Local Dialect

During the last few years I have been collecting local dialect words and saving them for posterity. This is not as easy as it sounds, as its difficult for locals to identify words that they commonly use as being dialect, its only when you mix with others and they look at you in a quizzical manner that you question what you have said!  Some time ago I attended a local dialect class run by John Levit who gave me the derivation of some of the words and I was surprised to learn that most were Medieval or Old English and had just stopped being used elsewhere. Some were Scandinavian and since this area was on the borders of Danelaw its not surprising that some words still exist.

Another interesting feature of the North Staffs dialect is the use of ne at the end of the word to make it negative.  ie Thee shutne goo dinethear sirree, theyt beyt dooin thesell a mischeyf. Common words that have a ne tagged to them are Shutne, Wutne, Conner (should not, would not, cannot)

I have never heared this anywhere else but of course is used in Latin in the same way. I would be interested to hear other peoples views about this.

I wrote the following poem for a Burns Night where its traditional to “find” a last or lost poem by Burns.  I thought it would be fun to suggest that Rabbies dad had come down with the rebellion to Brown Edge before setting off home.

Twas 1745 that my father went south

To fight the English once more

Upon his return strange words came forth

That had never been heard afore

Thee shutne, wutne and conner

Strange words was all we did hear

Father dear Father where have you been?

Sire ear ana shower but arl niver goo theyr ageen.

The Wenches was bosted

Mower fow than the Morridge wow

The Men ad Bellies that wuz reet fat

An just towked abite kikin a bow

Wey decided to goo wom after we climbed up the edge

Afower us were the potteries an siree it did stink

Nowt good wud com from visitin theyr we thowt

But we oughta just stop for a drink

So we steed at a hostelry fair, thee cowst it the Cob a Slack

Thee was sowdust on floower an it was quite rough

A mistress Bates was thee oowner

An thee cust tell er was tough

A gallon uv ale was consumed afore we crossed the strait

By tarm wey  left the holly Bush wey felt wey wuz all in

This strung stuff aduz in a  rite steete

But on to the Corner, the Quart and then  the New Inn

Wey  crawed up thill to the Miners an afower wey reyched the top

Wey met a chap cowed Baccer who stopped uz fow a chatter

And be nar we new wey shud bey goowin bak

Soo wey started Wom, Ten thisand steps too tak

We cudstne say we we wuz goin

Fost it looked up then it was dine

And then……The Rooze an Crine

Wey ad too stop it wud bey unfeer not to sample

The delights of such a plees

The problem was wey wuz soo dronk wey cudsne saty

Thand in front of uz feece

Thee shucne goo dine theyer deerest Robie me sun

Wat a trick to plee,   a reet feetin measure.

Enuf pubs an ale to sink a wheel

Dust noo, theyt waz neyaly a Brine Edger.

Pete Turner

Dialect	Meaning	Derivation
abide	Stick with or endure Ar conna abide im	OEabidan
afterings	the last milk from a cow	OE
aftermath	second crop of grass	OE math mowing
agate	Busy or going again  theytl sown bee agate agin	Norse gata
ailing	Unwell
aired	Warmed slightly
all but	Nearly eh wuz ailing soo much ey wuz ullbut jyed
amperlash	impudence
and then	used often at the end of a sentence for no reason!
apieces	break up  ar dinner touch it it fell apieces
ark	keep corn in it
arns	wages	ME ernes
essgrid and ess hole	Its not just about ashes its really the bottom of a chimney
aside	they cust sit aside mey	ME
asker	Newt
averous	averacious	Fr averus
backbiters	loose skin on fingernail
back-end	autumn	OE
backstan	where you bake bread	OE bac stan
bagging	Take food to work
bait	Food you eat outside	Norse beita
bonk	Hill or house  Thee cust get thesell off the bonk
bartered-upbautered-up	splashed with mud
bass	poor coal
baum	plastered
beck	peak of a cap	ME bec
bedfast	bed ridden
beestings	first milk from a newly calved cow
bellock	cow bloating
belong	its strange but people belong to a place or property thee cust get back to where you belong dine yen!
belter	something big and probably good as well
bing	trough in front of cows	Norse bingr
blart	a child crying like a calf after its mother	OE blaten
blaitch	slap or hit	ME blenchen
blather	talking nonsene	MEblather
bleb	Pimple
bloat	A cow moowing excessively
bobbing off	playing truant	ME boben
bodge	to proke a hole
boffle	a chimney boffles back
bonny clapper	Sour milk
boskin	stalls or partitions between cows
bottle, not much	not very good
bull-nogger	Millers thumb (type of fish)
cack	Excretement	ME cakkin
cade	weak lamb sometimes child
cag-mag	poor meat
cale	Beat or get ahead	latin canto
cant	tell tales
casey	Leather Football
chincough	think its whooping cough but used when parents are warning children to wrap up in winter.
chommers	Teeth
Chops	mouth
chonnock	Turnip
chunner	grumble Wot at chunnerin at
clem	to be hungry Arm clemmed deeth sirry (starving means to be cold)
clog again	to get going again
clout	piece of cloth or clothing	OE Clout
cob	sweat or angry/agitated  eys got a cob on
cobbed-up	cluttered up with rubbish
cockstride	short distance
cod	joke with or to pull someones leg
codge	pach up poorly
coffer	grain storage	ME coefre
collywesson	Awkward  contrary
craft	small field near farm
crog-on	Cheating especially with games involving numbers
crossomical	irritating or perverse
cunnyfogle	decietful
cuther	get heads together for a chat
dade	teaching baby to walk by supporting under arms	OED dade
deck	to stop  deck it
delf rags	Pit clothes
dinged	bruised apple or car bodywork	ME dingen
dinnering	official dinner
doffer	a bet type or dare challenge  arl doffer thee
donny	Childs hand
drop on	to find something by chance
drumble hole	wooded valley between fields
ever likely	no wonder
facy	cheeky child
fang	to catch hold of	Norse fanga
farming	used in phrase Wot at farming at ie looking or doing
favour	to look like  eh favours is feyther
firk	to scratch or probe with a stick usually	OE fercian
flirt	to throw especially with a stick
flit	to move house	ME flitten
fob	to move forward in torrs or marbles
fodder road	trough in front of cows
fogs, foggy	Claiming to go first  bags i goo foggy
fold	little field
fother	feeding beast
fotherbin	grain store
franked	late for work
fuffle	Fussing around
gansey	Cardigan
gather	Fester	OE gatherian
gaumed-up	covered in dirt
gaup	talking loudly	ME galpen
gennel	narrow space between buildings
gormers	hay cart extensions
gosterer	someone who boasts a lot
graunch	grind teeth
grindlestun	Grindstome	ME grindel-stan
grued-in	ingrained dirt
hard-faced	impudent
hare-shorn lip	Hare Lip
hodge	Stomach
hullock, a great	Fat person
hullock, idle	Lazy person
hutched	haunched
hutched-up	Crowded together
jack-sharp	Stickleback
jib	to give in or to resist
jinny spinner	daddy long legs
jowl	Hit on Head
just now	later on
keggy	left handed
kedge	to steal or to borrow also as in to kedge a lift
kiggle	wobble on a chair
keemers	glasses or to peer over the top of glasses
kecks	Trousers
kim-kam	gossiping ie kim-kamming
labe	stir up mud
laggy	bags ar goo laggy last
lamp	hit hard
lay-overs for meddlers	stupid answer for a personal question u dont want to answer
leck	to water	OE leccan
lecking can	watering can
lickering	who can jump the furthest run the fastest
lozzuck(about)	idle
lug	knot in hair	Scan Lugga
made away	made away with a cold
mardy	spoilt child
maunch	to make a mess of a job
mending	recovering from illness
mess off	go away
midden	Muckheap	ME midding
mixen	Muckheap	OE mixen
monstink	unpleasant child
moppet	Moth
mowed-up	dirty cluttered
mythermayther	worryDunner mayther theesell surry theytl bay arate	OE moither
narky	Bad tempered
neb	Peak of cap
neck	To drink fast
nesh	feeling the cold easily
nogger	the game of football
nous	knowledge
nowt	naughty boy
nyarling	whining
oction	used in all over the place
off-side	unwell
oss off	go away
pather	like a dog
piece	Sandwich
pigcote	pigsty
pikel	pitchfork
pither	pottering about
pobs	bread and milk
pouse	rubbish food	FR pouse
powk	sty in the eye	OE pocc
proke	to poke
proker	poker
puddled	soft in the head
puss-nets	rabbit nets
puthery	hot sultry weather
queedle	see saw
quiggle	rock on legs of chair
rammel	mongrel dog
rathes	hay cart extensions
rattle-chops	talkative person
rawnged	strained reaching up or carring something
razzered (up)	worn out
rift	belch	Norse Rypta
rindle	small brook
rinkers	marbles
risen-on	feel cold usually in a morning when leaving home
ronk	in a bad temper or simply a bad person
rumpty-fizzer	“naughty but nice” person
scen	to squint
scrat	scratch like a hen	ME scratten
scrawl	crawl
scrawm	mean person getting money together
scrawp	scratch or damage
scrit	weak one in the litter
scuft	slap
seg	calous on skin
seggy	to claim second place
senna-tucked	stiff after sitting down
set	to rent out
settle	a comfortable armchair	OE setel
shape for	preparing to
sheed	spill
shippen	cow shed
shotties	marbles
side	clear away
sken	squint
slat	throw down
slither pudding	slipshod work
slopstone	sink
slow-walking bread	currant bread
snapping	food
snapping time	dinner time (lunch)
snead,	scythe
sneap	to snub
snide away	overrun with vermin
snotty	bad tempered
soakies	bread and milk
sock	liquid manure or run off from a mixen
sog	a good slap
sough	drain
sparrow bills	nails
spon-new	totally new
sprit	sprout
spuggy	sparrow
sqitch	couch grass
stad	bothered
starve	to be cold
stave	rung of a ladder
stirk	overwintering calf ie less than 1 yr old
stonnies	marbles
straight-back	lazy person
strap	credit
strug	a stranger
suppering	official evening meal
surree or sirree	greeting for a friend ey up sirree
sutter	good hit on the head
ted	to turn over hay
thrape	to thrash
thunge	bumping around
timber-toed	pidgeon toed
tit	horse
tittle-stomached	squeemish
trappings	bits and pieces. “Thee cust pack thee bags n trappings an gitthee gun nar” Gordon Turner sacking someone!
tow-rag	oatcake or naughty boy
tucks	lots of it!
tun-dish	funnell
turmit	turnip
tweedle	see saw
unscrewgle	to open eyes
up-bonk	uphill
waft	strength or endurance
wag, to play	bob off school
werrit	worry
without	unless
wog	steal
woppit	wasp
yawp	loud mouthed
yorks	string tied below knee on trousers
youther	youth