Scouse is both an accent and a dialect, commonly used around the English county of Merseyside – and in particular in the city of Liverpool. The sound of Scouse is highly distinctive, as anyone who’s ever stayed in a Liverpool centre hotel will know. It can be hard to understand for outsiders, and its use has been reported to reach as far and wide as Cheshire, Lancashire and Clwyd in Wales.
This migration of the accent only really occurred since the 1950s, when many of Liverpool’s slums were raised, in favour of newer post-war accommodation blocks. Many Scouse speakers began to migrate, establishing new colonies of the dialect in surrounding areas. As one might expect, numerous variations have developed, although these still contain the same basic linguistic characteristics.
Some of the more common idioms of Scouse include lengthening of vowels, dropping soft consonants such as ‘h’, and abruptly ending words with sounds such as ‘v’ or ‘z’. Here are a few examples of such forms.
‘Az if’ might be used to say ‘I don’t believe that’, demonstrating both the dropped ‘h’, and an ‘az’ sound in place of ‘as’. ‘Ye ma’, meaning ‘your mother’, is a classic example of abbreviated words ending in open vowels. ‘Bevvy’ (‘beer’), ‘bizzies’ (‘police’) and ‘divvy’ (a stupid person) are all further examples of abbreviated colloquialisms with added ‘v’ or ‘z’ sounds.
The term ‘Scouse’ itself is actually derived from a Norwegian word; ‘lapskaus’ is a form of meat stew, popularised amongst sailors. In the 19th century it was regularly enjoyed amongst the families of dockers and sailors, of which there were a great many living in the Wallasey Pool area of Liverpool. Hence in time, these people became known as ‘Scousers’.
To hear this peculiar and unique dialect for yourself, one need only check in for a stay at any of the numerous Liverpool city centre hotels. It’s a fascinating accent to hear spoken… just don’t expect to be able to understand everybody you come across.
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