Brummie Bible

Birmingham and the West Midlands are famous for a number of words and phrases that have originated in the region – here are 11, which you might hear while you’re travelling in and around our great towns and cities:

• Bab
  A common term of affection for ‘love’ or ‘dear’ from the word ‘babby’ – the West Midlands variation of baby

• Batch 
  In Coventry, this is a small round loaf. In Birmingham, they’re known as cobs, in other parts of the country, they’re described as rolls.

• Blarting
  Crying

• Bostin’
  Great or excellent. The word ‘bost’ comes from ‘broken’, so ‘bostin’ translates as ‘smashing’.

• Cob
  A bread roll

• Gambol
  Forward roll or somersault

• Going round the Wrekin
  This is a West Midlands phrase to describe taking a long time to get to the point. The Wrekin is a hill in Shropshire.

• It’s black over Bill’s mother’s
  This phrase refers to a stormy-looking sky. Bill refers to Warwickshire’s famous son William Shakespeare, while his mother is Mary Arden of Stratford-upon-Avon

• Mom
  Also know as 'Mum' or 'Mother'

• Pop
  Fizzy soft drink

• Ta-ra a bit
  A Brummie way of saying goodbye

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