6 ms·

Also in the UK and never heard of this in my life. Guessing this is very regional?

podgietaru 12d ago
As with most things on the UK, probably. I definitely used Bobbins. I used to think everyone called (cobs|bread cakes|rolls|barns) muffins, and it turns out it was just my small town that did it. As in, just my small town, not region, county, etc.
- PaulRobinson 12d ago
  If you call it a teacake, and I say no those have raisins in, and you protest that's a fruit teacake, I know you're probably from Burnley: https://www.ourdialects.uk/maps/bread/ https://www.ourdialects.uk/maps/bread/
- serf 12d ago
  does that area have a textile manufacturing history? I ask because i'm only familiar with a thread/yarn bobbin, I wonder if it derived from that.
  - podgietaru 12d ago
    It does indeed, probably the heart of it.
  - jonwinstanley 12d ago
    Yes. The North West and the midlands was where it all started. Cotton, mills, Industrial Revolution etc
- basisword 12d ago
  >> I used to think everyone called (cobs|bread cakes|rolls|barns) muffins UK regional dialects are summed up really well here because despite listing five different names for a specific thing you still neglected the word I use (baps).
  - jamiek88 12d ago
    And mine! (batch)
- makerofthings 12d ago
  It's definitely chip muffin. I have no patience for those heretics up the road with their chip barms.
  - jonwinstanley 12d ago
    Hahaha. Chip butty
    - podgietaru 12d ago
      Extra vinegar please, I want my muffin drenched.
- wrboyce 12d ago
  It’s barm, with an m, from barm cakes. Barm is the frothy scummy stuff you get on top of fermented beer, and it contains yeast. Back in the day bakers would take the barm from local brewers to make weakly fermented bread rolls… barm cakes. (So obviously those calling them cobs or rolls or whatever else are just wrong!)
  - podgietaru 12d ago
    I think that was just autocorrect to be fair. Barm isn't in the standard dictionary
    - wrboyce 12d ago
      I suspected that might be the case, but I wasn’t about to turn down an opportunity to share one of my fun facts!
  - KineticLensman 11d ago
    Can confirm. Per the (paywalled) Oxford English Dictionary [0]: 'barm' is The froth that forms on the top of fermenting malt liquors, which is used to leaven bread, and to cause fermentation in other liquors; yeast, leaven. OR The froth or foam on the surface of beer OR English regional (chiefly Lancashire). A soft round bread roll, a barm cake. [0] https://www.oed.com/dictionary/barm_n2?tab=meaning_and_use#27404461 https://www.oed.com/dictionary/barm_n2?tab=meaning_and_use#2...
PaulRobinson 12d ago
It's pretty common around Manchester. Bit like being nesh. But as you know... this is a thing: https://www.ourdialects.uk/maps/bread/ https://www.ourdialects.uk/maps/bread/
Nursie 12d ago
Might also mark you out as a certain age if not from the right region - I’m familiar with it as a word for “a bit rubbish” because of listening to Mark & Lard’s late night show on Radio 1 in the 90s

As with most things on the UK, probably. I definitely used Bobbins. I used to think everyone called (cobs|bread cakes|rolls|barns) muffins, and it turns out it was just my small town that did it. As in, just my small town, not region, county, etc.

PaulRobinson 12d ago
If you call it a teacake, and I say no those have raisins in, and you protest that's a fruit teacake, I know you're probably from Burnley: https://www.ourdialects.uk/maps/bread/ https://www.ourdialects.uk/maps/bread/
serf 12d ago
does that area have a textile manufacturing history? I ask because i'm only familiar with a thread/yarn bobbin, I wonder if it derived from that.
- podgietaru 12d ago
  It does indeed, probably the heart of it.
- jonwinstanley 12d ago
  Yes. The North West and the midlands was where it all started. Cotton, mills, Industrial Revolution etc
basisword 12d ago
>> I used to think everyone called (cobs|bread cakes|rolls|barns) muffins UK regional dialects are summed up really well here because despite listing five different names for a specific thing you still neglected the word I use (baps).
- jamiek88 12d ago
  And mine! (batch)
makerofthings 12d ago
It's definitely chip muffin. I have no patience for those heretics up the road with their chip barms.
- jonwinstanley 12d ago
  Hahaha. Chip butty
  - podgietaru 12d ago
    Extra vinegar please, I want my muffin drenched.
wrboyce 12d ago
It’s barm, with an m, from barm cakes. Barm is the frothy scummy stuff you get on top of fermented beer, and it contains yeast. Back in the day bakers would take the barm from local brewers to make weakly fermented bread rolls… barm cakes. (So obviously those calling them cobs or rolls or whatever else are just wrong!)
- podgietaru 12d ago
  I think that was just autocorrect to be fair. Barm isn't in the standard dictionary
  - wrboyce 12d ago
    I suspected that might be the case, but I wasn’t about to turn down an opportunity to share one of my fun facts!
- KineticLensman 11d ago
  Can confirm. Per the (paywalled) Oxford English Dictionary [0]: 'barm' is The froth that forms on the top of fermenting malt liquors, which is used to leaven bread, and to cause fermentation in other liquors; yeast, leaven. OR The froth or foam on the surface of beer OR English regional (chiefly Lancashire). A soft round bread roll, a barm cake. [0] https://www.oed.com/dictionary/barm_n2?tab=meaning_and_use#27404461 https://www.oed.com/dictionary/barm_n2?tab=meaning_and_use#2...

PaulRobinson 12d ago

It's pretty common around Manchester. Bit like being nesh. But as you know... this is a thing: https://www.ourdialects.uk/maps/bread/ https://www.ourdialects.uk/maps/bread/

Nursie 12d ago

Might also mark you out as a certain age if not from the right region - I’m familiar with it as a word for “a bit rubbish” because of listening to Mark & Lard’s late night show on Radio 1 in the 90s