Craig 6369 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 OK we've had this discussion before - normally over which one is used by us and which is used by the Mackems.... This might suggest that it makes no odds: Howay or Haway is broadly comparable to the invocation "Come on!" or the French "Allez-y!" ("Go on!"). Examples of common use include Howay man! or Haway man!, meaning "come on" or "hurry up", Howay the lads! or Haway the lads! as a term of encouragement for a sports team for example(the players tunnel at St James' Park has the phrase just above the entrance to the pitch), or Ho'way!? (with stress on the second syllable) expressing incredulity or disbelief. The 'a' and 'o' in howay/haway convey different strands of aggression, with the ‘a’ being the aggressive. The literal opposite of this word is "Haddaway" (go away), which is not as popular as Howay, but has found frequent use in the phrase "Haddaway an' shite" (Tom Hadaway, Figure 5.2 Haddaway an' shite; ’Cursing like sleet blackening the buds, raging at the monk of Jarrow scribbling his morality and judgement into a book.’). Perhaps the debate over which one should be used by inhabitants of each city was born simply of the fact that SJP has a sign that says 'Howay the lads' and SOL has one that says 'Haway the lads'. But I guess people will still debate it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazarus 0 Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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