Presenter Gerry Anderson explores the words we use

Playing truant from school has spawned a wealth of words - from bunking off, to wagging or nicking off.

And the infinite variety of words, dialect and accents is what is being celebrated in Voices, an ambitious new project from the BBC.

From 20-28 August, BBC radio stations, national and local, are celebrating the way we speak.

BBC Radio Ulster presenter Gerry Anderson is taking to the road in a Big Yellow Bus across Northern Ireland with expert linguist Loreto Todd to listen to how people "tell them".

NI Colloquialisms Gutties - trainers Poke - ice cream Starving - freezing Mitch - play truant Beak off - play truant Snicket - alleyway Mucker - friend

At the heart of the project is a collection of ground breaking recordings of 1,000 voices from around the United Kingdom.

In Northern Ireland, the Armagh Rhymers - a group of modern day mummers - as well as Ballycastle's Aquaholics Dive Club and residents of Annalong, had their voices saved in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.

Visitors to the museum will be able to listen to Rathlin islanders, women from the Travelling Community in Belfast, Ulster Scots speakers and Irish language speakers from west Belfast.

An online survey of the words we use, called the Word Map, found that "mutton dummies", a term for soft shoes, is unique to Northern Ireland.

"Snow coned" and "tweddle", both meaning "cold" were only submitted in Northern Ireland, although "freezing" was the top choice in every region.

And the 10 most popular words for "friend" included mate, pal, butty and dude.

Visitors to Yorkshire should be aware that "oppo" is a non threatening term, as it also means friend.

However the word "boyo", meaning friend, is out of fashion. It was submitted by one single person in all of Wales.