Wednesday, September 26, 2012

An Introduction to "Geordie"

Nope. "Geordie" is not a person. "Geordie" (Jordy) is a dialect derived from the English language native to Northumbria and Newcastle, and quite often not understandable to the untrained ear. I met a lovely girl from Texas at my first International Student session, and we were having dinner in a pub the other day when a couple of 'gents asked us where we were from because we "dein' nah sand loocl" (did not sound local). We started chatting with them, and I found it rather embarrassing that I had to ask them to repeat themselves a few times because their Northumbrian accent was so darn strong. Follow this fun little link to learn a little bit of "Geordie" yourself!

http://newcastleupontyne.tripod.com/geordie.html

Who knows. Maybe by Christmas I'll be able to actually speak some. When I chose to come to England for school, I did it mostly because they are supposed to speak English! I dein' nah thank ah'd be needing to learn a foreign language!

 I'm learning lots of cute little terms and phrases as well. A "jacket potato" is a baked potato, and they put ANYTHING on them from tuna to beans and cheese. My favorite is beans and cheese. I still think I prefer my tuna on bread or with crackers. A "toastie" is a grilled cheese sandwich. I like my toasties with tom-mah-toes. And best of all, just like in the movies, a "wee bairn" is a young child!

I'm settling into my accommodations well. I have my own room with a double sized bed, plenty of floor space and a bathroom about the size of one you would find on a large airplane. I can stand flat footed on the floor, raise my hands above my head and touch the ceiling, and it's a little less than a double arms length wide. It's a "Tosinwer" (toilet, sink, shower). My room is on the lower ground level, which means if my windows opened at the bottom I could probably come and go without using doors. Incidentally the only prop open at the top. The walls have what look like three or four generations of brick foundation to them. At one place it looks like there was either a fireplace or a midget door, and in another there may have been a staircase. I also have a chest of drawers, 2 bedside tables, and a wardrobe. I have yet to see if it leads to Narnia.

Classes don't officially start until October 1st (not something I was made aware of until 2 days ago). In the mean time I am being thoroughly oriented to the campus and my program of study. While sometimes I feel it's a terribly putzy pace, the lectures they have been holding are very useful in terms of what to expect from the program as far as how my dissertation will be written and evaluated.

Well loves, I'm off to a North American Student social! Hopefully I'll have something a little more exciting to report in a week or so.

Cheers!

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