The dialects from Lancashire are, just like the dialects from the South West, influenced by the Celtics and Saxons and of course Scandinavian people. Traces of all sorts of languages can be found in today’s dialects. Even in Manchester, which does not officially belong to the Lancashire region, the dialect is spoken; or at least it is to the ear of an outsider.

The dialect from Lancashire that is the most famous though, is the Liverpool dialect, better known as Scouse. According to Dominic Watt from the Department of Linguistics and Phonetics from the University of Leeds, the nickname ‘Scouse’ comes from a traditional dish ‘lobscouse’, a sort of stew, which still is eaten in this area¹⁷. People from Liverpool – Liverpudlians or Scousers – spoke the Lancashire dialect until mid-19^th century¹⁸. Liverpool has always been a port city and therefore a melting pot of different languages and habits. Many words came in with the travellers and many became a part of the Scouse language. It is said that the Scouse probably is most affected by the language of the Irish and the Welsh.

The Beatles were the ones who made the Scouse dialect famous to the world. Please watch the interview below, recorded in 1964 after the group returned home from a tour in the United States. They actually explain that the accent they have is not English but Liverpudlian: