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Yorkshire words and sayings.

I keep trying to remember some of the words that were in common usage when I was growing up. For example:
dub (puddle), frame thisen (get your act together), doddle (easy task?), your own tin pot way, Manchestering (covering up a botched job), rack o't'eye (estimating by sight), withering (bloody cold),
couldn't knock t'skin off a rice pudding, knock thi block off, up them dancers (stairs), kick thi clogs, anyroad, sitha, cloth lugs...........etc.
Please add any other gems you can think of!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) USA

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Good to hear from you again, Bernard. Is the expression to "grig" somebody (sumdy)and its meaning known to anyone?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Nowt wrong with grig. Ahm allus getting grigged by one annoying person or anuther.

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

I always understood "grigging" to mean a kind of flaunting. For instance as little kids one kid might have some toffee or the like, and would make a great show of eating it slowly and with much relish in front of the other kids, rubbing it in that there was no way they were going to get any of it. "Grigging" was mean spirited........
That's a good word, I had forgotten it. Let's have some more!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) USA

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Thought of some more..........
"mawngy" ....adj. grumpy, miserable (derived from "mangy"?)
"wittering" ............verb
"nark" ...noun, "narky"...adj. complainer, complaining disposition?
"buggerlugs"........noun, term of affection
"shit through t'eye of a needle".........a possibility after having taken "syrup o'figs"
"shank's pony"............walking
"kicking thi clogs"........throwing off this mortal coil.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) USA

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

'gettin' a gate' --setting off.
' Watta born in a field?'- for leaving the door open.
'By gow but it's set for rain ah'm thinkin'. It's fair black ovah Bob's mother's'.
'If tha's tekkiin t'moor road, take a thick coit. It's a coit colder up theer.'
''e's a bigger liar than Tom Pepp.'

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

"Proggin'" - Collecting wood for a fire. That's a word I've never heard outside this immediate locality.

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

That's a great word IW....thanks. I had forgotten it. You prompted me to start a new thread about bonfire night!
Some more words:
"Laikin'" We used to laik in't'street a lot, "swiming" on gas lamps. Coming up with "duffs" for each other, and playing "delivo".
Some of us used to "frame" like "a man med o' band", and most of us "worn't bigger than two pennorth o' copper". Lots of times we would just stand around "like cheese at fourpence".

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) USA

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

One saying more frequently used during the depravation of the war years
"Put wood in't 'oil" ----- Would you be so kind as to close the door.


"Shintin" - usually in answer to the question as to whether your mother was at
home

"Twagging it"--- taking unauthorised leave from School.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 50 - 55

Current location (optional) KEIGHLEY

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Some goodies there-----Berard-was the game you mention "relievo"?
Here's one for you -------- kalling as in just hanging around talking-I remember as a kid the "big lads had a kall hole,just a shed where they could meet and talk and keep dry.
Another which had my NZ wife amused-coil oil (coal hole)
It was interesting on that visit to Yorkshire-being entertained by farming friends John Bancroft (KBGS about 46-51) and his lovely wife,that after about 50 years away,I subconsciously dropped into using similar words as he was using dialect in his conversation.My wife couldn't understand either of us!!.
After a meal at the Wuthering Heights at Stanbury, I couldn't eat all up and the waitress asked me "are yer kaffling on me?" I guess we will come up with a few more.cheers.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 47-51

Current location (optional) Auckland,NZ

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

I like the verb 'to mullock', meaning 'to mess',ie. "Will yer stop mullocking abaht you two"; usually accompanied with a clout at the back of the head. 'Clout'!! There's another one!!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 45-50

Current location (optional) Keighley

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Bernard beat me to it with "laikin" which we used to use as a regular word. A couple of years ago a Yorkshire-born friend of mine who lives in Cornwall ocverheard his wife playing a Teach-yourself-Norwegian tape. He told me that he was quite taken aback to hear the translation of "playing", which was "laiking". Not sure of the spelling, but that's how it sounded. No doubt some wag will correct me if I'm wrong.

Nobody's mentioned ginnels and snickets yet. Why are plimsolls called "pumps"? In the south west they're called "daps". The bit about progging and going progging really took me back to the times when gangs of us would think nothing of felling small trees and dragging them up the snicket to put on the bonfire. Nobody would know the tree was missing because we rubbed dirt on the stump. All this green political correctness - the kids today don't know what they're missing!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-63

Current location (optional) Exeter, Devon

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Interesting to read about Norwegians "laikin'". I suppose our dialect identity is more strongly Anglian than Saxon with subsequent Viking overtones. Part of our Early English course was a study of The Towneley Cycle (of Mystery Plays - C15th??) from the Wakefield Pageant (??). Our preparation each week was to be ready to "translate" sections into "English" in the lecture. The "preparation" of John Topham ( a Steeton lad who knows part dialect) and me was reading a stanza at a time to each other without need to translate 'cos most of it could be heard spokken at that time by some of ours and most of our parents' generation in and around Keighley. Some of the soft southerners on our course disputed this but then they allus knew best.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Ah! "Snicket"......beautiful. I'd forgotten that one. We had a snicket at the end of our street!
More:
"cake 'oil"........mouth
"gob" noun.........mouth
" gob" vb..........to hit, strike.
"stop your gob!".........shurrup!
"gawp"....to stare at.
What is/was a "peggy tub"?
Remember "t'pig bin" in the middle of the street?
My dad would often call me "pait'la" and "jimson". No idea what that was about.
I really used to like "naddies" and "pop-o-loll".
I suspect "relievo" and "delivo" were the same game. "Captured" kids delivered back to freedom by a still "free" kid managing to get to the holding tank and shouting "delivo". Went on for hours......
Yorkshire wit could be quite biting at times. We were sitting in the living room one time, the window fronted onto the street. A hapless young women walked past the window and quite obviously looked in. My grandmother shot to her feet, yanked the front door open, and yelled after her " come on back, lass, have a reight good look 'round, it's free!"

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) USA

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Ah yes Bernard, the peggy tub. It was a large metal barrel made, I think, out of corrugated galvanised iron (I'm sure I'll be put right by a metallugist out there). It was used to do t' weshin' in. Tek ages puttin' 'ot watter in it, and some soap flakes. Put thi cloathes in. Then stir it reight rapid wi't peggy. The peggy was a contraption that looked like a little three or four legged buffet (stool to southerners although I'm sure that means something different) attached to the end of a brush handle with a cross piece at the top. You sat on the draining board stirring it backards and forards and when it were done yer mum give yer some tea and jam pastie.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Terry's mention of the linguistic origins of the Yorkshire dialect is interesting. Language has been a fascination of mine for a long time, especially spelling and pronunciation. In our dialect, we maintaned the 2nd person singular (thee, thou and thy), we pronounced words in their original form, (fruit - froo-it, book to rhyme with boot, etc). When I learned German I was surprised at how similar it was to Yorkshire, wasser for watter (water), bach for beck, etc

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-61

Current location (optional) Originally Haworth, now Blue Mountains Australia

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

And, Shaun, don't forget the humble "posser" not to be confused with similarly named Welsh valley exiles looking for a break in northern rugby.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Yes Terry. The posser was a wooden hemisphere on the end of another brush handle. The hemisphere had holes drilled in it and was used with and up and down motion as opposed to the spinning backards and forards of the peggy. Incidentally, the peggy was known in our household as the dolly (and consequently we had a dolly tub).
And the aforesaid jam pasties are still available - in a bakers at Hyde Park Corner in Leeds.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

We must have been a bit posh, we had a copper posser! Ee, it were reet gradely

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-61

Current location (optional) Haworth now Blue Mountains in Australia

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

The class system was much stronger in those days. You obviously were in a higher class than us, we just 'ad a stick..........wi nowt ont'end.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) USA

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Remember playing on bogeys? (Not to be confused with buggers, the reward of blegging......swap my brown un for you green un?). Pram wheels were essential and couldn't be found for love nor money. I finally got some from John Topham, and they were good uns. Went to his house at Steeton after school to pick them up. Thanks John!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) USA

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

My mother made us cracknies, Shaun. Sometimes without currants.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Shaun it was a peggy stick and so called I imagine for the wooden pegs or legs if you like that created the washing motion. The dolly was a little bag of blue or dolly blue. The posser had a domed copper head or at least ours did , maybe we were posher than we knew.
My particular memories are of emptying the peggy tub with a ladling can.The soap flakes would have turned to a slippy jelly after they had cooled and it was like ladling snot. Sinced we washed in 't'cellar oil where muck slats on't winders' it all had to be ladled down a stone sink and worked down the plughole if too many soap flakes had been used. Emptying the last dregs were worst and as one got bigger the tub could be lifted to the sink and the last bit would go out in one gellid mass. GLOOP!!!!
As to the Yorkshire dialect thing. It is related to the Anglo Saxon influx and much remains of the Germanics they brought. This together with the Viking or Norwegian others mentioned. Laiking comes from Lachen as does 'kind' from 'kinder', garden from garten. 'Eleven' and 'twelve' are from the old Icelandics. They did say at one time that you could take a farmer from the Dales to Jutland and provided they spoke about farming and keeping cattle the relative farmers could converse with each other.
The word for 'left handed' is a useful dialect indicator. I use 'cack-handed' What does anyone else use? Try and buy a scone and chips anywhere else but Keighley. Or go scrumping or blegging or cheggying.

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Yes Arthur, I recall the dolly blue but have no idea what it was for.
As for left-handedness, in our house a left-hander was known as a gollock.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Wasn't dolly blue a whitener or bleaching agent? Cakhander was always a leftie.
Remember our mothers used to yellowstone the front step on each side. If you didn't have a garden the washing was hung across the street and if a car,van or truck wanted to go through,they tooted the horn and the mothers would come out and lift the clothes line with a prop.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 47-51

Current location (optional) Auckland,NZ

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Crackneys and jam pasties.Boy that takes me back-my mothers baking was legendary with my mates in Australia when they discovered it.Now and again for a treat, my wife will get out my mams recipe for potted meat and make some. Absobloodylutely delicious.When I was in Keighley last year I bought a Yorkshire curd tart from Wilds bakery. Just lovely.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 47-51

Current location (optional) Auckland,NZ

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Sometimes, (rarely), in summer, the sun would be "crackin' t'flags".

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) USA

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

The Yorkshire saying for today is

"HAPPY YORKSHIRE DAY"

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Someone from outside our corner of Yorkshire was known as an "offcumm'd'un".

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Heard today on the bus:
" Hello Maisie , how're you keepin'"
' Fair to middlin', tha knaws. Yer 'ave to mog on and mind t'buses, don't yer?"

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

gormless, muggins, gawping, gob, "cat got your tongue?", browned off.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) USA

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

A lot of the terms and expressions we learnt at "our mothers' knee" - but what was more enlightening were the expressions picked up in part-time labouring jobs - like "When he saw t'gaffer coming, he were that scared it put his s##t back a fortnit". Pittoresque? or what?
Of course, additional to such crude imagery, there were the terms and sayings that originated or were used in the trade being practised - especially in textiles.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Such as, bobbin "liggin'" (laying, same as "i'bed") and "doffin'" (removing, same as "thee cap").

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

One of my favourites was "stalled" meaning "bored'/'fed up'.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Strange how these words come to mind - We used to say "Dout it out" or "dout it" meaning to put out a fire or a cigarette etc. Youngsters in York used this expression when I worked there in the late '60s. Could it originally have been "do out" as similarly "don" and "doff" were formerly "do on" and "do off"?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

"Stalled" if you couldn't eat another bit,portion or mouthfull, Are you stalled ,lad ?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 43-46

Current location (optional) Tasmania

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

"Skellered" for warped as in "Yon door let's in t'draught. It's skellered".
"Clacker" as in "I could murder a pint - my clacker's dry as dust".
"Mythering" what kids do to get sommat or get noticed or get fetched one.

The Yorkshire Dialect Society has a web site...address below.....
http://www.ydsociety.org.uk/

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Terry, I'm indebted to you for reminding me of the clacker - a much more descriptive word than epiglottis. You seem to have some knowledge of linguistics so can you throw any light on a word much used by my father when he got home from a long day's work in the "blackshop". He was usually "paid".

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

"flaid".............afraid, scared.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) USA

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Sometimes I almost caffled trying to get the last pint down quickly..........

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) USA

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

No special knowledge, Shaun. However, it surprises me how some of the sayings and phrases just come back to the mind. Like others who have posted in these pages, I live out of the county but when I go back, especially to Keighley, I find the dialect returns, and I am "bilingual" again. (Well, nearly, because I'm not nearly as proficient as those who have had a lifetime there but I can converse without translating!!)My Dad swore I should never work in a "blackshop" even though it kept us. I remember folk using the term "paid out", meaning "tired to the point of exhaustion". Was that a local colloquialism for "spent" meaning "used up"? I can't think of many examples but Yorkshire dialect seems sometimes to take a normal English expression and turn it into a version of its own - e.g. "anyway" becomes "any road". Any others. Thanks to Bernard for raising this subject.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

My village Cowling was, 50 years ago, a strange, other-worldly sort of place where a lot of people had common surnames and was a major source of patients for Menston. Somebody has recognised it as one of the last bastions of Yorkshire dialect. When I lived there it was possible to tell by the dialect whether one lived in the main part of the village or in one of the outlying hamlets - Middleton, Ickornshaw, Cowling Hill, where speech had a Lancashire twang. Professor Higgins would have found it intriguing. This link goes into more detail.

http://www.cowlingweb.co.uk/moonrakers_cds/press_clippings.html

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) melbourne

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Interesting observation Paul. I remember two 'lads' in my form at School, one from Cowling and one from Glusburn and they both lived on farms on more or less, the same hillside, if you know the area. The Cowling 'lad', Jesse Lund(what a great name!), had one of the thickest Yorkshire accents I've ever heard, and very close to a Lancashire accent. Gordon Warin, the Glusburn 'lad',lived on a farm behind the Dog & Gun, and he was a close runner-up to Jesse,accent-wise. Both smashing 'lads' and I believe all of us in our form learned lots of new words and sayings from these two during our time at School in the mid to late '40s.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 45-50

Current location (optional) Keighley

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Where does one start when discussing Cowling? For those of us down in the Glusburn/Sutton/Crosshills conurbation, it has always been regarded as something of a strange place - "it's allus a top coit colder up there", and the residents are seen as a cross between the characters in "League of Gentlemen" and "Deliverance". A friend moved up there from the valley bottom. Some wag in the Old White Bear remarked "There's two kind o'folk 'at live in Cowin'ead; Cowin'eaders, and them as knows no better!"
He lasted about a year!

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Good comments Paul /David. I had an interesting experience back in '82 on my first visit home since leaving in 1954.I had it in my mind to buy a Joseph Pighills painting,and I traipsed (another forgotten word) up and down Main Street in Haworth and was told the same story in each shop "Nay,tha won't get any of Joe's,he's bin retired for years." Eventually in one shop I met a guy who offered to paint any photo I wanted him to copy,which was a generous offer, but without giving it any thought I just replied."No thanks, I want a painting done by a local artist" He was taken aback by this and protested " but I am a local artist" - my response was that "you might live local but you don't come from here". With that he cracked up and I asked him-- "well-where do you come from?" his response was "Barnoldswick-but no one has every questioned me before on not being a local, how did you pick it?"
That's when it got interesting because I told him "Well you see I COME from here". That really got him going as I sound like anything BUT a Yorkshireman these days (eh David?). Anyhow, of course I could easily establish my credentials as to being a local lad, but I had him guessing.
How did I pick him? I can't tell you, I just knew.I suppose growing up there you are used to the various nuances in their voices and when I'm back there I am just SO comfortable. Whew that's a bit of a rant.Catching up to Arthur !! Cheers.
ps to finish the story, I related my adventure to some old friends who said,"Ay lad,we know old Joe, he still lives at top of Marsh,we'll go up and see him."We did and I finished bringing home some of his work, and it turned out that Joe was an old friend of my grandfather and we got on fine.Incidentally,Joe Pighills had one of the broadest Yorkshire accents I have ever come across.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 47-51

Current location (optional) Auckland,NZ

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

"Get some rice pudding down thi' neck. It'll put lead in thi' pencil."

I'll give thee a lug 'oler.

Although I have been away from Yorkshire for many many years the dialect and words are still with me.

A few years ago I entered an orchard here locally where I came upon a farmer addressing a group of Japanese tourists. The farmer had a very pronounced Yorkshire accent. I hadn't heard it for years so I couldn't resist hollering out. " Hey suthee lad 'ast t'ad thee leg o'er lately."

The poor man blushed and started sputtering not realizing that only he and I knew what I said.

We became good friends it turns out he was from Halifax.

We often met for lunch with Canadian friends and it wasn't long into a conversation before my Yorkshire accent was returning. I found it quite amazing that he and I could converse in English without other English speaking people understanding what we were talking about.

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

David - my family knew Gordon Warin quite well - my dad was a maintenance engineer contracted by Gordon to install weaving machinery in a mill at Midleton, near Cork. I think he worked for Gordon on other occasions also. I see Gordon's photo is on this site. I can't recall Jesse Lund - I guess he was older than I, but Lund was a prominent South Craven name. I'll ask my mother - she's 98 years old and living in an old folks' home near Melbourne.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) melbourne

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Anybody ever go "appleing"? What a thrill!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) USA

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

David Seeley mentions the Dog & Gun. For a funny take on that go to Kate Rusby at:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3nLM0azB0H0

For her serious side listen to 'Who will sing me lullabies'.

Yes Bernard - appleing was great fun, and scary if you were caught. Then you'd have belly ache and t'trots for a couple of days after scoffin' the green 'uns.

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

There's not much dialect left around Ickornshaw these days, and the accents you hear are just as likely to be from Leeds or Preston or even from southern suburbia as from the Yorkshire/Lancashire borders. And you're equally likely to meet a painter, a potter or an artist working in metal as a farmer. Times have changed.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Paul- The Gordon Warin you are talking about is in fact, MY Gordon's uncle, who indeed, had a textile machinery business in the Bingley area some years ago. The 'Dog & Gun' Gordon was a farmer all his working life and when I spoke to him today and mentioned your name, he recalled someone of your name having worked for his uncle Gordon. He also tells me that Jesse Lund had a farm on Cowling Hill and has in recent years retired to North Yorkshire.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 45-50

Current location (optional) Keighley

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

When ,as a young lad, I spilled something down me, my Grandma (who lived two doors away from Trevor Pickles) used to say. 'Eee thee's a reight mucktub'

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Aye, and me mates dad used to say to him - 'thee's a reight duck-egg'.
Not quite sure what a duck-egg has to to with anything but.....!!
Have we covered the term 'gormless' for being clumsy?

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

And the greeting to a passerby .."Na'then"
And the response.."Na'then then"

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

What about "So long " for cheerio

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 43-46

Current location (optional) Tasmania

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

So long is fairly universal. It occurs in the Sound of Music song 'Goodbye, Farewell'

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

... and, more musically, in Woody Guthrie's "So Long, It's Been Good to Know You".

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

What about a chip buttie?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) USA

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Sorry Bernard-a chip buttie is a Lancashire expression.
Cheers.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 47-51

Current location (optional) Auckland,NZ

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Th’and o’ God.

Times wuh hard tha knaws, niver easy,
jobs wuh scarce and money wur 'ard to come by,
none of thi Social in those days.
Thi med do an’ managed best tha cud
and that were t’end on it.

One time though we wuh really short.
There wuh nowt in’t house to eat.
We wuh pined bowleg.
I heard mi Dad say
-What iver are we to do?
and mi Mam said, quiet-like,
- Don’t worry, lad, the Lord will provide.
- Oh aye, said me Dad,
- Ah wish I cud believe that, an all.
Cos he wunt a churchman at all
not like mi Mam,
he thoawt it wur all a lot o’ owd tosh.

Ony ah, mi Dad used to deliver milk,
well he did all sorts of jobs
but he liked working wi’ osses,
but it wuh for a pittance
and t’ farmer only let mi Dad do it to give him a job,
e cud ‘ave dun it hissen,
well he did often enough
before mi Dad took it on.

This morning, I wuh tellin’ thi about,
he set off on t’round wi t’farmer’s young lad
on t’ back step of t’float
The lad just wanted to go for a ride really.
Anyroad they wuh clatterin’ down this lane
when summat caught mi Dad’s eye.
He stopped t’ float and pointed.

-Sitheee, young ‘un what’s that shinin’in’t road?
Jump dahn and see.
The lad got dahn
and sammed summat up aht o’ muck
and browt it back to mi Dad.
-By Gow, lad, its awf a Crown. Well done.

They hadn’t gone abun another twenty yards
afore they stopped agen
and this time thuh wur a florin.
Dust knaw they fahnd seventeen and six
what wi’ one coin or another that morn.
Seventeen and six!
That wuh two weeks wages for mi Dad.
‘E reckoned some drunk
with a hole in his pocket ‘ad lost it all.

‘E finished ‘is rahnd,
gave the lad summat for ‘is trouble
‘and then ran ‘ome
trembling wi’excitement
to tell thi Grandma.
‘E could scarce get ‘is tale aht,
‘e wuh that excited and aht of breath.
Mi mother just rocked in ‘er chair
lissnin to ‘im goin’ on
then stood up and straightened ‘ er pinny and said,
-Ah told thi the Lord would provide.
Me dad just laughed and shuk his ‘ed.


Anyroad next morning
‘e wuh on his rahnd agin .
on ‘is own this time,
and when as he was filling a jug
‘e heard from next door,
which was ajar, this owd man’s voice.

-Lord , ah hunger. Send mi fooid, I beg.
Thi Grandad laughed quietly.
-Owd fooil him to think that ony God
might give him bread,
then all of a sudden ‘e bethowt hissen.
‘E tied t’oss to a lamppost
and legged it home through t’ churchyard
to where mi Mum wuh bakin’ bread
for’t fust time in a week.

-Sithee, gi' me a cob, look sharp!
Owd 'enry's praying for fooid
Ah sall hev mi joke on im, tha'll see."

He took the loaf back to Owd 'enry's house.
Th’owd man was still knelt in quiet prayer
by his table in t’cold kitchen.

Mi dad put t’loaf by side of ‘is bent head
wi’ a jug of milk besides
and stood back in’t shadows and waited.


T’smell o’ new bread got to owd ‘enry
for all of a sudden ‘is head snapped up
and his eyes popped aht and ‘is jaw dropped.
‘e raised ‘is ‘ands to t’sky.

-Oh! Thank you, Lord
This gift of thine bestowed upon me
hungry and alone."

-Nowt at'sort, thi silly owd loon!
thi grandfather scoffed, steppin’ aht into’t leet.
-It was no Lord of thine.
Ah browt thi bread,
aye, an'yon milk too.
The joke's on thee, ‘enry.

Owd ‘enry wagged his finger,
"Ah! Tha browt t’ cob
and tha browt yon milk besides,
ah can believe that an all,
but t' Lord ed putten thowt i' thi 'eead, tha knoas."
-Nowt at sort, silly owd bugger thee,
said mi Dad and left the old man to his breakfast
while ‘e finished ‘is rahnd..


Later, he finished the tale with mi Mam,
as she rocked beside t’fire
-Silly owd sod!
The Lord 'ed putten it in mi 'eead, he sed.

My mam rocked and rocked
and stroked her pinny flat;
-Aye, well, an 'appen he did,
if truth bi known, she said.

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

A lovely story Arthur. Maybe it was the hand of the devil though. Your dad was full of devilment and fully intended to have sport at Henry's expense, which he did. Maybe the devil thought it was small enough payment to bring pain to a human. The reality is, it was just human nature, and too good an opportunity for an iconoclast, like your dad, to pass up.
I loved some of the words though........a long time since I heard "pined bowlegged".
I myself had a wonderful experience. I was on my way to the Lord Rodney after night school. It was dark, about 9.00 pm, and there was a light rain. I had just taken inventory of my wealth. I had 1 and 4p, and a large tab end. A pint of bitter at the time was 1 and 3. I was dying for a fag, but I wanted a pint too. I had pretty much decided on the pint and trying to cadge a smoke, when...........something caught my eye on the muddy pavement.......... a muddy, wet rumpled piece of paper. I walked on past it a good ten steps, but there had been something funny about it. I decided to go back and look at it. It was a pound note! I couln't believe it! I felt sorry for the poor bugger who had lost it but it certainly brightened my life! I walked on air the rest of the way to the Rodney, ordered a pint of bitter, 20 Senior Service and a box of Swan Vestas. Life was good, but I didn't thank the lord for it. Surely he wouldn't have taken from the other sod to make me feel good!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-57

Current location (optional) USA

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Gi's a swig o'yon. That stodge is fair clagging my clacker.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Been reight flummocksed wi' some o' these sayin's.

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

My father always used to describe his dog as "raight wick" or a "wick un", I always thought it was a contraction of wicked because it was an evil little bugger until I learned it was dialect for lively. He always called a dressing gown a lambing gown.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-61

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

The car drew up,t'winder slid down and US voice
astabart Hay-worth. Astudied.Abithowtmisen.Ah yermean ourth. * Grandmother called it laidin can; Grandfather filled it reight te top soaz dog could sup. It were nobbet little wi a short neck. * My mother once related that a bloke said to my father, in India in WW2: "you're from Keighley, are'nt you?" He had to admit it.* Often heard in the office in the early 70's: Jwantowtfra t'shop? * Relivo, stroke a bunny, kickcan and Chinese torture [in the park]. * couldn'nt thoil it.~wasn't worth the money. * starved~frozen daft * kapt~ surprised * chewing t'fat* scon & chips with scraps * And finally: dabs~ small [new] potatoes fried in batter.
Sorry, computer illiterate. DARE NOT RISK LOOSING THIS. PS Dog dint drink mucky wotter.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 53-58

Current location (optional) Brighouse

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Well done Peter-I had forgotten "Dabs" and "kapt". Cheers.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 47-51

Current location (optional) Auckland,NZ

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

If you really want to peer into the murky depths of your childhood vocabulary, I can recommend "Chelp and Chunter - How to talk Tyke" by Ian McMillan.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 55-60

Current location (optional) Harrogate

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

I use the word Grig/Griggin regularly. I was raised knowing that Grigging means to tourment, mock etc...........a beautiful word

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 0

Current location (optional) Kingston

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Lads that were grigged too much might end up roarin' as well

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-61

Current location (optional) Blue Mountains, Australia via Haworth

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

In my later years I could not sustain "roarin' 'is eyes out" as a Yorkshire (even Kegley) metaphor. I got used in Keighley folk-talk to the mixing of metaphors but this was something else. "Roarin'" has to do with sound and "eyes"(eyen)) has to do with sight.Could this be an early intrusion of Shelleyan synaesthesia into the local dialect? I never regarded my dad as a synaesthete but he used the expression with a frequency. His dad came to Keighley from Aston via Hull. The nearest a Shelley came to Keighley was Mary's trip to Whitby (although we had frequent bad Winters). Could there have been a seismic culture slip which fed this poetic device into our local dialect - into the mouths of mams and dads - such that "roarin' 'is eyes out" was a frequently used term to describe the din created by half-starved bairns,lodged in their prams, whilst their mothers queued at the tripe stall in Low Street market. Yet another startling mystery from Aireworthland.(This term is copyrighted)

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Terry I appreciate your erudition, but I think you are capable of making a pot ov tay fo' 20 fowk out ov a single tay leaf.
"Roarin'" refers to the anguished moaning and sobs one makes when one is being demonstrative in the process of crying.
It's nowt to do wi' t'eyes.
Nathen, sitha!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-1957

Current location (optional) Tinseltown, the land of the lotus eaters, and all things inconsequential.

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Terry,
Why would you want to copyright "This term" ??
Schoolteacher's preference ??

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 50-55

Current location (optional) Keighley

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

"Rooar'd 'is ('er) eeyn up", is the expression I recall. As I was exposed to the dialect some 10 miles from Keighley, however, this may account for the difference.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Just a short extract from a book on the 'Bronte Country' by Peggy Hewitt, concerning old Timmy Feather of Stanbury, a handloom weaver and 'clog dancer of some renown'. He was baptised by the Revd. Patrick Bronte at Haworth in January 1825 and lived in a state of bachelor chaos. When he learned he was to receive an old age pension he was amazed. 'Well, Aw niver knew nowt like it', he remarked. "They browt a looad o' coils afoor Cursmiss, an' now five shillin' i't week as long as Aw live! An' Aw've done nowt for nawther on 'em ". Timmy died in 1910 being the the last of the handloom weavers in the area.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 45-50

Current location (optional) Keighley

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Until I went to Liverpool, I thowt sex were wot they browt coils in

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Have we had "slack set up"? And I particularly identified with Michael Parkinson's " closet winger".

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 53-58

Current location (optional) Brighouse

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Is a closet winger someone with a secret desire to play on the wing or did you mean closet whinger?

I was talking to a woman from Bridlington the other day, discussing the "good old" days when she told me that her grandad had built her a buggy when she was little. My thoughts were of a horse and cart sort of thing until she told me that it was made with pram wheels and you steered it with a piece of string attached to the front axle. It dawned on me that buggy and bogey must have the same origin, because she had just described a bogey to me.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-61

Current location (optional) Blue Mountains, Australia via Haworth

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

In Silsden, the land that time forgot, a bogie was always referred to as a flat cart. Bogeys (in Silsden at any rate)never had wheels on. None of the ones I hauled out did anyway.

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

When I taught young children they were amazed that, when we were children, we all had bogeys to play with. They must have thought that we were REALLY poor in those days.
Similarly the young Punjabi-speaking children I taught were astounded that we kept a budgie in a cage (budgie being the Punjabi word for IW's bogie.)

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) leeds

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

John~~ As kids, we played soccer in a large walled yard attached to the Methodist Chapel. Along one long side was a row of water closets.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 53-58

Current location (optional) Brighouse

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

My recollection is that a bogey is what the Americans call a billy-cart, and the item extracted by a finger from the nasal passages was a bleg!

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Aye, but "blegging" had(s) a second meaning - especially in late summer - for collecting (picking) blackberries.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

My old dad used to say to me,"if tha knaws nowt,say nowt,an' appen nobdy'll nowtice". Good advice!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 55-60

Current location (optional) Harrogate

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Hi Trevor-A bogey was both of those- the billy cart and the stuff you dragged from your nose--------- there was of course the bogey man!!!!!!! Cheers.
C'mon the Cats eh Trevor?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 47-51

Current location (optional) Auckland NZ

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

We also used the word "bleg" as a form of insult, viz; "He's a reet bleg, he is"

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Anyone remember hearing the word,'raffle-coppin'? [Ne'er-do-well]
I came across it reading 'By Moor and Fell in West Yorkshire' by Halliwell Surcliffe. It's one I cannot recall but it was obviously in use in the Haworth area in the 1890's. I don't think it formed part of my fathers' vocabulary, which was rich in dialect. It is used in the following extract which gives an interesting insight into the percieved value of education amongst some inhabiatants of Haworth.

"Well? What hest'a to say for thyseln?" growls the father opening the door to his son late on a cold , wet night.
" Nowt, father - I've been studying." [at George Cockroft's private school at Oxenhope]
"Studying? An' to think tha comes o'godly parents - christened an' all; nay get thee to bed lad! I'm feared tha'll be nobbut a raffle-coppin yet."

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 45 - 50

Current location (optional) Norfolk

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Fascinating - but can anyone explain how "raffle-coppin" translates into "ne'er do well"?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 52-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

I just came across a site that might give some insight into all of the above
http://www.yorksj.ac.uk/dialect/

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-61

Current location (optional) Blue Mountains, Australia via Haworth

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Thanks John, but it looks like too much 'ard wark t' sift thro' yon lot! I was hoping that one of the experts like Arthur Seeley or John Joseph Waddington-Feather might know something.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 45 - 50

Current location (optional) Norfolk

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

The Morley Community Archive (www.morleyarchives.ik.com)gives the following definition - RAFFLE-COPPIN, a loose, vagrant, turbulent fellow - but gives no indication of origin.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) leeds

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

"The Dialect of Craven" says it comes from the words "ravel" and "coppin" but to date I can't find meanings for either of these words.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) leeds

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Apparently the word "ravel" was used as we would use "unravel", so we're part way there. The "coppin" bit is a puzzle though.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) leeds

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

"Cop" - either to sieze, to catch OR the head.
I guess it's the head.
Raffle-coppin .... possessing an unravelled head?????

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) leeds

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

I was always fond of RIVE as in "nay lad, steady on or tha'll rive it ter bits."

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) leeds

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

That kept you well occupied this morning Shaun. I commend you for your efforts.
Am I correct in thinking that no one has yet metioned 'Bletherhead' or 'to blether' as in talk a lot and say nowt?
And 'Brussen'? "'Am fair brussen", was a favourite expression used by older male family members after enjoying Christmas dinner.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 45 - 50

Current location (optional) Norfolk

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Perhaps the same term - blathering - was used round our way as a noun as in - Stop thee blathering - usually used to young kids roaring and talking at the same to time to voice some feelings about an assumed injustice - when it all comes out in a wet,sobbing mess of verbiage.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

Current location (optional) Lincoln

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

i'n't tha' a verb?

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

We just had a relatively cold snap in the Mountains where I live. I thought that it might be nice to light the fire, so without thinking, I said to my wife, "Ah'm off proggin' ".

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-61

Current location (optional) Blue Mountains, Australia via Haworth

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

A word I haven't seen mentioned yet on this thread, is 'addle', which means 'to earn' e.g."'Owst'ee addle 'is brass?"= What does he do for a living?
Also, with regard to the German/Anglo-Saxon connections, we have the word 'bahn',as in 'Weer wasta bahn when Ah saw thee?(Ilkla Moor Baht'at)which relates to the German 'Bahnhof' and 'Autobahn',as modes of travel.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 45-50

Current location (optional) Keighley

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Could have sworn it was "Weer 'as ta bin sin' Ah saw thee?"

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-65

Current location (optional) leeds

Re: Yorkshire words and sayings.

Your's is how I remember it Shaun. How long before we get stalled?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 53-58

Current location (optional) Brighouse

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