The Black Country shows the werld ow to spake proper

The Black Country dialect – it's bostin' ay it? And now our most popular sayings and slang terms are coming under the spotlight in National Dialect Weekend.

This year it will be Wednesbury hosting the annual event, featuring live music, stories and poems showcasing the huge range of English dialects.

The dulcet tones of Scousers, Mancunians, Mackems and Geordies will be ringing out alongside the Black Country tongue. Not, of course, to be confused with the neighbouring Birmingham accent.

Aer kid – friendly term for a family member, typically a younger sibling

Argy-bargy – having an argument or disagreement

Mucker – a close friend

Gaffer – the boss

Noggin – head

Havin a loff – sharing a joke with your mates

Ow bin ya? – first thing you say when meeting your friend in the pub to ask how they are

Round the Wrekin – taking the long way round

Blarting – crying or sobbing

Babby – baby, often shortenend to bab, as an alternative to 'love' or 'dear' as in 'ow bin ya, bab?'

There is nothing worse for a proud Black Country mon than being labelled a Brummie.

The accent often gets labelled 'thick', wrongly and unfairly. There's a certain knowing quality to a line delivered in a Black Country twang.

Take comedianFrank Skinner, for instance. "When I was a kid I ran everywhere. Do kids still run these days? I thought all that glue sniffing might have slowed them down," he says.

In the cut glass, received pronunciation tones of a London toff it would sound snooty, prejudiced and ignorant.

But we know what Oldbury-raised Frank's saying. He's one of us.

Or how about Noddy Holder's old Banks's beer advert. "You can save your thankses, I'll have a pint of Banks's."

How well do you know the lingo? Take a quiz and find out!

Grammatically it should have every English teacher screaming.

But not around here, it makes perfect sense.

This year's National Dialect Weekend takes place from October 16 to 18. Dialect experts from around the country will be sharing their traditions and taking part in competitions and entertainment over the weekend.

It will be hosted at Wednesbury Town Hall by the first official Poet Laureate of Wednesbury, Brendan Hawthorne.

Brendan says: "This is a golden opportunity to put the Black Country on the map regarding its own uniquely sounding dialects. The richness of language is to be celebrated and what better stage than the recently refurbished Town Hall in Wednesbury.

"We have a line-up of Black Country-based entertainment on October 16 starting at 7pm. We have competitions, followed by an evening of national entertainment on October 17 from 10am until 10pm and a guided walk on Sunday morning with local historian Ian Bott, meeting at 9.30am at Wednesbury Town Hall.

"Come along it'll be bostin'."

National Dialect Day began over 10 years ago by the then Chairman of the Lancashire Society Sid Calderbank who enjoyed travelling around the country performing Lancashire dialect songs and stories.

Other dialect enthusiasts showed an interest and got involved and it became and annual event. Now extended to a weekend it travels round the country celebrating the best of Britain's dialects. As a precursor to the weekend, Brendan organised three events under the title A Street Full of Dialect at Wednesbury Library, looking at dialects from further afield.

The first was on Wednesday and involved Chinese dance, literature and songs performed in Mandarin and Cantonese by the Chinese Community Centre of Birmingham, with extracts of the play An Ox's Tail. Tonight, from 7pm to 9pm, will see stories and songs in Breton, the Celtic language.

Next Wednesday, October 14, at the same time will see Maurice Malcolm perform in Patois, the pidgin or Creole language spoken by three million people.

The weekend itself will features the best Black Country fittle – faggots and peas, 'grey paes un baercon' with a vegetarian option if pre-ordered.

There will be a presentation on 'The Mercian Tung' and a trophy for the best piece of writing in the Black Country dialect. Things finish with a guided walk of historic Wednesbury on the Sunday morning.

It's 18 years since Dudley Council decided to lighten the mood for drivers caught in the roadworks at Castle Gate with a sign that said: "If yowm saft enuff ter cum dahn 'ere agooin wum, yowr tay ull be spile't!!"

It didn't really matter that anyone visiting from almost anywhere else in the country wouldn't have had a clue what it meant.

The thing about the Black Country dialect is that we've always known what it is we're saying, even if no-one else does.

Now at least, on home turf, we can pit ourselves against the pretenders who claim theirs is the best dialect in Britain.

We know we'm bostin', now it's toime to shew it aer kid.

For further details and to register an interest in the National Dialect Weekend email Brendan Hawthorne on mooncrow@blueyonder.co.uk