Gert Lush!

Someone once told me Bristolians are the only people living in a city that talk like countryside farmers. I don't personally know many Bristolians, maybe two or three at work, but I have to admit their English is  peculiar. So, I did some online research on the Bristolian accent.

There are so many dialects in the English language, and Bristolian is part of the West Country dialects. Academically, the region encompasses the city of Bristol and the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset are a dialect, with slight variations one to another. There is some influence of the Welsh and Cornish languages on the dialect, depending on the location.

As any dialect in any other language, Bristolian has its own words, phrases and pronunciation. Even the name Bristol itself (originally Bridgestowe or Bristow) is believed to have originated from the Bristolian pronunciation. 

If a Bristolian asks you "Where do you work to?", there will be a big confusion if you give details of your route to work. Or even when they ask "Where's it to?", they don't mean anything else than "Where is it?". REMEMBER: you are living in "Brizzle", not in Bristol. And your friends place is in "Bemmie", not in Bedminster.

We are more used to other Bristolian sentences such as "Cheers drive!" (what a Bristolian says when leaving a bus), "Awlriiieee!" (meaning "Alright!), or "Laters!" ("See you later!"). Phrases like "gert lush" (meaning 'very nice') or "hark at ee!" ("look at you!") are more often used as a joke nowadays, but there is a huge amount of merchandise to promote Bristol with those two phrases. 

There are several webpages, but if you are really interested, I suggest you visit Mintinit and watch Terry's Bristolian language lesson for beginners.

...because us, outsiders, we have to make an effort for Bristolians to understand us! :)