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The Test Match Special team are known variously as Jonners (Brian Johnson - deceased); Aggers (Jonathan Agnew), Blowers (Henry Blofeld), Tuffers (Phil Tuffnell) etc.

This laddish public-school nomenclature, outside of cricket, is seldom heard nowadays, in my experience. Does anyone else know of where such chummy banter is exchanged today?

WS2
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  • With excellent questions like this (I assume the actual idea of the site, was, questions like this) it would be great if anyone knew of actual academic research, regarding the question. – Fattie Aug 15 '14 at 10:48
  • @JoeBlow I'm afraid Blowers, old boy, if you want to understand English in all its ramifications you will have to endure a bit of banter. – WS2 Aug 15 '14 at 14:46
  • Hey WS -- just a second, you may have thought I was being sarcastic, or? Absolutely not - I am never sarcastic. (1) This is a superb question, thanks for posting it. (2) IT would be great if anyone knew where to find the actual academic research on this type of issue. Cheers old chap! – Fattie Aug 15 '14 at 16:41
  • You obviously don't listen to 5 Live Sport, then. :/ – Dɑvïd Nov 27 '14 at 08:53
  • @Davïd Prevalent in cricket, I've no doubt. Most sports, both in Britain and America, are social-class codified. And although cricket, unusually, is played by people of a wide range of classes and ethnicities, it is in some respects stuck culturally in the British public-school system, to which the '...ers' ending seems to me to belong. Unlike the '...ie' or ...'ey', ending, used a lot in football, and categorically working class and cockney. It works best with single-syllable surnames - Greavesie, Smithey, etc. – WS2 Nov 27 '14 at 12:57

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Is it seldom heard? It's still quite common in our circles, although it is deliberately reminiscent of our school days' method of speaking. The problem with the idiomatic use of language is that it's related to a non-fixed sub-set of people.

The language and slang used when talking to school friends is usually very different to that used when talking to family members.

To answer your question, that kind of language is used extensively in IT departments across Bristol, UK. Specifically, the ones I work in.

Dave M
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