What visitors should know
Understand the regional system before imitating it. Newcastle and Sunderland do not share every identity label or dialect form, and familiar words such as howay, hinny, or the Toon can carry social and geographic information that a generic North East slang list misses.
Reviewed words and expressions
bairn
In Scots and Scottish English, bairn means a child or offspring. The word can refer to a boy or girl and has a long documented history in Scots, while also occurring in northern English varieties.
Newcastle upon Tynebait
In Tyneside and Geordie speech, bait can mean food or something brought to eat, especially in everyday work, school, or travel contexts.
Newcastle upon Tynecanny
In Tyneside English, canny can describe a person, thing, or situation as good, nice, pleasant, or agreeable.
Newcastle upon Tyneclarty
Clarty means dirty, muddy, or filthy in Tyneside speech; the word is also documented more widely in Northern England and Scotland.
Newcastle upon Tynegadgie
In Tyneside and Geordie speech, gadgie can mean a man or bloke, and in some contexts especially an older man.
Newcastle upon Tynegan
In Tyneside and Geordie speech, gan is a regional form of the verb go, including forms such as gannin for going.
Newcastle upon Tynehadaway
Hadaway is a Northeast English exclamation used to urge someone on, tell them to get away or stop delaying, or react with disbelief depending on context and tone.
Newcastle upon Tynehinny
In Tyneside and Geordie speech, hinny is a familiar term of address for a girl or woman, often carrying warmth or affection.
Newcastle upon Tynehoway
In Geordie and Tyneside speech, howay is an exhortation meaning roughly 'come on', used to encourage, urge, challenge, hurry, or rally someone.
Newcastle upon Tynenetty
Netty is a Northeast England dialect word for a toilet or lavatory, historically especially an earth closet.
Newcastle upon Tynestottie
A stottie is a substantial flat round bread associated with Northeast England, often split and filled to make a sandwich; stotty is a common spelling variant.
Newcastle upon Tynethe Toon
In Newcastle and Tyneside usage, the Toon is familiar shorthand for Newcastle itself and, especially in football context, for Newcastle United and the community around the club.
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