Keeping local dialects alive.

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Gixxerman

Guru
Location
Market Rasen
Whilst out for a walk a few weeks back in my beloved Lincolnshire wolds, I told a couple passing me that the path was a bit squaddy o'er yonder. They had no idea what I was on about, and looked at me all gone out (see below for translation). It got me thinking that because of modern life, local dialects seem to be dying. What do others think?

In my own bid to keep the Lincolnshire dialect alive I will provide a brief lesson.
In Lincolnshire, there is a golden rule in that the 'h' is dropped from every word beginning with 'h'.
Right let's get into it.

Mardy - Not happy.
Narky / Arsey - in a bad mood.
Guastering - laughing stupidly and something that isn't that funny.
Sauntering - Walking about slowly and for no good purpose.
Jiggling - Fidgeting.
Gorming - Staring.
Orming - Messing about.
Cobbling - Throwing.
Ozzle - To throw.
Ganzy - A jumper / jersey.
Looking all gone out - A blank look.
Gormless - Not very intelleigent.
Nearabouts - Almost.
While - Until (as in wait while your dad gets home). There is a rural myth the local temporary traffic lights signs had to be re-worded due to being misunderstood. They said "wait while red light shows". This meant that locals would stop at green and wait until a red light showed, before going through. I can't see it though.
Battlewig - Earwig.
Duck - A term of affection / endearment.
Graft / Wok - Work.
Ollerback - (hollow back) - Hard work. I assume this comes from the shape the back makes when pushing something hard.
Gress - Grass.
Skell - Tip over.
(h)Otchin - Hedgehog.
Nowter - A nothing person / a waster.
Sneck - Nose (also snecking - being nosey).
Sticking your oar in - Interrupting a conversation.
Chuntering - Moaning, especially if under breath.
Pots - Crockery.
Side the table - Lay the table.
Mash - Make tea.
Flit - Move house.
Mayert - Friend.
Slosh - Angled / not straight. As in "yon shelf is a bit on the slosh mayert".
Mizzling - Drizzling.
Ode ard - Wait. As in "ode ard a minute mayert".
Arb and gee - Right and left (respectively) when talking to a horse.
Mawks - Maggots.
Buck fummad - Something that smells a lot ("stinks like an ode buck fummad").
Assocks - Tufts of grass in grass fields.
Yo - Ewe (a female sheep).
Heeder - Male of a species.
Sheeder - Female of a species.
Tup - A male sheep.
(h)og - An adolescent sheep that is too young for breeding (combined with heeder and sheeder for male and female).
Tup yo - A ewe that is ready for breeding (a yo that is ready to be tupped).
Corsey - A yard (from courseway maybe).
Garings - Short crop rows found on the edge of non-rectangular fields.
Rammel - Assorted junk usually found in a house.
Clatty - Muddy.
Squadd - Very sticky mud that sticks to the boots.
Blather - Mud that is too watery to be called squadd.

I'm sure this is not an exhaustive list.
 
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swee'pea99

Legendary Member
Dialect is doomed. Including 'English'. The future will speak American. If it doesn't speak Mandarin.
 

Cerdic

Senior Member
They've been dying out for a fair while.

I grew up on the Isle of Wight many years ago, and even then the only people who spoke the local dialect were grizzled old geezers. Even the accent is very watered down now.
 

oldwheels

Legendary Member
Location
Isle of Mull
When I was in primary school in Maddiston near Falkirk we spoke two languages. One in the playground best described as Broad Scots but in the classroom standard english was drummed into us.
Interesting listening to old broadcasts. The officer types all spoke like Captain Mannering which has since modified quite a bit but the plebs speech has not changed much.
Nowadays there is more acceptance of variations in accent and it is not still necessary to speak RP to get on in management or the media.
I understand Broad Scots but there are regional differences in different farming areas mainly.
Doric is incomprehensible to most but I can understand enough to get by.
We visited a village once in NE England coast somewhere where they also had a dialect impossible to understand.
Of the list you gave of Lincolnshire words I picked out several which with a couple of minor variations are more widespread and are used in the Scots language as well.
The TV has a lot to answer for in changing the way people speak tho' I once met a Welsh guy who was astonished that I used works he thought were only used in TV programmes. Och Aye.
 

Jody

Stubborn git
It was said that he could tell where a person grew up to within a few streets.

Strange isn't how much difference a mile or two can make to somebodies accent.

I'd be interested to know if this is replicated around the country or is it more pronounced the further north you go and the accents get stronger.
 
I was brought up in Chorley, Lancashire. We could tell folk from Preston (posh, or thought they were) Blackburn, Bolton(Boltn), Wigan (Wiggin) all by slight variations in dialects.
I moved into Merseyside in 1984. Scousers still think I talk nice and broad Lancy, but when I go home they all think I talk like a scouser!!!
 
OP
OP
Gixxerman

Gixxerman

Guru
Location
Market Rasen
Strange isn't how much difference a mile or two can make to somebodies accent.

I'd be interested to know if this is replicated around the country or is it more pronounced the further north you go and the accents get stronger.
Indeed it is. Take Manchester and Liverpool, they are only about 30 miles apart and the accents are totally different. It is even more pronounced where I live. Market Rasen is about 16 miles from Lincoln (where I work) and the accents are very different. A work colleague once remarked that when he listened to a telephone call between my dad and me, where I naturally slipped into my local tongue, he could hardly understand what was being said. So it seems that I have 2 "languages" and didn't know it. I must unconciously slip out of dialect when at work as people seem to have no trouble understanding me.
 

bagpuss

Guru
Location
derby
sumat ov'r nout marra .
On a serious note I also find local dialects fascinating .
Once when visiting Devon , a local chap could not understand my broad Derbyshire dialect yet I could understand his deep Devonshire dialect .
Again when in Canada they had great difficulty with the Derbyshire dialect .
The north east area of England is a treasure trove with the influence from its history and people .
 

sleuthey

Legendary Member
Heard an interesting story about Portsmouth a couple of years ago from one of its residents. Today, People born and bread in Portsmouth with the local dialect are known as “Pompey Mushers”. Apparently thousands of People migrated from London to Portsmouth during the war to escape the bombings and find work. They were nick named Mushers by the natives as “mush” is cockney rhyme slang for bloke. They bought their accent with them, infiltrated Portsmouth with it and never returned to London. Now, 2 generations later as a result the local accent in Portsmouth is similar to a cockney accent. Iv never checked out the validity of this but thought it sounded interesting 🧐.
 
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