"Surrie"

My mother's grandparents, Fred and Doris, always called each other "Surrie" instead of "love" or "dear".

My mother used to think they meant the county "Surrey" and could never figure out why two people who'd lived in Staffordshire all their lives would refer to each other as a southern county.

But "Surrie" or "Surry" actually comes from the old word "Sirrah", which has the same origin as "Sir".  "Sirrah" was used by Shakespeare and may be earlier.  It may also be the source of the American word "Siree".

"Sirrah" was often used to address children or as a greeting to a friend, so it makes sense that a husband and wife might use it as a term of endearment.

The Stoke on Trent Dialect

All of my great grandparents were born and lived in the Stoke on Trent area of Staffordshire.  They spoke in a very distinctive dialect and often used words which I have never heard anywhere else.  I thought it would be interesting to preserve these words and try to find out more about where they came from.