Suffolk Sayings and Ways

Pronunciation examples

In the Suffolk dialect my first name (Marie Louise) would be pronounced Muh'roie with the first syllable short and rhyming with 'stir' and the second emphasized and rhyming with 'sea' but with the 'e' sounding more like 'oh' and L'wise. 

My sister's name (Marnie Clare) would be pronounced Maar'ni with the emphasis on the first syllable and Clair'ah, with the usually silent 'r' being reproduced as an 'ah' sound.

Words like queue, new, few and computer are pronounced 'koo', 'noo', 'foo', and 'compooter'. Many words are shortened so that a phrase such as 'Can you do it?' would be said as 'ken ya d'urt?' which is actually only 3 syllables as opposed to the 4 syllables of the original.... conversely 1 syllable words such as dear, near and beer are said as 2 syllables, so they would become 'de-ar', 'ne-ar', and 'be-ar'.

The best way to illustrate the weird (to furriners) and wonderful (to loocals) pronunciation is to use place names as examples. Most the names have the emphasis on the first syllable...

So, Mendlesham becomes Mendl'sh'm, 

Bricett = Bric't, 

Grundisburgh = Gruns'bruh

Botesdale = Bottezdale

Wetheringsett = Weth'ring'set

Debach = Deb'ch

Polstead = Polst'd

Boxford = Boxf'd

Layham = Lay'um

Stowmarket = Stoo-mark't

Needham = Need'um

Felixstowe = Flix'stew

Hadleigh = Had'lee

etc etc

Suffolk Words

Rum - Strange or unusual person or thing. My Granny always says someone is a rum 'un (a rum one) if she thinks they are a bit odd.
Shew - Showed. Until I moved away from Suffolk I used to say (OK still do say) I shew someone, instead of I showed them
Cor! - Exclamation or emphasis on something or someone
Coupla three - A couple, or three, i.e. more than two but probably three!
It's on the 'huh - it's not straight
Bor - friend, or peer, bit like saying 'mate'
Biddy - Old woman (widow)
Dwile - Cloth - derived from the Dutch word dweil
Squit - Nonsense
Mawther - Young girl
Gal - Girl, as in 'Ar yew olroite, Gal?'
Wholly - Very, as in 'Wholly a luvly apple tree up there'.
Rabbitin' on like the brook - Talking incessantly (probably a lot of squit!)
Gabbin' on - Talking a lot
Grut - Big (great)
Brew up the char - Make a cup of tea
Lummox - Clumsy person, as in 'yew grut lummox' - or usually in reference to my sister for dropping things!
A'for - before
Arter - After
Larfed her hid orf - Laughed her head off.