Despite being a proud Geordie, I worked in Sunderland and went to uni there for 15 years. I loved it in all honesty, great laugh and banter. We love to hate each other, but when the chips are down, we'd be there with each other!
I was the interpreter for a lad from Sunderland and I was from Wallsend. As a soldier SAS I had to speak with the Queen Mother and they sent a Scotsman to be my Interpreter. The queen Mother said she loved my Geordie accent.
I met a lovely guy back in '74 from Sunderland when he came to Luton to work, he met my dad who happened to be from Newcastle and they hit it off straight away, infact my dad idolised him, we fell in love but I was only 16 and he was 21 and my parents said I was too young to get involved with him seriously, so when his work in Luton was finished (roughly 3mths later) he said he would come back for me when I was 18, we never stayed in touch so I didn't think he would come back for me, but when I was nearly 19 my dad came back from the Luton Labour club and told me Norman had turned up asking after me, my dad broke the news that I was now married and his face dropped, I was gutted and tried to find him but with no luck. I'm many years divorced now and I often wonder what happened to him. 'The love I lost.!! I've always regretted not waiting for him 😢
shaz I'm sure that Norman dosnt forget you either. my mum told me once that her second eldest sister although was very happily married had an old boyfriend who she never forgot. some people leave such an impression on us xx
im a walker boy & Sunderland folk are the same as us, football caused bad blood , but i respect people from Sunderland , i think some Geordies could start a fight in an empty room
Although I come from the south I was a Newcastle fan as a kid. Later in life I wanted to experience life in the north east so I went to study at Sunderland uni. Now I genuinely have a soft spot for both teams and north east football in general. The passion for the sport throughout the region is infections and cannot be replicated anywhere else to the same degree imo.
Seriously great rivalry, proud of our sunderland heritage. Greatest shipbuilding town, mines, engineering, ropery, glass making, Venerable bede. Not bad for a little place in the North East of England
@@135Ops From Durham Cathedral archives. Most of what is known about Bede’s life comes from a short note at the end of his book The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, written around 731. Nothing is known of his family, but he was born in about 673 near to the monastery of Wearmouth, and aged 7 was given to the monastery to be educated, as children often were at the time. His first teacher was Benedict Biscop, and then later he moved to the newly-founded monastery at Jarrow with Abbot Ceolfrith, where he would remain as a monk.
I've always thought it was as the older gentlemen said: Make 'em and Take 'em. Ship building was huge in the wear valley but the complicated and higher wage job of rigging was done on Tyneside. The bit about 'Marra' was fascinating. Never heard that before. Would LOVE to see a video on the civil war era.
Great stuff Eddy. I once worked with a Sunderland lass, she was harder than any man I've ever known but took a shine to me. She took me back to her parents place to pick something up and her dad was a legend. She told him that I was a Geordie and in his best disgraced voice he told me. Well, you know why we hate the Geordies? I said, "no" he said, we built all the ships and you took them i.e. Sunderland yard Mackem and the Geordie lad's Takem (we took them as we were superior in our finishing skills) makes sense to me like! Great stuff!
I’m from Sunderland originally and left many years ago. I have to say watching this it is a rough rough place. On a positive note the blue sky looks nice
I'm currently having my post graduate medical studies @ Newcastle. Lovely city with great friendly people. Struggling a bit with the accent but I'm gradually getting a hang of it.
I love being a Mackem, I'm 47 & it's something I've always heard being said. I recall it mostly through football, being a fan of the red & whites, however I had heard the shipyards reference as my Dad worked for Doxfords in the late 70's and that would have been my answer. I also really enjoyed the explanation of Marra, which makes a lot of sense, though I have never used the word. I always thought it more of Durham word.
My father (1926 - 2012) was from Sunderland but moved away when he was about 10yrs old. He always said that he'd never heard "Mackem" when he lived there and folks always referred to themselves as Geordies. Either he had a bad memory or the term is more recent than we think?
It was interesting listening to the explanation about the origins of the term "marra". The miner's version of the 'buddy-buddy system" ;) Another great video. (Love your new sidekick 🤣) You could always try contacting the history and or anthropology departments at the Universities of Newcastle and Durham to see if they have anyone who can point you in the right direction. 🙏 (Personally, I think the original Geordies were the miners from Durham and Northumberland before being appropriated by the people of Newcastle.) " Mackems, Geordies and ram-raiders: documenting regional variation in historical dictionaries" Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2015
You should do a video on the civil war and the history behind both Newcastle & Sunderland in that would be great to hear your perspective because the videos that I've watched so far you are sound so keep producing excellent content for us all to watch 👊
I arrived in Sunderland around 1956 and was unaware of the expression mackem and takem (which then got abbreviated to makem) until about the 80's. I realize it was a reference to a slight speech difference between Sunderland and Newcastle but initially all the people in the North East sounded the same - though to this day I have great difficulty with Pitmatic. I believe the local dialect features many Danish words due to the various contacts with invaders and settlers from the 600's. I once was doing a gig in Newcastle and the pub was full of guys in football strips (Magpies) and I said to the crowd, ''Please join in and singalong; we're from Sunderland and need all the help we can get.'' The bass player went white and as we survived pleaded I never do that again. :) I liked the Hollywood star crack you made just after the drunk guy promoted his channel. I find all speech difference fascinating which is just as well, as I currently live in Prague.
Inthe 70s we used to sing we are geordies, at sunderland games. Its due to the shipyards, when we went to to the docks in NEWCASTLE and take their jobs and take their money...
That gent at 6.40 ish minutes in this video was amazing and I had heard the Maccum n Taccum as he said as well. Loved the marra explanation from him. The more you know right
Hello bro, I used to live in Sunderland for 5 years. Unfortunately I'm french but I really love this city. A day I'm coming back for long. I really appreciate to have news update from my heart city. You made a good job. God bless you cheers hope meet you then around a tea cup why not . If you're agree say 100 % percent. 🎉🎉🎉🎉
Your'a an historical fountain of North East knowledge Eddie. another great video. you must have scouted around to find particularly thick members of the Sunderland youth!
I come from a mixed family- my eldest brother, my Parents and my uncle and cousins all support Newcastle and my younger brother, myself and next brother up in age all support Sunderland- grew up for the first few years in Hebburn and My Mam is from Jarrow- but then we moved to Washington in the early 80’s- none of us including my parents were born in Sunderland or Newcastle- mainly South Shields… when I left school I worked in Gateshead and Newcastle and found the people spot on… never had an issue… always had a bit of banter with workmates and loved a night out in Newcastle… weirdly when I get the train back up to the North East and see the Tyne Bridge etc it feels as much home as Sunderland does for me cos of the memories! I’ve always been referred to as a sand dancer, but I always knew the story of Mackems being to do with ship building and also how the people of Sunderland say make (mak)… usually more to it than that but there must be some truth in it with so many people also being passed down this story! All the best to all you people of the North East whichever side you come from or live - smashing bunch of people in this part of the world 👍👍👍
Tyneside Life goes Wearside. Love it! I'm from Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia and just like Sunderland in the UK, Lake Macquarie is also leading the world in being a place just south of Newcastle that a lot of people don't know about 😉 I feel a kind of affinity with Sunderland, and as Lake Macquarie is often shortened locally to "Lake Mac", I'd like to think we can consider ourselves as "Lake Mackems" 🙂
Great video with loads of humour as usual. I've only ever heard 'yee mackem, and we'll takem' story. Fascinating that there really isn't any concrete reason for Geordies or Mackems at the end of the day. The 'marra' story was very intesting to hear and laughed as he cut off Mr. a few too many sherberts to tell it, brilliant stuff. Also loved the honesty of the lad from South Shields. Would love to see a video on Civil War.
Eddie I was a Leazes end regular in the early 70's and we NEVER referred to Sunderland fans as Mackems. Called them other things of course..... I believe it started when Laurie Mc Menemy was their manager. McMenemy-Mackem Enemy. That's when it started. Never before. All this shipbuilding talk is rubbish. LOVE your channel.
Great video Eddy, I live in Washington but I’m a Toon fan. Always worked with a mixture of Geordies and Mackems and had some great banter over the football. Sunderland folk are lovely people. TBH I don’t even know where the name Geordies came from 😂. The Scott’s say we’re just Scottish with our heeds kicked in 🤣
As someone from the coalfields with a DH postcode I have mad love the kid who clarified he was from Houghton not Sunderland. I never used to think much of it till in my late teens I moved to Wearside and discovered there were genuine cultural differences. Like nobody talked about cricket in Sunderland. It was a religion at my School.
So you went more than once. Don't own anything with red and white stripes do you? My father wouldn't even use Signal toothpaste because it came out the tube with red and white stripes.
I lived in Newcastle for 10 years as a football consultant for Newcastle Utd. Originally from Leeds so I learnt a lot about makhams and takhams. Most I learned from managers and players at Newcastle and Sunderland
My understanding of where the term Mackem comes from is from the shipyard industry and also the wider use of the term Geordie in the North East came from George Stephenson's lamp otherwise known as the Geordie lamp so this video confirms my understanding.
Thanks for another interesting video Ed.. It's got to originate from ship building surely. The one thing that struck me was the majority of the people you spoke to were as thick as mince or short of a full shilling.
My parents are from Gateshead but moved to Sunderland when I was 4 ( 1956) in my entire early life I never once heard the term Mackem used by anyone in Gateshead/Newcastle or Sunderland until the 1970s. There wasn't even an intense football rivalry, that too doesn't start until; the 60s/70s.
Great question eddy. I was adopted at 6 weeks old, by a makem family. Dad from whitburn, mam from silksworth. Lived in dunston most of my life. And my understanding from my parents, is the dialect. And, coz people mak things, and people tak them. I,e wee,s keys are these keys etc etc. By the way NUFC through and through.
Thanks , thoroughly enjoyed that. Bit of background: Supported Sunderland for about 50 years then saw the light (dismayed with the Premiership and EFL basically) and so have been going to support Gateshead for about 12 years now. I am from Washington originally and definitely NOT from Sunderland. Used to work and drink in both Newcastle and Sunderland and didn't hear the term 'Mackem' as applied to a group of people until the early 70s when, and I think you will like this, it was used among posher people I knew from Sunderland as a derogatory term for folk from the dock areas like Hendon. As for 'Geordie' : back in the 50s and early 60s just about all of us from north of Durham used the term for ourselves reflecting the Radio programme 'What Cheor, Geordie' and songs like 'Wherever ya Gan ya Sure To Find A Geordie.' It was always easier than trying to explain which pit village or town we might have come from. But in contradiction to that I find the miners' lamp stuff interesting. I was brought up to believe that miners North of the Tyne used 'Geordie' lamps and Durham miners used Davy lamps. Loved the bit about 'marras' , great story .
People from Sunderland were known as Jamie's in the 1800's. It was Geordies from Tyneside Jamie's from Wearside. The battle of Boldon Hill was of course won by the Wearsiders as usual
Interested to read the reference re Jamie’s. Can you let me know where you read that please. I’ve done a video on the Battle of Boldon Hill. You’ll find it in my History playlist. There was no definitive victory from either side
I live in Lancashire but was born and brought up in Seahouses Northumberland. Here in Lancashire they call me a Geordie along with people from as far south as Middlesbrough and they don't know what a Makam or a Takham is!
Being a bit of a history buff i have done a little past research into this and the word 'mackem' imo comes from the shipyards, on Wearside they built smaller ships and churned them out at a very good rate to aid war effort (WW1 & WW2) they were indeed then taken to Tyneside yards to be fitted out so the phrase came from Tyneside as in 'you makem we tak em' I don't believe the consonant C was used in those days. as the Tyne was building the bigger ships some of the smaller yards had room to fit out the smaller ships from the Wear yards.
Tom Armstrong what happened to your comment lol, it's clear you are clueless with regards to what they can actually build on the Wear, being a much smaller river means it can only build smaller ships lad, how many Battleships or Aircraft Carriers has the Wearside shipyards produced ? the answer is NONE ! and yes ships were taken to Tyneside yards for fitting out, not all the ships ut a good quantity, it made sense for quickness to get ships to the Tyne to aid the war effort.
Good video, originally from there, left after 4 years in the merchant navy in the early 70's been living in the USA since then. My first years here got mistaken for german and dutch as the accent is so gutteral, I found my accent changing over time just so I wasn't constantly repeating myself, but if I am around anyone from that area it comes back instantly!
I lived in Sunderland until the age of 29 years until 1975. All my ancestors going back to the 1500s were Sunderland folk. I was born there but never heard the term 'mackem' ever. Always the name 'geordie" was applied commonly!
Grew up in Stanley so had a few Mackem mates, me Dad raised us as Newcastle fans though as he grew up in Gateshead and prides himself as the only true geordie in the family being born across the water in Newcastle. He’d have been livid known I knocked about with a few Mackems and they had to tuck their shirts in and zip up before they came in my house!
I live in South Northumberland and av nivva been in Mackemland in me life . Me owldest Daughter used to live in Houghton le Spring , and I never went to her house but met up in Newcastle.
So my Grandfather during WW2 was known by his nickname "Geordie" even know he was from seaham. When i asked him about it, he would tell me its because i worked down the mines before joining. So that may prove your pervious point about people from the north east as a whole being referred to as Geordies
My father worked in the shipyards and I never heard him mention the word mackem. The first time I heard the word was about 1984 when my metalwork teacher at secondary school corrected someone for referring to themselves as a geordie. “ You’re not a geordie you’re a mackem”, he said. Funny the things you remember.
We were always told the term makem came from the way Sunderland folk speak. Real Sunderland folk say makem and takem for make them and take them. My mother was born in Sunderland 93 years ago.
Excellent video Macum and takum We have Marras in west Cumbria I’d love a one on the civil war battle Quality stuff “I don’t like talking either” lol quality! Credit to the Sunderland public I thought there were some real super stars there.
The Davy Lamp (safety lamp) was invented by Sir Humprey Davy in Sunderland around 1815 and was widely used in the pits. Part of the reason for the Stadium of light being named as it was built on a former pit site where it was trialled. Another reason being Joseph Swan from Sunderland invented the first incandescent light bulb. Thomas Edison improving an earlier Swan patent.
My understanding of the term Makem and Takem came from when shipyard workers from the wear built ships on the Tyne and took their wages back to Sunderland Sunderland
"Makem" is just the way a person with a Sunderland accent would say the words "make them" Makem is just half of the phrase "Makem and Takem" or "make them and take them". What they were referring to are ships and in particular the SD14 cargo ship, (Shelter Deck 14), which was made at the Austin and Pickersgill shipyard in Sunderland in large numbers and was popular with Greek ship owners. It had the famous Doxford crosshead engine. The Sunderland workers would make them and the Greeks would take them - Makem and Takem. In more modern times off course Makem refers to a posh Geordie!
When I was in hopital in Sunderland, I asked the same question. One chap informed me that people (on a Friday night) would congregate outside 'Mackeys' (a shop in the high street)......... hence Mackems.
I had a mate at uni from Sunderland who explained to me that they're called mackems because Sunderland would make ships and then Middlesbrough would take these ships, so in his words, "we'd 'mackem', and they'd 'tackem'"
My mother grew up in Sunderland in the 1960's and she & her family & mates saw themselves as Geordies, not "Mackems". That term was unheard of apparantly.
Mixed feelings and emotions about this place can’t work it out if I love it or hate it I have good memories of this place growing up but think it’s all over for the place now like a forgotten land the people are lost souls
I used to work in the Neptune Yard. I was told that the outfitting of vessels was carried out on the Tyne because they could dredge the river further up the estuary than the Wear and the Alexander Bridge limited the height. Not sure if it’s true or not, the Wallsend lads used to tell lies to the Sandy’s and the Jarrow lads constantly. They didn’t like us working in their yards. Use to say we were taking the bread oot of their bairns mouths 😯
I quite like the idea that Geordie derives from the different settlers to the area of Northumberland down the north sea coast after the end of Roman rule in Britain. Which of course gives it a wide range of options lost in the mists of time.
A romantic idea but has no basis in fact unfortunately. I’ve done some extensive research into the ‘Geordie’ origin and have done a separate video on the topic 👍🏻
@@TynesideLife Your videos are very engaging, and I feel privileged to have stumbled across them. I guess that the further back you delve the more fuzzy it all becomes. But as lovely as the city is I do think it is the people that make Newcastle special.
@@alastairharris1866 thank you. The earliest record that I can find of someone called Geordie is a Scottish poet from the 1600’s. Geordie of course being a nickname of someone called George, which is a Greek name. It’s likely the name came across with the Romans and headed North. I’m particularly interested in when a whole community became known as Geordies. I’ve pretty much dispelled the popular myth that it derives from the Jacobite rebellion when Newcastle closed its gates to their army when King George I came to power
I grew up in Easington in the Sixties. My older brother used to go to Roker Park regularly though he only took me once (versus West Ham, 0-1, G Hurst). My dad was a miner and we only ever referred to ourselves as Geordies. Never heard the term Mackem until many years later after we'd moved down south. I think it's a modern invention as a general term, 80s or later, though I understand the shipyard connection/origin probably is the root of it all that has gained wider currency through football in recent times. Don't know what that makes me, though I do know I'll never be a southerner ;-)
Great message. This is my understanding too. We were all Geordies until the 80’s and the Mackem term was then used by Newcastle fans as a mock of the Wearside accent.
My family left Newcastle to move to Australia in 1969.I had never heard of Mackems before then. We had a lot of lads from Sunderland moved into the new housing estate where we lived and they didn’t use that term. I had to look it up on Wiki to find out when it came into common use. Wiki says that was in the 1980’s.
@@TynesideLife my mam and dad knew the term Mackem (they grew up in the 50s) as it was passed to them by their parents.they also said Sunderland people were known as 'Townies'
I always get told it was because the different allegiances the cities had with different kings. ie. Geordies supported a king George (hence the old George) and mackems supported a king Malcolm (have been plenty scottish kings of the name but wouldn't make sense geographically). If thats true or not I don't know as a Gateshead lad I find it interesting how in 1068 on sherriff hill william the conquerer fought Malcolm III of Scotland that would be an interesting topic for a video. Keep up the good work Eddie, cheers. John L :)
Think I’ve been back about maybe 5 times in 20 years I was born in wear garth Sunderland is finished from what I can see and I’ve not got any reason to ever go back r.i.p Sunderland
I always understood from my dad who was born in 1920’s almost 100 years ago was that it was simply a difference in dialect - people on Tyneside don’t say Mak for make or Tak for take - it’s unique to Sunderland dialect. Not saying this is right, but he travelled around building sites across the north east so I guess he would have had some insight.
Not just Sunderland, the whole of Scotland says mack and tack. Remember Sunderland had strong ties with the Scots, we even fought together against the Royalists. I believe the Battle of Boldon was one of those battles.
I was on holiday in Cyprus this year, met a footy fan from Sunderland, having banter as I am Ipswich town fan, I asked him this. He said ship building, also. Makem and Tackem, sea trials
The only thing that makes me think that Mackems were not called Geordies is if the lamp based source for the word Geordie is true. Sunderland resident William Reid Clanny had developed a lamp long before George Stephenson and Humphrey Davy was working for a Sunderland safety committee when he developed his lamp.
Sunderland fans referred to themselves into the 70s as Geordies, until Tynesiders claimed the term as their own. The Mackem name was initially a derogatory term for Wearsiders who went to work in Newcastle shipyards when Sunderland shipyards closed in the 70s. It was a mickey take of the Wearside accent, just like "wheese keys". It was something overheard in Newcastle shipyards. The word mackem (make them) is not significant it's just an example of the Wearside accent.
It’s interesting that the dialects/accents are so similar, the origins must predate so much like rivalry and Mackem & Geordie. Think there was a Scottish aspect to the rivalry?
Love goin away to newcastle its my fave away game outside of United ,such a nice part of the world ^^ that bridge youare stood on ,people dont see stuff like that on TV they see a statue & stock footage of backstreets - NEVER felt threatened there like when you go to the fan murderers at Klanfield
