When feeling hungry, most people in England will let you know they are starving. This term was used by almost half or more of all respondents across virtually all regions. While the terms hungry and famished resonated with around a quarter of respondents, the popularity of the latter seems to be waning, except in some areas of northern England. Hungry may well grow in popularity across regions but for now, it appears to be largely confined to regions across the south of England.
If you haven't eaten any food for a long time, you're bound to feel...
The regional term clempt is alive and well in the cities of Stoke and Wigan, but is almost exclusively used by those over the age of 25. The same is true of the term clammed, which is used in the West Midlands, particularly around Birmingham. Other local dialect words – clammish and leary – are now only used by a handful of people.
The survey also showed that Hank Marvin is used across many parts of the country, despite its Cockney roots, and that hanger is used by every age group. We also discovered that, the earlier you were born, the more likely you are to be peckish, with those under the age of 17 unlikely to be peckish at all.
This bar graph animation shows how the use of these words has changed over time.
Interactive words map
Click this button to view the different responses to this question on a map.
You can tick the boxes on the side to select a word and show the places the word was used by the people who completed The Great Big Dialect Hunt. This map is based on where people grew up, not where they live now.
