Time, Manner, Place

[venta]

Every so often, I use a word which makes everyone go "eh?". Often this is because I'm using regional words in the wrong region (and, in fairness, sometimes it's because I'm just indulging my taste for obscure words). But recently, I apologised for saying "playing hooky" (playing truant), and was told that this was in fact (a) well-known and (b) American. So I'm wondering... how many of the words I often avoid really are obscure northenisms. Are they in fact well known? Are they not actually northern, but instead, perhaps, words that were common when I was little/are common among kids but not grown ups, or something completely different?

So, what I want to know is, for the following words, would you know what I meant if I used them? Would you be able to work it out ? Would you use them yourself ? Do you know whence they come ? I'm not particularly interested in whether they're in dictionaries/googlable etc, what I'm after is a measure of well-known-ness. Please comment, even if only to say "I have no idea what you're talking about, you freak!"

And as a side-issue - I'd always thought "minging" or "minger" were definitely on the list of northern words, but they seem to have become pretty widespread relatively recently. Any suggestions?

• scunner (noun) - to take a scunner at someone


• ket(s) (noun) - I'm off to buy ket(s)


• chimble (verb) - that wall is chimbling


• molly (adj) - she's wearing a really molly top


• stotting (adj) - I'm stotting


• gegs (noun) - where did I put my gegs?


• mizzle (noun/verb) - the weather? Oh, it's just mizzling


• ginnel (noun) - take the first left down the ginnel

Probably more as I think of them.

Comments

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

Many a mizzle makes a muzzle; ergo a mizzle is a leather thong just long enough to be tied around a dog's snout.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Splendid :)

I knew we kept you around for something.

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

Interesting ... the version I know is "many a mickle macks a muckle", though I've no idea what that actually means ... usually used in a "look after the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves" context. As for mizzle, I thought that was mist + drizzle. Not to be confused with fret or haar, of course. But throw a stottie cake and it stots just like the rain, so I think you have something there.

[venta.livejournal.com]

the version I know is "many a mickle macks a muckle",

Yup, verlaine's version being a pune, or play on words...

Mickle and muckle are Scots dialect words meaning "a little bit" and "a lot" respectively. So the saying does roughly equate to the pennies/pounds idea.

I'm down with fret, but you've lost me on haar. Sounds Dutch ?

haar

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

I believe it's an upmarket version of the Fog on the Tyne.

One weird one I was told at school, was that in the North-East "canny" means friendly, welcoming, etc., but that in the North-West it means sharp and untrustworthy.

Re: haar

[venta.livejournal.com]

Upmarket fog ? I like it.

You're right about canny. And when my cousins moved from the northeast to Torquay, they were surprised to discover that people were offended to be called canny there. Apparently they were understanding it to mean fat. Whether this is peculiar to Torquay or common to all of Devon I have no idea.

Re: haar

[triskellian]

I (a Southerner) had 'canny' down as value-neutral and meaning something like astute, just to confuse matters further.

Re: haar

[venta.livejournal.com]

I think that's allowable as well - I think qatsi's school was a bit harsh in their definition. Or else it is just further variation. I'd have gone for the sharp without the mistrustworthy aspects - you can, for example, be canny with money or similar, which is closer to what you're saying.

On a side-note, the phrase "Gan Canny" was used a lot in a some sort of safety campaign when I was little (can't remember what exactly). It translates more or less as "go carefully" :)

Re: haar

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

Not the school, just the teacher. A poor Lancashire woman who clearly did not feel quite at home, or had perhaps been accused of being canny by the locals in their welcoming way (see uitlander for character references regarding the friendliness of Geordies).

You're probably right that the definition was a bit harsh; ironically an example of a character that is consistent with both Northern definitions of canny is Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses (though not - originally at any rate - the Devon one).