Purely belta, marras

This guide to Geordie courtesy of local rag the Chronicle (nicknamed the Ronny Gill owing to the way it's pronounced by the street vendors) made for an interesting read because it underlined that quite a few words and expressions I took for granted are actually particular to the dialect. I may not have much of an accent, as I'm forever being told, but it seems I do make regular use of the Geordie vocabulary.

Jackie Milburn and the Charlton brothers are considered to be Geordies, but in actual fact they hail from the same town as I was born in, Ashington - a place whose own unique dialect shouldn't be confused with Geordie.

As if such genius terms as "workyticket" and "monkey's blood" weren't enough, here's a list of other things Newcastle has very generously given the world. An assortment of footballers, Cheryl Cole, Newcastle Brown Ale - so far, so predictable. But then there's Lucozade, the best street in Britain, windscreen wipers, the most successful Turner Prize ever and Jimi Hendrix (sort of). Almost enough to make up for the some of the crimes against music to have poured out of the city...

(Thanks to Dave and Martin for the links.)