Middlesbrough mum exiled on Tyneside writes 'Teesside dictionary' and has internet smash

Nichola Ridley, 25, initially attracted at least 50 people per day to read her Bridget of the North blog but that number soared to 60,000 in just two days after she penned the tongue-in-cheek dictionary.

Now she’s considering writing a Geordie-Smoggie translation dictionary to help the people of two of the region’s major cultures understand each other.

‘Smoggie’ is a term for Teessiders coined due to the industrial nature of Teesside, that some, but far from all, Teessiders have happily adopted.

Nichola, originally from South Bank, Middlesbrough, who has her own cleaning business, explained that her daughter, Emily Rose, seven, has grown up in Dunston, Gateshead and the pair often have fun comparing their very different dialects.

She started her blog, a take on the famous fictional diarist Bridget Jones, last January simply because she likes to write.

She built up a small following by writing about hairstyles, beauty products and parenting and everyday life - but then decided to explain the mysteries of Smogginese.

“I often have to repeat myself in the shop or in the taxi or wherever and there’s loads of things I don’t quite get that people say here, despite living on Tyneside for five years," she said.

"My little girl mocks me and makes me say ‘bird’ and ‘bed’ in my accent because she says they sound exactly the same.

“I wrote it and it just exploded all over the place. 

"I’ve had people from Australia and Thailand and all over sending me messages saying the dictionary makes them homesick. It’s had 10,000 Facebook ‘shares'.”

Nichola said her favourite saying from the south of the region was ‘now then’ for ‘hello.’ “People up here have no idea what you mean and say, ‘ah, you mean ‘Aal reet,’ she laughed.

“Some of the dictionary isn’t actual words, it’s things like we might say ‘tortured’ meaning ‘pester,’ whereas up here it’s the more serious word. The other thing is we’d say, ‘shot us that over here,’ for throw that over here. Up here, they’d say ‘hoy it ower here.’”

Nichola said she was considering producing a smoggie dictionary pamphlet for sale to support Home Start Teesside, a charity she supports that helps families in crisis.

Nichola’s blog can be found at: http://bridgetofthenorth.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/middlesbrough-smoggie-translation/

A

• Aka- Crazy As 
• Ayaz/ aya/ Iya- Ouch, that hurt 

B

• Bray- To hit
• Bang Black un - Drinking all day

C

• Chew- bother

D

•  Devoed - Devastated
• Doggie- Nickname for North Ormesby

E

• Ere / Eeya - May I have your attention?
• Egg in a bun- Way of calling someone daft

F

• Fadgie – A bun made with lard instead if butter

G

• Geggs- Glasses, Spectacles

H

• Howay/ Awayy/ Owayy- Come on

J

• Jokin arn ya?- that better not be true
• Janoaworramean? – ‘Do you understand what I'm talking about?’

K

• Knack - To hurt
• Keggie/ceggie – a bump or swelling

L

• Ledge - A hero, legend
• Looka - Can I have your attention 

M

• Mufti Van - Police Van
• Maftin - Boiling
• Me- Used a lot at the end of a sentence - as in “I love carpets me”

N

• Nab - Top of Eston Hills
• Naff - Nothing
• N Thaa - Randomly added to end of a sentence

O

• Over the Border- The area of St Hilda’s arrived at by going under the railway tracks at the bottom of Albert Road
• Owee In - Come in
• Oggy/ Hoggy - Lift

P

• Parmo - Parmo or Parmesan, a local delicacy 
• Proper/ Proppa - Very much 

Q

Quality - Very good 

R

• Rank/ Rammy- Disgusting
• Radged- Mental, Crazy

S

• Smoggie- A person originating from Teesside, term comes from smoke from the Dorman Long, and other industrial works
• Scunner - A person without morals 
• Slaggy Island - South Bank, which was surrounded by slag heaps

T

• Taoooo- Tatoo
• Toggyender – kicking a ball with the toes of the foot

U

• Us- Me

V

• The Van- Mobile shop

W

• Wouldja dare - Something you wouldn’t do 
• Worritisright- ’This is how it is’  

Y

• Yous - You people