March 22, 2008 Archives

I've been doing some research on the Middle East during the 12th century for my Saturday game and got sidetracked into the world in general in the 12th century and then England in particular. After reading a few articles, now well off topic, I came across an article about Cumbrian Dialect and realised how much of the local dialect I actually use/have used without realising that it's specifically local. Just a few examples include:

• la'al - meaning little
• yam - meaning home (as garn yam) [I'm going home]
• skit - meaning make fun of
• twat - meaning hit someone
• marra - meaning friend (ahreet, marra) [Hi, Mate]
• hossing - meaning raining heavily (it's hossing it duwn) [Regular occurrence]

And then there's the old sheep counting system:

1. yan
2. tyan
3. tethera
4. methera
5. pimp
6. sethera
7. lethera
8. hovera
9. dovera
10. dick
11. yandick
12. tyandick
13. tetheradick
14. metheradick
15. bumfit
16. yan-bumfit
17. tyan-bumfit
18. tethera-bumfit
19. methera-bumfit
20. giggot

I could always remember 1-4 but that was about it. In fact I always have a tendency to say 'yan' rather than 'one' anyway; even when speaking with non-locals.

Makes you wonder how much other people use local dialect/phrases without realising.