Manx English, or more commonly Anglo-Manx, is the dialect of English spoken by the people of the Isle of Man. It has many borrowings from the original Manx language, a Goidelic language, and it differs widely from any other English, including other Celtic-derived dialects such as Welsh English and Hiberno-English.
Early strata of Anglo-Manx contain much of Gaelic and Norse origin, but more recent Anglo-Manx displays heavy influence from Liverpool and Lancashire in NW England.
The best known user of Anglo-Manx was the poet, TE Brown.
A few sailor's taboo words have entered land speech, although strictly speaking, these were meant for use aboard boats/at sea, not on land. Anglo-Manx taboo names for rat include: "longtail", "joey", "queerfella", "iron fella", "ringie", and of course a modern version "r-a-t". If people say the word rat by accident on the Isle of Man you may see them whistle, turn around and touch the ground!!
Anglo-Manx lexicon
All of the following are still in common useage today
- Yessir - form of address to a male person
- Sowel - Another form of address to a male person
- Comeover - a non-Manx person living in the Isle of Man
- Up is used for going south, down for going north
- Across - UK across the water, instead of mainland
- Fella - a man/mate (fellow), common to other dialects, but much more frequent in Anglo-Manx
- Manxie - a Manx person or a Manx cat
- Stumpie - a Manx cat with a stump for a tail
- Rumpie - a Manx cat without a stump
- Kirk - Church, used in parish names, no doubt from Scots
Manx loanwords
Words of Manx language, i.e. Gaelic, origin
