82 replies to this topic

[shel]

Enjoyed reading these.

Another one from my dad - 'its snewing wi folks' (Translation - busy place full of people)



Shel

[Blossom]

The one I remember when asking what was for tea was; a dipped butty in't kettle and when asking my dad where he was going he would say; there and back to see how far it is......an if it's too far I'm comin home an I'll do tuther half tomorrow.

[mollydolly]

I was delighted earlier to find Lanky Spoken Here is on CD at Amazon for £3.98. I used to have a tape of this years ago until someone borrowed and lost it. It's very funny and has all the lanky sayings on it. I have ordered the last 4 copies, l'm hoping my son's will revert to speaking like me, some hope.

[dickie mint]

I recall my first visit to the brown edge over thirty years ago ( i was born bred in whiston/prescot) and thought id entered a gay bar, having asked for a pint and the barman calling me "love". I was to come across many new expressions, one of which sticks clearly in my mind was "clemmed" or "clemt dieth", which apparrently means one is hungry. Amazing that one could be brought up just down the road yet never heard some of these expressions albeit the prescot accent was quite broad at that time.

[reno]

Worked in Warrington for a long time and always remember " Tor Reat Mukka" (Ar you OK mate)

[shel]

dickie mint, on Nov 7 2008, 07:11 PM, said:

clemmed" or "clemt dieth" apparrently means one is hungry.

Clempt Deth! (Says my dad)

[meggem]

dickie mint, on Nov 7 2008, 07:11 PM, said:

I recall my first visit to the brown edge over thirty years ago ( i was born bred in whiston/prescot) and thought id entered a gay bar, having asked for a pint and the barman calling me "love". I was to come across many new expressions, one of which sticks clearly in my mind was "clemmed" or "clemt dieth", which apparrently means one is hungry. Amazing that one could be brought up just down the road yet never heard some of these expressions albeit the prescot accent was quite broad at that time.

My dad used to drink in the brown edge, and the general greeting from Nutgrovers in there, was 'how's my cocka rabbi' people in Haydock call everybody 'lovie', like geordies call everyone 'man', In St Helens nearly everyone is called 'love' or 'cock'.

I have heard of fair clemmed, meaning hungry, frequently when we were naughty me 'mother' (me grandma really) used to say - 'Icky' (whoever he was) was going to get us, or they would tell the bogey man, (he mainly lived on the burgies consequently, we never went), or we would get 'laid on' meaning smacked.

When dressed in sunday best it was, look at her 'miss keck', whoever she was, and 'fanny-fanacker-pants' when being arkward. Maudlin for miserable, Peas above sticks, meant snobbish. Pots for rags, meaning daft, from Rag-a-bone as you would be daft to swap pots for rags!

Sounding like Stowers horse is actually the 'Stores' meaning the Co-op, and it was referred to eating loudly, or a long pee. If you were acting daft, you were told to get the no7 bus, which went to Rainhill Pschyiatric hospital, when dirty you had either 'bin pulled through a hedge backward, or 'nobody's kid'.

Chuck, on Jun 25 2008, 09:24 PM, said:

If anyone asked my Dad where he was going and he did not want to tell he would say "I am going for a run with a rug round me"
Is that a Lanncs saying,? I never heard anyone else use that phrase.

when asked where he was going, my dad used to say 'he going to see a man about a dog', or if asked how much anything was, the reply was always 'money in fair words'

[cazant]

I remember 'Tetterash' for tea, think its probably known now as Stew or something really. A 'Split' from the chippy is chips and peas and i always remember asking for 'scraps' the bits of fish batter that collected in the fryers, a real treat back then. I also remember being told ide get my 'legs rattled'(smacked), and that The Cruelty Man was around, i think putting it into context now, that means the Social Services of that era. Wagman, not sure if thats colloq?. And 'raps', when you had your haircut and the other kids wanted to get 'first raps', a quick slap at the back of the neck, which happened to my brother quite a bit when he had his 'basincut'! Does anyone remember when corner shops wer,nt allowed to sell certain things on a Sunday?, my local as a kid at Fingerpost was Mauds, if you bought Firelighters on a Sunday she used to discreetly wrap them in newspaper.

[Olliebeak]

I think the 'Tetterash' was probably referring to 'Blind/Lob Scouse' - a bit like hotpot cooked with the bone from a leg of lamb but no other meat - so it was mostly potatoes/onions/carrots. We always had that on a Monday for dinner (lunch) - the remaining meat had already been sliced up for tea with chips, peas and gravy.

My kids have always been threatened with 'getting their legs rattled' - and now it's the turn of my grandkids - some of my St.Helens sayings have them really confused!!

I was often told about the 'bogeyman' to stop me from going where I shouldn't (he lived EVERYWHERE!) and threatened with the 'blue school' if I was naughty which I was convinced was in York Street behind a big sliding door (like a garage/workyard place) - NOT York Street School.

I still use the phrase 'wagman' for what used to be called the School Board - they're now Education Welfare Officers - and 'on the wag'/'sagging off' was being off school without your parents knowing.

I don't remember hearing 'getting first raps' until I moved to Huyton in early 70's so I thought that was a bit of a 'scouse thing' - but maybe not. Unless it was imported to St.Helens around that time as well.

Those old Sunday Trading Laws were very strange ones. Basically, if I remember rightly, the only things that were supposed to be allowed to be sold on a Sunday were those items that could be considered to 'go off' or 'out of date' if NOT sold on 'that particular day'. So you could buy fresh milk but not 'steri'; fresh ham but not tinned; a newspaper/magazine but not a Bible - there was a full list posted inside every shop to remind the shopkeepers AND the customers. There was so much confusion that the law was constantly being 'got round' - and did often result in kids being told to 'go straight home and don't let anybody know you've got that!'. Obviously some shopkeepers were more lenient than others - lots of 'Arkwright's' back then . Our local shop that only opened for about 2 hours on a Sunday was the Maypole at the top of Speakman Road (Dentons Green).

It was always assumed that there was 'some official' or 'local busybody' watching to 'have you reported' back in them days!

Edited by Olliebeak, 28 March 2009 - 10:03 AM.

[dotcomdan]

The interesting thing about reading this post is the way that people actually write down the expression as they remember without giving thought to the content, as in "tetterash" which should be "Tater ash" as in potato. I get ribbed by a Scouser about St Helens expressions like "I'll go to foot of our stairs" and his favourite is "Our Maude" meaning the wife as you well know, I retaliate with "All right Queen". Here in Scotland it's "Hen", any other variations on "the wife"

[Griffin]

In Dublin, the wife is sometimes known as the "mot." The tendency nowadays is not to pronounce the "t."

[llanyb]

And "havin' a jangle" or just "janglin'" for gossiping (in the street, corner shop, over the garden fence, . . . )

[Alan]

Griffin, on Mar 29 2009, 01:44 AM, said:

In Dublin, the wife is sometimes known as the "mot." The tendency nowadays is not to pronounce the "t."

A woman's mot in Cumbria is her vagina

Going back to Ollie's mention of the School Board man, my gran always used to say that "Gussy Atkins'll get you". I believe the School Board man, well before my time incidentally, was called Augustus Atkins. He used to patrol town looking for kids playing wag

[Voll]

I believe it's spelled motte, as in hairy motte, Alan.

[Alan]

One Cumbrian company that I worked for had a French sales agent called Dickie Motte. Oh how the peasants laughed at the mention of his name