DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Whyperion]

Jip , Gyp ?

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-gyp2.htm

Pain in a bone or muscle apparently has a different derivation from the word for a dodgy tummy.

Phrase often used in a TV comedy in the 1970s - Was it Gran in 'Metal Mickey' ?

[Stanley]

How about 'bunce', money received for goods or services. I got my bunce yesterday from some scrap brass I weighed in and it reminded me that the word was common in Stockport when I was a lad. Anyone else heard it?

[Whyperion]

One source claims it means money or profit , another that it is an unexpected excess profit , possibly from same root as Bonus. Claimed as C19th but offered no original source for this.
Could also be related to bonanza , itself (Collins E D ) [from Spanish, literally: calm sea, hence, good luck, from Medieval Latin bonacia, from Latin bonus good + malacia dead calm, from Greek malakia softness ]

As a surname appear to be in Southern Parts of Britain ( Mercia and SE corner )

[Stanley]

'Huggin', the prominent hip bone on a cow. Common in Craven, further afield?

[farman1422]

Awesome!! It’s just what I need!! Thanks!............

[Stanley]

Morning Farman, welcome to the site. Did you mean the word was just what you wanted?

[Stanley]

I've been reading a lot about local mining lately and have been struck by the fact that the miners have there own vocabulary not only in technical names for equipment and tools but in other areas as well. One example is 'wafting' which was the action of physically moving a body of explosive gas by fanning it away from the area where they were working, particularly before shot-firing. I'm pretty certain I've heard my mother using the term.

[Wendyf]

That's a term I've always used...is it unusual?

[Tizer]

We did too, Wendy. Wafting away cigarette smoke for example. Bunce - could the modern use of `bung' be related perhaps, in the sense of using money to bribe or influence or get something done?

[PanBiker]

Wafting in general use in our family also.

[rexwatson]

Having formerly contribuited to the old site, I've plucked up the courage to post onto this new 'bells and whistles' one. Actually, like a number of people I post on the Briercliffe Society site, as my main interest is in that area. I posted a lengthy list of 'Burnley' words there, with some responses soon after. Have a look if you are interested, it's easy to find under Local History then Local Dialect.

I'd be particularly interested to see which are and which are not known/used in Craven.

Nobbut an idea.

Rex Watson

[PanBiker]

A good idea Rex, I assume you mean this list: Long List of Lancs Words from the Briercliffe Forum.

Not got time to study at the moment but I certainly recognise the majority (Barlick born and bred).

[Tizer]

Why do we say "You'll get shopped" meaning you'll be found out or someone will tell on you?

[Stanley]

Only possible explanation that comes to me is that your name would be spread round the 'shop' or place of work.

[Tizer]

That sounds like a good deduction. I looked it up in Brewer's and it gives the meaning as to inform on someone so that they get put in prison, which is rather more specific. I suppose `shop' might have been used as slang for prison. Once you start thinking about the word shop you realise how many uses it has: "He's all o'er shop"; get shopped; talk shop; shut up shop etc.

[Stanley]

And most of those usages refer to a place of work. I think brewer is a bit restrictive in their version. Telling on someone doesn't always lead to prison.

[Stanley]

I've just got back from my morning walk round Valley Gardens and Jack had a good run round with a beautiful smoky whippet dog. It played with Jack, just running fast enough to outpace him and at one point I told Jack to crack on because he was 'getting the upper hand'. As we walked on I was thinking about this and wondering where the phrase originated. Then I remembered reading somewhere that 'top dog' was supposed to have originated from the trade of pit-sawing, the 'top dog' had the better job because the man in the pit had sawdust falling on him all the time. I wonder whether 'upper hand' is the same root?

[Tizer]

Seeing something about knitting elsewhere on OG prompted me to ask...Do Barlickers call the Comfrey plant nipbone or knitbone? Both names seem to fit well with the idea of the plant being used to get broken bones to set together. In Blackburn my relatives knew it as nipbone.

[Stanley]

I've only heard it, never seen it written down and I can't be sure which spelling is used, they sound so similar. Perhaps that's why there are two spellings, different interpretations of the word.

[Stanley]

I was talking to lady I know and she said "Old age isn't for cissies!" How true.... Apart from the fact that I have never heard the saying before, what is the root of 'Cissy'?

[Tizer]

Herbalists seem to use both knitbone and nipbone names. One web site gives these names: Common comfrey, knitbone, nipbone, boneset, consolida, consormol, consound, blackwort, bruisewort, gum plant, healing herb, knitback, salsify, slippery root, wallwort, yalluc (Saxon), ass ear. The Latin name is Symphytum officinale and apparently Symphytum means `bind together'.

[Stanley]

I think we may be in a good seam for dialect and word meanings here, common names for plants. Now I can understand names like 'Red Hot Poker' but some of them are quite obscure. I wonder if, like Comfrey some of the names indicate uses or effects? I think I've heard 'wet the bed' for the Dandelion and we know that the white sap is an efficient diuretic.

[Tizer]

Bindweed was used for binding things together and is known here in Somerset as withybind for its use in binding bundles of willow `withies' (sticks).
EDIT: Mrs Tiz disagrees! She claims the name is simply because the weed would wind around the growing withies, and the cut sticks were bound with withy stips, not bindweed.
So how about: Butchers broom - bundles were sold to butchers to sweep their blocks.

[Stanley]

Cleavers/herriff/goose grass. That one has always fascinated me.

[Stanley]

Funny how common phrases sometimes leap out at you. I heard a reporter misusing the term 'plying their trade' and it got me to thinking, where does the word 'ply' originate. Think about ships 'plying' trade routes.