
wallah(Anglo-Indian): someone concerned with or responsible for a certain
thing. For instance, char wallah referred to the person responsible for
making tea. Cf. Punkwallalh.
Sources: ODS, SL
Wack. Sir, pal. The word may come from an old army word for rations,
with the implication of sharing same and therefore comraderie. Wack also
means chore, or portion of work assigned.
Sources: GHTL,ML, LS1
Wacked: fatigued
Source: GS
Wacky Backy: marijuana
Source: SL
Wagon: bed
Source: LS3
wagon drop-offs: stolen goods, which were supposed to have dropped off
a wagon
Source: SL
wagon fat: inferior margarine brands
Source: MLS
wait a tick: wait a minute
Source: ZCAR
Walker. Make yer name Walker, wack. Please go away.
Source: LS1
Wall-bin: a special type of garbage bin built into alley walls and easily
capable of being tilted outward for emptying purposes.
Source: LS2
wallop: to consume, take in at the mouth. Wallop also regularly refers
to beer or ale.
Source: ZCAR, LS2
Wally: the quintessential idiot or imbecile; a feeble or worthless person
Source:ODS
Wanker: masturbator; although abusive, the term in does not always imply
anything about sexual behavior, just general contempt for or displeasure
with someone.
Source: LS4
Wanna. I wanna: I want to.
Source: LS1
Warpaint: make-up
Source: LS3
warrant key, a: a sledge hammer used to gain entry when a warrant entitles
police to do so and other methods have failed.
Source: LS4
waspie belts: wide elastic belts worn by teenagers during the
fifties, often with full skirts.
Source: SL
Water-tight door: another word for diaper
Source: ST
Wearified: tired
Source: LS3
Webs. Me webs. My feet.
Source: LS1
Wee and cack: infant talk for urination and excretion
Source: SL
Weeds: cannabis
Source: LS4
weighed off, to be: to have gotten what the employer owes a person
Source: LS3
Weller: background singer
Source: SL
Wellied. Ee wuz wellied. He was kicked. The term comes Wellington boots
used by the kicker against the kickee.
Source: LS1, Moloney
Welsh-butty: sandwich containing cheese and sliced raw onion
Source: LS2
welt, to be on the: to be taking an unauthorized break on the job
Source: LS1
Welt: rest period. Among dockers, one person would work, while two or
three others would watch him, taking turns every twenty minutes. This was
called welting, or bobbing, or ghosting.
Sources: LS1, LS3,LS4
Werkin fer de Queen(dockers): drawing unemployment benefit
Source: LS1
wet the tea, to: to make the tea
Source: SL
wet sod: a futile talker, a thorough bore
Source: LS2
Wet neller (or wet nelly): Nelson cake. Siegl describes this as"A cake
made from compressed, broken biscuits, pastry remnants, etc. with dried
fruit added, the whole soaked in syrup or burnt sugar and stacked in great
piles." Spiegl passes on Frank Shaw'a recollection "that the lowest slices
were the most sought-after, since the syrup soaked to the bottom of the
pile."
Source: LS1, ML
Wet the baby's head, to: have a drink, perhaps just one. The term might
be traditional at Christenings, but it is used in almost any context to
mean "well, maybe just one." In Lancashire, after the birth of a
child, there would be a"merry meal," with tea and rum aplenty.
The wife's female friends would attend this, and the event was known as
"wetting the baby's head."
Source: DVSL, Moloney
Wezzer, The: the old West Derby cinema
Source: SL
Whale Oil Beef Hooked: a phrase which disguises in the spelling, but
not too thoroughly, the obscenity in the exclamation
Source: SL
What. Yer wha? Do I hear you aright?
Source: LS1
What's yer...? What is the price of...?
Source: LS1
whim-wham: pinwheel
Whingeing: coinage fusing cringeing and whining. Whinge can mean to
cry wearily and incessantly.
Source: SL
whip: to confiscate or steal:
Source: LS2
Whip behind! : in earlier times, this was a carter's warning as he lashed
backwards to keep urchins from stealing off the back of his cart
Source: TMD
Whip on, whip off: to board or to alight
Source: LS1
whip-round: a subscription of cash made by several persons for a given
purpose, usually a colleague's misfortune such as a lost pay packet.
Source: LS2
whirlies, getting the: beginning to feel the effect of a fair amount
of alcohol
Source: LS4
Whistle (rhyming): suit
Rhyming components: whistle and flute
Source: SL
White liver suspect: a term referring to a woman who is constantly
burying husbands, and who perhaps has been poisoning them
Source: ALS
white slaves(obsolete): another term for washerwomen
Source: MEM
whizzer: a tin disc with serrated edge, with two holes for threading
a loop of string. It could be whirled around, often making exotic
patterns and sounds. They were known as cheesecutters in some neighborhoods.
They could also cut like a saw and were really quite dangerous.
Source: SL
whole cheese, to feel the: to be quite satisfied with oneself, to feel
as though one has really "arrived."
Source: MV
wicked, the: black colloquial name for police
Source: LS4
Wicker. I wanna new wicker wacker: I require a new suit, my man.
Source: LS1
Widow's memories: bawdy term for bangers, or sausages
Source: SL
Wind instruments: peas, beans
Source: LS3
Wind someone up, to: to be fooling, to be putting someone onor stringing
them along
Source: SL
winge: to cry wearily and persistently. This is a composite of wail
and cringe
Source: LS2
Winger: a ship's steward
Source: LS1
Wingy. A person with one arm.
Source: LS1
winkle: shortened form of periwinkle, a type of edible sea snail.
People are said to "winkle" them out with a pin or a small knife. See also
kewins and quins.
Source: SL, OED
winkle picker shoes: very long shoes, popular in the fifties
Source: MV
Winnick: clumsy, retarded, simple. The word comes from the asylum/hospital
at Winwick. Cf. Rainhill on this list.
Source: ST
winter-warmers(obsolete): tin cans stuffed with rags soaked in petrol,
oil, or tar, the sides of the cans punctured with air holes. The
cans were lit and swung about, and were not of any help against the cold.
Source: LI30
Winwick(now obsolete): the insane asylum
Source: MLS
wise Herbert, a: a tricky, untrustworthy person
Source: ATHIA
Wittering: chattering nonsensically
Source: Keyes ANS
wobbler(obsolete): an ambulatory patient in a military hospital.
More recently it has come to mean a staid, conservative person, a "square."
Source: A, DS
Wobbler, to throw a: to go beserk, to lose all sense of personal control.
Sometimes this shows as "to chuck a wobbly."
Sources: OED, JML
wog: an illness, as in "stomach wog." Cf. Lancashire "bally warch"
for belly ache.
Source: SL, ODS
Woggies: head lice. See also "biddies" on this list.
Source: SL
Wollies: Woolworth's
Source: SL
Wooden hills: stairs in a house
Source: SL
Woody: Woodbine cigarette. Woody also can mean a sexual erection
Source: SL, LS3
Woolidom: usually refers to Lancashire , where the woolybacks (lankies)
live, or to the countryside outside of the city of Liverpool.
Source: SL
Wooly: short for "woolly-back," someone who lives outside Liverpool
in the surrounding region, and therefore must not be a true scouser. More
recently, since "wooly-backs" are sheep with black faces, the term has
come to refer to ethnic minorities.
Source: LS4
working jack: a detective
Source: ZCAR
Worrell: What will?
Source: LS1
wringing machine: a mangel. See "mangler" on this list.
Source: MLS
Wuz. We wuz playin: We were playing...
Source: LS1