# English Dopers! Etymology of Scouser, Geordie **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2002, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-dopers-etymology-of-scouser-geordie/140993 "2002-12-06T19:16:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ivar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ivar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ivar)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-dopers-etymology-of-scouser-geordie/140993/1 "2002-12-06T19:16:38Z")
I was wondering what the origins were for the names scouser (referring to a Liverpudlian) and geordie (someone from Newcastle). Are the names derogatory or are they just plain silly? ---
**Author:** ![mrcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@mrcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrcrow)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-dopers-etymology-of-scouser-geordie/140993/2 "2002-12-06T19:24:12Z")
scouse=stew geordie=One opinion is that the name was born in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, when the Jacobites bypassed Newcastle, which, as well as favouring the Hanoverian King George, was also a well-guarded garrison. The Jacobites then said that Newcastle and the surrounding areas were all “for George”. Hence the name Geordies. i know there is more to the scouse thingy ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-dopers-etymology-of-scouser-geordie/140993/3 "2002-12-06T20:43:38Z")
Scouse is an abbreviation of _lobscouse_ (originally lobscaus) – a stew similar to Irish stew, thickened with ship’s biscuits, of Scandinavian origin, that was eaten on ships in the northern waters. I can’t explain why the inhabitants of my home city should have taken their nickname from ship’s stew (as opposed to the sailors from any other northern port), but that’s where it comes from. If you’re ever in a restaurant in Liverpool and ask for scouse, they will at least know what you’re ordering, even if it’s not on the menu. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Know\_Lots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@I\_Know\_Lots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Know_Lots)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-dopers-etymology-of-scouser-geordie/140993/4 "2002-12-06T21:29:21Z")
“Scouser” is from the Latin “Scousartum”, meaning a crime-ridden city full of permed, drug-fuelled kleptomaniacs who say “arlkkkkright, our kkkhid” all the time. “Geordie” is from the Old Norse “Geodogg”, meaning a completely unintelligable form of speech, spoken by mental alcoholics who think they are somehow totally different from Sunderland. Now you know. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-dopers-etymology-of-scouser-geordie/140993/5 "2002-12-07T00:22:25Z")
I don’t think my reply to a recent post of yours about South Yorkshire was quote so ignorant **IKL**. Apparently this is one more subject you know nothing about. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-dopers-etymology-of-scouser-geordie/140993/6 "2002-12-07T11:50:58Z")
IANA English Doper but… The Lobscouse thing is compoletely correct as far as I know. Why I am poking my nose in is that I recently read the "Jacobite"explantion for Geordie and was fascinated, but then someone else (an actual Geordie) posted a different one. I’m off to try to find it. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-dopers-etymology-of-scouser-geordie/140993/7 "2002-12-07T12:14:18Z")
OK - here is the other “Geordie” explanation - BUT this is only from another message board (though from a pretty knowledgable chap) so it may not be worthy of Gen Q. > [@](#): > > George Stephenson invented the miners lamp which was first used in Willingworth Colliery near Newcastle, and when the more commonly known Davy lamp was introduced throughout the UK, the Tyneside miners refused to use it and stuck with the Stephenson lamp which became known as the Geordie lamp and the Tyneside miners, as Geordies! > > So not 1745 but 1815. [http://www.scotland.com/forums/showthread.php3?threadid=9284](http://www.scotland.com/forums/showthread.php3?threadid=9284) [/quote] ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-dopers-etymology-of-scouser-geordie/140993/8 "2002-12-07T12:21:37Z")
Ah - try here too [http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin\_board/3/messages/330.html](http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/3/messages/330.html) ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-dopers-etymology-of-scouser-geordie/140993/9 "2002-12-09T13:36:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > Scouse is an abbreviation of _lobscouse_ (originally lobscaus) – a stew similar to Irish stew, thickened with ship’s biscuits, of Scandinavian origin, that was eaten on ships in the northern waters. Although it’s eaten in the frozen North the word appears to have come here from the English language according to the Swedish Academy Dictionary of the Swedish Language. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-dopers-etymology-of-scouser-geordie/140993/10 "2002-12-09T14:52:54Z")
Scouse is a traditional enough Liverpudlian dish (makes sense that it’s nautical, given that Liverpool is, or was, a major port.)Me mam used to make scouse for us - she came from Bootle and me dad came from Litherland, so I think you could say I’ve got Liverpool-area roots. I’m pretty sure the name “scouser” derives from “scouse”, not the other way around. The dictionary sites give “lobscouse” as possibly deriving from “lob” (to bubble) and “course”, corrupted to “couse”. Seems a bit tenuous to me. By way of a postgraduate course in being a grubby Northern oik, I also lived in the North East for some years. The “King George” explanation seemed, to me, to be more widely known amongst Geordies than the George Stephenson one, though I’ve heard both. (Of course, if anyone has a cite for the use of “Geordie” prior to 1815, that might settle the issue.) ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-dopers-etymology-of-scouser-geordie/140993/11 "2002-12-09T15:07:06Z")
That’s funny, Steve, my dad was born in Bootle and my mum used to teach in Litherland. ---
**Author:** ![Ivar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ivar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ivar)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-dopers-etymology-of-scouser-geordie/140993/12 "2002-12-09T16:02:36Z")
Thanks for all the responses! I am actually a Norwegian and I have eaten lapskaus (as it is spelled in Norwegian) oodles of times. I didn’t know there was a connection there.