1 : More Squit
The cherished word squit also describes a complicated
and/or long-running public dispute (e.g. in Parliament
or the columns of the local Press):-
There-a bin a lo(t)-a squi(t) in the pairpers
abou(t) . . . .
This is a bit hard on the proponents of the correct side
of the argument : the rest may be talking nonsense,
but surely not everyone?!
Various matters may be discussed, but in Norfolk
the plural is - remarkably - used to denote
indifference to a particular thing :-
Tha(t) dorn(t) ma(tt)ers to me, any 'ow.
An argument on a smaller scale, between "friends"
and neighbours (a flare-up) is described as a barney.
Ar(t)er the barney, tha(t) wooz a soigh(t) quie(t)er!.
The word sight is shorthand for a whool lo(t) - a broad,
encompassing scope of vision; in this case sound,
rather than vision, is the medium!. An alternative -
for an argument or dispute (cf. wrangle) is brangle.
Inversion of meaning has been seen in the case of
deen (near-silence) - an extreme example of
Norfolk understatement.
Another example is 'here and there', which
normally means (e.g. showers) dotted about
randomly, all over the place.
But a Norfolk housewife, expecting company
(guests) will assuredly -
Gi(t) the plairce lookin' a bi(t) (h)air an there
afore they come.
Skipper points out that the word tidy has a more
general meaning (satisfactory, reasonable), especially
if linked with good : to give good tidy / tidy good.
This is a use similar to 'tidy sum' for an adequate
amount, or a 'tidy distance' (lengthy!).
2 : Niceties
Nice retains its original meaning* :
re minute or close detail.
Other words can have their meanings severely mauled. For example, matriculate (to achieve high status);
assuming this to be the basis of the Norfolk word
'tricolate' = tricalair(t), which means to smarten-up
and enhance the appearance of (decorate?).
[ Another possibility is "putting out the flags"
- tricolour ones ].
There is nothing unusual in a Norfolk push becoming
a shove et cetera : except that push is then used to
describe a "boil" or very large pimple - from the
Dutch puist.
(Not to be confused with a bunny - see 3. below).
By comparison an abcess is an abser.
The process of boil development is known as gathering.
The throbbing of a push may be described as
tha(t) galver, bulk or gruckle.
The similarity between 'galver' and 'gather'
may be significant.
A boil or abcess giving a discharge is said to be
suein(g) (issueing). See Story N.2
A particularly large push (or anything else)
is described as a soler -
You ough(t)a see this 'air fish woo(t)
Our caugh(t) - thass a sooler!
(Is the "sole" fish really the origin?
They're quite big).
Still on medical matters, bronchial is always
mispronounced as bronickle (in other
parts of the country too, I suspect).
A sick person's drawn appearance may be
(oddly) described as being lan(t)ern-jawed.
Hopefully he will not get the pumony! (pneumonia). On a smaller scale, a pimple is a te(tt)er
or a twiddle or widdle. See Section 6 below.
[ *as well as its new one, of course ]
3 : Child Cares
Midwives are called midnight women and their
practice is gorn-a nijjer(t)in(g). A woman is
bestowed, when she is put to bed for childbirth.
Minor mishaps and medical conditions dominate
the lives of small children (the to(tt)y ones).
Much of the distinctive vocabulary actually applies
to child-rearing - a period when future citizens are
absorbing nearly all of it anyway.
A fortiori, as the Romans had it.
Tinies often have a bunny* which is simply a
bump/bruise caused by a fall; although I am
informed that 'bunnies' are confined to the head.
[Tinies are unlikely to get an abser;
probably not a push until puberty? ]
Little fingers incur many wooden splinters :
in Norfolk shivers (as in Me Timbers).
A finger may also get a pritch (prick) or cut which
requires a hudkin (fingerstall) for protection,
lest it should become inflamed - which we call
fierce or angry.
[ angry, meaning bad-tempered is raw ].
Be you careful-a your dannies (hands)
do they'll gi' you gip (jip)!. Mild fever (any age), or just the cold weather,
will lead to dudderin' [ shuddering ] : the
Norfolk equivalent of shivering.
Being a little out-of-sorts (teething etc.) causes an
infant to be titchy (bad-tempered) or grizzly (whining)
or winnickin' (whimpering) or pensy (fretful).
Letting a toddler crawl around nappy-less is good for
his skin-rash, but may result in a swidge on the floor. Even bubbling good health can be a pain to parents
and teachers, for one thing the jifflin' about.
E jiffle a lo(t) 'n 'oon(t) keep still.
To fidget is also to fligger or pample. Children who pingle or mank with their food
(eat very little and mess around) cause much
frustration too.
Those who talk/moan too much
during the process are advised :
Av'ry toime yuh yow yuh lose a chow.
(i.e. the word chew rhymes with how).
[ *Baby-talk for a bunion? If so, babies were
spoken to thus in Sir Thomas More's time! ]
4 : Behaviour
We know that naughty children can cop it, by way of a
clip, ding or thack; the latter being a smack, such as in
hammering down the bundles of reeds in thatching.
They may even be described as warmin(t)s (vermin)
or minifers (small hairy rodent pests) if they worri(t)
(annoy or worry - as in dogs and sheep) their
long-suffering parent(s).
On the other hand, being suspiciously good can lead to
an accusation of carneying (currying favour), perhaps
aimed at getting cushies (sweets).
If a carney doesn't work, a display of temper might?-
Thass noo good-a you a-pu(tt)in' on your par(t)s
- you 'oon(t) git-a!
Babies are easier to handle in a pram -
Norfolk has a coach, pronounced cooch [ cuch ].
Younger kids love to spin on the spot i.e. twizzle
(harmless enough).
Too much high-spirits, involving madly
racing around, is described as shanny behaviour.
This term applies just as well to an adolescent on a
bicycle or motor-bike, who is speeding, or lacking in
'due care and attention'.
Now - dorn(t) you goo shanny!! or
Now - goo you stedda, booy!!
Stingy (pronounced stinjy) means
mean(!),
which may also mean miserly or physically spiteful -
Tha(t) there stingy boy, E 'it me E did!!
(see what I mean?)
When the word did crops up, you can bet
the situation is whoolly sarious!
He may have deliberately trodden on a toe or two :
E jammed on moi tooe!
Anything forcefully squeezed, even accidentally,
takes the word used for the comestible product
derived from crushed fruit. See Story N.3
5 : Terror
Adults most fear high-spirited children
when they are in large groups :
There wooz a scalder on 'em,
kickin' up Hal's Deloigh(t).
Scalder has the same sound as scald, but there is no
connection. This word can also describe a gaggle
of birds and other animals.
[ Skipper gives chalder too ]
MOB in Norfolk, however, is a verb; deriving from
the way flocks of smaller birds will mob a larger
creature (or fans and pop stars etc.)
Back, then, to the individual child -
My Mum she din(t) 'alf mob me
abou(t) moi da(tt)y cloo(th)es!
Complaining to oneself (or just to thin air)
is the same : E (w)hoolly mobbed about-a.
To mutter, in complaint, is to pu(tt)er.Adult barneys (Para. 1) might 'come to blows'.
Such a blow might be classed as a custard (rather
more than a clip, perhaps less than a sidewinder).
Muir-hearted persons don't normally get into
such scrapes. Muir is Scottish for big,
not necessarily implying generosity.
Neither are they bound to be cowards; it is just
a matter of being sensitive and easily upset -
whilst being kind and considerate to others.
Muddle, confusion and stress are all words used to
explain the state of being in a puckaterry (see Skipper).
I am happy with the idea that purgatory is the root,
but have never heard the expression used in the City area.
Confusion is also harriage, although "gone to harriage"
means gone to rack and ruin. Skipper suggests
harry, as in harrassment or attack, as the root;
but nothing to do with going to the Port of Harwich.
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6 : Cure The SickeningAdults can get ill, or merely "browned-off"
without the help of them blasted kids.
Putting betsy on (kettle) to make a cup-a drink
alleviates minor discomforts.
[ Cup of drink is
typical Norfolk fussiness : from when cups of
sugar, flour etc. were also in common use ]
These days the water comes out of a tap, not a wal,
a beck (stream) or cockey (ditto, or drain).
Hopefully the kettle will not run (leak) i.e. except out of
the hole where it should!. If it, or the teapot, has to be
emptied then it is whelmed (as in overwhelmed).
Fits of the "blues" (not Ipswich Town) can sometimes
be lifted by having a cheery mardle with neighbours or
fellow-shoppers (apparently since Beowulf's time!).
Other words for gossiping include
gaddy-wentin' and howin' an' mowin'
[ pronounced more like harn an' marn ].
Lengthy storytelling and reminiscing is yarmanderin' .
Perhaps it is just a rumour or a tall-story (=roment).
Roment (note the final t) is also used as a verb,
for spreading falsehoods.
The routine solicitous enquiry : Owya gi(tt)in' on?
(See Not Too Good) may provoke yet another understatement :
Noon too sharp or, more plainly, Oi'm a bi(t) sadly .
The latter (not poorly - and used as an adjective!!)
is for general non-specific malaise.
To do badly means to be in ill-health; as,
to a lesser extent, does doing moderate (not -ly).
Mazy is another word for sickly,
possibly applied to people as well as crops. The vivid descriptive term screws (for certain
sharp pains e.g. rheumatics) is usually backed-up
by detailed commentary, involving -
Tha(t) dorn(t) 'alf gi' me gip [ jip ], bor!.
The bor in question may offer, by way of sympathy :-
Thass all a job [ count 3 ] inta? - which is a stock
(and non-commital) response to any problem,
medical or otherwise.
In principle, we have :
job = task = difficulty = unpleasantness = most things.
See Tidying-Up for the other meaning of job. If nasty medicine (still sometimes called physic)
is needed, so may be the instruction - Gi(t) you tha(t) down yar strupe (throat/gullet)
- do you 'oont gi(t) noo ba(tt)er . . .
Severe pain, such as toothache, is clorth
(not used in Norwich).
The word cloth is, of course, pronounced identically (!).
Misery means pain too, see Story N.2
To chip-up is to improve in health, or general fortunes.
7 : What's Cooking?
Few new names for meat, I'm afraid -
they all come from France, anyway.
Well, perhaps my Gran's favourite - chi(tt)erlin(g)s
(pigs' entrails, fried).
Also Norfolk has a word for gristle - paxwax.
Rancid food (dairy products etc.) is reasty;
one had better spawle it (spit-out)!
Norfolk weg'tables are another matter :
not their names, but their quality.
The proverbial "housewife" would always avoid
buying or cooking items which appeared foisty, i.e.
stale to the point of being actually mildewed or rotten.
(From ficety =fusty).
She would also watch for old produce, somewhat
stale and shrivelled i.e. foosey [ foozey ].
In the case of leaved objects (lettuces, cabbages etc.),
being past-their-best is described as clung
(leaves clinging close together).
Crisp and fresh veg. is described as spolt (not spoilt!).
Similarly, ancient fruit might appear dwinged (shrivelled).
County folk described crunchy (under-cooked?)
vegetables as churkey.
The past-tense has crept-in again . . . .
I fear my mother's generation may be the last to
use the above terminology, particularly in view of
supermarket quality-controls and storage methods.
Cooking (e.g. for children) can involve pandering to
particular tastes and fussy preferences : known as being
finnicky (in Norwich, anyway), and fin(t)ums in the County. Possibly something clar(t)y would appeal
i.e. daubed with syrup or juice! A poor appetite is (reasonably?) considered an insult
to the cook - Yure 'ooly e(t) a (h)en's nooseful!
N. B. eaten =ett, so has only one syllable
and ONE (soft) letter.
A small quantity, a dollop, enough for one tongue-stroke,
is a lickup; small scraps of food being cha(t)es. To slice or cut into small pieces (each one a chife)
is to chimble; presumably not just in relation to food.
8 : In The Swim
Dumplings (swimmers or floa(t)ers) are much less
boiled in Norfolk these days : they were a sure sign
of poverty, especially in the 19th Century.
Those were days when my grandmother survived on
bread and pull-it [1] or water-gruel (mostly water!).
[1] I think a pun on poulet - of which there was,
of course, none!.Dumpling remains, however, the honorary title for
a Norfolk Person. I am fairly confident that
Swede is the counterpart in Suffolk.
If you were famished (clammed) you would be glad
of dumplings, or plump (bread soaked in hot water,
with butter, sugar or dripping added).
Dripping or lard is seam, which could also
be spread on bread in the normal way.
A snack or morsel of food, just to
keep the hunger at bay, is a sunke(t).
The yolk of an egg is a yelk in Norfolk
(N.B. the letter l is preserved). The term chops does not always apply to meat,
and may mean a person's cheeks. In Norfolk
these are called chaps.
Oi'll slap you accrorst the chaps, do you dorn(t) . . . Whimsical footnote: a turnip (tannup) became
the term for an ostentatious pocket-watch.
9 : Keeping Up Appearances
Whether through hunger, or just bad manners,
food and drink might be consumed very greedily.
There are several words dedicated to this
(hence, common?) habit.
Making a grab for the food, too quickly,
with the plawks (hands, "mitts") may invite :
Gi(t) you them plawks orff on-a!
[ Note how off & on are side-by-side in that command ]
Food : Monge (from the French);
Yarm = Bolt (in general use?);
Wire-in (ravenously).
Drink : Bezzle; Stewpe (?stoup, a drinking vessel) Either : Gulping is rendered as golpin' or,
more likely, gollerpin' (cf. galloping) A dumpling-hunter refers to an olden-times
hungry peripatetic clergyman.
With a wesku(t) and a tannup,
a blook might look very fine.
If the clothes were his "Sunday Best", they would be his
goo-(t)er-mee(t)in' clothes or, more simply, his becomes. If he indeed became proud and "stuck-up"
as a result, he would be called coddy. A loose-fitting jacket, with large pockets
(more utilitarian) is a sloppin' jacket.
This is not quite the same slop as in apron; or the coarse
drill material, of that same name [ and purpose ].
It is not necessarily a female who would
"put on airs", but - if so - she would frame.
Or she would be primmicky (fanciful or over-fussy).
She would, however, expect her clothes
to be well-fitting, which is matchly
(i.e. anything corresponding properly to its target entity :
another, reverse, case of adverb equals adjective?).
Garments might be irrelevant to a girl
looking kyish (smug or shy . . . but which?). My grandfather was accustomed to wearing a detachable
(starched) shirt-front, commonly known as a "dickey";
but in Norfolk (a dickey is a donkey) called a chea(t).
(Quite).
In his day, it was common to see a woman wearing
a veil or fall (not just at a funeral); and a man
wearing a neckerchief, or neck'un for short. A chummy is a soft felt hat with a narrow brim.
10 : Down At Heel
In warm weather, it can be permissible to
remove a jacket, or such. "He shod his jacket"
reports this in the past tense (= shed).
Clearly this is not the reason why a
garden-shed becomes a shud.
Again, it would probably be a lady who would be
concerned with creases in a garment. To crease,
in Norfolk, is to ruck; but creased becomes
rucked-up (a ratchet or rack effect).
To rumple becomes, in the dialect, to frumple.
(Definition of a frump?) A rough or untidy appearance might simply be rude.
(Because rudeness i.e. cheek or insolence
is chelp and cheeky is silly-bold).
A dirty and/or unhappy appearance
is said to be gallus-droply.
Worse still, untidy and slovenly is shucky or shuckety.
This may be because the clothes are ren(t) (torn)
or frazzled (frayed or worn).
Perhaps the garments are quite worn-out
or decayed : that is begone (not dull care!).
To frazzle is to unravel (as in wool).
Similar to (but not the same as) our well-known
slummockin' mawther, a slovenly girl is a
shammock. [ not to be confused with Shannock ]. Anyone with a noticeably protruding belly has a pod.
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