Perhaps I should not have included \u2018Lingo\u2019 in the title as I have since seen a repeat of Dad\u2019s Army in which Captain Mannering rebuked one of his subordinates for using it. I think he thought it to be un-English.
\nSome years ago, when my wife and I listened frequently to the radio, one of our favourite programmes was presented by Hubert Gregg, previously an actor I believe. When he signed off he usually said \u2018We will be together again in a Sennight\u2019, that is in seven nights or a week. William Barnes wrote it as \u2018Zennit\u2019. Susie Dent writing in the Radio Times a few weeks ago said that around the 14th century \u2018fourteen nights\u2019 was shortened to a \u2018Fortnight\u2019. Also \u2018Yestreen\u2019 and \u2018Yestermorn\u2019 for yesterday evening and morning respectively and \u2018Overmorrow\u2019 meaning the day after tomorrow.
\nTime Team on TV once held a representation of an Anglo Saxon cremation with a eulogy read by archeologist Phil Harding, as his Wiltshire\/Wessex accent was considered to be the nearest to the Anglo Saxon language. Time Team programmes are repeated on \u2018Yesterday\u2019 channel 19 around midday. Phil takes me back to my childhood with his \u2018Ah\u2019 or Aah\u2019 and \u2018Oh Ah\u2019, the meaning changing with emphasis and number of \u2018a\u2019s\u2019. Then there is \u2018Ennit\u2019 for \u2018Is it not\u2019 and the common \u2018Yer\u2019 for \u2018Hear\u2019. This is just what our local poet, teacher and minister William Barnes taught around a century ago. Listening carefully to Phil you can detect the words he has encountered more recently which are pronounced like \u2018Oxford English\u2019 among those of his childhood which are \u2018Old English\u2019. Some years ago I listened to Sir Bernard Lovell of Jodrell Bank fame on the radio and detected something similar between his technical words and his ordinary speech, which had a slight rural burr. He was born in Gloucestershire. This in no way detracts from their fame and achievements.
\nBack to my childhood I recall walking along the village street and encountering \u2018Auntie\u2019 Burh, who stopped us so that she could scrutinise my face and exclaim \u2018Be y\u2019en e a Amerr\u2019 which being interpreted becomes \u2018Isn\u2019t he an Amor\u2019, for our family likeness. \u2018Amer\u2019 being a common Wiltshire pronunciation of \u2018Amor\u2019. An American family historian told me of two Amor males who migrated to the USA, one was registered as \u2018Amer\u2019, the other correctly as \u2018Amor\u2019 and their lines have continued with the two separate names. \u2018Auntie\u2019 I may have mentioned previously as walking up and down the street saying \u2018Anybuddyseed arr Annie annyof ee?\u2019 as she had lost her wayward niece. \u2018Auntie\u2019 would also stop us in the street, saying \u2018Don\u2019 er Graaw\u2019, that is \u2018Doesn\u2019t he grow\u2019.
\nI recall when I was about five years old that my paternal Grandmother and associates would sometimes say \u2018tis behopes\u2019 it will not rain on washing day. I also remember \u2018shrieved\u2019 meaning shivering from the cold, when wet and not dried and \u2018Shrammed\u2019 meaning cold. This latter may be found in one of Thomas Hardy\u2019s poems. Grandmother would also say \u2018Lets have a Deck\u2019 if she wanted a closer look at an object, or sometimes \u2018Have a Deckoe\u2019. My maternal Grandfather, a Dorset born gardener, would ask \u2018Do you want a Hankercher?\u2019 and showing plants would say \u2018These\u2019um\u2019, but he would also say to his wife \u2018Yes\u2019um\u2019! Flowers or nosegays were often \u2018Tutties\u2019.
\nMuch of dialect is just abbreviation as \u2018et\u2019 in \u2018I et it all up\u2019 that is have eaten it all. Then \u2018us\u2019 instead of \u2018or\u2019, possibly a corruption of \u2018else\u2019 , e.g. \u2018us it will die\u2019. Other early interpolations came into the language, corrupted, from the army in India as in \u2018Char\u2019 for \u2018tea\u2019 and \u2018charping\u2019 for \u2018sleeping\u2019, from the Hindustani for bed.
\nReverting certainly to earlier days people would say \u2018Wur be gwain ?\u2019, or \u2018Wurst \u2018gwain\u2019 or even \u2018Wurst be thee gwain\u2019 meaning \u2018Where are you going\u2019. Also \u2018N\u2019arn o\u2019 ye\u2019 for \u2018Not one of you\u2019. \u2018Ee\u2019 can also be substituted for \u2018Ye\u2019. Occasionally I have heard \u2018ook-um\u2019 for job, or place as in \u2018I don\u2019t like this ook-um\u2019. Also \u2018caddle\u2019 as in \u2018I am in a bit of a caddle\u2019 which William Barnes translated as \u2018muddle\u2019 but I wonder if it is a corruption of the phrase \u2018A fine kettle of fish\u2019 (kettle = caddle). The Wiltshire Regiment, now joined with another, previously had as its marching song \u2018The vly be on the turmit\u2019 that is \u2018The fly is on the turnip\u2019 which of course led to \u2018Turmit o\u2019in\u2019 (hoeing).
\nAs boys, if something was not working they would say \u2018It won\u2019t Ackle\u2019 and my Mother would refer to a young girl as \u2018laughing and Whickering\u2019, a \u2018Whicker\u2019 being loud laughter, neighing. Ants were called \u2018Emmits\u2019 which is also William Barnes word for them.
\nOur local author, Sylvia Creed, in her book Dorset\u2019s Western Vale also provides an extensive list of local words and phrases, some of which brought back memories, for example \u2018Backalong\u2019 for a while ago, \u2018Bide quiet\u2019 or \u2018Bide quielt\u2019 for be quiet, \u2018Bide still\u2019 for be still, \u2018Bide yer\u2019 for stay here. Also \u2018Can\u2019t be doin wie that\u2019 for I can\u2019t be bothered with that and \u2018Crooped down\u2019 or \u2018Coopy down\u2019 for crouched down. \u2018Cuh\u2019 for fancy that! Then, \u2018Done up\u2019 for ill, overtired and also \u2018Don\u2019t feel too special\u2019 for I don\u2019t feel well. \u2018Well I\u2019m blowed\u2019 for well fancy that and \u2018You\u2019d better look sharp\u2019 for hurry up. \u2018Hapse up the gate or door\u2019 for close or fasten. \u2018Hummed and hawed\u2019 for he couldn\u2019t make up his mind. \u2018Plimmed up\u2019 when wood is swollen by water. \u2018Skew whiff\u2019 crooked or out of line. \u2018Trig it up\u2019 for prop up, e.g. a gate or door. \u2018A month of Sundays\u2019, meaning a long time. \u2018A young heller\u2019 for a mischevious child and \u2018Weskit\u2019 for waistcoat.
\nUnder \u2018Farming words and dialects\u2019 Sylvia also reminded me of \u2018Clinting\u2019 for hammering over a long nail and \u2018Faggot\u2019 for a bundle of sticks for firewood. Also \u2018Plush a hedge\u2019 (or plesh) for cutting a hedge growth half way through, then laying the top growth lengthways parallel to the hedgerow. \u2018Shooting\u2019 for guttering on a building and \u2018Trow\u2019 for an animal feeding trough.
\nAlso familiar were some \u2018Weather Sayings\u2019, such as \u2018Mackerel sky\u2014never long wet, never long dry\u2019 as a white streaked sky with clouds means very changeable weather. Another saying may be useful \u2018If it is fine on 21 June it will be set fair until 21 September\u2019 and of course \u2018When cows lie down it will rain\u2019.
\nI recall from my early days reference to someone being \u2018Sawney\u2019 meaning having slow, drawling speech and possibly slow of thought. Also \u2018Leery\u2019 as being hungry, empty and \u2018Na\u2019r a\u2019 for never a. Then \u2018Sprack\u2019 or \u2018Spreck\u2019 for well, active and \u2018Withwind\u2019 for bindweed, also \u2018Stout\u2019 or \u2018Stoat\u2019 for a cowfly. These last five are recorded by William Barnes, too. He has also recorded \u2018Hangen\u2019 for sloping ground, \u2018Hazzle\u2019 for hazel, \u2018Heal\u2019 for hide or cover, \u2018Het\u2019 for heat or hit, \u2018Kecks\u2019 for cowparsley stem, \u2018Knap\u2019 for hillock or knob, \u2018Leaene\u2019 for lane, \u2018Mammet\u2019 for scarecrow, \u2018Nesh\u2019 for soft, \u2018Nitch\u2019 for large faggot of wood, \u2018Par\u2019 for shut up or close, \u2018Ratch\u2019 for stretch, \u2018Scram\u2019 for distorted, \u2018Send\u2019 for shower, \u2018Wont\u2019 is a mole, and \u2018Wops\u2019 for wasp.
\nSylvia Creed also quoted from a charter granted to Whitchurch in 1240 which includes an early name for Marshwood as \u2018Capella de Mersewode\u2019.
\nBridport History Society does not meet in July and August, but we hope to see you all in September.<\/p>\n
Cecil Amor, Hon President, Bridport History Society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Perhaps I should not have included \u2018Lingo\u2019 in the title as I have since seen a repeat of Dad\u2019s Army in which Captain Mannering rebuked one of his subordinates for using it. I think he thought it to be un-English. Some years ago, when my wife and I listened frequently to the radio, one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-4279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-history-community","tag-cecil-amor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}