DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Tizer]

Anyone who has read Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma novels would probably know what a tanist is.

[Stanley]

I didn't until Norman explained it......

[Tizer]

We enjoyed a radio programme on the history of perfumes. The name comes from the fact that they originated as odours carried in smoke as with incense and joss sticks. Obvious really but I'd not given it a thought before.

[Stanley]

I heard it and was surprised they never mentioned the book 'Perfume'. (LINK) A good read......

[Stanley]

Funny how things pop into your head. My father used to have a saying; "Dry as a Heron" and it wasn't until i picked a dead Heron up that I realised the origin, they weigh nothing! I have always used other sayings, "Runs like a basketful of pots" was the stock description for a poorly engine. "Rough as bear's arse" is another favourite.... I wonder whether they are rough? There is usual a foundation of fact or truth to them.
Any more favourites?

[Big Kev]

Silly as a wagon load of monkeys was used by my late mother in law, usually directed at anyone male.
One of my favourites is 'running like a three legged camel' when describing a misfiring engine.

[Tizer]

`Silly as a wagon load of monkeys' sounds about right for Trump.

[Stanley]

I always associate monkeys with mischief. There used to be a pub in Accrington called 'The load of monkeys'.
Of an engine.... "Ticks over like a rice pudding".

[Tizer]

I've been re-reading a Terry Pratchett book from the library and it turned out to be a US edition so I had to put up with all the different spellings. But I was caught out when one of the characters criticised another and called him a `pantywaist'. I had to look it up and found it's used in the US to refer to an adult who acts in a childish manner. It had me wondering what word was used in the original UK edition. Apparently the word originally meant a child's garment made of pants buttoned to a waistcoat top. Perhaps Donald Trump will be America's most famous pantywaist?

[Stanley]

Interesting, I've never come across that one. I can remember when vests buttoned to pants.....
Trump is way beyond simple descriptions like that.....

[Tripps]

There is ' a rat' in separate. With bit of luck I'll never write 'seperate' again. . .

[Stanley]

There was a 'lull' in the rain this morning. Now where does that little word come from? Any connection with 'lullaby'?

[Stanley]

I know I am a pedant but I have just heard this on R4; "Deja vu all over again".

[Big Kev]

I know I am a pedant but I have just heard this on R4; "Deja vu all over again".

Was it a comment or a reference to a John Fogerty album?

[Tizer]

An item on the radio about English words mentioned one that sounded like `cuprius' but it didn't mean anything to me. Chemistry makes me familiar with cuprous and cupric, geology with cupriferous but I had to consult the dictionary on the radio word. I found cupreous which means `of or resembling copper' or `the colour of copper'. I think `coppery' would do the job OK!

[Stanley]

Memory fails Kev.....
Tiz, perhaps it was someone doing what I do occasionally, giving archaic words an airing. If so, I am all for it..... Norman used tergiversate in his book yesterday......

[Bodger]

A word from my school days Nesh, someone wrapped up well on a cold day, whilst your'e in your shirt sleeves

[Stanley]

I first heard that from my Birkenhead mates in the army Bodge. Used in Barlick as well.

[Stanley]

I've just used the word 'Shrill'. As often happens it struck me it was a strange word and I wondered where it originated. Webster says that it is Middle English (1300-1350) 'skrille, akin to OE 'scralletan' to sound loudly. Also Old German 'schrille' and Old Norse 'skrill' meaning rabble.

[cloghopper]

Greetings to all. Just logged in for the first time in a while, and found this thread very interesting. Languages and dialects are fascinating, and I find that in my dotage I am gradually going back to using a lot of dialect words from my youth, when I worked with my dad at Higher Reedly. This brought back to mind when I once met the governor of Wakefield jail, who could guess within a few miles where an inmate came from just by his accent, even if They were all Yorkshire men. Also made me remember the old sheep counting. Dad, and my uncles at Calf Hall and Tunstead used them.
cloggie-

[PanBiker]

Hello again Cloggy, nice to hear from you again. "Yan, Tan, Tether, Mether, Pimp, Sether, Heather, Hother, Dother, Dick". My dad used it on occasion, no real association with farming but his dad my grandfather had. He was a true dalesman, (Dent). Farmer, horseman, carter, we even have him as a tinker on one census when he went walkabout in Warwickshire and London for a while. When I heard it as a little lad, I was always taken with 10 and above, shared it with my mates as schoolboy humour ( as you would) in the playground.

[Tizer]

I hope you both saw that northern sheep farmer on the TV who demonstrated the sheep counting. When he got to 20 he took a pebble out of his pocket and said "After 20 we use technology".

[Stanley]

I like it.
Another word grabbed me yesterday, 'flurry'. Webster says it is 1680-1690 and American origin, a combination of flutter and hurry. Makes sense but slightly disappointing, I was expecting an old language origin!

[cloghopper]

I hope you both saw that northern sheep farmer on the TV who demonstrated the sheep counting. When he got to 20 he took a pebble out of his pocket and said "After 20 we use technology".

Ni, I haven't seen that. Many Nordic and Germanic languages don't have words for numbers over 20. Old English didn't 'five and twenty blackbirds'

[cloghopper]

Hello again Cloggy, nice to hear from you again. "Yan, Tan, Tether, Mether, Pimp, Sether, Heather, Hother, Dother, Dick". My dad used it on occasion, no real association with farming but his dad my grandfather had. He was a true dalesman, (Dent). Farmer, horseman, carter, we even have him as a tinker on one census when he went walkabout in Warwickshire and London for a while. When I heard it as a little lad, I was always taken with 10 and above, shared it with my mates as schoolboy humour ( as you would) in the playground.

Thanks for that reminder. Knowing what I know now, it strikes me that they are an anglicised version of Welsh numbers from 1 to 10, except number 4, which in Welsh is pedwar.
Borra da,
cloggy