When the ground is wet or icy, you must take care, because the roads are...

For ground that is wet or icy, 86% of respondents slid towards the term slippery to describe the condition. The terms slape and slake are used in regions across the north of England, including North Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, and westwards to Cumbria. Both terms are becoming less used by younger speakers however, which points towards a slippery slope for the terms.

Similarly, the regional terms glib, saucy, glazy and slike were reported only by a small number of speakers, falling victim to the ever-popular term slippery. However, additional words, such as icy and slippy were also contributed by younger respondents.

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.