Journalist Steve Crancher has published a phonetic dictionary for the South Essex dialect.

Steve, who works for the Basildon and District Yellow Advertiser, thought of the idea while doing his shopping.

He said: “I was in a shop in Basildon and heard someone talking about everyday things, and I wondered whether it would be fun to write some of their words down phonetically as part of a dictionary. For example, “a couple of” became “a cutler”.

“I just listened to the sounds of the words and wrote them down exactly as I heard them. My family and friends started helping me be listening to things they heard in pubs or in the street.”

The book, Dijja wanna say sumfing? – A Guide to Estuary English has been well received by locals.

Steve’s friend Ash, who illustrated the book, said, “It’s actually gone down really well and people have told me that some of the phrases are exactly how they speak.”

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