Essential English phrases

Hello. The standard East Midlands greeting. 'Duck' is not gendered, not condescending and not flirtatious — a bus driver, a builder or a consultant will all use it. Note the spelling: the East Midlands writes 'ay up' where Yorkshire writes 'ey up'.

A bread roll. Nottingham says cob, Leeds says breadcake, Liverpool says bun, Manchester says barm, the South says bap. Asking for the wrong one in a Nottingham sandwich shop is the fastest possible way to announce you are new.

The narrow passage between two rows of houses. Sheffield says gennel, Leeds says ginnel, Sussex says twitten. Every terraced street in Sneinton, Sherwood and Forest Fields has one and no listing ever explains it.

A ride on the back of someone else's bike. 'Give us a croggy.' Almost exclusively East Midlands, and instantly recognisable to anyone who grew up here.

Raining hard. From 'siling', to pour through a sieve. You will hear it more often than you would like, because this is England.

The local property tax, paid by the occupier and billed separately from rent. Nottingham's charge per band is at the top end for England, and the city's tight boundary means a house two streets outside it can be billed by a different council entirely.

Since 1 May 2026 every private tenancy in England rolls month to month with no fixed term. You can leave on two months' notice and there is no end date for a landlord to evict you at.

Sulky, moody, in a strop. Applied to children, colleagues, weather and football teams. Not aggressive — it implies someone is being a bit much rather than genuinely angry.

Rubbish — both the physical kind and the nonsense kind. 'It's all rammel' works for the contents of a skip and for someone's argument.

A way of addressing a man of any age at all. 'Alright, youth?' from a sixty-year-old to a forty-year-old is entirely normal and carries no comment on either party's age.

Covered, swarming, infested. 'The place was snidered with 'em.' Distinctly Nottinghamshire and rare even a county away.

Ears. 'He's got big tabs on him.' One of a handful of East Midlands body-part words that survive nowhere else in ordinary speech.

999 for a genuine emergency. NHS 111 for urgent medical help that is not life-threatening. Both free from any phone, including a locked one.