BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / English use of 'ie' .

**Posted by Davina** August 16, 2012 9:15 am

This came up in another thread but I thought I would post about it here too.

It has been noted that the British have a tendency to add 'ie' at the end of words, sometimes shortening the words in the process.

Examples are:

Biccies- instead of biscuits
Brekkie- instead of breakfast
Wellies- instead of Wellington boots
Walkies- instead of walk, especially when talking to dogs.

To which I will add another:
Doggie- instead of dog, especially when talking to children or doggies, funnily enough.

Can any other Brits out there come up with any more?

**Posted by SusiGo** August 16, 2012 9:58 am

I'm no Brit, but would "hankies" count among them?

**Posted by Davina** August 16, 2012 5:01 pm

Indeed it would instead of handkerchief.

**Posted by The Doctor** August 16, 2012 10:15 pm

We add an 'o'

Ambulance crew - ambo/ambos
Garbage truck driver - garbo

etc

**Posted by veecee** August 17, 2012 2:26 am

I don't know if it's "ie" or "y," but "telly" for television.

And "wellies" for wellingtons (rain boots)?

In that other thread, I was saying that my husband and I started making up British diminutives for things, and now we can't remember which ones are real and which ones we invented. Anyone want to invent some for Sherlock?

**Posted by hepzibah** August 17, 2012 8:56 am

Some more Aussie ones -
arvo - afternoon
avo - avocado
doco - documentary
journo - journalist
Salvos - Salvation Army
servo - service or petrol station
aggro - aggravation, aggression

Men's names -
Davo - David
Stevo - Stephen
Johnno - John

**Posted by Davina** August 17, 2012 11:24 am

Skitty used one in another thread:
Dearie instead of dear.
We also use sweetie instead of sweet both for the things you can eat and for someone who is sweet.

**Posted by sherlockskitty** August 18, 2012 5:25 am

Hello, sweetie!! I love that phrase. dearie is my term of endearment. what about bobbies, for police? duckie?

**Posted by kazza474** August 18, 2012 10:47 am

Ugh.
If I call you "Dearie " or "Sweetie" don't ever think I am smiling when I say it. Those words are laced with sarcasm from me.

**Posted by Mattlocked** August 18, 2012 11:36 am

Depends.....
When I call my tomcat sweetie, it's honest.
When I call my trainee sweetie while telling him he made the same mistake again, it's sarcasm.

**Posted by Davina** August 19, 2012 1:47 pm

Thought of some more and am puzzled as to why sometimes 'ie' is used and sometimes 'y', doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

Sarnie- sandwich
Butty e.g. A bacon butty or chip butty, a sandwich with butter spread and bacon or chips (fries).
Cheesie- such as in cheesie-chips ( chips with grated cheese on them).
Bevvie-for a drink (beverage) but usually meaning beer.

Like the Aussies we also add O to the end of some names e.g. Robbo, Thommo this seems to usually be men's surnames.

We also add 'ie' or 'y' to some first names, again usually men's sometimes altering a lot of the original letters e.g.
Andy-Andrew
Bobby or Bobbie- Robert
Billy- William
Teddy- Edward
Sammy- Samuel
Charlie-Charles
Davy or Davie- David
Bertie- Albert
Freddie-Fred or Frederick
Georgie-George
Harry- Harold
Gerry- Gerald
Jimmy-James
Kenny-Kenneth
Larry- Laurence/ Lawrence
Micky or Mikey- Michael
Nicky- Nicholas
Ollie-Oliver
Paulie-Paul
Ronnie-Ronald
Stevie-Steven/Stephen
Timmy-Timothy
Tommy-Thomas
Vinnie-Vincent

Nowadays the shortened form will be used as the given name straight off. There's loads more. Also Y gets added to some surnames too e.g. Baynsey, Shorty, Cobby.

**Posted by Banbha** September 9, 2012 4:51 pm

We do the same thing with names. Also, I've heard the word "bevvie" used among my age group a lot lately.

**Posted by veecee** September 9, 2012 5:27 pm

Well, now my husband and I have gone overboard, making "British" diminutives of everything. We say we're going "walkies'" but decided that saying "runnies" didn't work, for what I think are obvious reasons.

Anyway, I haven't heard "bevvies" in this part of Michigan, but certainly the whole country has been using "veggies" for a long time.

Regarding names, I wonder where some of the nicknames came from: Chuck for Charles, Peggy for Margaret,... I should probably just google it.

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** October 22, 2012 12:32 pm

Davina wrote:
Cheesie- such as in cheesie-chips ( chips with grated cheese on them).

I normally spell that with a 'y' - cheesy chips.

Anyway, I thought of a Sherlock related one - "cabbie"

**Posted by veecee** October 23, 2012 3:14 am

Do you say "ciggie"? It seems I've seen that somewhere.
We say cabbie, too, I think.

**Posted by horserider99** October 23, 2012 4:16 am

I met a British woman once, and she was talking about wellies and I was thinking "What on earth are wellies?" Anyway, I figured it out eventually and I was able to use the word the other day when talking about an awesome pair of wellies that I saw with the British flag pattern on it...what an appropriate word.

**Posted by Davina** October 23, 2012 7:27 am

British flag pattern would most usually be called 'The Union Jack'.