What the Fuck is a Barm Cake?
After seeing this monstrosity on the fediverse a few days ago. It reminded me of something that I always find interesting and amusing.
The little cultural differences between the regions of the UK that bubble to the surface, often in the form of slang or food customs.
Not just how you say it
The phonological variance between dialects is the most obvious thing that springs to mind, when thinking about regional differences and I do like digging into this from time to time. I enjoyed this dialect quiz and looking through these maps.
But what you say
What I find even more interesting however, is when the actual syntax takes a different form or the words and names change. When different words are used and where geographically the differences occur and overlap.
Where in the country does it become acceptable to call something you pour on a pie ’liquor’ without risking a dirty look? When you were a kid, what did you call the game where you knock on some poor sod’s front door and run off? What about the act of riding your bike while someone else sits on the saddle? I love this website that displays a lot of these things.
And how you eat
I especially like it when these cultural differences in language overlap with food culture and I hope to see more data and visualisations about this kind of thing in the future. What people call the flecks of batter from deep fried fish and if it’s acceptable to scatter them on top of chips? Would you put something other than gravy on a pie and call it something stupid? Would you let pea wet go to waste?
Lovely, lovely pea wet.
Bit of fun
Of course it’s important to remember when joking about soft southerners, the people from the wrong side of the Pennines, and it being grim up north. That yes, there are greater differences between people within regions than there are between the regions themselves, this is true the world over and at every scale.
But it’s wonderfully silly and fun to argue about completely inconsequential things. A whimsical nonsense of a distraction in this day and age and I’m all for it.
I’d like to end by dropping the classic bombshell. What do you call one of these?
