UK slang site

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 91384

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:
> Carol, who has a completely unrelated question: What the heck does
> Tonks mean by "Wotcher"?"
> <snip>


Udder_P_D:  
> Wotcher in normal use would mean 'Hello how are you'. Nothing more
> complicated than that.

 
> Carol: 
> So if I tell a ten-year-old that it mean "wocher doin?" (as in "How 
ya
> doin'," that'll be close enough, right? Though I do like the
> etymological information for my own purposes.

Geoff:
Ah, you're hitting the problems of Cockney and Sarf Lunnon accents.

"Wotcher" on it's own means "How are you?", "Hi" - from "what cheer" 
as has been pointed out already. However, if you hear a Londoner or 
someone with a related accent say "wotcher doin'?" this in fact is 
just "what are you doing?" - i.e. what activity are you pursuing?. It 
is probably just lazy speech. I must admit, hand on heart, that I use 
both expressions still when I'm not thinking about my speech and am 
tired or busy.