Shropshire Star

How do mon? We asked for your top Shropshire sayings - this is what you told us

This week, we asked our readers what they thought were the best sayings commonly heard in Shropshire.

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The Wrekin.

And among the jokes about long A&E waits and a seemingly ever-present smell of cannabis - a few fan favourites emerge.

A quick look at the results shows a county whose dialect has taken a range of influences, from its rural roots to an influx of industrial workers from the industrial West Midlands.

"It's Shroosbury, not Shrowsbury"

This old debate has become so legendary, the people of Shropshire have determined it to now be a saying.

It's an argument that's no doubt fired by the use of 'Shrow' on the trains. I've been on many a rail journey where "The train is now approaching Shrowsbury" has incurred a tide of Shroosbury's in response.

Some claim the Shrow side comes from the old spelling of the town's name - Schrosberie.- while others say it depends on whether or not you come from the 'posh' side of the river.

"Ow bist jockey lad!"

'Ow bist' is also claimed by the West Country but it's hard to argue it's not spread to Shropshire from the Black Country.

According to the web, 'Ow B'ist' meaning "How are you?" is a greeting contracted from "How be-est thou?"

There's a BBC article that claims that "Jockeys" was a friendly greeting commonly used in Oakengates as a term for young lads, which they say is a reference to the town's famous jockey, Sir Gordon Richards.

I'm somewhat sceptical of that claim though, given it's the only reference I can find.

“You munna say dunna, it dinna sound right; You dinna say binna, it tinna polite.”

In Shropshire, there's a tendency to drop consonants and swap out vowels, resulting in "canna" for can't, "inna" for isn't, "munna" for mustn't, "dunna" for don't and "wanna" for want.

That habit has resulted in this delightful phrase commonly passed down the generations.

Mon/Monner

The use of the friendly greetings of Mon and Monner can reportedly be traced back to the work of Shropshire priest and poet John Audelay, who used the word 'mon' back in 1426.

But some online sources claim this to be a West Midlands influence, while others point towards 'mun' in Wales and the borderlands.

"Going all around the Wrekin"

The Wrekin.

A phrase that could be used to replace 'round the houses' - it's commonly used to refer to either a long and tangled journey, usually back to where you started or to refer to someone who takes a long time to get to a point.

It's spread throughout the Midlands and heard throughout Shropshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, the Black Country and Birmingham.

"Now in a minute"

I will be there/I'll do it 'now in a minute' has no doubt come to us from over the border in Wales.

It's basically 'I'm not sure how soon' and joins lovely other Walian influences now heard around the county, along with "I'm not gonna lie to you" and "I'm not being funny, right".

"More wants than the Wellington Journal"

Needs little explaining, but it appears that this phrase has its own variant depending on where in the county you are. We also received a few 'More wants than the Shrewsbury Chronicle' from residents in the county town.