greetings in British Romany
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Mr WordPress on Purpose
Greetings
All languages have ways of saying hello, good bye, good day, how are you etc….
The greetings in Romany are:
Sashin? = How are you? (you can use this in place of hello)
Kushti Divvus = Good Day
Kushti Poshdivvus = Good Afternoon
Kushti Rardi/Rarti/Rawti = Good Night (there are three ways to say night in Romany)
Atch Duvvel = Good bye (said to the one staying)
Jaw Duvvel = Good bye (said to the one leaving)
Duvvel! = Bye!
Mandi Dik Tutti = I’ll see you
Dik Tutti Kullika = See you tomorrow
Simple!
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How much Romany do you already know?
There’s a few Romany words that most people know and use regularly. How many of the following words do you think are Romany?
- CHAV
- LOLLIPOP
- WONGA
- MUSH
- PEEVED
- MULLERED
- SCRAN
- LAGGED
- CUSHTY
- NAF
- DIVVY
- LOLLY
- DAD
The answer is…………..ALL of those words are Romany but are used in English slang. Some of the words have slightly different meanings in Romany than they do in English slang, for example “mullered” means “dead or killed” in Romany but in English slang it means “drunk,” whilst “peeved” means “drunk” in Romany, in English slang it means angry. To go for a “lag” in Romany means to go to the toilet (for a number one) and in English slang this has been adopted as the word “lagged” also meaning drunk. “Naf” means ill and is short for nafli. Divvy means mad but in English it means stupid. Lolly actually means “red” and is used for money because copper is also called lolly in Romany. Cushty, made famous by Dell Boy means “good”. Scran is food or eat. Wonga is coal and in English means money. Mush means man whilst chav means boy. Dad means exactly what it does in English. Lollipop, like lolly comes from the word for red, pop being short for pobble meaning apple and together it originally meant candy apple.
What’s the best thing about learning to speak Romany?
There’s hardly any grammar to learn! If you know English then all you have to do is practice using Romany
words in every sentence. That is how this course works. We practice a few words each lesson and we gradually build them up in sentences.
There are a few grammar differences, but they’re easier than English!
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Purpose
This website exists to help the British Gypsy community use their own language, Romany, in everyday situations. At present, Romany in Britain is only used in certain contexts.
These are mainly:
1) To evoke a sense of solidarity
2) To affirm the Gypsy identity
3) To stop outsiders understanding
Speakromany.com wants the Romany language to be used in all contexts, for speakers to be fluent, to use a wide range of Romany words that cover all everyday situations.
