Brummie quiz puts city knowledge to the test

National World - LocalTV

A light-hearted quiz filmed in central Birmingham tests locals and visitors on their knowledge of Brummie slang, lost landmarks, and famous faces. It’s a snapshot of memory, pride, and what still matters to people as the city continues to change.

Transcript

00:01Slang's not just filler, it tells you where you're from before you open your go properly.

00:06It's one of the ways people hold onto identity,

00:09especially when the accent's been softened out of telly

00:12and scrubbed out of corporate slogans.

00:14So we're starting with a few homegrown expressions

00:17that separate the locals from the dye-trippers.

00:20Let's start with an easy one. What does Boston mean?

00:23Boston. Oh, I don't know. Boston.

00:27I don't know what Boston means, but I know what brown means.

00:32I can't think of where that is. Boston.

00:35Boston means the United States. It's the state of Boston.

00:39Sorry, Boston. Birmingham slang.

00:42Oh, I don't know. I couldn't tell you. I'm not familiar with that.

00:45Boston? No.

00:50How about, can you translate?

00:52You're a right gobby sod, you are.

00:54Someone who talks too much.

00:56You're a right gobby sod, you are. That's just like your mouthy. Yeah.

01:00Mouthy? Something like that, though.

01:02Oh, I was brought up with the Queen's English.

01:05So any bad slang, like British slang,

01:08I never accustomed myself to it, so I can't tell you.

01:12Oh, my God. No idea.

01:14Like a gutter. They come from nothing like gutter. Is it something like that?

01:27Oh, a yum-yum. I don't know. I don't know that one.

01:31It's just that there's a word they don't like. It's just but they get called as a nickname, I suppose.

01:35Yeah, because it doesn't mean they're from Wolverhampton.

01:38Not everything vanishes with a bang. A lot of what gets flattened in Birmingham disappears quietly overnight to midweek while no one's looking.

01:47And then one day someone asks what used to be there and you realise you can't picture it anymore.

01:52So to begin, what was the Rotunda originally built for?

01:56No idea. I'm so sorry.

01:59Got no idea. Looks like a hotel or something like that.

02:02I don't know.

02:04It's a BT Tower or something. British Telecom Tower. Or Rotunda.

02:09It signifies Birmingham the ball ring, isn't it? Yeah, I think.

02:14Which Birmingham landmark, a brutalist icon, was demolished in 2016?

02:21Oh, it's some statue, isn't it? Some... Oh.

02:26I'm going to suck at this today. I'm sorry. I'm not close.

02:30No idea.

02:31Bullring?

02:32No idea.

02:34Which Digbeth pub, fire damaged in 2015, was demolished in 2018 for HS2?

02:43Digbeth pub.

02:45Oh, is it you with Pinky Blinders by any chance?

02:48Did you read Porky Binders or Pinky Blinders? I couldn't tell you.

02:51I can't remember it off the top of my head. I'm sorry.

02:53Got me on that one, the ball.

02:56Ooh, no clue. Sorry.

02:58Sorry.

02:59Yeah.

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