5 Scouse Words & Phrases You Will Hear In The Liverpool City Region And Their Meaning In Merseyside

Here are 8 Scouse Words & Phrases To Get To Grips With, So You Know What Liverpudlians Are Saying When You Visit The Liverpool City Region

Scouse is a dialect and accent that is very different to others in the UK (Original Content).

'Alright?' / 'Ite?'

This is a simple word that we say in passing, 'alright?', which means 'I hope you're okay?' It is almost a fully fledged conversation in the one word. The other person tends to reply with 'Yeah thanks, you?' with the response in turn to that being 'Yeah mate.' This is generally used by very busy Scousers passing one another in school, the street or in the workplace. 'Alright?' is often shortened to 'ite', and in a sentence would be said like 'ite lad?', again meaning 'I hope you're okay?'

'Are you reading that paper you're sitting on?'

One of the sayings that my Grandad would say to me is 'are you reading that paper you're sitting on?' In the Liverpool Region, newspapers are often kept on the chairs in the kitchen to make a hard wooden seat more cushioned and keep the seat warm when sitting down on the chair. When visiting my aunties house the newspapers where always, and still are, kept on the wooden chair in the kitchen.

'Making a show of yourself!'

This is something you say to someone who is behaving in an embarrassing manner. In Liverpool if you say to someone 'you're making a show of yourself!' they will get the hint that they need to stop whatever they are doing as it is shameful and embarrassing, this is said to someone if they are acting in an embarrassing way especially in public.

'Wool'

'Wool' is a tongue-in-cheek term used by some people in the City of Liverpool to refer to people from the surrounding Boroughs such as the Wirral or Sefton. This is a term used to say that someone is not actually from the City of Liverpool itself but the surrounding areas that are not within the City Limits. For example, anyone from the rest of Merseyside or the Liverpool City Region not from the City of Liverpool could be referred to as a Wool. E.g. 'He's not from Liverpool, he's a wool from the Wirral.'

'Woolyback'

'Woolyback' has a very similar to the meaning of calling someone a 'wool', as it is just the longer word for the slang term. You would call someone a 'woolyback' if you are wanting to remind them that they are not from the City of Liverpool, but rather the surrounding areas. It is worth noting that this is an insulting term and many people do not particularly like to be referred to as a woolyback. E.g. 'He's not really from Liverpool, he's a woolyback from the Wirral.'