Can't touch this

[venta]

I just used (on Skype) the phrase "as subtle as a ten pound mell".

Then I thought. Hmm. Mell. Is that a real word? The guy I was talking to didn't query it. I suspect this means he's used to me and ignores every other sentence. Anyway.

I did a bit of light searching for the phrase, and came up with nothing. Wikipedia doesn't know what a mell is.

Dammit.

A bit of hammer-browsing later, I was wondering if (as a kid) I'd misheard "maul hammer". Which is a genuine thing and everything.

I was just about to post here and ask if anyone else used the word "mell" like that when I thought of googling just the phrase "mell hammer" (rather than the whole "subtle as a ...").

And there, galloping to the rescue, is the Northumbrian Language Society. Scroll down that page and you'll find (point 4 on their list) a little table of some selected Northumbrian words.

A mell, it says, is a hammer. Well now. I felt somewhat better.

And then somewhat worse when I read the rest, and thought what? You're telling me gadgy and dunsh and and hacky aren't just normal words? This is the story of my life...

And is using "tab" for "cigarette" really limited to Northumberland? I only learned last week that boody wasn't a real word when someone looked at me funny. This is also the story of my life.

Comments

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

I'm familiar with "mell", but think of it as an archaism rather than Northumbrian.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Often the same thing :) A few years back, I asked my housemate to drop the sneck as she came in. She stared at me blankly.

A visiting friend hoicked out my dictionary of historical slang, and politely informed me that "sneck" as a word went out with Shakespear.

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

There's a beer called Snecklifter though!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes! Sadly, neither of them knew it :)

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I think sneck is still pretty current across much of the north. I've heard it in the Lake District a few times.

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

I've heard 'sneck' before - but it might have been from Karen, so probably doesn't count.