What Is a Mackem? The Word, the Accent and the Identity

Spend any time in the North East and you will hear the word Mackem. It is used for people from Sunderland, for the way they speak and for supporters of Sunderland AFC. To someone from outside the region the Sunderland accent can sound much like Geordie, but locals will tell you firmly that it is not. This guide explains what the word means, the stories told about where it came from, and what makes Wearside speech distinctive. It draws on the Oxford English Dictionary's dating of the word, the British Library's description of North East dialects and published research from the University of Sunderland.

Who is a Mackem?

Mackem, also spelled Makem or Mak'em, has three linked meanings. It is a name for people from Sunderland, a name for the local dialect and accent, and a name for a supporter of Sunderland AFC, wherever that supporter comes from.

The word was not always a badge of pride. Before the 1980s it was mainly used on Tyneside as a disparaging name for people from Sunderland. From the 1980s onwards some people in Sunderland began to use it about themselves, and it is now widely used on Wearside as well as about it. The more neutral alternative is Wearsider, which covers people from the area but not football supporters from elsewhere.

Where does the word come from?

The explanation you will hear most often is that Mackem comes from "mak 'em and tak 'em", meaning "make them and take them", in the local pronunciation. The story is usually tied to shipbuilding on the River Wear, and there are several versions:

• Sunderland's shipwrights made the ships, and pilots and tug crews took them down the Wear to the sea.
• Sunderland built the ships and they were then taken to Tyneside to be fitted out, so "we mak 'em and they tak 'em".
• Ships were both built on the Wear and taken in there for repair.
• Wearside shipyard workers brought into the industry during the Second World War were seen on Tyneside as taking work from Geordies.

These stories are popular explanations rather than established fact, and the evidence suggests the word is quite recent. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest known use of Mackem in print is from 1988. A phrase "we still tak'em and mak'em" has been found in a 1973 sporting context, referring to Sunderland Cricket and Rugby Football Club, but there is nothing to show that the word was being applied to Sunderland people in general at that date. The "mak" and "tak" pronunciation itself is also found elsewhere in northern England and Scotland, so it is not unique to Wearside.

Best for: For more on the shipyards behind the folk story, see our guide to the historic trades of Sunderland.

Mackem and Geordie: not the same

The British Library notes that locals insist there are significant differences between Geordie, spoken in Newcastle, and other North East dialects such as Pitmatic, the speech of the former mining areas, and Mackem, the dialect of Sunderland and the surrounding urban area of Wearside.

Academic research supports that local view. A perceptual dialect study by Michael Pearce at the University of Sunderland, published in 2009, found that people in the region regard Geordie and Mackem as separate dialects and can name differences in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. The research also suggests that Mackem is more closely related to the dialects of County Durham than to those of Tyneside.

That fits with older work. In the 19th century the phonetician Alexander John Ellis placed Sunderland within a North Durham dialect area shared with much of the Durham coalfield, close to a boundary with South Durham speech. He also noted the influence of migrants from Ireland and Scotland, and recorded a local song called Spottee. There are even differences within the city: in North Sunderland "something" is often "summik", while a South Sunderland speaker may say "summat".

What the accent sounds like

A few features that are often pointed out:

• Make and take are "mak" and "tak" in the most traditional speech.
• Town keeps more of its "ow" sound in Sunderland, where Newcastle says "toon".
• An extra syllable. "School" is said with two syllables, and the same happens in words such as "cruel", "fuel" and "fool". "Film" becomes "filum".
• Curry often sounds more like "cerry".
• Don't. Sunderland says "dinnet" where a Geordie says "divvent".

A short Wearside glossary

These words appear in published lists of Sunderland dialect. Many are shared with the wider North East.

• aye: yes
• canny: good, or a lot
• clarts: mud
• gan: go
• marra: friend or acquaintance
• neet: night (so "the neet" is tonight)
• spelk: a splinter
• spuggy: a sparrow
• wesh: wash
• yem: home

A note on Wearside Jack

The Sunderland accent became nationally known for an unhappy reason. During the Yorkshire Ripper investigation police received a hoax tape from a man with a North East accent. The dialect researcher Stanley Ellis, who had worked on the Survey of English Dialects, analysed it, and after his analysis the police switched their investigation to Wearside. The hoaxer became known as Wearside Jack.

See it today

The best place to hear Mackem is anywhere in the city, but some places put the identity front and centre. At the Stadium of Light on match days, the crowd chants "Ha'way the lads", a call that dates from the 1960s; our Stadium of Light match day guide covers how to get a ticket. The Fans Museum on North Bridge Street is run by supporters and is full of the club's language and humour; check its opening days before visiting. For local history and archive material, the city library is now in Culture House at Keel Square.

The river that gave the shipbuilding story its setting runs right through the city, and a walk along the Wear is covered in our best walks in Sunderland. For the people and the city behind the accent, see our history of Sunderland, famous people from Sunderland and, if you are new here, moving to Sunderland. For the rivalry that keeps the Geordie and Mackem labels alive, see the Tyne-Wear derby.

Know a Wearside word we should add? Get in touch.