With Geordie Shore: The Reunion now back on our screens bringing back the majority of the cast from its golden era from 2011-2013, now’s the time to learn essential Geordie slang.
The team at Preply have given us the essential guide to Geordie slang to celebrate The Reunion:
- Wye-aye (pron. Why-eye)
One of the most widely-used phrases in Geordie Shore, “wye-aye” is the Geordie way of saying a very positive “yes”, or “of course”.
It could be a response to “You coming to the pub tonight?” with “Wye-aye man!”
- Howay (pron. How-way)
Another common Geordie slang term, “howay” is another way of saying “come on” or “hurry up”.
If someone is late for something, you urge them to hurry up with “Howay man!”
- Canny (pron. Can-knee)
Canny usually refers to something being good, nice, or pleasant. It can refer to an object or a person, with the personified use being similar to the term “sound”.
When referring to a nice person, “Yeah he’s canny him like.”
- Clamming (pron. Clam-in)
Clamming is the Geordie word for being very hungry.
A very hungry geordie might say “I’m proper clamming me”.
- Radge (pron. Rad-je)
Radge is geordie slang to describe someone who you might refer to as mad or crazy.
If you see someone shouting at someone you might say “He’s proper radge him.”
- Toon (pron. T-oo-n)
Toon is a well-known Geordie phrase, it just means town but is said in their accent and a dropped W.
Mainly used in the context of going out as in “Let’s go oot on the toon.”
- Nowt (pron. Now-t)
Geordies use the word nowt basically as a shortened version of the word nothing.
It can be used in the context of “Bored me, got nowt to do.”
- Gan (pron. G-an)
Gan, like nowt is a shortened term, but this time for the word going.
If you’re going to the shop, you instead say “I’m gan shop me.”
- Wor (pron. Wo-re)
Wor is a geordie term that simply means our, most commonly used in personified use.
For example, instead of saying “my girlfriend/boyfriend” they might instead say “wor lass/lad”.
- Belta (pron. Bell-tar)
Belta is a term used to describe something great or amazing, in a very exaggerated way.
If you’ve been to the cinema and really enjoyed a film, you might say “That film was an absolute belta!”