5. You Can't Understand Old People From Your Own City
Years ago, Stoke-on-Trent could boast a thick accent and a unique dialect. These days, due to the gradual destruction of regional accents, most people in Stoke can only lay claim to a comparatively mild Midlands twang. In fact, the full-blown Stoke accent of yesteryear can now only be heard from the lips of the older generation in the Potteries. Visitors to Stoke can, if they're lucky, stumble across this remarkable glimpse of the past by filtering out the sounds of table skittles and dominoes being played in the back rooms of the least fashionable pubs in the city. Alternatively, people can get a taste of this dialect in Stoke's long-running newspaper cartoon strip, May Un Mar Lady, which features a form of wit best appreciated by those who already understand the Stoke lingo of earlier centuries. The most popular example of this dying brogue is some variation of "Cost kick a bow agen' a woe, y'ed it back an bost it?" Roughly translated, this phrase means, "Can you kick a ball against a wall, head it back and burst it?" Arcane as the question might seem, it's a query posed by young Stoke girls of potential lovers to determine their manliness. As this example suggests, the language used by the older generation in Stoke can be impenetrable. It's not surprising that outsiders don't stand much of a chance, but even their own younger relatives can be left guessing at times.