'Kids From The Middle' - A Poem Inspired by Midlands Dialect Words

Midlands Dialect Words

I grew up in a little market town in the Midlands called #Uttoxeter. I thought all the words and phrases we said were universal.

It took me to move away to university at 18 to realise that wasn't the case. Only then did I learn about the richness of my own Midlands dialect.

I think the inception of the newfound pride I had for my dialect was either when I told my mates I felt #sneeped or when I told them to stop #lozerking about.

This poem inspired by Midlands dialect words is for all my fellow #Utcheter people and #Midlanders and by this year's #NationalPoetryDay theme of #Play

Playing with words can be the best type of fun.

#midlandsdialectwords #blackcountydialect #midlandspoetry #BirminghamDialect #NottinghamDialect #uttoxeter #midlandsdialect #NationalPoetryDay #Play

Kids From The Middle (Ay Up Me Duck)

We’re the kids from the middle

We’re proud of our place

We’re not northern or southern

whatever they say

We’re the kids from the middle

and middle kids know

whether Birmingham, Leicester

Uttoxeter, Stoke

We are Valients, Villans

We’re Potters, we’re Rams

We are Wolves, we are Foxes

We’re Saddlers, we’re Stags

We’re alrate, we are bostin

We chobble on crips

We are facey, we’re yampy

We have dicky fits

We take babbys on buzzes

Eat snap , slurp our pop

We’re mardy when mithered

We own rattle-chops

We can slummock and lozerk

We blether and blart

We have fizzogs with lugholes

We pump, we don’t fart

When we’re sneeped, gerra a cob on

Long Livery Street face

We can go round the Wreckin

We gambol and scrage

In a rain of pigs pudding

They’ll never relate

All those kids, northern, southern

To words that we spake

Mark Bird

Kids From The Middle: A Poem Inspired by Midlands Dialect Words