by Dennis » Mon May 28, 2012 1:10 pm
...continued
Talk given in Oldbury on 15 May 2012
Clack: noisy chatter; also disparaging word for throat or tongue (linked to cluck, of a hen?).
A cogwinder: a violent blow, a coal-‘eaver. Also sog: ‘E did go a sog, ‘e did give ‘im a sog(ger) = slap.
Clam: as in Om clammed / clemmed to dyeth = starving, very hungry. Hence ‘e’s a clamgut, a person who is always hungry.
Starved: as in Om starved to dyeth = very cold, from Anglo-Saxon steorfan, to perish cf. German sterben, to die.
To blart: to weep, cry, a variation of bleat, of a sheep, AS blaetan.
Barmpot: silly person, idiot, from barmy (barmy = frothy, perhaps from a yeast mixture in bread and beer-making?).
Donny: give me your donny, child's hand. Danny in South Yorkshire. French?
Eak-lumps: goose pimples, prickly heat.
To feature: to resemble e.g. I was just wondering who he featured. Old French faiture from Latin factura = form.
Ever likely: well, it's ever likely: no wonder, not surprising.
Gain : he's not very gain, not very good, steady, well balanced on his feet cf. Standard English ungainly. Obsolete English gainly = graceful, from ON gegn = straight.
To gather: to fester (accumulate pus), a gathering, a festering spot, boil.
Gawby: stupid person, simpleton; cf mawkin: doh stand there lookin' like a mawkin = stuffed dummy, gormless [ = without gaum, understanding, ON gaumr, attention, heed cf. gumption?], from a scarecrow, from Malkin, diminutive of Matilda, Maud.
Giddy: flighty (of a woman), irresponsible from Anglo-Saxon gidig, possessed by a god, from AS god.
Yed: head
Hodge: stomach, to stuff one's hodge.
Hullock: fat person, you great ‘ullock.
Jed: dead, worried to dyeth. Coalmine Jed Naps (nappers), Dead Heads.
Just now: I'll do it just now = shortly, later on i.e. in the future, as opposed to Standard English where it refers to the past and means a short while ago.
Aer kid: friend (mate) or family member, often brother e.g. worrow, aer kid, yow awright? My father used to refer to his younger brother as aer kid : om tekin' aer kid out.
Backhanded: as in that's a backhanded way of doin' things: opposite to the usual way or direction.
Ligger: liar, from Old Norse liuga. As opposed to: jonnock, it's jonnock, = true, genuine (Norwegian jamn, ON jafn, steady, even)
Lonk: loin, I've got a pain in me lonk.
Lug: a knot in the hair. Cf Swedish lugg, a forelock, fringe.
Monty: pert, bossy, uppity cf mouthy and facy.
Mad’at, mad’eaded: impetuous.
On the mek-(h)aste: grasping, eager to make money.
Mardy: sulky, spoilt, as in marred = spoiled. Almost Standard English, very widely understood.
Mither: to worry, moan, pester, irritate, perhaps linked to Welsh moedrodd, to worry, bother. Cf moither. Almost Standard English, very widely understood.
Middling: unwell, ‘er’s a bit middlin’ today; I'm fair to middling. But in Yorkshire = not so bad!
To munch: to bully, hit. He's a munch, a bully. Also to pail, hit, and to thrape, gave him a good thraping, thrashing, beating. Also to lamp, larrup, leather.
Nesh (or nash, as my mother said in Langley): sensitive to the cold, susceptible to cold weather. Also soft, delicate. Anglo-Saxon hnesce, delicate, weak, sickly, feeble. Cf. Derbyshire, Yorkshire etc. nesh.
Nognyed: noggin, stupid person. Also a sawney, simpleton, originally a disparaging nickname for a Scotsman = Alexander, or perhaps a zany, clown. Also perhaps a sooner, a fool. Also to be yampy and a clarnet and a lommock. The opposite is a sharpshins, quick-witted person or precocious child (quick on the feet, fleet of foot). If you're a clarnet you need to shape up, get ready, prepare, pull yourself together.
Neversweat: never in a hurry, lazy, ‘e’s a neversweat. My mother always said ‘e’s a bit ‘alf soaked, meaning casual in attitude, laidback, lacking in diligence, but NOT half-baked in the sense of stupid. A neversweat might jib at doing something, i.e. do it only grudgingly, grumblingly.
Rawm: to move about restlessly. Also to scrawl (crawl) and scrawm (squirm, clamber). Rile: a person or child who will not stay still, wriggles about.
Rodney: an idler, loafer. The kind of person who slommocks along, shuffles along. Also a Rubin, a mischievous child, or a nurker, scamp, rogue. A bit hard-faced or facy = impudent, bold.
Said: ‘e won't be said, disobedient, won't be told what to do.
Scrat: a mean person (perhaps from scratch penny). Also a shortwick (short week?), a bad payer, debtor. Skinny, miserly. Oi ‘ay got a stiver, broke (Dutch stuiver, very small coin)
Sheed: dow sheed the beer, spill (Anglo-Saxon sceadan, to scatter). Also to skitter, to sprinkle, as in a skittering of rain. Also mizzle, drizzle.
To snape: to snub, to be offensive to, I onny got snaped for me trouble, from Old Norse snaypa, to nip cf. Modern Swedish snäsa.
Swopson: a heavily built woman, perhaps from Swedish skvabb, fat flesh? Can it be said of a man?
Tittle-stomached: squeamish, with an easily upset stomach, late ME tikel, frail.
Trankliments: trappings, accoutrements, personal effects, ornaments, bits and pieces, paraphernalia.
A two-three: a few.
A tup: a ram, male sheep, ‘e’s an old tup, womanizer.
Werrit: to be a werrit and to werrit, worry.
Wozzin, wazzin: throat, get it down thee wazzin, pure Anglo-Saxon survival wasend, throat, gullet, oesophagus, windpipe.
Before we move on to places and objects, let's pause to consider the delights of colourful phrases and expressions in which often the Victorian Black Country seems to live on, some of them richly comical:
It'd fetch tears to a glass eye.
It's enough to mek a pig loff.
‘E’d eat a jed mon out the cut.
‘Er’s as saft as a wairk’us wench.
It's like giving a donkey strawberries.
He's got a mouth like a parish oven.
‘Is ‘at’s like a tomtit on a round o’ beef. NB round of bread = Standard English slice. Also a piece, piecy, slice of bread and butter.
‘E woh be back afore pig-squailin’ time.
To goo all the way round the Wrekin: by a tortuous route, to be longwinded, take too long to come to the point etc.
The back of Bill's mother's = the back of beyond; it ay 'alf black over Bill's mother's. It's a bit puthery: close, sultry cf. Yorkshire puther, pother, a cloud of something unpleasant e.g. smoke .
Well arl goo ter Smerrick [Smethwick]! = surprise; but in Walsall others might say Well arl goo ter Bloxwich!
‘E’s got a (big) bob on 'imself: a mighty high opinion of himself. ‘E’s a bit ikey = haughty.
‘E’s on the box: off work sick (on the parish poor relief box?)
Saft as a bottle o’ pop = yampy, soft-headed.
Spon new, fire new = brand new, completely new (Old Norse span-nyr, chip new, Modern Swedish splitterny, brand new, new as a wood chip )
Air’un’s better ‘an nair’un. Anything is better than nothing at all.
To slip a collier in: to put something in that ought not to be there (from the game of dominoes)
‘Er played lights out: she made a fuss, ‘created’.
© Dennis Wood 2012