english language

[mata hari]

I wondered when the "english" language first became known as such ? I assume at the time the Welsh must have been speaking the Celtic language and the Scots and Irish the Gaelic, otherwise would it have been known as the "British" language ?

[Lonnie]

mata, thats not a slight against England is it, I noticed that for England, you used a small 'e'. but capitals for the others, actually, i'm sure it was a genuine slip, anyway, what your after is here, www.Krysstal.com/english.html very interesting.

[mata hari]

Lonnie, thank you, and of course I would not dream of slighting England, as although I live in France I am English born and bred !! from the very heart of the Black Country "Brummigem". I'm sorry for my slip up, please forgive, it was not intentional. Now I am off to study the link you suggested, it looks very interesting !

[kempie]

Brummagem is NOT in the Black Country (ask any passing Yam Yam) ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Country

[mata hari]

Thank you for pointing that out, but my Dad was born in Smethwick !!

[Narolines]

I'm a Brummie born & bred and have lived all my life (so far!) in the West Midlands and I have never heard ANYBODY use the term "Yam Yam". Where DO they get this "information"? On the other hand, it's nice to see they have excluded Wolverhampton - Wulfrunians get as miffed as us if they're lumped in with the bits of Staffordshire & Worcestershire (and, these days, West Midlands - a non-county if ever there was one) that do make up the Black Country.

[kempie]

I am not a native of Birmingham, however I do have relatives born & bred in Wozzle (Walsall) who are well aware of the term "Yam Yam", and on my last visit to Brum a colleague from Moseley used that very term in his lighthearted description of another colleague hailing from Dooddlay (Dudley).

[Narolines]

I can see you're not a native of Birmingham, kempie, because in my experience only non-Brummies ever call it "Brum"! Just shows that during very nearly 60 years living here, teaching English in many parts of the city for 26 of them and being involved in several local dialect projects I must have been singularly unfortunate never to have heard this expression. In a random sample (ie people I talked to in the pub) no-one else had ever heard of it, either.

[kempie]

Did you happen to notice the somewhat related Q in Phrases & Sayings posted by mightyWBA

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Phrases-and-Sayings/Question191597.html
The whole point about the use of "Brum" only by non-locals is, just like "Yam Yam", it is meant to ridicule the way the locals speak; early versions of the name for Birmingham include Bromigham, Bromicham, and
Bromwichham (cf. West Bromwich) the latter of these being pronounced locally as "Brummagem".