Posted on by New College Group

Understanding the Liverpool Dialect

We recently posted about the Manchester dialect and we thought it was only fair to do a post about the Liverpool dialect too!

Whilst there are some similarities between the two cities, and the dialects definitely borrow from each other, Liverpool does have it’s own distinct set of words and phrases.

Boss

This word is used in Liverpool as a general term of positivity.

Example: “That’s boss that.”

Wool

This noun is used to describe people that are not from Liverpool, but are from the surrounding towns such as the Wirral, Runcorn, St Helens or Southport.

Example: “She’s a Wool.”

Lad/La

If you hear people in Liverpool saying this they simply mean a male person.

Example: “Hey La, are you coming for food later?”

Queen

The female equivalent of a Lad, referring to any woman.

Example: “Thanks Queen.”

Chocka

In Liverpool this just means busy.

Example: “Avoid the city centre today, it’s chocka!”

Like

This word doesn’t have a specific meaning it’s just dropped into conversations and on to the end of sentences for no real reason.

Example: “We went to the beach at the weekend and it was quite sunny like.”

Trabs

Another word for shoes or trainers.

Example: “Have you got new trabs? They’re boss!”

Clobber

A term used to refer to any type of clothing or a collection of clothing.

Example: “I’m going into town to buy some new clobber.”

For any students studying in our Liverpool English Learning School, hopefully, this mini-dictionary will help you out whilst you’re in the city!