T

 

Tack
Produce; used in a derisory sense to mean 'inferior'; "Fancy buying all that cheap tack.", or "I won't have any of that old foreign tack in this house!"

Taffy
The old Wenglish word for 'toffee'

Tampin(g) mad
Very angry; "Tampin(g) mad he was, after seeing how they were carrying on - an' usually he won't say boo nor ba(h) to anyone about anything!"

Tamping ball
Bouncing

Tapped
(a) Repaired, as in "You*d( better have your shoes tapped before you go back to school."
(b) 'Not all there'; "'E do say some peculiar things - there's times I think 'e's a bit tapped!"

Taw
A child's best marble; the one with which you aim at other marbles

Tawch
An unpleasant taste, tainted; "Mam, there's a funny tawch on this butter!". The Welsh word 'tawch' literally means a haze or fog.

Tea-fight/bun fight
An old expression for a free meal - usually at chapel.

Teisen/teeshun lap
A simple easily prepared fruit cake.

Thank you (I wouldn't give...)
Not liking, as in "I wouldn't give thank you for rice pudding now - I've gone right off it!"

Thar wun
Wenglish for 'that one'.

There's a price on...
How awful!; "There's a price on everything these days!"

There's nice/lovely/posh etc.
How nice/lovely/posh etc.; "There's nice you've got it now after doing the whool place up!". Another variation is "There's posh for you!". Such expressions are a direct translation from the Welsh form.

There's times...
There are occasions, as in "There's times I could cry when I stop to think about it all."

There you are then
That's it; "Well there you are then - it's finished at last!". This too is a direct translation from the Welsh

There's some weather we're having
'Some' in this instance may be used to mean 'awful'/'unusual'/'wet'/'stormy' etc. etc...

These days
Nowadays, currently, as in "Say what you like, you don't seem to get nice jaffas these days... "

Thick, a bit...
A bit much, as in "It's a bit thick, innit, expecting me to turn round and put tea for all of them?"

Threw it up
Reminded in an unpleasant way; "She won't let go of it - last week again, she threw it up to me again... "

Through and through
(a) Sharing someone's house without having any specific separate rooms (see 'apartments'). "It's awkward asking anyone to come - see, we're living through and through!"
(b) Lumps and small coal mixed together, unseived.

Tidy
One of the most over-worked Wenglish words, as the following examples show:

  • tidy! - fine splendid
  • a tidy spell - quite a long time
  • a tidy few - quite a number
  • a tidy feller - a decent chap, probably 'good with his hands'
  • a tidy step - back and fore - quite a long way
  • a tidy swill - a wash involving at least face and hands.
  • a tidy bit in the bank - plenty of money - especially 'filthy-wealthy'
    •

    talk tidy! - speak properly

    Tight
    In short supply, especially money.

    Tight-fisted
    Mean

    Time, in no....
    Swiftly; "I bought three down the sales, in no time!"

    Tin-tacks
    Small nails, sometimes drawing-pins.

    To, where's it...
    Where is it?

    To be
    In my possession, in being; "I've found five of them, but I'm sure there's another one to be, somewhere."

    Tommy-box
    The colliers food container.

    Tossel
    Often, the preferred pronunciation of 'Tassel'

    Toy
    A 'character', as in "'E's a real toy - always some old nonsense or other with 'im!."

    Trailer
    Wenglish for 'caravan'; "They do 'ave a bewdiful trailer down Trecco... "

    Trewth
    Truth

    Tricks, how's...
    A local greeting; "Hi-ya kid - (h)ow's tricks with yew then?"

    Trimmings
    Christmas decorations; locally we 'trim up' for Christmas

    Trip
    (a) an 'outing'
    (b) A hill, or a rise, as in "You'll soon get out a puff if you go up that trip!"

    Troughing
    Roof guttering

    Tump
    A small hill

    Turn
    (a) Proceed, as in "I'm gone, I don't know which way to turn!"
    (b) Time, as in "This will do another turn or so." Possibly this is an adaptation of the Welsh idiom "Fe wnaiff y tro hwn eto."
    (c) A shift at work; "Steady feller, he is - he hasn't lost a turn this ages."

    Turn (h)is (h)and
    Manage to do well; "Tidy feller 'e' is - turn 'is 'and to anything!"

    Turn round
    Follow up with; "On top of everything, I had to turn round and put supper for six of them!"

    Turned it over
    Changed TV channels; "I wasn;t struck with anything on BBC, so I turned it over to the other side."

    Twang
    An affected accent, as in "She've got a twang you could cut with a knife."

    Twelvemonth/Twelmunth
    One year; "It's 'ard to credit it, but I been drawing my pension for neely a twelmunth - it'll be a whool twelmunth now, in April!"

    Two, make two of...
    Much larger than; "'E's only a little dwt - an she's a real boilin(g) piece - make two of 'im she would!"

    Twp/Twpsyn
    A little slow on the uptake, but not really very dull; "She's a bit twp this morning after being up all night, but usually she's as bright as a button". A person who is habitually slow may be called ; a bit of a twpsyn'. The ultimate is "twp as a sledge" because you 'talk like a sledge'

    Twt/Dwt
    Small in stature, a young child; "What can you expect - only a little dwt she is after all!" (another Welsh expression).

    Twti-down
    To crouch, to squat. Twti is a Welsh term
    c.f. coopy-down, cwat

    Twll of a place
    A very poor place; "I wouldn;t give thank you to live in a twll of a place like that. Twll is the Welsh word for 'hole'

    Twsh
    a small moustache

    Ty-Bach
    Toilet