While linguists note many of Britain's accents are softening with globalization, Liverpudlians are becoming harder to understand, the New York Times reports.

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The dialect from the northern English port city has long been known colloquially as "scouse," which rhymes with blouse.

The accent is a historical hybrid of nearby places -- Welsh intonations, Irish lilts and Lancashire twangs, said Kevin Watson, a Lancaster University linguistics professor.

In 1972, Brian Minard wrote a tongue-in-cheek book for visitors to use as a translation guide, called "Lern Yerself Scouse. Wersia Sensa Yuma?" which the newspaper said is still valuable today.

In it, he explains "Elizabeth Taylor" sounds like "He lispeth sailor," while "Sid Samsonite?" translates roughly to "Are you going to see Sam tonight?"

The police are "the busys," a sandwich is a "butty," and milk is "moo."

The translation proved difficult for Spaniard Rafael Benitez, who took over as coach of the Liverpool soccer team last year.

"It sounds like Russian," he said.