Liverpool Local Custom Tips by drgrcook

Gay Festival - Liverpool comes out.

A successful Gay Festival, a first for Liverpool, started on the 1st November 2004 and ran for 10 days with numerous cultural activities including art, film, comedy music and poetry, contiuing for the rest of the month.

Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes to Hollywood is showing his artwork at the Hello Sailor exhibition.

It is a scene about which I know nothing, but further information is available from the web-site below. A tourism guide is available which includes a map with a list of Gay-friendly bars, clubs, restaurants etc.

Other Contact: e-mail - press@homotopia.org

Phone: 0151 233 1840

Website: http://www.gayliverpool.com/

Scouse

This is the name given to the regional accent of the people of Liverpool (who are known as Scousers).

This unique accent owes much to the Irish influence and also the pollution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries which led to a nasal twang due to the chronic blockage of the sinuses. (Try pinching your nostrils and speaking through your nose and you are halfway there!).

It is presumed that the name derives from a dish - lob scouse, made from vegetables and scraps of cheap meat which was eaten by sailors.

The late Fritz Speigl researched the origin of the word and interestingly found an old German recipe for "Labscouse - A sailors' dish".

Look out for Fritz's book, my photo is of the first edition and remember that when complaining to the waiter that you have no meat in your stew, the correct phrase is "Eh! Dis is blind scouse"

Do not expect to find a local who speaks a foreign language. Shamefully language teaching in British schools is poor and its study mostly voluntary. You will rarely find menus or signs in anything other than English.

Hopefully the City of Culture status will change this.

Mike Kemble has an interesting personal site about Liverpool. The web address is below.

Website: http://www.mikekemble.com/mside/scouse1.html