It’s the city of ‘cobs’ not rolls and ‘ducks’ not dears but it seems it might not just be Nottingham where these unique phrases are being spoken.
A former marketing guru has been making it his mission to encourage his students at a Thailand school to say “‘ay up me duck” and other famous Nottingham phrases.
Martyn Hayes, originally from Bilborough, Nottingham, now works as an English teacher at the Prakhonchaipittayakhom School in one of the poorest parts of Thailand.
Since posting it on line last Saturday his video, in which some of Martyn’s 150 students try out the East Midlands dialect, has had over 8,000 views.
Video: Martyn’s students speak a bit of ‘Nottingham.’
The trip to Thailand was booked on a whim according to Martyn, 32, who has now been in the country for 6 months and has been enjoying teaching his students the ways of Nottingham locals.
He said: “I lived in London for a while working in marketing but I felt burnt out. I needed a break, so I just booked a flight to Thailand.
I wanted to make a video to send to my friends back in Nottingham to make them laugh.
Martyn told Notts TV the children found the phrases very “strange and funny” and kept asking what they meant.
“A lot of people may not understand some of the phrases but I’m from Bilborough originally so I heard the phrases growing up. My grandma would say them regularly and they just stuck with me.”
Famous Nottingham lingo
- ‘Ay up me duck
- Gee’ us a chip cob
- Don’t get mardy
- Shift that rammel
- Tarrah duck
One student of Martyn’s, Spectra Mowatt, says she loves learning English by talking to foreigners and really enjoys learning about Nottingham’s famous Robin Hood.
Image: Thai schoolgirl learns to say “don’t get mardy.”
The 16-year-old, whose line is “don’t get mardy” in the video, says:
“Martyn is a native speaker, so he helps me know how to speak. I thought it would be really hard to learn but his accent makes it easy.”
Aside from sharing his Nottingham lingo with his students, Martyn says he has been on endless adventures whilst in Thailand from riding elephants and feeding monkeys to swimming through waterfalls.
It’s honestly the best thing I’ve done in my adult life. Travel really does feel that amazing!
Martyn Hayes
Watch below to see Martyn tell our very own Frances Finn on The 6.30 Show what it was like to bring a bit of Nottingham to Thailand.
Video: Martyn Hayes explains the story of how Nottingham lingo hit Thailand.
