First Auntie Beeby - B.B.C. as you guessed.
Second question - you may regret asking this one. The answer is depends on who asks. If you are outside Geordieland, then the answer is "yes", if you are a citizen of Geordieland the answer is "no". Here we go, this might take all night. Feel free to fall asleep.
There are three cities and three rivers in Geordieland - the Tyne, the Wear, and the Tees. 10 miles between Tyne and Wear, and 20 miles between Wear and Tees.
There is major rivalry between Tyne and Wear. Newcastle itself is on the Tyne about 10 miles from the coast. Sunderland and Durham are on the Wear, Sunderland at the river mouth on the coast and Durham about 10 miles inland. Newcastle claims to be the true Geordie in Geordieland which is B.S. The name originates in the Napoleonic Wars when George, the Earl of Northumberland raised an infantry regiment, the Northumberland Fusiliers nicknamed the Geordies. The aggro is between Newcastle and Sunderland. Durham, the senior university town and home to the Prince Bishop of Durham stays neutral with a superior attitude. Both towns are ancient. A district in Newcastle is called Wallsend - the eastern end of the Roman wall built by Emperor Hadrian. Sunderland has two parts, one called Monkwearmouth and was the site of a monastery founded by St. Bede. The other side is called Bishopswearmouth being owned by the Bishop of Durham. There is a 6th century church on the river which was the first church in Britain with stained glass windows.
Everyone still awake ?
OK. Both towns have Premier Division football teams so games played between them are highly tribal where both tribes show their Viking berserker origins but the actual cause of the aggro is much earlier. In the Civil War [ours not yours] Newcastle declared for parliament whereas Sunderland declared for the Crown, There was a pitched battle on the land between them. Dont know who won or even who came second.
If you asked the question as a joke, I am going to feel extremely stupid.
So, most of my working life was in Newcastle and Durham, I was born and raised on Teeside, but I currently live in Sunderland. So you tell me what I am. I am a citizen of Geordieland.
Bet your sorry you asked now

 

Definition of a Lecturer - someone who never uses one word when 500 will suffice !

 

If you can, you do; if you can't, you teach![sm=badbadbad.gif]

Don't take that too seriously. Thanks for the history lesson on N.E.
Is it possible to americanize the pronounciaton of those locales? Tyne="tin" or "ten" or "tine"?

Regarding weather:

[IMG]local://upfiles/12158/772B4D3C880C41BD946E21522603FE91.jpg[/IMG]

 

You've met them too then. I was invited to teach after 35 years in the heavy chemical industry - my first job was in a plant making cyanide and my final one [when I got more sense] was as Production manager in a lead refinery. Between them I worked in petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. I glowed in the dark. Other Lecturers called me a dinosaur on the grounds that I had done a real job in heavy industry and was not a true academic. I was one of the "retreads".

 

That was indeed interesting thank you. As far as what to call you I'll stick with "academic". Teeside in Sunderland just isn't as catchy.

 

valdeez - tyne as in tine.
If you would like to hear geordie, download the following from i-tunes. "Why Aye Man" by Mark Knopfler [from Dire Straits, remember ?]
It tells the tale of the depression in the north when the coal mining industry was destroyed by a Tory [Republican ?] government and geordie craftsmen were forced to go to Germany to work building the new Germany "German built but British made" There was a tv programme about it some years back too "Auf Wiedersien, Pet". So a lesson in social history and a bloody good song, expert guitar work. Why Aye Man = translation "yes". If you can also learn the phrase "Yer Buggar, Man" you can combine it [with facial gestures and hand movements] to have an hour long conversation with a geordie just by alternating the two or, if you feel really adventurous say Why Aye, yer buggar man. that last one is for the intellectual only. Yer bugger, man is a complex phrase with several meanings i.e. I disagree with you absolutely or I tend to favour your point of view, old chap. See how versatile the language is.
For advanced students only there is a book "Larn yersel geordie" by Frank Dobson

 

HA! That's an excellent reply. I saw a comedy flick called "Hot Fuzz" and in it they moved a london cop to the country and he couldn't understand the locals-it was very funny.
You would have a field day learning hillbilly slang and ebonics here in America.

 

How true, how true. I'm still learning as a matter of fact.

 

Se habla espanol, senior? Por favor, una cerveza y dos tamales! Viva May-hee-ko![8D]

 

ich kein spreche... um... spainish...