DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Stanley]

Thanks Wendy, you have shown I wasn't alone....

[Tizer]

I suppose the word goes back to the days prior to mangles when we would twist wet washing to get the bulk of the water out, like twisting fibre to make rope (twine).

[Tripps]

I'd forgotten the word "Rhotic" - it was mithering me, but but have managed to retrieve it.

This guy explains it brilliantly - and his Lancashire accent is perfect.

Rhotic


PS I've noticed that the delaying filler phrase "and all the rest of it" is used increasingly by many of the Youtubers that I watch. See how long before you notice it.

[Stanley]

That makes sense Peter, Thanks for that!
David, Tik Tok wanted me to log in. Include me out. So I looked it up. I have never known what it means and funnily enough it hasn't ruined my life. I doubt if I will be using it in the near future.

[Tripps]

I have never known what it means and funnily enough it hasn't ruined my life.

I think you have - I just forgot the word itself - you forgot the whole incident.

Rhotic

[Stanley]

You're right David. I must have made a decision not to remember! Sorry I treated your words of wisdom so shamefully. I shall try to do better in future.....

[Stanley]

Why does everyone I have heard in videos talking about the subject say 'RPMs' When it isn't the minutes but the revolutions they are describing. It should be 1,000 RPM (Revolutions per Minute.) not '1,000 RPMs' (Revolution per Minutes.)
Or is it me who has it wrong?

[Tripps]

Or is it me who has it wrong?

No - I'd say you are right, and well done for giving it all "two coats of thinking about".

If you want to get a real headache - try the plural of 'referendum' . Hint - it's a 'gerundive' .

Trade union plural now seems to be either trade unions of the more pedantic trades union.

We really don't need to worry about such things any more. A.I. will do all your writing for you going forward and very few people are clever or interested enough, to even realise that there is an issue.

[Stanley]

I think you're right about AI sapping people's ability to think.
I've always employed the same logical process to the plural of referendum as I do to the plural of datum.

I used a word this morning that you don't see very often these days.... 'fratching' meaning fretting. Was this common of just a local usage?

[Stanley]

Yesterday I heard the lady presenter on R4 Today (I think it was Emma Barnett) say that on Saturday "over1000 boats" had crossed the channel. I think she might have meant migrants.....

[Big Kev]

New word of the day

Knobstacle

a person who consistently gets in the way, either through incompetence, arrogance, or unhelpful behaviour and makes situations more difficult than they need to be.

[Stanley]

I can see the derivation and the point but I don't expect it to catch on....

[Stanley]

I was thinking about this old saying this morning and wondered if it was local and if people knew the derivation....
'Keeping t'band in t'nick' means keeping something, usually a relationship on track. The origin is the need to keep the 'band' (Cord or string) that transmitted the turning motion from the wheel to the spindle on a spinning wheel in the nick or groove.
Would it be common anywhere where there was spinning going on?

[Cathy]

Just heard the word ‘Nesh’, does anyone use this word?
.
Nesh is a British English, mainly Northern, dialect word and is not generally considered slang.
It means sensitive to cold or easily chilled.
It can also be used to describe someone who is delicate, timid, or easily affected.
The word has Old English roots, with connections to words meaning soft, weak or delicate.
.
(I heard the word spoken by a Cheshire lady.)

[Stanley]

I use it often Cathy. I used it on here only the other day saying I was nesh because I feel the cold more as I get older.
I think the nearest equivalent is sensitive.

[Wendyf]

Yes I use nesh, but I think I might have picked it up from Col who is from Cheshire.

[Tripps]

There's probably an essay in this if I had the abilities of Stanley or Bob Bliss.

I'm familiar with the word "nesh" - since childhood - but my recollection tells me not until I was a teenager - say the 1950's, at the grammar school where there was contact with lads from a wide catchment area. I associate it with lads from the 'Lancashire" area rather than the "Manchester" area.

I lived on the boundary between Manchester and Chadderton (Oldham) and the difference in speech was noticeable. Those from the Oldham side were sometimes referred to as "yonners" reflecting their use of the dialect word "yon".

Just a bit spooky, but that area was in the news yesterday for the wrong reasons New Moston stabbing murder. That pub is about half a mile on the Manchester side of the boundary.

A similar word would be "mard" which like "nesh" might mean intolerance of physical discomfort, but more likely referred more to general behaviour - someone who is delicate, timid, or easily affected - fits the bill, and might be used to indicate "soft". That of course has a different meaning on Merseyside - meaning "stupid".

I don't know enough people from Cheshire to comment, but then boundaries have changed - and Warrington is now in Cheshire, but at the time was in Lancashire.

Tricky things words. . . .

[Wendyf]

You caught me out there Tripps, Col was born in Warrington so perhaps he is more Lancashire than Cheshire.

[Tripps]

I think that's true. When Barlick returned to Lancashire. . . Safe to say - Ian's in Greece.

There was a large contingent of "Warrington boys" at the grammar school. They travelled by train daily to Manchester. Nearest RC grammar school I guess.

Another differentiator was their interest in Rugby League in preference to soccer. "Now the Wire".

[Stanley]

The only sensible contribution I can make to this debate is to mention that I saw a clear difference between the language and attitudes I grew up with in Stockport (Then in Cheshire....) and every other culture I rubbed up against. They were Warwickshire (farming), Birkenhead and Liverpool (Cheshire Regiment) and West Riding (Earby and Barlick) These differences have always fascinated me and I am proud to be part of them.
I always remember what David Moore told me when I first started to have dealings with the corridors of power in London. I had said that I thought they looked down on me because of my regional accent and should I try to talk like them. David said no, on no account. He advised me to keep the difference because it was to my advantage. He reckoned the Southerners were actually intimidated by people who came from North of Watford..... Many years later I think he was right.

[Stanley]

I found an uncommon word this morning and decided to look it up....
"Despite its American sound and its common use by the fiery animated cartoon character Yosemite Sam, smithereens did not originate in American slang. Although no one is entirely positive about its precise origins, scholars think that smithereens likely developed from the Irish word smidiríní, which means "little bits." That Irish word is the diminutive of smiodar, meaning "fragment." According to print evidence, the plural form smithereens first appears in English in the late 18th century; use of singular smithereen then follows.

[PanBiker]

I think that's true. When Barlick returned to Lancashire. . . Safe to say - Ian's in Greece.

Aye but I'm back now playing catch up. Regarding the West Riding, Barlick is still in it of course it says so in statute. Anyone who wants to argue should take it up with the Norsemen.

[Tripps]

Aye but I'm back now playing catch up. Regarding the West Riding, Barlick is still in it of course it says so in statute.

Welcome home - I knew that of course - just teasing.

Regarding interesting words - in your absence I noticed the meaning of Kleftiko. I waited till you came home -

Lamb Kleftiko is steeped in history and is said to be named after the Klephts, who were a group of bandits who fought Ottoman rule in Greece between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries. These sheep-rustling bandits would cook their ill-gotten gains on coals in a covered hole or underground pit to avoid detection.

Not a lot of people know that.

[PanBiker]

For the record, I enjoyed the best Lamb Kleftco that I have ever had and I have tried it on seven different Greek Islands. It was delivered up from a local tavern in Lalysos on Rhodos. Extra ingredients from what I have experienced before, carrots, peas and peppers, the lamb was on the bone also. I will have to modify my own attempts accordingly. I have a big pot, just right for the bottom of the oven and an invite for our Jack to sample also. I am aware that it used to be cooked in an earth oven in the hills, but not the bit about the bandits, excellent stuff!

[Tizer]

When Mrs Tiz's grandfather retired from his job as Chief Engineer to Auckland's water and sewage board the employees, many of them Maori, did a Hangi for him. Wikipedia: Hāngī is a traditional New Zealand Māori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven, called an umu. It is still used for large groups on special occasions, as it allows large quantities of food to be cooked without the need for commercial cooking appliances.