thank you.

Charlie:
Thank you very much for taking the time out of your precious holiday to do this with me.

Jess:
Very welcome.

Charlie:
Would you mind telling the listeners where we are and even why we know each other and what we're doing here?

Jess:
We are in Cornwall, enjoying a lovely family holiday and we know each other because we have joined the same Benson family.

Charlie:
Yes, exactly. I'm soon to join. Pretty much a month. Yeah.

Jess:
Yeah. Seriously, Join. [Seriously join] But No going back.

Charlie:
No going back at all. No.

Jess:
I've still got time to go back.

Charlie:
You have.

Jess:
I might after this holiday.

Charlie:
It's been a fun one, actually. [No, it has. We've had a really fun time] Your partner is brother to my partner?

Jess:
Yes, my partner is Ashley. Stacey's brother. Yes.

Charlie:
And so we will be brother and sister-in-law. Or do we not have a label for that?

Jess:
So you will be Ashley's brother-in-law and I will be Stacey's sister-in-law. But I feel like we're nothing to each other. I don't know. I don't know how.

Charlie:
I think you're right. I think you're right. But we are joined one way or another. And you have agreed to do this with me.

Jess:
I suppose my kids see you as their uncle. [Okay.] You're something to my children [something to your children, not you. Yeah].

Charlie:
Other than being family. You are from Birmingham. [I am from Birmingham.] From Birmingham. [Born and bred] Born and bred. And I said Brummie. [Yeah.] A second ago. [Yeah.] How do you feel about that word? Brummie?

Charlie:
Before you begin, I'd like to let you know that we now have an official app released for the British English podcast. You can now listen to this podcast on the new app and get all of the learning resources along with it. And for those of you who are just listening on your favourite podcast app, then I've got a present for you. Download the app, sign up to the course called Free Podcast Worksheets and you will find every single episode available for you to listen to along with the free worksheet for that episode. A huge resource right there waiting for you to enjoy. So go download it right now at your app store, either by typing in BEP, BEP or the British English Podcast. Links are also in the show notes. Enjoy this episode. Is it a friendly term and is it accurate to mean Birmingham?

Jess:
Yeah, I think it is accurate to Birmingham and. Brummie is... It's one of those things I would have hated being known as a Brummie a few years back because of how the accent is and because of how people portray the accent, I think. But now I am really proud to be a Brummie. I'm proud to come from Birmingham.

Charlie:
Let's go with that. What you assume the stereotype of other people thinking inwardly.

Jess:
Yeah, so I think.

Jess:
I actually don't like the accent. I don't like it when I hear the accent. For example, Peaky Blinders. [Good show.] Yeah. Very good. But when I first started watching it, it kind of made me cringe a little bit because I could tell that people were putting on the accent. But also I don't like to listen to the accent. [Okay] But I didn't then. But now I really like it when I hear the Birmingham accent and I like it. I like being from Birmingham. [Nice] I like my accent now.

Charlie:
Was that just your age?

Jess:
Yeah, definitely. And where I live now and buyin' from local Birmingham businesses and meetin' and got my 'yes bab' top on now yes. So yeah.

Charlie:
I've got a sentence that I wanted to say at the beginning here. Okay, let's see how it works. I'm not going to put on an accent, obviously. [Go on then] But I'm going to say a few words and see if you think they're good. After waggin' it for the day, our kid decided to spend the day in the park having a bostin' time doing gambols on the grass whilst watching out for his babby brother. Is that misrepresenting brummies in the language?

Jess:
Yeah. No. Well, it's difficult for me to say really, because a lot of those words were black country and I've been brought up by two black country parents. Although I've spent the majority of my life living in Birmingham. Black country is more of the Waggin' it. I'd say Gambol's Birmingham Black country Babby is definitely black country. [right] Definitely black country.

Charlie:
Okay. And let's go there. What is black country?

Jess:
So Black country. You can't ever tell somebody from the black country that they're a Brummie and vice versa, because they would get very offended, but they're just kind of areas that [are] close to Birmingham, for example, you've got West Brom or well, West Bromwich, Smethwick, Dudley.

Charlie:
I've heard Dudley in the definitions, but I don't know.

Jess:
I don't know whether you'd be proud to come from Dudley. Some people might be proud to come from Dudley. Actually, that's probably quite offensive what I've just said that there.

Charlie:
What about Wolverhampton? Is that part of black country? Yeah. Is it THE Black country?

Jess:
If we were talking to my dad now, he would absolutely say not. Because he's Smethwick.

Charlie:
Okay. What does Smethwick mean?

Jess:
Smethwick is an area where my family are from. So that's black country. Say, let's go with council. So that's under Sandwell Council, right? That's Smethwick.

Charlie:
Okay. But for the non-native coming to the UK, Birmingham, the city,

Jess:
Birmingham is the city. And then it's got it's like outer areas which still come into Birmingham. So we live in Harborne, that's Birmingham. And then you've got like Sutton Coldfield, where else? Erdington.

Charlie:
But the general area is northwest of Birmingham that's black country.

Jess:
Charlie, I have no idea about geography. I do not know [okay] at all.

Charlie:
But it's kind of west of Birmingham I think.

Jess:
I'm going to go with that. Yeah, because it sounds like you know what you're talking about more than what I do.

Charlie:
It's actually because Ashley briefed me for a moment. Okay, so it's not important to you where they're from on a compass. No, it's just how they sound. Yeah. And so the term 'yam yam'.

Jess:
Yam, yam is definitely black country. That's not Brummie. So you're either a Brummie or you're a yam yam.

Charlie:
Right. Okay. [Okay] And again, yam yam, is that a friendly term that somebody else could use?

Jess:
Maybe. I suppose it depends on how the person receives it. If you wasn't sure and then I definitely wouldn't wouldn't say it. However, everybody that I know, that's a yam yam. I felt comfortable calling them a yam, yam and not. I think I'm the kind of person that would not want to offend people.

Charlie:
Yeah. No. Yeah you're that type of person. Yeah.

Jess:
Yeah that's good.

Charlie:
Apart from the Dudley.

Jess:
Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, Dudley.

Charlie:
Let's go back to your identity towards Birmingham. When you were growing up, did you feel like Birmingham was portrayed in a positive or a negative way to outside of Birmingham?

Jess:
I probably didn't know any difference because we didn't really have a world of social media growing up. So I didn't. Yeah, I was probably very naive to it and didn't really it wasn't anything that crossed my mind. It was only things like Instagram and Facebook and things like that and Twitter that where you'd see like the memes or, or even sometimes on the telly, like the Birmingham accent being portrayed as it was always somebody that was quite stupid and quite didn't really know what they were talking about or things like that. So that's what kind of made me think, Oh God, I don't want to speak like this anymore. [Right]

Charlie:
I have a friend who we met in Germany and he was from Birmingham and he was quite high up in corporate and he decided to drop his Birmingham accent.

Jess:
Yeah, a lot of people do that. {Do they?} Yeah.

Charlie:
Really? Even now?

Jess:
Yeah, I think so. Definitely. I don't think my accent is as strong as what it was before I met Ash. Right. It was definitely stronger then. But I also think Ash is now basically a Brummie. So I think we've kind of met in the middle.

Charlie:
Yeah. A Venn diagram of 'Brumminess'. Did you have an opinion of outside of Birmingham, like from London?

Jess:
No, not really. My sister lived in Spain for a little bit and had, well she lived in Spain for quite a while actually, and all of her friends were from down south, so they all had like her one best friend from Kent. The other one was from Essex. So I really loved the accent. I think because I was so young when I used to visit her, I'd go and... like I'd be with her friends all the time. I used to try and copy how they would speak when I was little, when I was. And, you know, when like you play with your friends, when you're I don't know how old you are when you play with your friends and you make up these games. I would always put that accent on as if I was from Essex or Kent. [Essex?] They're the two people yeah.

Charlie:
Right. I see.

Jess:
Yeah. And also my sister has completely lost her accent, especially when she moved back from Spain. She sounded like she was from London. So I think she.

Charlie:
Has she got a partner from there?

Jess:
No, not now. Her partner's from Smethwick, so she sometimes gets her accent back. When she's had a drink, she turns into somebody from London.

Charlie:
I was going to ask when you have a drink.

Jess:
I don't know whether I'm.

Charlie:
What about when you're around your home friends?

Jess:
If I'm around family mainly my, I'd probably say more yam yam comes out. It would be things like 'ayit?'. And then when I'm with my friends, because all my friends are from Birmingham, it's probably more like 'ennit'.

Charlie:
As in.

Jess:
E N N I T.

Charlie:
Okay. And that is what I would say 'innit'. [Yeah] But as in that's just a term to agree with something.

Jess:
That's it. Ennit it over there. [Yeah] See that thing over there. Yeah. That's it. Ennit? [Innit] Yeah. Yeah.

Charlie:
What's the difference in black country?

Jess:
Ayit? [ayit?] Yeah.

Charlie:
That's quite different.

Jess:
Yeah it is. "tis ayit'.

Charlie:
'tis ayit. Okay. I wanted to touch on what you think Birmingham is today and what it was when you were younger. You grew up in Birmingham, you went to school there. [Yeah] Let's talk about the demographic. What do you think the demographic was like back then and what's it like now? Has it changed much?

Jess:
No, I don't think so. No, I probably wasn't more aware of it growing up. I think I might have lived in my own little world, actually. Now. Now we're talking about this. I feel like I didn't have an opinion on a lot of things growing up.

Charlie:
What about ethnicity? Was it mainly white people in Birmingham?

Jess:
No.

Charlie:
So can you speak to that?

Jess:
Yeah, like my school was in Sutton Coldfield and it was a very diverse population in my school. It was definitely a mix of people. There was never more white people in my class. There was never more black people in the class. I feel like that's done good for me being an adult as well because I feel like I've got an understanding of different cultures growing up with people from different backgrounds and ethnicities. I've always had an interest of how other people live because of it and beliefs and the reasons why they believe the things they do and things like Ramadan and things. I feel like I have an understanding of it.

Charlie:
Yeah, that's lovely because I grew up in a very white area. I think I statistics in Surrey it was 90% of the population identified as white British, whereas in Birmingham around 2021 it says this was white was 57% Asian, 26 black 8.9, mixed 4.4, [Black 8.9?]. Do you feel like there's more black people in Birmingham that?

Jess:
100% But I don't know whether. What about mixed is that on there?

Charlie:
Mixed is on there around 4.4%.

Jess:
Yeah see that seems really low to me.

Charlie:
I've always assumed that there's a lot of Asian people in Birmingham.

Jess:
Yeah, there are a lot of Asian people. Yeah, definitely a lot of black people. Definitely a lot of mixed people. I feel like it's obviously a very heavily populated city. But yeah, that that shocked me, that. How many white people did you say in Birmingham?

Charlie:
Yeah, 57%.

Jess:
Wow.

Charlie:
You think that's too high?

Jess:
Yeah, I think that's a lot.

Charlie:
So you don't think there was over 50% white people in your class?

Jess:
Probably not, no.

Charlie:
Have you spent much time abroad?

Jess:
Not really. I mean, I lived in Spain for a little bit, but holidaying when I was younger would just be like in Wales or places like that. And then the first time I went on a plane was to move to a different country. [Oh, wow] Yeah. So I think I was like 9 or 10.

Charlie:
Okay. And you lived in Spain?

Jess:
Lived in Spain. Yeah. [Okay] Only for a year.

Charlie:
Did that.. I suppose that's quite young to ask you this question, but did that make you appreciate being from Birmingham?

Jess:
I remember not wanting to go. I remember I was like, No, no. Like I can't move to a whole different country, my friends. But I think that was just like being young and having something different. But then I also remember mum saying that we were coming back and not wanting to come back. Probably didn't, didn't even think about Birmingham or cities or anything like that. Yeah. To be fair.

Charlie:
Yeah. I don't think I would have. Did you learn any Spanish?

Jess:
Yeah, I was fluent in Spanish by the time we left. [Have you got any left?] Absolutely not. Other than Hola. Gracias. Como estás? So basically fluent then yeah. Three things.

Charlie:
You were fluent. [Yeah]

Jess:
Had to go because I went to a Spanish school. I had no choice but to learn the language. George, my little brother, who was four at the time. Yeah. So I would have been ten. George, like, went to nursery there and picked it up literally within a few months.

Charlie:
Wow. God, that makes me envious.

Jess:
Yeah, because you don't get spoken to in any... you've got no choice either understand or don't. But I think kids, when you're younger you do pick it up easier, don't you? [Yes]

Charlie:
And you've got a lot of time to listen. Yeah. You're not forced to respond and tell your deep thoughts.

Jess:
Everybody does speak English, don't they? Like in the world, wherever you go, even if it's just thank you. But like English, people are quite ignorant and expect everybody to know English. So like some of the teachers would able to go. Hello, Jessica. They called me Jessica. Hello. So, like, I felt a bit comfortable there, I suppose.

Charlie:
The little things. Yeah. We are arrogant. I heard recently that. Were we together when I heard this? Nike even kept their slogan in English around the world. Just do it. Like most brands change their slogan.

Jess:
Really? I didn't know.

Charlie:
But apparently they were like, I think everyone's got this. Just do it.

Jess:
That's so rude.

Charlie:
It shows that it's a global language, right? [Yeah] I wanted to ask this question before moving on to another bit. Are there any misconceptions about Birmingham or its people that you'd like to correct?

Jess:
Are there any misconceptions? I feel like I need to like say something here for the people of Birmingham, but I actually don't know. It's probably the Yamyam and the Brummie thing. Like they are two completely different things and unless you speak to a Yamyam or a Brummie, the difference.. or know one, you're not going to know the difference. People will say, This is a classic thing. If I said to somebody that's never met somebody from Birmingham in their life, Oh yeah, I'm from Birmingham, and they go, Oh, I'm a Brummie, Oh, you're a brummie are ya? And it's like, well, no, that's not how people from Birmingham talk. [okay] That's how people from the black country talk.

Charlie:
Aha. Okay. So it's a thicker, stronger accent to a non-local.

Jess:
Somebody that's truly from the black country. Even I wouldn't understand them, even though they're speaking English. Like it's really hard to.

Charlie:
Yeah, you sent me a couple of recordings of your dad. [Yeah] And that was quite hard for me. [Yeah] Was he putting that on a bit?

Jess:
Yeah. Like, he doesn't talk like that in everyday life. I don't know whether he talks like me or not. Probably not.

Charlie:
I can't remember. I felt like he was [just normal] Yeah. But yeah.

Jess:
Like. all right, Bab.

Charlie:
Okay. And bab. What does that mean?

Jess:
Bab. It's like, affectionate to like. [Darling, babe] babe, babe, babe.

Charlie:
Yeah. Okay.

Jess:
It's different to babby.

Charlie:
What's babby?

Jess:
Babby is baby or child, like could say to you, Oh, could you just pick the babby up from school for me?

Charlie:
Okay.

Jess:
Some people would say, Can you just pick the bab up? But it's more affectionate. Like I would say to Ash, Thanks bab, but I wouldn't say thanks babby.

Charlie:
Yeah, you wouldn't say. Can you just pick the darling up from school? But you'd say thanks, darling.

Jess:
Never in a million years. [Yeah]

Charlie:
So it's a similar comparison, I'd say.

Jess:
I suppose some people would say, Could you just pick our little darling bundle of joy up from school. But that isn't me as a parent, I'm afraid.

Charlie:
I'm going to hit you with some history now. Try not to fall asleep. [Okay]. So the Internet tells me that Birmingham holds great historical significance for the UK due to its role in the Industrial Revolution and beyond. And I wanted to read out some key points to see if you were made aware of this as a kid. [Okay] And if you can still see how it impacts the Now. To be clear for the listener, when I say the Industrial Revolution, I'm meaning a major turning point in human, social and economic history. As industry and machine manufacturing took over from traditional agriculture and manual labour predominantly in the 18th and 19th centuries. Birmingham was one of the key centers of the industrial revolution. The city was renowned for its production of metal goods known as Brummagem Ware.

Jess:
Wow.

Charlie:
It was also a leader in the development of scientific, technological and manufacturing innovations. My question there, not to recite anything, but was this drummed into you as a kid? Is it part of the identity of a of a somebody from Birmingham?

Jess:
Kind of. I mean, I am glad you did the definition there because it's something that I've always heard and knew that it existed. But we've got the Black Country Museum, which is all about that.

Charlie:
The black country. [Yeah] I read.. Correct me if I'm wrong, if you remember, I read it comes from the fact that there was so much sea smoke.

Jess:
So yeah. Smog.

Charlie:
Smog.

Jess:
That's the word for it - smog.

Charlie:
From all of the factories.

Jess:
From all the factories. Yeah.

Charlie:
In the 18th and 19th century. So Birmingham looked over and they saw the black smog.

Jess:
Because it's where all the factories are from. That sounds familiar to me. That story does. [Yeah. Okay.] And if it's not right, it sounds good. So we'll go along with it. But I think it is right.

Charlie:
And I also heard I don't know if this will upset you, but Brummie comes from what I've just said, Brummagem like Brummagem Ware and Brummagem is etymology of it I think comes from fake. Right?

Jess:
Really?

Charlie:
Apparently London and Birmingham were competing as the like, most productive in this period. [Wow] And Londoners were trying to talk down on Birmingham people from Birmingham and all the goods.

Jess:
I can imagine that.

Charlie:
And so they would say, oh, it's not from London, it's fake.

Jess:
Like people would say, things are from Turkey now.

Charlie:
Yeah. Did you get that from Turkey?

Jess:
Yeah. Is it a Turkey special? Got your Turkey teeth. Sorry. Everybody from Turkey.

Charlie:
Yeah. There's going to be a few listeners. So that is from when we go on holiday. As Brits, we go to these resorts or these areas in Turkey and there's loads of shops with lots of fake high-end merchandise.

Jess:
But almost like identical apparently. [Yeah?] I wouldn't know. I've never been to Turkey or bought anything from there, but people have told me that it's very, very good to buy fake things from Turkey. [Okay] So I'm guessing that's what it was like to be Birmingham back in the day.

Charlie:
I think I've actually bought one from there.

Jess:
Oh.

Charlie:
When I was young. Very young.

Jess:
Yeah. Save yourself.

Charlie:
Yeah. And it was instead of Abercrombie and Fitch, it was Apple crumble and fish.

Jess:
Is that a joke?

Charlie:
Well, yeah, it was [oh okay] but it was real.

Jess:
Oh, no. This is a true story.

Charlie:
It was a true story.

Jess:
Oh okay.

Charlie:
It's a real t-shirt. I felt proud of that then. [Yeah] Thoughts?

Jess:
I've just got very confused in that whole situation. I didn't know whether you was telling me a joke and that was like a joke. So. But this actually happened in real life.

Charlie:
It actually happened in real. I went to Turkey. I really liked Abercrombie and Fitch. [Yeah] And I found a t-shirt.

Jess:
Is that because Stacey worked there?

Charlie:
No, it wasn't. This was 15 years. No, ten years before.

Jess:
This is what we call fate. You brought the fake T-shirt, and here you are.

Charlie:
Okay, let's move on to the thing that you're waiting for. Inventions of Birmingham.

Jess:
Wow.

Charlie:
Birmingham was home to many significant inventors. James Watt developed [the light bulb?] Um, it's saying steam engines. Oh, wasn't that Thomas Edison? [That was it]

Charlie:
Let's keep that in. So, James Watt.

Jess:
Because a watt. I thought of Watts.

Charlie:
I see. Fair enough. Okay. James Watt developed crucial improvements to the steam engine in Birmingham.

Jess:
Ok. Well done James.

Charlie:
Well done, James. Mr. Watt. Joseph Priestley, who discovered Oxygen, also lived in Birmingham.

Jess:
He discovered oxygen.

Charlie:
Oxygen was discovered.

Jess:
In Birmingham.

Charlie:
In Birmingham.

Jess:
And London were trying to say that we were the fakest. I think London need to move over. Because we're keeping us alive right now. The whole world.

Charlie:
I don't know if he discovered how we breathe, but yeah.

Jess:
He discovered oxygen. He's pretty badass.

Charlie:
The photocopier was also apparently invented in Birmingham.

Jess:
Who doesn't need a photocopier in their life? Yeah, I've got one. [Have you?] I have got one at home. Yeah. Never use it, but I've got one.

Charlie:
Okay. Do you use a whistle?

Jess:
No, but I could.

Charlie:
The next comma. William Murdoch, a Scottish engineer who moved to Birmingham, invented gas lighting.

Jess:
Wow.

Jess:
Gas lighting as in modern-day gas-lighting, as in. Oh, my God, you're a gas-lighter. Stop gas-lighting.

Charlie:
Whoa, whoa, whoa. We need to explain everything that's just happened. So gas lighting. The old one is literally using gas and creating light from the gas.

Jess:
So a flame like a lighter.

Charlie:
Yes. And now you're going 200 years ahead maybe. [Okay] And you're talking about what? [Gas lighting] Which is?

Jess:
I actually don't know whether I'm going to explain this. Right. But I feel like it's when you're portraying somebody, you're trying to, like, be nice about something, but you're gaslighting them so you're making.

Charlie:
..try not to use the phrase in the definition.

Jess:
Oh, God, Charlie, I'm no good at that. Do you know what gaslighting is to explain it in a better way?

Charlie:
I'm not great at it.

Jess:
I'm just going to quickly Google it for a good definition because I feel like I'm not going to.

Charlie:
Is it like brown-nosing?

Jess:
No, it's definitely gas. Lighting is a bad, bad thing.

Charlie:
Well, brown-nosing is not good.

Jess:
Yeah, but it's like brown-nosing. You're doing it to try and be nice, aren't you?

Charlie:
Okay, I've got it here.

Jess:
Gas lighting is the subjective experience in which an individual's perception of reality is repeatedly undermined or questioned by another person.

Charlie:
I don't understand that.

Jess:
I have no idea what that means either. Hold on.

Charlie:
What about this one? Gaslighting is a manipulative tactic in which a person to gain power and control of another individual plants seeds of uncertainty in another person's mind.

Jess:
So you're saying things in a positive way, but actually, you're just being an arsehole.

Charlie:
Oh.

Jess:
Like you're being very manipulative, but in a bit narcissistic or . [right] What is an example of gaslighting? Gaslighting parents will blatantly lie about certain situations. For example, they might insist they never said something or that the child is making things up. So, for example, it's if I say to my 11-year-old, yes, she can go to the park later and then later comes and nobody can be bothered to take them to the park. And then you say, Oh, no, I never said that. No, you must have made that up. No, I never said that.

Charlie:
Oh, that's mean.

Jess:
Isn't it? I'd never do that.

Charlie:
Okay. I just put in gaslighting in a sentence and it's talking about Birmingham's role in the Industrial Revolution. Okay, nice. So that's a term that.

Jess:
Yeah, I think it's a fairly new term.

Charlie:
Yeah, it's a very new term.

Jess:
People probably have their own perceptions of what it means. Yeah, but that's ours now because we've just googled it and Google is always right.

Charlie:
It is. Are you proud of those inventions? There was one more. [Oh, go on] Maybe two. [go on] The mini car.

Jess:
Yes, that's a good one. I've actually got a mini.

Charlie:
Is that because of that?

Jess:
Because of it yeah.

Charlie:
And do you also own custard powder?

Jess:
Probably in the cupboard. I'm not a very good.. I don't really cook anything or make anything, but Ash probably has custard powder.

Charlie:
Okay. I think you probably just have to add water. Dunno. I don't even know we're the wrong people to talk about this.

Jess:
I'd probably say milk.

Charlie:
Are you happy with all of them coming from your hometown?

Jess:
Yeah, I'm very proud of all of that.

Charlie:
Yeah. Most proud?

Jess:
Oxygen.

Charlie:
Oxygen. Not the light bulb.

Jess:
No, because I got that wrong.

Charlie:
So are you happy with those? [Yeah] We're going to go on a few more, but then we'll move on. City of a thousand trades - it's also known as. [Wow] This nickname for Birmingham speaks to its immense diversity of industries, from jewellery to vehicles, from metalwork to toys, the city produced a wide range of goods. Is that still currently true?

Charlie:
We have come to the end of part one, so feel free to take a break from your listening practice, but if you're happy to keep going, then we're now moving on to part two of this episode. Thanks so much for being a premium or Academy member and enjoy the rest of the show.

Jess:
Well, we have the jewellery quarter.

Charlie:
I was going to bring that up. Yes. Okay. No. Yeah.

Jess:
The jewellery quarter is a good place to be in Birmingham.

Charlie:
And that reflects the fact that they made a lot of jewellery and still do.

Jess:
And gold. Well, I suppose gold is jewellery, but that's where people would go to buy [Right] all their gold.

Charlie:
Okay. If you're wanting any gold in the UK.

Jess:
Go to the jewellery quarter in Birmingham. Not London. Ha!

Charlie:
Get your fake. [ha ha London!]

Charlie:
Get your fake gold.

Jess:
No real gold in Birmingham.

Charlie:
And during the Second World War, Birmingham's industrial capacity was crucial to the war effort, producing weapons, vehicles and other equipment. However, this also made it a target for bombing raids, which caused significant damage and loss of life.

Jess:
That's really annoying.

Charlie:
This also led to significant reconstruction and development emerging as a modern, diverse city.

Jess:
Wow.

Charlie:
Would you agree that it's a modern, diverse city?

Jess:
I absolutely would agree that it's a modern diversity.

Charlie:
And it's had lots of culture pre and post-war in terms of figures from literature, music and art, like.

Jess:
Ozzy Osbourne.

Charlie:
Ozzy Osbourne. That's on my list.

Jess:
Is it?

Charlie:
Yeah. What about the author.. [UB-40?] Ub40 is on there. Very good.

Jess:
I could have just written all this for you, couldn't I?

Charlie:
Got any more? [No]

Jess:
Duran Duran? [Didn't know that]

Charlie:
Okay. I don't know any of those artists.

Jess:
Go on, tell me. [David Cox] never heard of him.

Charlie:
I actually have heard of Him.

Jess:
I have. But I don't think he's a famous person. I just think he's somebody that used to work in an office where I used to work.

Charlie:
Lee Child as a writer? [No] Have you not seen those books on the shelf?

Jess:
No.

Charlie:
All those sort of fiction. Lee Child! Very big in the airport. [it doesn't matter how you say it] It was very big font.

Jess:
No.

Charlie:
Look out for it next time you go on an airplane - Tolkien. The Hobbit. Lord of the Rings.

Jess:
The Hobbit. Yeah, I've heard of that. Never read it.

Charlie:
Glad you heard of it. And reportedly inspired by the city's landscape when creating The Shire in The Hobbit.

Jess:
Really. Don't know what The Shire is.

Charlie:
Okay. Yes, fair enough. All right, let's go on to cuisine.

Jess:
Okay.

Charlie:
Lots there, [would] you say?

Jess:
I would say so, yeah.

Charlie:
Never going hungry in Birmingham?

Jess:
Never going hungry in Birmingham. There's always something to eat. I am definitely a fussy eater. And it's only been since I've been with Ash that I would expand. He broadened my culinary horizons. Is that right? Is that the right way to say it?

Charlie:
Beautiful.

Jess:
I've always just stuck to what I know. And there's certain things like chippies, chip shops, which is a chippy. If I didn't like the look of it, I absolutely would never eat in there. [Oh] Whereas, Ash would, the dirtier the better. If it looks disgusting, he'll go in there and eat.

Charlie:
Right. Surely there's a cut-off point though.

Jess:
Yeah. My cut-off point is quite high. Ash's isn't.

Charlie:
I'm surprised by that with Ash. Like, I know he knows his food, but he's quite fussy with visual things.

Jess:
He is, isn't he? But then there's one chippy, and I'm not going to name names that I think is disgusting. And if he ever listened to this, he will know exactly what I mean. And he loves it. And so does Miles. And they make me sick. I'd never eat from there.

Charlie:
You've just labeled two differences in our accent. Disgusting, [disgusting]

Charlie:
And the other one's gone.. Sick. No.

Jess:
Make me sick.

Charlie:
Yeah, Sick, I say sick.

Jess:
Sick. [Sick]

Jess:
How are we saying that different?

Charlie:
Your vowel is a bit more sick. [Sick] Sick. I'm sick. It's higher up in the mouth.

Charlie:
Sick. Yours goes down.

Jess:
You make me Sick.

Charlie:
You're so disgusting. You make me sick.

Jess:
You're so disgusting. You make me sick.

Charlie:
That's a lovely sentence to say to each other. So loads of food. There's chippies.

Jess:
Chippies, curries. [I was going to say curries]

Jess:
Yeah. Curry. You've got the Balti triangle. Did you know the Balti was created? Now, this could be a lie because I've heard it from Ash and I don't know whether he was just making this up to woo me. The Balti was created in Birmingham and that's why we have the Balti triangle.

Charlie:
No. I think that's absolutely spot on.

Jess:
Is it? [Yeah]

Jess:
So he wasn't lying then.

Charlie:
Birmingham is known as the birthplace of the Balti, a type of curry dish cooked in a Balti bowl(?).

Jess:
And I think it's because somebody went in there and asked for something that didn't exist to do with tomatoes or something. Do you know the story behind it?

Charlie:
I don't.

Jess:
Neither do I. I'm not even going to try and explain. Yeah, but I did know. Yeah, I should have listened more to Ash.

Charlie:
I should probably get Ash in here, shouldn't we? Yeah. It was created by Pakistani immigrants and is a staple in Balti houses. So Balti houses means curry house. Curry house? Yeah. Are they completely interchangeable terms? Like..

Jess:
I think so. Although I do hate it when I go to somewhere. Like, did we go out for a curry in Ludlow And they didn't have Balti?

Charlie:
Yes.

Jess:
And I was like, Well, what do I have? Because there's not Balti on here.

Charlie:
Ah, so it's a Birmingham thing.

Jess:
They're from Birmingham as well, where we went. I'm sure they were. [Oh] Yeah. [Okay]

Jess:
Which is a bit annoying. I get really confused eating curries with other people that aren't from Birmingham.

Charlie:
Yeah, it does say here a Balti house is a type of eatery unique to Birmingham.

Jess:
Yeah.

Charlie:
Okay. So they've got Michelin-star restaurants. Cadbury Chocolate.

Jess:
Cadbury World. [Cadbury World]

Jess:
Oh, my God. That is somewhere. You've just triggered something in me for me to to take you and Stacie to Cadbury world because I feel like you would love it. It's an experience.

Charlie:
So is there a river of chocolate? [Yeah] There is!? [Yeah]

Charlie:
Oh, I really want to go.

Jess:
And you can, like, write your... You make your own chocolate and then you go there's like a... Actually I haven't been in quite a while, probably ten years. But the last time I went there was like a four... Is it a 4D cinema when things.

Charlie:
Yes.

Jess:
Come out at you?

Charlie:
3. 3D. No, no. 4D?

Jess:
No 4d is when you can feel the things.

Charlie:
Yes. Four D, Yes. Yeah. Like Thorpe Park has a 4D Cinema. Yes.

Jess:
There was things like that there and all like my biggest memory of it and the best thing about Cadbury world is you get so much chocolate for free or for really cheap. And the best thing about being a real Brummie is you will always know somebody that worked or still works in Cadbury world and gets loads of free chocolate, just bags and bags, clear plastic bags of Freddos and things like that.

Charlie:
So I can imagine Halloween is a good haul [yeah] for a Brummie if you know the right people to go and trick or treat.

Jess:
If you know the right doors to knock on.

Charlie:
Cadbury; World Street food and food festivals.

Jess:
Yeah, we've got good ones of those.

Charlie:
And then how about the vegan and vegetarian cuisine? Is there a lot of that? Or same as what you would see everywhere else?

Jess:
I think the whole UK is getting better with vegan and vegetarian. I'm not vegan or vegetarian, so you can't really I probably wouldn't opt for vegan or vegetarian food. [Okay.] Although I do like to try, but when I'm out I wouldn't so yeah, I couldn't, I don't think I could possibly comment.

Charlie:
I haven't seen you drink too much of this, but maybe through ash, you know, craft beer?

Jess:
Yeah. Craft beer is good. Yeah. I nearly said craft then. Because you say craft.

Charlie:
I think I said a word earlier that was more your accent.

Jess:
Really? What one?

Charlie:
I can't remember. But it was the.. I think it was the 'a' like the the difference between [Ay?]

Charlie:
No as in like I was about to say have how do you say 'have'?

Jess:
Have, ay!

Charlie:
No as in the 'a' in like Grass.

Jess:
Oh like Glass, Bath?

Charlie:
Like what I just said Craft. You say Craft.

Jess:
The right way to say it.

Charlie:
No comment. OK, so loads of food melting pot of cultures and tastes. Lovely stuff. All right, let's move on to accents now a bit more formally. I'm going to say a sentence and then I'd like you to try and insert the cultural reference point if possible. [Okay] And your Birmingham way of saying it. So if I was to say I'm going to the shopping center to do some shopping, do you fancy coming? What would you potentially say?

Jess:
I'm off to The Bullring to do some shopping. Fancy coming?

Charlie:
Nice. Do you have a lighter, love?

Jess:
Got a light bab?

Charlie:
It's great down at the pub tonight, mate, you should come in.

Jess:
Bostin' down the pub tonight, bab, you should pop in!

Charlie:
Nice. This is obviously us playing around with it, but do you think you would actually say that?

Jess:
So Bostin would be more of the black country. Pop in, definitely. 100%. Say all the time to my sister or to my mum or even to like Sue. If I'm I say, Oh, yeah, why don't you pop in or I'll pop in after school or I'll pop in on my way to the shops or whatever.

Charlie:
I would say that as well. [Would you?] Pop in. Pop out..Pop up? [Yeah] Yeah. Pop. Very common phrasal verb.

Jess:
Bullring. I suppose it depends where you live in Birmingham. If you're going to go to the Bullring. We're really lucky and we live five minutes away. So it is our local shopping center.

Charlie:
And it's a huge shopping center. [Huge]

Jess:
But then like if you're more black country, you'll probably go to Merry Hill [Okay], which is just as big. [Oh] Yeah.

Charlie:
The next one, I've gone the long way around trying to find that place.

Jess:
Oh, I've gone round the wrekin' trying to find that place.

Charlie:
Wrekin. [Wrekin] And that means?

Jess:
I have no idea. It just means you've gone. Oh, my God. You've took the longest way round in the world.

Charlie:
Oh, yeah. I've got it here. Taking a long and unnecessarily complicated route to somewhere.

Jess:
Like you go round the wrekin to get there. You don't just go straight there.

Charlie:
And is that black country or Birmingham?

Jess:
I don't know because I would say that and I think Ash would say that I thought that was a normal thing that everybody would say. [Oh] Have you never heard that?

Charlie:
I've never heard that. Next one, I think it's going to rain heavily soon. Better take an umbrella.

Jess:
It looks black over Bill's yard. Better take a brolly.

Charlie:
Okay. Black over Bill's yard or Bill's mother's?

Jess:
Yeah. Black over Bill's mum's.

Charlie:
Okay. Is a colloquial.

Jess:
Mom. [Bill's mum] Not mum. Mom.

Charlie:
That's more American.

Jess:
No, it isn't. [Mom] Mom, Mom, Mom.

Charlie:
Yeah, but that's how they spell it. M O M.

Jess:
Is it?

Jess:
Oh I didn't know that. I thought it was only brummies.

Charlie:
But they wouldn't say it the same would they?

Jess:
Like you can't ever get a birthday card with Mum. It's always mom.

Charlie:
Which one you're saying?

Jess:
Mom.

Charlie:
Which one do you want in the card? Spell it.

Jess:
Mom. Mom.

Charlie:
So you can't ever get.

Jess:
Can't ever get.

Charlie:
You need to live in America.

Jess:
That's a good idea. Pitch that one to ash.

Charlie:
Because otherwise, they think that is like an Egyptian mummy.

Jess:
Yeah, so do I!

Charlie:
We have come to the end of part two now. So again, feel free to pause the episode to take a break from your listening practice and come back to the last part when you're ready. All right. So moving on to part three now. Enjoy. Let's move on from that section. All right. So we're now going to go on to some more slang terms.

Jess:
Okay.

Charlie:
We're going to start off, though, with a little dialogue to see if we can introduce those slang terms.

Jess:
Okay.

Charlie:
Let's do it in the way that a Brummie might say it or potentially somebody from the black country. This could be confusing. And then we'll do the Londoner version.

Jess:
All right, then.

Charlie:
Okay. We've got Brummie one is Liam. You're going to be Liam. Brummie two - Charlie. I'm not going to put on the accent.

Jess:
I think you should.

Charlie:
Oh I think I, yeah? You've given me permission.

Jess:
I think you should.

Charlie:
Okay. All right, let's go for it.

Jess:
Okay. All right, mate. Fancy some fodder tonight?

Charlie:
Sounds bostin. That was Scouse!

Jess:
That was definitely Liverpool. Yeah, you can't do it.

Charlie:
Sounds bostin love. How would you say sounds bostin?

Jess:
All right. So I would say in my normal accent, sounds bostin. [sounds bostin'

Jess:
However, Bostin is more black country, so it would be more like, sounds boston.

Jess:
Sounds bostin. Watch 'ow got in mind.

Charlie:
Watch 'ow got in mind.

Charlie:
Sounds bostin. Watch 'ow got in mind. haha, Irish.

Charlie:
All right. Liam's up now.

Jess:
Thought we might pop down the Balti Triangle. Fancy a ruby? [Yeah?] Let me do that again.

Charlie:
No, no. I'm just wondering if that's accurate.

Jess:
Ruby. Ruby Murray. But is that not London?

Charlie:
Ruby. Maybe. I've not heard that.

Jess:
Thought we might pop down the Balti Triangle. Fancy a ruby?

Charlie:
Can't continue this. Aye? No, that's so Scouse. Hey, that's a good shout. Nothing beats a good Balti.

Jess:
That wasn't a very good accent. Sorted, then.

Jess:
I'll pick you up around seven.

Charlie:
Sound. Mate. See y'all then.

Jess:
Very good.

Charlie:
All right, so now it's my turn. We're going to do a London version, so you've got to put your.

Jess:
Shall I put a London accent on?

Charlie:
Yeah, definitely.

Jess:
Okay, I'll try.

Charlie:
Okay. So your Leo and I'm Charles.

Jess:
Okay. All right, mate.

Jess:
Fancy grabbing some grub tonight?

Charlie:
You're going East End straight away. Fair enough.

Jess:
From EastEnders.

Charlie:
Yeah, sounds good. What were you thinking?

Jess:
Oh, you're posh London, aren't you?

Charlie:
Course.

Jess:
How about we head to Brick lane? In the mood for a curry!

Charlie:
Okay. Can I ask you to do a posh one? Just for my humour?

Charlie:
Just to. Just to humour me?

Jess:
I felt like we could be on the west end, but okay, if you want to. Do posh people say, all right?

Charlie:
All right mate.

Jess:
All right mate. Fancy grabbing some grub tonight?

Charlie:
Sounds good. What were you thinking?

Jess:
You don't even need to put an accent on. How about we head to Brick Lane? In the mood for a curry.

Charlie:
Yeah, this isn't accurate, but I like it. That sounds like a good idea. You can't beat a good curry.

Jess:
Great. So it's settled. I'll pick you up around seven.

Charlie:
Sounds like a plan, mate. See you then.

Jess:
Ta ta. For now.

Charlie:
I'm not sure if that will help you guys, but that is the difference between Birmingham and London in a very, very broad sense. All right, let's get to the language. So, bostin, what does that mean?

Jess:
Great. Brilliant. Love it.

Charlie:
Nice.

Charlie:
The match was bostin?

Jess:
The match was bostin. Okay.

Charlie:
Gambol (mispronounced)

Jess:
Gamble or Gambol?

Charlie:
Oh, gambol.

Jess:
Yeah.

Jess:
Gambol is like a forward roll where you kind of go head first.

Charlie:
Interesting that that's a term that's.

Jess:
Yeah only recently found out that not everybody in the world calls it a gambol.

Charlie:
Right. But are you using it in your everyday vocabulary?

Jess:
Yeah. Okay. Well I would.

Charlie:
You do have a toddler.

Jess:
I've got a toddler yeah.

Charlie:
That was a bostin gambol.

Jess:
That was a bostin gambol.

Charlie:
Was that Scouse again?

Jess:
Yeah, a little bit.

Charlie:
Yeah. Can't stop it.

Jess:
We need to work on that.

Charlie:
Yeah.

Charlie:
Our kid. [Our kid] Our kid.

Jess:
That's very Scouse as well. But I think. Yeah, we probably do say that. More black country.

Charlie:
Yeah, Baby. [Baby] Yeah.

Jess:
Blarton?

Charlie:
Blartin', stop crying. Stop blartin'.

Charlie:
A bowler. Bob..

Jess:
Oh a Bob Howler.

Charlie:
Bob Howler.

Jess:
Yeah, moth.

Charlie:
Bob Howler is a large moth?

Jess:
Very big moth.

Charlie:
A Bob Howler. Do you not get them anywhere else?

Charlie:
Is that a question?

Jess:
Yeah.

Charlie:
I don't know.

Jess:
You have big moths - Bob Howlers.

Charlie:
I don't know the species that you're referring to measure.

Jess:
I don't know the different species of moths.

Charlie:
Well, you've got a word for it - Bob Howler.

Jess:
It's a Bob Howler in there, bab. Go and get it.

Charlie:
Okay. Fair enough.

Charlie:
Cobb.

Jess:
Yes.

Charlie:
Birmingham or black country?

Jess:
Both.

Charlie:
Both. I think that's quite a big region of the UK that says Cobb.

Jess:
Cob because it's the right word for it.

Charlie:
Okay. Yes. Nice prejudice there. I say bap, probably. Others say bun.

Jess:
No, definitely not a bun.

Charlie:
Okay. And it means bread roll.

Jess:
Yeah.

Charlie:
A round bread roll. [Yeah] Yeah. Tay?

Jess:
Tay. Cuppa tay.

Charlie:
That's the most common one. I hear of you. Do you want a cup of tay bab?

Jess:
Cuppa tay?

Charlie:
Would you say bab? [Yeah] Yeah. Cup of tay, bab?

Jess:
Tea, Tay.

Charlie:
Cup of tea. Yeah. 'Tara a bit'?

Jess:
Tara a bit! That's. And it's a massive thing. Well, maybe it's just my family actually, but I always go and all my family go. Yeah. All right. See you later. Tara tara tara tara tara tara tara tara tara tara!

Jess:
And it just goes on forever.

Charlie:
Oh, interesting.

Jess:
Yeah. Like, I'm literally putting the phone down. The phone's coming away and I'm still going. Tara tara tara tara tara tara..

Jess:
And Ash does it now as well.

Charlie:
Oh, I do actually say bye bye bye bye bye kind of thing. So that's maybe similar.

Jess:
But it's definitely Tara.

Charlie:
You've got a lot of Irish people in your family.

Jess:
I have. Yeah.

Charlie:
Is there anything, what you've just mentioned, similar in Irish where you maybe start the conversation or end the conversation with a strange sound in Irish? I've just heard this from a guy from Limerick who does a podcast.

Jess:
No, no, no.

Charlie:
A similar sound. No?

Jess:
No.

Charlie:
Okay. But you'd say tara tara tara tara tara.

Jess:
Tara tara tara tara.

Charlie:
As a goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

Jess:
Goodbye, goodbye. Yeah, yeah.

Jess:
I can't even say goodbye goodbye goodbye.

Charlie:
That's why you say tara tara tara. [Yeah, exactly]

Charlie:
Yampi?

Jess:
Yampi. Yeah. That's the thing that my mum would say a lot. 'That is yampi yer is'

Jess:
Does that make sense to you?

Charlie:
Crazy.

Charlie:
Mad. [Yeah] Bonk? [Bonk] means a hill or a bank.

Jess:
Oh, yeah. Over the bonk.

Charlie:
Over the bonk.

Jess:
Yeah. That's definitely black Country. [Okay] Oh I'm going to the bonk. The bank.

Donnies?

Hands. Let me wash your donnies. That's more like affectionate to a kid.

Charlie:
Okay.

Jess:
Have you hurt your donnies? When they fall over.

Charlie:
That's nice. I like that. Paste Oh, beat someone up.

Jess:
I'll give him a right pasting.

Charlie:
Pasting.

Jess:
Pasting. It's not paste. Yeah. [Okay]

Jess:
I'll give her a right pasting over there. It would be said like that.

Charlie:
Nice - wench?

Jess:
Girl.

Charlie:
Is that not allowed anymore?

Jess:
No, I still hear that a lot. Yeah.

Jess:
All right, wench? Yeah.

Charlie:
And wagging it.

Jess:
If you didn't go to school and the wag man would come and get you.

Charlie:
Really?

Jess:
Yeah. We had a wag, man. Sometimes it was a woman, but I think that was a lot before my time. I don't know. No wag man ever got me anyway. Not that I wagged it. Didn't wag it?

Charlie:
Nice, very good. That's all the language. Let's end on a quick multiple-choice just to see if you're really a Brummie. [Pressure!] Which popular heavy metal band originated in Birmingham?

Jess:
Ozzy Osbourne's band. Well, oh it's multiple choice sorry.

Charlie:
Ac DC, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath or Metallica?

Jess:
Black Sabbath.

Charlie:
We didn't mention them earlier, did we?

Jess:
No, but that's Ozzy Osborne.

Charlie:
Oh, Ozzy Osborne is from Black Sabbath.

Jess:
Yeah.

Charlie:
Forgot that. But, he went solo.

Jess:
I don't know.

Charlie:
Well, he was.

Jess:
Well, he was solo when he was at the Commonwealth Games the other day.

Charlie:
Yeah, he went solo, surely. Maybe like Harry Styles. The next one, which popular TV show set in Birmingham, features the Shelby family?

Jess:
Peaky Blinders.

Charlie:
Very good. Yes, we've covered that, actually. Which famous author worked in the Birmingham factories and often referenced the city in his works? I'll give you four options - Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, George Orwell or J.R.R. Tolkien?

Jess:
Tolkien.

Charlie:
There you go. Last one. What is the name of Birmingham's renowned concert venue that is home to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra?

Jess:
Symphony Hall?

Charlie:
Yes. [Is it?] Very good! [I am a Brummie]

Charlie:
You are a Brummie.

Jess:
I am.

Charlie:
And that is why you're on the podcast. Thank you very much, Jess.

Jess:
Very welcome.

Charlie:
I stole over an hour of your holiday time.

Jess:
I don't mind.

Charlie:
Oh, good.

Jess:
I've had lots of fun.

Charlie:
Thank you very much. Thank you very much, guys, for listening all the way to the end of this one. I will see you again. And if I can persuade her again, maybe you'll see Jess.

Jess:
Hear Jess!

Charlie:
Yes, hear Jess? Yes. You won't see me, yes.

Charlie:
I guess I imagined my listeners then because I said, I'll see you again next week. All right. Thank you very much.

Charlie:
Goodbye.

Jess:
Bye.

Charlie:
Okay. There we go. The end of part three, meaning the end of the episode. Well done for getting through the entirety of it. Make sure you use all of the resources available to you in your membership. Thanks once again for supporting the show and I look forward to seeing you next time on the British English Podcast.