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Old Lancashire Words and Folk Sayings

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Old Lancashire Words and Folk Sayings QLD LANCASHIRE WORDS and FOLK SAYINGS PAR ·ISH OF S A DDLE.WORTH AMMON WRIG L E Y Fr(/111 (Ill oil f'llimin.i: hr flurry N.urhn)ord. /_011don ---- INTRODUCTION HE R E are people who say that Saddleworth 1s a T mongrel sort of parish, neither one thing nor another. When I hear it, I always say that Saddleworth is no mongrel, but it has to help Yorkshire, sometimes not very willingly, and I cannot imagine how that shire could carry on without it. Yorkshire takes every yard of Saddleworth ground, and nearly every penny of its money. When Wakefield has been through the parish pocket, there is precious little left, and to try and get something returned, would be like trying to get butter out of a dog's throat. Some people believe that Saddleworth would have no Christmas Day if Yorkshire could take it and leave no clue. Lancashire takes the water, including that from the sewage works. It also serves a part of Saddleworth with domestic water. If it didn't, many people would have to wash them­ selves in the brook. Its people speak, and have ever spoken, the Lancashire dialect. The Schofields', Buckleys', Gartsides' and other well rooted families, came chiefly from Rochdale, in the I6th century. So that Saddleworth is a Yorkshire parish, with a Lancashire population. The great barrier of moorland serves to keep, the, "Joa Lad," dialect on the other side of Stanedge. It has never got through the Deep Cut­ ting to stay and never will. 3 Modern educational forces and influences ride roughshod through the dialect, and I believe the school miss calls it slang. Yet philologists, the people who know, tell us that the Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Danish and other ancient dialects form the bedrock of the English language. I have read somewhere, that if rno words were taken from the works of great English writers, 70 to 80 could be traced to Anglo­ Saxon sources. An examiner of schools asked a Delph lad what the berries of the hawthorn were called, and he imme­ diately replied "haigs." The examiner told the school­ master how delighted he was to hear that old word. A modern school miss would raise her hands in holy horror if one of her scholars gave that answer. To the dalesman the dialect is a language in which he can express himself with ease, directness and force, and that is all a man needs to do with words. In its simplicity it is akin to Biblical language. It contains no long jaw rending words, that sometimes merely ape profundity. From it we learn to speak and write the simple English that, like the Bible, is said to make the greatest appeal. The dialect is without veneer that "Oft-times outshines the solid wood." It is the plain mother tongue that children learn to speak on the hearthstones of home, and in after years may be carried to the farthest corners of the earth. I do not know how it affects other people but when I hear a Lancashire or Yorkshire dalesman speak the dialect well, the fresh, clean countryside seems to come from his tongue. In his voice and words there are sounds that make me think of streams splashing over boulders in hillside doughs and wind blowing through green hawthorn hedges. Something stirring and pleasant to hear. I wonder what he hears in a townsman's voice? 4 In making this compilation, it has not been my purpose to give the English for "theau, neaw, ceaw," and every word in the Saddleworth dialect. So, herein, I have given the old words that may be the first part of the folk speech to fall into disuse. Some I have not heard for years, others but rarely, and in the next generation they may have become obsolete. It is now rare to hear young folks use them, at least that is my experience. In compiling the two lists, I have trusted to my memory and my dialect sketches, and it is more than probable that words have eluded me, to be remembered after this booklet i:; published. It will be noticed that I have omitted "gradely," "jannock." and other old words that are now found in a dictionary. I have also excluded old proverbs used in Saddleworth, as "penny wise and pound foolish," "a roll­ ing stone gathers no moss," "a wild goose chase," "many a slip between cup and lip," and many others that have a national vogue. In Ij46, "when ale's in wit's out," "Mad as a March hare,'' and others; in Ray's time, 1660, "Every dog's its day," "The more the merrier," and "The game won't pay for the candle,'' and others were common proverbs. Austerlands. A. W. 5 OLD LANCASHIRE WORDS PARISH OF SADDLEWORTH. "ADDLE" To earn, also unfruitful, an addle egg. ' 'Afterings'' The last milk from a cow. "Agate" Working. "He's agate of his wark. Also to go agate or accompany someone on a way." "Allockin" Idling. Killing time. "Ancliff" Ankle. ''Arranweb'' Spider's web. ''Awlus" Always. "Awse" To attempt. He ne'er awsed to do it. "BAGGIN" Tea. "Come to thi baggin." "Bagged" Discharged. Also sacked. "Ballisp1pes" The vocal organs. ''Ballybant' · A man's waist belt. Also applied to the belt of a horse. ''Banglin'' Idling. "Banglin abeaut." •'Bant" String, twine. ''Banterin'' Beating down the price of anything. "Aw bantered him deawn." "Bat" A blow. "Aw'll gie thi a bat." "Beast'· Milk from a newly calfed cow. "Beatneed" One who occasionally assists another person. "Bedlam Spit" A crazy dish of liver, black pudding, onions and other seasoning. ''Bellwea ther'' A noisy woman. ''Billy'' A spinning machine of about roo spindles for making slubbings, now discarded. 6 "Bishop A pinafore. When I went to school the children in the lower classes brought their school pence tied or stitched in a corner of their bishops and the teacher was busy on a Monday morning cutting the stitches loose. "Bleb" A blister. ''Blobm~auth'' A loud mouthed gossip. "Blubber" A bubble. Also blubberin or crying. ''Blurt'' To speak loudly and suddenly. To blurt it eaut. ''Boakes'' Beams. Barn boakes. '' Bogblinders'' Limewashers. 'Boggart'' A goblin. ''Boose'' Cow stall. "Brad" Spread. "He brad his sel." ''Brast'' Burst. "Brat" A child. An apron. ''Brawson Very lusty, much too fat. "Breadfleck" Once used for drying oatcakes. "Brewis" Oatcake, beef dripping, pepper and salt and a little hot water. A one time favourite supper dish. ''Breyd'' A shelf. ''Brock'' The insect in the froth called cuckoo spit. "Brogged" Broken up. He's brogged hissel op wi• drinkin. "Buckle" To do something. "Buckle to thi wark." ''Bullirag" To abuse a person with the tongue. "Bullock To insult. To bully. ''Buttery'' Pantry. There is, I believe, little (if any) farm butter churned in Saddleworth to-day. At one time nearly every farmer made his own butter for his milk customers and also for shop­ keepers. 'Butty" A dishonest contest. "A butty do." 7 ·'CAMPLIN" Children talking saucily to their elders. "Cappel" A piece of leather on the toes of clogs. "Capt'' Surprised. "Cauvelicked" The hair parted on the wrong side of the head. "Cayther" A cradle, sometimes called a sorrow box. ''Chag'' A small branch of a tree. "Chockful" Quite full. ''Chompin'' Chewing vigorously. "Chovin dish" An old holed bucket filled with hot cin­ ders and placed under a handloom in winter to warm the warp so that there would be fewer broken threads. ''Chuck'' To throw. "Aw chucked it away." "Chuntin" Murmuring sulkily. · 'Churngetting'' A feast after the haytime. ·'Claggy" Sticky, pasty. "It clagged i' mi meauth." "Clemmed" Not enough to eat. "Cob" To throw, cobbing a pigeon. · 'Cockstangs'' Two poles used for carrying cocks of hay to the barn. · 'Cockstride" A short distance. "Coddle" To nurse. "Cogley" Rough, stony, a cogley road. "Coil" A small cock of hay. ''Cotter'' To kick. "Aw'll cotter thi weel." "Crachinly" Weak, feeble. ''Cranky'' Ill-tempered. "Cranky side eaut." "Cripplehole" A square hole left in a high wall for sheep to go through. "Croddy" A feat. "Aw'll set thi a croddy." "Croot" Crooked. "Cronked" Sat down. "He's cronked i' th' corner." "Grope" Crept. Also crappled. 8 ''Clompin'' Setting the feet down heavily. "Cruckle" To sink down. "He cruckled to th' floor." ''Crudded'' Curdled, congealed milk. Clever, active. "A dab hand at a game." ''Dade'' To help, to assist. "Aw daded him across th' road." "Damprate" An imprecation. ''Deg'' To sprinkle. "Deet" Dirtied. "Theau's deet thi bishop." "Devilskin" A clownish fellow, full of tricks. ''Ding'' A blow. "Aw dinged him i' th' yed." Also "Aw dinged him op." Up­ braided him. "Dither" To tremble. ''Doaf" Dough. "Dollop" A large quantity. "A dollop o' stones." ''Dree'' Tedious. A dree sarmon. A dree road. ''Drooty'' Dry weather. "Dych" A heaped up hedge. ''EAUTCUMBLIN" A stranger. ''Eccles'' Icicles. ''Edder'' The dragon fly. ''Editch'' Grass grown after the mowing. "Eem" "Aw connut eem to do it, Aw havn't time." "Esshole" A large hole under the fire ot some )id Saddleworth houses to hold the ashes. "FADGE" A small load of coal. "Fagend" The tail end. ''Farrantly'' Decent, respectable. "Feart" Afraid. "Awm noan feart o' boggart muck." 9 ''Feabeny" Goosebeny. ''Feffnicute'' A kind of hypocrite, one who blows hot or cold to suit the moment. "Fettle" In good health, in good form. "Flabbergasted" Speechless with surpnse. "Fleet" Skimmed milk. ''Flite'' To scold. "Aw flited her" ''Flunter'' Out of order, not working properly, also ailing. ·"Foace" ·'A foace un" is one who believes that he has all the wit and can see more than his fellows.
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