Midlands school BANS children from using Black Country dialect

Midlands school BANS children from using 'damaging' Black Country dialect

• Staff at the West Midlands primary have drawn up list offending phrases
  
• They include 'I cor do that' instead of 'I can't do that' and 'Ay?'
  
• Parents and local residents have branded the move as 'snobbish'
  
• But the school says it wants it children to have 'the best start possible

By Andrew Levy
14 November 2013

Children at a primary school in the West Midlands have been told to speak proper English instead of the Black Country dialect to halt a ‘decline in standards’.

Those who say they ‘cor do that’ – ‘can’t do that’ – will not be punished, but they will be corrected every time they utter an outlawed phrase.

Angry parents criticised the ban at Colley Lane Primary School in Halesowen, claiming it is ‘snobbish’ and ‘insulting’.

Colley Lane Primary School, in Halesowen, West Midlands, where staff have have drawn up a list of offending Black Country phrases that have been banned in the classroom

'I COR BELIEVE IT': THE PHRASES PUPILS ARE BANNED FROM SAYING

Here are the phrases pupils at Colley Lane Primary School, in Halesowen, have been banned from using:

1. 'They was' instead of 'they were.'

2. 'I cor do that' instead of 'I can't do that.'

3. 'Ya' instead of 'you.'

4. 'Gonna' instead of 'going to.'

5. 'Woz' instead of 'was.'

6. 'I day' instead of 'I didn't.'

7. 'I ain't' instead of 'I haven't.'

8. 'Somefink' instead of 'something.'

9. 'It wor me' instead of 'it wasn't me.'

10. 'Ay?' instead of 'pardon?'

The distinctive Black Country dialect of the 'Yam Yams' is spoken in towns like Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Tipton and Dudley, and can be very confusing to outsiders.

Scholars find it fascinating because it has preserved grammar from Early Modern English and even Middle English.

'Thee', 'Thy' and 'Thou' are still in use, as is the case in parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire. 'Ow B'ist', meaning 'How beist thou?' is a common greeting, with the typical answer being 'Bay too bah', meaning 'I bayn't be too bad'.

'I haven't seen her' becomes 'I ay sid 'er'. Black Country dialect often substitutes the word 'ar' for 'yes'.

Several word pronunciations are also different: 'you' is pronounced 'yow' (pronounced yo with a silent w), whereas 'go', which is often pronounced 'goo' or 'gooin'' for 'going', is more in line with pronunciations in the Midlands.

It is also quite common for broad Black Country speakers to say 'agooin' instead of 'going'.

The word endings with 'en' are still noticeable in conversation as in 'gooen' (going), 'callen' (calling) and the vowel 'A' is pronounced as 'O' as in 'sond' (sand), 'hond' (hand) and 'mon' (man). Other pronunciations are 'winder' for window, 'fer' for 'far', and 'loff' for 'laugh' exactly as Chaucer's English was spoken.

Here is a glossary of Black Country vocabulary:

Aive - Lift, heave
Bawk - Confuse
Beesum - A pert young woman
Bibble - Pebble, stone
Blithyed - A fool
Bowler - A large moth
Boffle - To hinder
Bonk - A small hill
Broo'us - A brewery
Cagmag - A gossipy old woman
Caw - Cannot
Chicklings - Pig's intestines (a Black Country delicacy)
Codding - Joking
Fizog - Face
Flen - A flea
Jed - Dead
Kench - Back strain
Miskin - An outside toilet
Carradiddle - A lie, fib
Tranklements - Miscellaneous items, paraphernalia
Werit - Worry