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The Brummie dialect, or more formally the Birmingham dialect, is spoken by many people in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
, England, and some of its surrounding areas. "Brummie" is also a
demonym A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...
for people from Birmingham. It is often erroneously used in referring to all accents of the West Midlands, as it is markedly distinct from the traditional accent of the adjacent
Black Country The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during its ...
, but modern-day population mobility has tended to blur the distinction. For instance,
Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...
-born comedian
Lenny Henry Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer. Henry gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in '' The Le ...
,
Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...
-born rock musician Noddy Holder,
Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider b ...
-reared actress
Julie Walters Dame Julia Mary Walters (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a B ...
, Wollaston-born soap actress Jan Pearson,
Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blyth ...
-born motoring journalist and TV presenter
Richard Hammond Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, mechanic, and writer. He is best known for co-hosting the BBC Two motoring programme '' Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and J ...
, and
West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area ...
-born comedian
Frank Skinner Christopher Graham Collins (born 28 January 1957), professionally known as Frank Skinner, is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. At the 2001 British Comedy Awards, he was named Best Comedy Entertainment Personality. His televisio ...
are sometimes mistaken for Brummie-speakers by people outside the West Midlands county. Additionally, population mobility has meant that to a degree, the Brummie accent extends into some parts of the
Metropolitan Borough of Solihull The Metropolitan Borough of Solihull is a metropolitan borough in West Midlands county, England. It is named after its largest town, Solihull, from which Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is based. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region ...
, but much of the accent within the borough might be considered to be closer to contemporary RP. For example,
Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blyth ...
-born presenter
Richard Hammond Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, mechanic, and writer. He is best known for co-hosting the BBC Two motoring programme '' Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and J ...
(despite often being referred to as a Brummie) does not speak with a strong Brummie accent but is identifiably from the West Midlands. The Brummie accent and the Coventry accent are also quite distinct in their differences, despite only separating the cities. To the untrained ear, however, all of these accents may sound very similar, just as British English speakers may find it hard to distinguish between different
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
and
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
accents or Australian and New Zealand accents.


Name

The term ''Brummie'' derives from '' Brummagem'' or ''Bromwichham'', which are historical variants of the name Birmingham.


Accent

The strength of a person's accent varies greatly all across Birmingham. As with most cities, the accent changes relative to the area of the city. A common misconception is that everyone in Birmingham speaks the same accent. It could be argued Brummie is an accent rather than a dialect as in Black Country, which is a dialect with unique words and phrases, as in "owamya?" for ''how are you'', which many comment is not used in Brummie speech. Similarly, Brummies pronounce ''I'' as 'oy' whereas Black Country uses the dialect 'Ah' as in 'Ah bin' meaning I have been. has said that the accent is "a dialectal hybrid of northern, southern,
Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the In ...
,
Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...
,
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...
and
Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...
speech", also with elements from the languages and dialects of its Asian and
Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the tr ...
communities. There are also differences between Brummie and
Black Country The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during its ...
accents, which are not readily apparent to people from outside the West Midlands. A Black Country accent and a Birmingham accent can be hard to distinguish if neither accent is that broad. Phonetician John Wells has admitted that he cannot tell any difference between the accents. Rhymes and vocabulary in the works of
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
suggest that he used a local dialect, with many historians and scholars arguing that Shakespeare used a
Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...
, Brummie, Cotswold, Warwickshire or other Midlands dialect in his work. However, the veracity of this assertion is not accepted by all historians, and his accent would certainly have been entirely distinct from any modern English accent, including any modern Midlands accent.


Stereotypes

According to , among UK listeners "Birmingham English in previous academic studies and opinion polls consistently fares as the most disfavoured variety of British English, yet with no satisfying account of the dislike". He alleges that overseas visitors, in contrast, find it "lilting and melodious", and from this claims that such dislike is driven by various linguistic myths and social factors peculiar to the UK ("social snobbery, negative media
stereotyping In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
, the poor public image of the City of Birmingham, and the north/south geographical and linguistic divide"). For instance, despite the city's cultural and innovative history, its industrial background (as depicted by the arm-and-hammer in Birmingham's coat of arms) has led to a muscular and unintelligent stereotype: a "Brummagem screwdriver" is UK slang for a hammer. Thorne also cites the mass media and entertainment industry where actors, usually non-Birmingham, have used inaccurate accents and/or portrayed negative roles. Advertisements are another medium where many perceive stereotypes. Journalist Lydia Stockdale, writing in the ''
Birmingham Post The ''Birmingham Post'' is a weekly printed newspaper based in Birmingham, England, with a circulation of 2,545 and distribution throughout the West Midlands. First published under the name the ''Birmingham Daily Post'' in 1857, it has had a s ...
'', commented on advertisers' association of Birmingham accents with pigs: the pig in the ad for Colman's Potato Bakes,
Nick Park Nicholas Wulstan Park (born 6 December 1958) is a British animator who created ''Wallace and Gromit'', ''Creature Comforts'', ''Chicken Run'', ''Shaun the Sheep'', and '' Early Man''. Park has been nominated for an Academy Award a total of ...
's
Hells Angel The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporatio ...
Pigs for
British Gas British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Servi ...
, the puppet simply known as Pig from
Pipkins ''Pipkins'' (originally ''Inigo Pipkin'') is a British children's TV programme. Hartley Hare, Pig, Topov, Octavia and the gang were the stars of ATV's pre-school series which ran from January 1973 to 29 December 1981. ''Pipkins'' was one of th ...
and ITV's "Dave the window-cleaner pig" all had Brummie accents. In 2003, a Halifax bank advertisement featuring Howard Brown, a Birmingham- born and based employee, was replaced by an animated version with an exaggerated comical accent overdubbed by a
Cockney Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or ...
actor.


Pronunciation

*In Brummie, some SQUARE words shift to the set of NEAR such as ''there'' and ''where'', thus pronounced as /ðɪə/ and /wɪə/ insted of /ðɛə/ and /wɛə/ respectively. Urszula Clark has proposed the FACE vowel as a difference between Birmingham and Black Country pronunciation, with Birmingham speakers' using /ʌɪ/ and Black Country speakers' using /æɪ/. She also mentions that Black Country speakers are more likely to use /ɪʊ/ where most other accents use /juː/ (in words such as new, Hugh, stew, etc.). This /ɪʊ/ is also present in some North American dialects for words like ''eww'', ''grew'', ''new'' ''due'', etc., contrasting with /u/ (words like ''boo'', ''zoo'', ''to'', ''too'', ''moon'', ''dune'' etc.). Other North American dialects may use /ju/ for this purpose, or even make no distinction at all. Below are some common features of a recognisable Brummie accent (a given speaker may not necessarily use all, or use a feature consistently). The letters enclosed in square bracketsuse the
International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...
. The corresponding example words in italics are spelt so that a reader using
Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent traditionally regarded as the standard and most prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been argument over such questions as the definition of RP, whether it is geo ...
(RP) can approximate the sounds. * The vowel of ''mouth'' (RP ) can be or * The vowel of ''goat'' (RP ) can be close to (so to an RP speaker, ''goat'' may sound like "gout") * Final unstressed , as in ''happy'', may be realised as , though this varies considerably between speakers * The letters ''ng'' often represent where RP has just (e.g. ''singer'' as ). See "ng"-coalescence * Both the vowels of ''strut'' and ''foot'' are pronounced , as in northern England In Birmingham, STRUT and FOOT may either be distinguished or merge. See foot–strut split * The majority of Brummies use the Northern in words like ''bath'', ''cast'' and ''chance'', although the South-Eastern is more common amongst older speakers. * The vowels in ''price'' and ''choice'' may be almost merged as so that the two words would almost rhyme. However, the two are still distinct, unlike in the Black Country dialect. * In more old-fashioned Brummie accents, the FORCE set of words takes and the PURE set takes , so both sets were in two syllables in broad transcription. In such an old-fashioned accent, the words ''paw, pour'' and ''poor'' would all be said differently: , , . In more modern accents, all three are said as . * Final unstressed may be realised as * In a few cases, voicing of final (e.g. ''bus'' as ) * Some
tapping Tapping is a playing technique that can be used on any stringed instrument, but which is most commonly used on guitar. The technique involves a string being fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion. This is in contrast to stand ...
of prevocalic (some speakers; e.g. in ''crime'' or ''there is'') Recordings of Brummie speakers with phonetic features described in
SAMPA __NOTOC__ The Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet (SAMPA) is a computer-readable phonetic script using 7-bit printable ASCII characters, based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). It was originally developed in the late 1980s for ...
format can be found at the ''Collect Britain'' dialects site.


Lexicon

According to the
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...
thesis of
Steve Thorne Steven Terence Thorne (born 15 September 1968) is an English retired professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder in the The Football League, Football League for Brentford F.C., Brentford. Despite making just two app ...
at the
University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
Department of English, Birmingham English is "a dialectal hybrid of northern, southern,
Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the In ...
,
Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...
,
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...
and
Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...
speech", also with elements from the languages and dialects of its Asian and
Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the tr ...
communities. Traditional expressions include: Birmingham Mail Survey
/ref> ; Babby : variation of "baby" ; Bab : variation of "babe" ; Bawlin, bawl : to weep, as in ''"She started to bawl"'' (not unique to Birmingham, common in other parts of England, Australia and South Africa) ; Bottler : a popular and enjoyable song ; Blart : to weep / cry ; Cob : a crusty bread roll (comes from the fact that bread rolls look like street cobbles and may be as hard as one; soft bread rolls are known as rolls or baps) ; Each : everyone (as in "Good evening each") ; Fock : a milder and more nuanced version of the swear word
fuck ''Fuck'' is an English-language expletive. It often refers to the act of sexual intercourse, but is also commonly used as an intensifier or to convey disdain. While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested to ar ...
; Gambol : a West Midlands term for a forward roll ; Go and play up your own end : said to children from a different street making a nuisance. It has been used as the title of the autobiographical book and musical play about the Birmingham childhood of radio presenter and entertainer Malcolm Stent ; Mom : the common variation of the word "Mum" (also common in the United States, South Africa and elsewhere) ; Our kid : used to refer to siblings (as in "Our kid fell off his bike.") Also commonly used in the
north of England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
. ; Our wench : affectionate term, meaning 'sister' or sometimes used by a husband referring to his wife; derived from the older 16th and 17th meaning of "woman" ; The outdoor : exclusive West Midlands term for off-licence ; Pop : another word for a carbonated drink, e.g. ''"Do you want a glass of pop?".'' (common in other parts of England) ; Snap : food, a meal, allegedly derived from the act of eating itself (example usage ''"I'm off to get my snap"'' equates to ''"I'm leaving to get my dinner"''). May also refer to the tin containing lunch, a "snap tin", as taken down the pit by miners ; Scrage: a scratched cut, where skin is sliced off. For example, ''"I fell over and badly scraged my knee"'' ; Suff : another word for drain, as in ''"put it down the suff"'' ; Throw a wobbly : to become sulky or have a tantrum (not unique to Birmingham, common in England, Australia and South Africa) ; Trap : to leave suddenly, or flee ; Up the cut : up the canal (not unique to Birmingham) ; Yampy : mad, daft, barmy. Many from Black Country believe ''yampy'' originates from their region, from the Dudley-Tipton area, which has been appropriated and claimed as their own by both Birmingham and Coventry dialects. However, the word is found in areas of the Black Country, both outside Birmingham and Tipton/Dudley which therefore might have been a general term used in south Staffordshire and north Worcestershire areas.


Notable speakers

Examples of speakers include TV presenter
Adrian Chiles Adrian Chiles (born 21 March 1967) is a British writer and television and radio presenter. He has co-presented both '' The One Show'' (2007–2010) and '' Daybreak'' (2010–2011) with Christine Lampard. He was also the chief presenter for fo ...
, singer/musician
Christine McVie Christine Anne McVie (; née Perfect; 12 July 1943 – 30 November 2022) was an English musician and songwriter. She was best known as keyboardist and one of the vocalists of the band Fleetwood Mac. McVie was a member of several bands, nota ...
, comedian Jasper Carrott, Goodies actor and TV presenter
Bill Oddie William Edgar Oddie (born 7 July 1941) is an English writer, comedian, songwriter, musician, artist, birder, conservationist, television presenter and actor. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies. A birder since his childhood in Quinto ...
, hip-hop and garage musician Mike Skinner, rock musicians
Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...
, Tony Iommi,
Geezer Butler Terence Michael Joseph "Geezer" Butler (born 17 July 1949) is a English musician and songwriter. He is best known as the bassist and primary lyricist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He has also recorded and performed with Heaven & Hell ...
, Bill Ward (all members of the original
Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped def ...
),
Roy Wood Roy Wood (born 8 November 1946) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a ...
,
Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970. As a songwriter, he has cont ...
(
ELO Elo or ELO may refer to: Music * Electric Light Orchestra, a British rock music group ** ''The Electric Light Orchestra'' (album), the group's debut album ** ''ELO 2'', the group's second album * ELO Part II, an offshoot band of Electric Light ...
founders),
Rob Halford Robert John Arthur Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English heavy metal singer. He is the lead vocalist of Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. He has ...
(
Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...
), Dave Pegg (of
Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...
and Jethro Tull), broadcaster Les Ross, politicians
Clare Short Clare Short (born 15 February 1946) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Development under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 1997 to 2003. Short was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983 ...
and
Jess Phillips Jessica Rose Phillips (; born 9 October 1981) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Yardley since 2015. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguardi ...
, SAS soldier and author John "Brummie" Stokes, TV presenter
Alison Hammond Alison Hammond (born 5 February 1975) is an English television personality and actress. She competed in the third series of the reality show '' Big Brother'' in 2002, in which she was the second housemate to be evicted. She has since become a ...
, internet
meme A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ...
Danny G, and many actresses and actors including Martha Howe-Douglas,
Donnaleigh Bailey Donnaleigh Bailey (born 17 January 1983) is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Michelle Corrigan in the BBC soap opera '' Doctors''. For her role as Michelle, she received two nominations for the British Soap Award for Best ...
, Nicolas Woodman, Sarah Smart, John Oliver and Ryan Cartwright.


See also

* Black Country dialect *
Potteries dialect Potteries is an English dialect of the West Midlands of England, almost exclusively in and around Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. Origin and history As with most local dialects in English, Potteries dialect derives originally from Anglo Sax ...
(North Staffordshire)


References


Bibliography

* * * * * *


External links


Talk Like A Brummie
A wiki-based Birmingham dialect dictionary
ebrummie.co.uk
Dr Steve Thorne's website devoted to the study of Brummie, including a dictionary, MP3 speech samples, discussion of his research on stereotypes, etc.

using a test paragraph including most English sounds: George Mason Universit
Speech Accent Archive
Compare

(
Black Country The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during its ...
) sample
Sounds Familiar?
Listen to examples of regional accents and dialects from across the UK on the British Library's 'Sounds Familiar' website

Etymological article by Dr Carl Chinn
Paul Henry on Benny's accent
Noele Gordon and Crossroads Appreciation Society interview
English Accents and Dialects
British Library
Sue LongAubrey WaltonHarry Phillips
an
Billy Lucas
{{English dialects by continent Culture in Birmingham, West Midlands English language in England Languages of the United Kingdom *Brummie British regional nicknames City colloquials