More things our blog followers should know...(that we didn't):
*the native Newcastle folks are known as Geordies (jor-dees) and they are famous for having an absolutely impenetrable accent even to other Brits. It's a result of northern England having a Viking/Roman/Anglo-Saxon heritage from centuries ago. It may be worse than trying to understand a thick Scottish burr. Newcastle United Football Club is known as Toon Army, and Toon is how Geordies pronounce "town," if that gives you an idea. Although I suppose it's not that different from the Pittsburgh yinzer accent. Sometimes I understand it, but it's on a slow and distorted five second delay, like they are speaking from the bottom of a swimming pool.
* Geordies are famous for being extremely friendly (very true in our experience) and absolutely rabid about Newcastle football club (extremely true based on the game that a colleague took us to right after we got here). I'd love to tell you what they were calling the ref, but my mom reads this blog.... The game was FANTASTIC though, and I think much more intense than US sports, to be quite honest.
* Similarly, it was great watching the Super Bowl (although I stayed up until 3am to do so, and it's been wrecking me all week), but again I must say that it came on the heels of me watching England-Wales in the Six Nations rugby tournament. Honestly, that's a freakin' sport. No pads, no timeouts or coaching from the sidelines, and just brutal. Made me appreciate the speed of NFL a bit more, but still....
* More funny terminology....:
"rocket"= arugula (still haven't figured that one out).
"kippers" are a small oily fish, kind of like sardines I presume, that sometimes are offered with meals. Can't say I've had the pleasure.
"pasties" = sort of like a Hot Pocket sandwich in kind of a turnover form. Not associated with strippers. And not to be confused with a stotty, which is a special Newcastle sandwich on an enormous bread loaf. Haven't sampled one of those either.
* One of my colleagues told M that they would have guessed she was Italian before they heard her accent. She didn't know where that came from, but pretty cool....
* people keep laughing at me when I refer to our "cell phone"--it is a "mobile" over here.
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3 comments:
I love it! So excited you guys have a blog I can follow. I watch Barclay and Sonya's Polish adventures, and now I get to watch yours in Newcastle! It all sounds wonderful, and you guys sound just like adorable newlyweds. Things may be difficult at first in a new place, but just remember what an amazing adventure you're on! You'll look back on this as the best time in your life :) Love you!
I want to know more about the food. So try some of the Brit shite. Thanks for blogging. It's nice to hear from you both.
Always,
Elvis
i'm going to go ahead and put in a request for a newcastle brown ale t-shirt. :-)
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