Jupiter Images
On Channel 4 news this evening, the newsreader introduced an item about truancy from schools by referring to 'bunking off'.
Is this expression generally used across Britain, or is it from one local dialect? We used to talk about 'wagging off' in the East Midlands - do children still say this?
Sign in or create a free account to add tags to your personal tag cloud using
Inspired by Word4Word, our forum members joined the debate about how we communicate, and...
What defines individual freedom in a civilised society? Philosophers have argued over...
Explore some of the key ideas and ways of thinking about the arts – including poetry,...
Textiles in Ghana carry a far greater importance than you might expect. This unit will...
This course looks at the history, diversity, and use of English around the world and...
In many ways the African diaspora is a contentious episode from the past (and indeed...
Study a broad range of arts subject areas (from history to philosophy, music to English)...
This unit considers some of the different ways of reading Great Expectations, based on...
This course focuses on language in a range of contexts, and from the perspective of...
Have you always wanted to write, but never quite had the courage to start? This unit will...
This unit looks at the short poems in German that were set to music by Franz Schubert...
William Wilberforce, the politician and religious writer, was instrumental in the...
A visit to one of London's world-famous markets, and the end of Michael Morpurgo's...
Why are dogs our best friends? And can the Hairy Bikers take an American pizza to the...
Help us to build a picture of the secret history of streets around the UK by contributing...
How did childhood get shaped through the centuries to become the concept of today - and...
![Polling Station signage [Image: kagey b under CC-BY-NC-ND licence]](/openlearn/files/ole/ole_images/places/general-urban-scenes/polling-station-sign/polling station sign_0_0.jpg)
As people take to the polls in the UK today to vote in local and mayoral elections, we...
The first sparks of the electrical revolution, and the final gunning of the Hairy Bikers'...
If you enjoyed this, why not follow a feed to find out when we have new things like it? Choose an RSS feed from the list below. (Don't know what to do with RSS feeds?)
Remember, you can also make your own, personal feed by combining tags from around OpenLearn.
Thinkstock
Dip into insights from OU academics. Watch, listen, debate, play and discover more about your passions. Read more : Explore
The Open University
Take the next step with our LearningSpace - packed with thousands of hours of free OU course materials. Read more : Try
Thinkstock
Turn your passion into a career changing qualification - study in depth with the UK's most flexible university. Read more : Study
Discover the latest about your passions - Sign In or Register and start a personal tag cloud.
Except for third party materials and otherwise stated, content on this site is made available
under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence
Login or Register to post comments
bunking off
On Channel 4 news this evening, the newsreader introduced an item about truancy from schools by referring to 'bunking off'. Is this expression generally used across Britain, or is it from one local dialect? We used to talk about 'wagging off' in the East Midlands - do children still say this?
Re: bunking off
In sundeland we use the term 'dolling' so if you dont go to school you're dolling off.
Re: bunking off
Very belated reply - but I think bunkin' off became a universal word after Grange Hill appeared on our screens.
Re: bunking off
I'm from central Scotland and when I was at school (20 years ago) we used 'to dog' - to dog off school or doggin' it!
Re: bunking off
In Cardiff it's mitching
Re: bunking off
In Sussex we bunk or "skive". At least some people do. ;)
Re: bunking off
In Liverpool we use "bunking off", and also, "sagging" eg. "I'm telling your mum I caught you sagging off/from school".
Re: bunking off
I'm a teenager from Rochdale, north of Manchester and here if you go into school for part of the day we call it "wackin' it" and if you don't come in at all your a "skiver" or "bunkin' off"
Re: bunking off
i live in east lincolnshire (right next to the wash) and it is very rare that the term 'Bunking off' is used, here we generally tend to use 'skive' or just refer to it as 'skipping work/school/college' im 17 and until i started studying dialect had never really heard of 'bunking off'.
Re: bunking off
In the west country we said "bunking off" until neighbours came along and we changed to "wag" and "skip"