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sl8

(16,224 posts)
Mon Oct 31, 2022, 01:09 PM Oct 2022

Question about a word in northern England dialect.

Last edited Mon Oct 31, 2022, 09:34 PM - Edit history (1)

In the video, Paul Daniels says a word that means "cup", but I'm not sure what he's saying. Could someone tell me what the word is? The exchange starts at about 0:50 .

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Question about a word in northern England dialect. (Original Post) sl8 Oct 2022 OP
I think he says Easterncedar Oct 2022 #1
Well that makes sense, at least. sl8 Oct 2022 #2
I think he's making fun of his own accent Easterncedar Oct 2022 #3
He says EarlG Oct 2022 #6
That also makes sense. sl8 Oct 2022 #8
Not related to this but watching Netflix Still Game mahina Oct 2022 #4
Hooligan Easterncedar Oct 2022 #7
Thank you. mahina Oct 2022 #10
Scottish term for yob; antisocial/ criminal young person LeftishBrit Nov 2022 #21
Also, I just noticed that he said "sweater", rather than "jumper". sl8 Oct 2022 #5
I thought he said, "It's a "coop", lad". yorkster Oct 2022 #9
Yes, he's definitely making fun of his origin/accent. sl8 Oct 2022 #11
And thx to you. Love this lingo stuff. yorkster Oct 2022 #12
Most likely it is: "Cup Laib" LanguageLover Oct 2022 #13
Wow, you really gave this some thought. Thank you. sl8 Oct 2022 #14
Thanks much. LanguageLover Oct 2022 #15
Wow. Talk about overthinking it. muriel_volestrangler Oct 2022 #16
Didn't realise Paul Daniels was a Smoggie! T_i_B Nov 2022 #17
Welcome to DU! Delphinus Nov 2022 #22
Sounds like Cup la. It's a habit even where I'm from in Ireland to OnDoutside Nov 2022 #18
It's going OK, la. sl8 Nov 2022 #19
It fits well ! I don't think that it is unique to Irish speech, and I OnDoutside Nov 2022 #20

sl8

(16,224 posts)
2. Well that makes sense, at least.
Mon Oct 31, 2022, 01:18 PM
Oct 2022

I keep hearing "coobler" or "kubler", which doesn't seem very close to "cup".

Thanks.

EarlG

(22,476 posts)
6. He says
Mon Oct 31, 2022, 01:26 PM
Oct 2022

"A cup, lad, cuz I'm from the North." He pronounces the word "cup" as "coop" which is how you'd say it in the North, and says "lad" because that's a form of address in the North, like saying "mate."

He's making fun because the guy he's talking to is from Shepherd's Bush in London and so he says "cup" almost like "cap."

sl8

(16,224 posts)
8. That also makes sense.
Mon Oct 31, 2022, 01:31 PM
Oct 2022

The second syllable still sounds more like "lah" than "lad", to me, but I don't have very good hearing.

Thank you.


mahina

(18,840 posts)
4. Not related to this but watching Netflix Still Game
Mon Oct 31, 2022, 01:22 PM
Oct 2022

What is a “Ned”?

Realizing Scotland is a different place but it’s close…

(It sounds like coobler or kubleh)

Thanks !

LeftishBrit

(41,302 posts)
21. Scottish term for yob; antisocial/ criminal young person
Fri Nov 4, 2022, 03:36 PM
Nov 2022

Said to stem from the initials of 'Non educated delinquent', though this may be an explanation after the fact,

sl8

(16,224 posts)
5. Also, I just noticed that he said "sweater", rather than "jumper".
Mon Oct 31, 2022, 01:26 PM
Oct 2022

For some reason, I didn't think Brits used that term.

yorkster

(2,307 posts)
9. I thought he said, "It's a "coop", lad".
Mon Oct 31, 2022, 01:32 PM
Oct 2022

So, a bit of taking the mickey out of his own accent by virtue of exaggeration, mebbe?

sl8

(16,224 posts)
11. Yes, he's definitely making fun of his origin/accent.
Mon Oct 31, 2022, 01:37 PM
Oct 2022
EarlG also says "coop, lad" and I think that you're both right.

Thanks.

LanguageLover

(20 posts)
13. Most likely it is: "Cup Laib"
Mon Oct 31, 2022, 05:26 PM
Oct 2022

I really still don't know the answer for sure but I think it is "Cup Laib".

Firstly, if you carefully notice the magician pronounce the second word, he puts his "lips" together. Now, there are only three letters in English where you have to press or "snap" your lips together to pronounce the letter and those are "P", "B" and "M". I can't think of any others where you need to do that.

We are also sure that the word starts with an "L", which many others above have guessed. So, I started looking for words which begin with "L" and end in either "P or B or M" and which would also match the approximate pronunciation we hear.

Of course, we cannot constrain ourselves to standard English because the word is surely in a local dialect or in a different language. Searching in "Scottish-Gaelic" I found the word "Laib", which simply means "Lip".

Therefore, a "Cup Laib" translates in English into "Lip Cup" or literally, "A Cup for the Lips". In other words, it is a "drinking cup". That's what seems reasonable enough to me in our context.

Strangely, if you "join" the two words together and write in lower case - like "cuplaib" - the Google translator says it means "couple". Then perhaps it is best that while writing we don't join the words "Cup Laib" together (just to be sure, keep them separate).

Of course, the magician is pronouncing it as "Koop Laa-ib", which I think we can all understand. I am sure the pronunciation "Koop" for "Cup" derives from the German phonetic rules of pronunciations.

I also found that "Laip" means "Lap" and "Laim" is the same as the English "Lime".

I didn't start my search with Scottish-Gaelic though. When he said he is from the "north", I initially thought he was from the north of England and therefore, started searching there. I found that in the far north-eastern borders of England with Scotland - near and north of Newcastle - there is an English dialect known as "Geordie". In fact, I did find a relatively small dictionary of "Geordie" dialect words online too. However, I could not find any words there which would match the words I was looking for. It was then that I broadened my search to Scottish-Gaelic.

That's all from my personal guesswork. I would wait now for a true linguist to step in and tell us what the real word is, if my own guess is wrong.

By now the discussion is surely buried under much more recent ones. Hopefully at least the original post writer will see my answer.



sl8

(16,224 posts)
14. Wow, you really gave this some thought. Thank you.
Mon Oct 31, 2022, 05:40 PM
Oct 2022

My initial thought, much less comprehensive than yours, was that maybe it was a word that came from the Vikings (Norsemen?) that hadn't spread too far south.

Now I'm thinking that EarlG and Yorkster are correct and he was saying "coop, lad".

muriel_volestrangler

(102,360 posts)
16. Wow. Talk about overthinking it.
Mon Oct 31, 2022, 07:06 PM
Oct 2022

I think Easterncedar is most likely right - "it's a cup, like" with "cup" pronounced in the Northern way (vowel sound same as "good" ). EarlG may be right that it's "lad".

All your stuff about "lip", "laib" etc. is fantasy. It's unneeded ("like" and "lad" would both fit, and the point is he's making a tiny joke about the difference between the guy's southern accent and his own Northern one and how they each pronounce "cup"; the word after that is a throwaway). Gaelic would be a complete red herring; he's from Middlesbrough, which could be said to be a transition from a Yorkshire to a Geordie accent, but has never been a Gaelic speaking area (English since about 500 AD, with Norse influence; before that, the Common Brittonic language, to which Welsh is now the closest, but that was completely lost in all of eastern and central England).

OnDoutside

(20,637 posts)
18. Sounds like Cup la. It's a habit even where I'm from in Ireland to
Tue Nov 1, 2022, 02:05 AM
Nov 2022

tag on a "la" sometimes at the end of words or sentences.i think it may be short for like.

How's it going la ?

sl8

(16,224 posts)
19. It's going OK, la.
Tue Nov 1, 2022, 07:45 AM
Nov 2022

Sorry, just trying it on for size.

I didn't know that about Irish speech, thanks.

I think part of my problem was that I was thinking it was one word, I'm not sure why . Once you consider that it may be two words, it doesn't seem so foreign.

I could definitely see it being "cup, la". I still like the other suggestions of "cup, like" and "cup, lad", too.

Thanks for weighing in.

OnDoutside

(20,637 posts)
20. It fits well ! I don't think that it is unique to Irish speech, and I
Tue Nov 1, 2022, 06:23 PM
Nov 2022

remember being in Singapore where Singaporean Chinese speaking English would often put la at the end of their sentences.

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