There are many debates floating around at the moment that I have been intrigued by, but one that has really captured my curiosity is “The Nation’s Frostiest Debate”, that has recently been hosted by Regatta. With Winter just around the corner, they decided to survey 800 people from all over the UK to find out how many different (but common for that area) ways there were to say “it’s cold” – because let’s face it, us Brits love to pass comment on the weather! They also within this survey looked at people’s preferred Winter activities, ways of keeping snug and their favourite hot drinks at this time of year.
Languages, dialects and accents fascinate me. I love to hear people speaking differently to me and I find it especially amazing how we can all come from the same country/British Isles, but yet use such vastly different terminology for things. As I read through the results of this “frosty debate”, I found there were familiar phrases and completely new ones to me that left me thinking “how the heck does that mean the same thing – where did it come from?”!
Like I say, us Brits love talking (and moaning) about the weather…which recently can make a refreshing to change to everything else that is going on! It seems at time to be an integral part of our culture to pass comment on the elements – especially when we are in a new crowd or stood in a queue waiting (another favourite British pass-time)! It just slips out sometimes doesn’t it?
This survey has made me aware however how we perceive and describe things so differently and, that is so interesting,
Personally I like the scenes of Winter – especially on those mornings you wake up to a blanket of snow – it’s so magical and pretty! But, I’ll be honest – I am a sun lover at heart and much prefer fairer weather and a lot of heat. I try not to moan when it gets colder despite preferring warmer weather as each season has beauty and purpose, but I know for a fact that I am often heard to be saying the not so classy phrase of “it’s flipping butt freezing” or “it’s blumming cold” whenever the cold temperatures strike!!!
How we embrace Winter
In spite of feeling “butt freezing” in the Winter time, it doesn’t stop the family fun and adventures here in the Smith household. Our family often enjoy wrapping up warm in our hats, scarves, gloves and coats, and braving the elements to enjoy the frosty outdoors (when it’s not chucking it down with rain of course!). The countryside where we live, clothed in frost or snow, with that pretty low winter sun is absolutely beautiful and always good for the soul to have a nice brisk walk (and blow away the cobwebs of course!).
We enjoy noticing the frosty cobwebs, our breath as it hits the cold and of course playing in the snow when we are so fortunate enough to have it.
We love making and eating soup – nothing says Winter warmer like a bowl of homemade soup!
And we also love to snuggle with candles lit whilst watching festive films under blankets.
We enjoy going on the North Yorkshire moors steam railway with family and having dinner in country pubs next to open fires – all of these things (and others) bring the joy of the season into our lives and create wonderful memories.
Despite being British though (and belonging to a nation of tea lovers) we are not massive hot drink lovers ourselves so this isn’t a big part of cold weather to us. We are partial to the occasional hot chocolate on colder days as a treat and I also quite enjoy the occasional barley/hickory brew with a drop of milk when i’m “butt freezing”, but that is as far as we go with a warm drink. I do however think the weirdest (to me) hot drink I have discovered that people like to drink up here in the North is warm Vimto! I don’t know why, but it just seems a bit odd to me outside of your standard wintry brews (do you love it?).
As we enter November, Winter is on the horizon. It may or may not be your favourite season and may be a little different this time round, but there is always beauty and fun to be had in every season. I have discovered with so many different regional accents, dialects and local traditions across the UK, the terminology used to discuss this changing weather and season change can be difficult to understand, even for us other Brits. But, If you are curious to learn more about how others view winter then check out what Regatta found about the most common ways of saying ‘it’s cold!’ across the country, as well as people’s favourite Winter past-times and hot drinks – perhaps you may even be inspired with some ideas for your own family.
*Collaborative Post
