Woollyback

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Woollyback is a dialect term used in the English city of Liverpool for a non-Liverpudlian.

The word refers to a person from the neighbouring towns of Runcorn, St Helens, Widnes, Warrington and Wigan as these places each share a similar accent to each other, though substantially different from Liverpool's 'scouse'. Originally it was a nickname for those people who worked on the docks in Liverpool, who used to carry the wool for export onto the ships and were therefore called 'woollybacks'. An alternative origin comes from the time when passengers crossing the Mersey to attend markets in Liverpool would be charged per foot on board. Poor farmers would gather their animals onto their backs, so to minimise the charge, hence Woollybacks. Thus, Woolyback also refers to people from the Wirral, especially Birkenhead.

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