Pescator Posted October 16, 2006 Report Share Posted October 16, 2006 I bumped into an irish guy the other day, he was working as a chef at a local restaurant. We started talking about some irish stuff and I mentioned Dave Allen, he never heard of him. WTF? And as a non native english speaker I was wondering about the expressions lad/lass and bonny and where they originated from. Are they scottish by the way? He didn`t have a clue. He was only 22 years old which might excuse him for not knowing Dave Allen (I think not!) but was he pulling my leg by claiming not to know the expressions lad, lass, bonny etc? Or is it just me who am making those expressions up? cheers hn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted October 16, 2006 Report Share Posted October 16, 2006 Bonny is Scots English, Lad and Lass are Scots English and Northern English. Where I grew up the phrase "Our Lass" was a common term for wife / GF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pescator Posted October 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2006 Thanks Mekong, When I was a still a young "lad" I used to watch a british series I think it was called: "When the boat comes in". Main character called Jack. Liked it a lot. And I still recall these expressions. However, upon meeting the young irish guy I thought I made them all up, since he wasn`t familiar with them or at least pretended not to be for whatever reason. Well, after denying to know THE Dave Allen, I didn`t take him seriously anyway. cheers hn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 17, 2006 Report Share Posted October 17, 2006 Lad (and to a lesser extent lass ) has become a byword for crass stupid beer drinking idiots of late...the 'lad culture' in the UK is really quite unpleasant and refers to the shirts off, beer bellied, tattooed, foul mouthed, drunk numb skulls who frequent such places as Pattaya.....so lad is very much a contemporary word...as is lass. Bonny gets used still...but not a lot...i tried to recall a time when i'd have had cause to use it and none spring to mind... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted October 17, 2006 Report Share Posted October 17, 2006 I had a female friend from Manchester who said bonny all the time. She used it more than my Scots friends did. Of course, that was around 20 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elef Posted October 17, 2006 Report Share Posted October 17, 2006 My Bonnie is over the ocean, My Bonnie is over the sea, My bonnie is over the ocean, O bring back my Bonnie to me Lad/lass (laddie/lassie) are probably of scandinavian origin I read somewhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pe7e Posted October 17, 2006 Report Share Posted October 17, 2006 I think it's more an age related thing than race, I was always 'laddie' to my grandfather and I don't think he ever left England in his entire life, he spent the war down the coal mines, so didn't even get overseas then. Regarding Dave Allen, anyone around 20 and under has probably have never seen him on TV, when he first appeared on TV in the early 70's his material was considered heresy by many, especially him being from a bible bashing Irish background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pescator Posted October 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2006 I thought bonny was an adjective meaning something like pretty? I`ve heard the expression: Bonny Lass. So it is a subjective too? cheers hn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted October 17, 2006 Report Share Posted October 17, 2006 To my Ear Bonny Scots = Pretty / Cute etc Bonny Manchester / Lancashire = Slightly overweight. I dated many a Bonny Lass, unfortunatley all from Manchester and non from Scotland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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