Feature

‘Angin’ takes the title as the best Mancunian slang word of all time

We asked our loyal audience of Mancunians for their thoughts - and over 60,000 had their say in picking the winner.

Emily Sergeant - 1st July 2021

England’s stunning 2-0 win over Germany in Euro 2020 may have grabbed all the headlines – but it wasn’t the only victory claimed this week.

Just a couple of days before European football’s flagship tournament finally kicked off on 11 June, and long before the Three Lions ended a 55-year wait to beat Germany in a knockout game, we decided it was time for a championship of our own.

One the people of Manchester could all play a part in.

Here at The Manc, we’re always keen to know where you stand and to hear your take on the topics that truly matter most to our city and our culture – we are the people’s voice of Greater Manchester after all.

Mancunians have proven to be quite the outspoken bunch, and arguably nothing draws opinion more than our unique Manchester dialect.

It’s just one of the things that makes us so great – but what is the best Mancunian slang word?

There’s been endless debate over the years, with plenty of gems thrown into the mix. But we were determined to finally get to the bottom of this once and for all – and never have the people of our region come together in such numbers to cast their votes and crown the winner.

After over two weeks of head-to-head clashes and more than 60,000 votes cast in total, The Manc audience crowned ‘angin’ as the best Mancunian slang word of all time.

There really aren’t many words more Manc than ‘angin’, it has to be said.

If you’re somehow unfamiliar with this corker, its definition loosely translates to “a word to describe someone or something particularly unpleasant” according to the Urban Dictionary, or even “a sick feeling that comes after consuming too much alcohol or food at an earlier time” according to Time Out, and it can be used in a multitude of contexts.

It beat other Manc slang classics including ‘bobbins’, ‘brew’, ‘swear down’, ‘r kid’, and ‘mither’ to run away with the title as the best of the best.

But how did ‘angin’ come to claim its crown then?

Well, instead of simply posing the question ‘what’s the best Mancunian slang word?’ and combing through thousands of different responses to decipher a winner, we decided to take inspiration from the beautiful game and first narrow it down to 16 Manc slang gems.

Each of the 16 words then went up against each other in rounds, with our loyal audience on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram voting for their favourite out of the two and eliminating the others in the mix.

Just like any good competition, there were quarter finals, semi finals, and a grand finale.

‘Angin’ was up against ‘r kid’ – usually used to describe a sibling or mate – in the final round, but it bagged just enough of your votes to clinch the win from its close rival.

And there you have it.

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This may have been the first ‘Mancunian Championship’ we’ve hosted, but it certainly won’t be the last, so if you’re keen to have your say in future competitions, then keep an eye on our social platforms over the coming weeks.

Give us a follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.