Offishal Geordie Borth Sortificat Blue. Geordieland A6 sized Borth Sortificat Blue, for a Genuine Geordie. The perfect gift to give a Northeast male citizen, to prove they were born in the greatest place in the country!
ISBN 10: 872010563. Author: Geordie Ink. Published by Bridge Studios, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland.
Geordieland Offishal Geordie Borth Sortificat Blue, is a hilarious eight-page booklet that will identify a Geordie anywhere in the world and prove the bearer was born in Geordieland. Often bought together with the Geordieland Offishal Geordie Passport
Newcastle publisher Frank Graham’s Geordie Dictionary states:
The origin of the word Geordie has been a matter of much discussion and controversy. All the explanations are fanciful and not a single piece of genuine evidence has ever been produced.
In Graham’s many years of research, the earliest record he found of the term’s use dated to 1823 by local comedian Billy Purvis. Purvis had set up a booth at the Newcastle Races on the Town Moor. In an angry tirade against a rival showman, who had hired a young pitman called Tom Johnson to dress as a clown, Billy cried out to the clown:
Ah man, wee but a feul wad hae sold off his furnitor and left his wife. Noo, yor a fair doon reet feul, not an artificial feul like Billy Purvis! Thous a real Geordie! gan man an hide thysel! gan an’ get thy picks agyen. Thou may de for the city, but never for the west end o’ wor toon.
(Rough translation: “Oh man, who but a fool would have sold off his furniture and left his wife? Now, you’re a fair downright fool, not an artificial fool like Billy Purvis! You’re a real Geordie! Go on, man, and hide yourself! Go on and get your picks [axes] again. You may do for the city, but never for the west end of our town!”)
John Camden Hotten wrote in 1869: “Geordie, general term in Northumberland and Durham for a pitman, or coal-miner. Origin not known; the term has been in use more than a century.” Geordie has been documented for at least 251 years as a term related to Northumberland and County Durham.
Travel writer Scott Dobson used the term “Geordieland” in a 1973 guidebook to refer collectively to Northumberland and Durham.
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