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All the ladies are connected by the village of Hampton
in Arden. Eileen and Gill live in Hampton while Lorraine and Pam live
in Solihull. Lorraine works in the village - she
is a craft tutor, regularly teaching classes at Hampton Manor and for
the Community Crafts programme. Pam has been coming to Hampton for years
to see her friends and for dancing classes.
The group met over lunch in Eileen's dining room. Eileen
had a terrible migraine but managed to contribute fully to the discussion
- as well as providing everyone with sandwiches!
Find out more about the women below. Click the links
to listen to them talking and hear the whole group in discussion in the
'best bits'.
Contributors
Gill Hallworth
Pam Hayes
Lorraine Whitehouse
Eileen Worthington
Best bits
'Dandy'
'Island' vs 'roundabout'
Pregnant
Rude rivers
Grandparents' names
Name: Gill Hallworth
Age: 51
Occupation: Clerical
Lives in: Hampton-in-Arden
Lived here: All her life
Born: Solihull
Describes own accent as: "Birmingham"
Languages: English (mother tongue), good British Sign Language
Name: Pam Hayes
Age: 67
Occupation: Medical secretary
Lives in: Solihull
Lived here: More than 10 years
Born: Birmingham
Describes own accent as: "Intonations of Brummie"
Languages: English (mother tongue)
Name: Lorraine Whitehouse
Age: 46
Occupation: Craft tutor
Lives in: Solihull
Lived here: More than 10 years
Born: Weston-Super-Mare
Describes own accent as: "West Country"
Languages: English (mother tongue), good German
| Listen to Lorraine |
| Lorraine remembers she used to annoy
her mother by adding the word 'laugh' to the end of everything she
said! "Spitting chips she was!" |
 Listen
to the clip |
Read
the transcript |
| At a wedding, people thought the groom's
mother was "a bit slow". Lorraine says it was just because
she was from Gloucester! |
| Listen
to the clip |
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| When visiting her son's granny in Stoke-on-Trent,
Lorraine called her son a "little devil". Granny didn't
like this! |
| Listen
to the clip |
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| The group think swear words are over-used.
The group laugh about Lorraine's mother who over-uses a certain word... |
| Listen
to the clip |
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| People occasionally think Lorraine is
a bit stupid because she has a West Country accent. |
| Listen
to the clip |
|
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Name: Eileen Worthington
Age: 54
Occupation: Retired teacher, does part-time editing
Lives in: Hampton-in-Arden
Lived here: 23 years
Born: Nuneaton
Describes own accent as: "Not a strong regional accent. People
often have difficulty knowing where I'm from. Traces of Lancashire from
parents."
Languages: English (mother tongue), good French, learning Spanish
Best bit: 'Dandy' and 'gay'
Everyone joins in this discussion. Gill thinks
it's a shame the word 'gay' has a different meaning now and Eileen feels
a bit sorry for women called Gay.
Listen
to the clip
Best bit: Islands? Or roundabouts?
Lorraine always calls them roundabouts and sometimes people in the Midlands
are confused when she gives them directions: "oh, you mean island".
The rest of the group decide they use both words, with no preference for
either.
Listen
to the clip
Best bit: Pregnant
The group discuss words and phrases which mean 'pregnant'. They think
men have a whole range of ways to say 'pregnant' and that the words women
use are nicer.
Listen
to the clip
Best bit: Rude rivers in Germany
The group talk about words in other languages
that are funny to an English mother-tongue speaker. There's lots of laughing
as Lorraine talks about river names in Germany and Eileen remembers a
funny name from her holiday to Spain. Gill hates the words! Don't listen
if you're easily offended!
Listen
to the clip
Best bit: Funny names for grandparents
Lorraine's father is called Stan and he loves football... can you guess
what Lorraine's children call him?
Listen
to the clip
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