Dialect and vanishing cobblers

[venta]

Well, I'm disappointed in all of you. Anyone would think I just made words up, or something...

scunner (noun) - to take a scunner at someone

to take an instant, probably irrational, dislike to someone or something. So I could take a scunner at a person, simply be deciding I didn't like the look of them, or a horse might take a scunner at a jump.

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

This is definitely a Darlingtonism. Kets are sweets, ket being a word for general junky stuff. As in "What are you eating that ket for?", said to a person with a Big Mac.

chimble (verb) - that wall is chimbling

I'm less sure of the provenance of this word, and starting to suspect my mother might have made it up. It's basically a combination of "chip" and "crumble", to describe something which is coming to pieces in a crumbly way - like rotting stonework, or a cheap and nasty wine bottle cork.

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

This word was much in currency when I was at junior school, I have no idea if it still gets used. I only remembered when I wanted to use it, and couldn't think of an equivalent :) I guess the closest is probably "dowdy" - molly clothes are unfashionable, probably outdated, and the sort of thing that will get you laughed at by a bunch of malicious schoolgirls.

stotting (adj) - I'm stotting

Very cross - "I'm stotting angry", or just "I'm stotting", means you should be giving me a wide berth :) Maybe it's so angry that you're bouncing off the walls, or something...

I think this is probably Geordie/pitmatic rather than Darlington. And before you ask, pitmatic is what they speak in North Durham, where, once upon a time, there were pits.

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

When jiggery_pokery posted that he knew that gegs were, I was about to comment that this might be because he was the only poster so far to own some... then realised I was completely wrong :)

Gegs are, of course, spectacles. This has obviously made it as far as Teesside to Jiggery_pokery, but I don't know how widespread it is.

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

As a few people guessed, mizzle is a sort of can't-be-arsed wet weather, somewhere between a fret and a drizzle. I've no idea where it comes from.

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

One of the few I had (limited) success with here - and yes, a small alleyway. cf. snicket, gennel, bunnyrun, jitty and snickelway, depending on where you come from. (Any more?)

Oh, and if spindlemere can ask his Darlingtonian colleague for her views, I'd still like to hear them...

On Saturday, I tried to go to the cobbler's in town.

I headed off to the Oxford Snob on Castle Street (aka the road down the right hand side of the Westgate Centre), bag of boots in hand. I'm always a bit unsure of the exact configuration of buildings down that road, so work on the basis that I'll keep walking til I get to the cobbler's.

Around Cafe Liason (the Chinese restaurant, which is incidentally very good), I realise I must have passed it. There aren't any more shops. A quick glance back up the road reveals I haven't. Nor have I passed anything which looks like it might have once been it. Slowly it dawns on me that the big bunch of white boarding, and the demolition contractor's signs may be relevant.

A quick couple of phonecalls, and I've located the Oxford Snob on Gloucester Green. But people shouldn't be allowed to remove buildings in large chunks like that. It confuses the unwary.

But: I find the new booth, round the back of the OFS, and hand over my boots to be heeled. He was sorry, they wouldn't be ready til Monday. Never mind, I say, I won't be able to pick them up til a week Wednesday anyway. I'd be waiting that long ? Could I spare ten minutes ? And he did them while I waited, neatly re-heeled, and some magic black paint to cover up the scratches of the backs of the heels. Small businesses are great.

Comments

[nevecat.livejournal.com]

Just goes to show how very local these expressions can be - I lived 12 miles from Darlington for a number of years - some of the expressions were familiar, others were totally alien.

'Twitten' is Kent/Sussex (I think) word for a snikket by the way.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thanks, I forgot twitten.

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Some cutting and pasting later. I've only included the first chronological reference for each word. I'm not sure that kets matches your use of the word, ges and chimble, we don't have.

Scunner

Sc. and north.
1. intr. {dag}a. To shrink back with fear, to flinch.
b. To be affected with violent disgust, to feel sick.

1375 BARBOUR Bruce v. 201 (Edin. MS.) Bot thai war skownrand vounder sair Sa fer in Scotland for to fair. Ibid. XVII. 651 Bot thai..skunnyrrit [v.r. scounryt] tharfor na-kyn thing, Bot went stoutly till assalyng.

Ket

Obs. exc. dial.

Raw flesh; carrion; also fig. trash, rubbish.

c1220 Bestiary 438 He bille{edh} one {edh}e foxes fel, Wo so telle{edh} idel spel, And he tire{edh} on his ket Wo so him wi{edh} sinne fet [= feeds].

molly

I. Simple uses.

1. slang. An effeminate man or boy; a male homosexual. Also: a man who performs work typically associated with women, or who concerns himself with women's affairs. Cf. MISS MOLLY n., MOLLYCOT n.

1708 E. WARD London Terræfilius V. 10 He behaves himself more like a Catamite, an Eunuch, or one of those Ridiculous Imitators of the Female Sex, call'd Mollies, than like a Son of Adam.

stot

Sc. and north.

1. intr. To rebound, bounce (from, off); to fall or impinge with a bounce (on, against); to jump, start, spring.

1513 DOUGLAS Æneis X. vi. 96 Dartis sevin Alsammyn thai kest.. Of quham sum dyd, but harm or other deyr, Stot from hys scheild, his hewmet, or hed geyr.

mizzle

Now colloq. and regional (Brit. and N. Amer.).

Very fine misty rain; drizzle.

1490 CAXTON tr. Eneydos xv. 55 And tormented [them] Rygth asperly with Rayne mysell, and grete heyle stones amonge.

gennel, ginnel

dial.

1. = CHANNEL 3a. Obs.

1613 Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. (1885) II. 287 Roberte Charnocke..hath newlie erected a privie, the ffilthe whereof ffalleth into a certen Gynnell or guttr.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thanks. I wasn't expecting some of them to be in the dictionary.

I think "also fig. trash, rubbish." is not inconsistent with my definition of ket. I'm less sure about molly as defined by the OED, though.

Interesting to see how old most of them are, though.

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Of course, they're in the dictionary! We've got all sorts of trash in here!

Although, of course, the OED isn't available to plebs like you. (That said, they're probably all in your OED2 hardcopy).

We've also got ket meaning ‘A matted, hairy fleece of wool’ (as a variation on coat).

Molly, in the sense I've quoted it is actually the direct root of mollycoddle. As in "too be educated in effeminate ways" (my paraphrasing).

And yes, the dates are frequently quite scary, which is why I included 'em :)

[kneeshooter]

I remember "Scunner" from the villain of the (very Scottish) Supergran books - "The Scunner Campbell" IIRC.

[fluffymark]

I used to be a member of Gog Magog Molly, a team of Molly dancers. Think Morris, and replace the hankies and bells with big stompy boots and a bit of attitude and you're getting there. Traditional Molly dancing was so named after the Molly, who was a crossdressed bloke. Nowadays, the teams are mixed and entirely crossdressed in entirely unfashionable clothes. Which matches your definition of Molly very well. :)

[venta.livejournal.com]

I know, I've seen Gog Magog :) Didn't know you'd ever been a member though...

[fluffymark]

When/where did you see the Gogs? I was part of them from 1997 to 2000, before they got big and started storming the major folk festivals like Sidmouth.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Er... er... some time in the last few years, but post 2000 I'd imagine. I can't remember exactly when/where. So you can say you were in a Molly team before they sold out :)

Have seen other Molly stuff (like Seven Champions) much more recently though. I threw a bucket of water over one of Seven Champs recently, but he did ask for it.

[neilh.livejournal.com]

ket(s) (noun) - I'm off to buy ket(s)
This is definitely a Darlingtonism. Kets are sweets, ket being a word for general junky stuff. As in "What are you eating that ket for?", said to a person with a Big Mac.

They're not horse tranquilisers? I've been mistaken all these years...

[venta.livejournal.com]

Of course they're not, no, so if I offer you something from a bag of kets you should just eat one, yes you should...

[neilh.livejournal.com]

*double fear with extra paranoia on top*
Is this the 'Do Something' you were talking about?
What if I promise only to listen to Slippery When Wet?

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid all Bon Jovi is non-negotiable. You have been warned :)

[snow-leopard.livejournal.com]

The word I have the most problem with is Fizzog which was used in the context- "Clean yer fizzog" meaning face. As my family has somwhat messy roots I have no idea where this word comes from, but no-one else (outside my extended family) EVER seems to have heard of it.

[wimble.livejournal.com]

That's 'cos it's a misspelling.

It should be physog, as a contraction of physogonomy (and yeah, I can't spell that... hang on).
Phyogonomy nah.

PHYSIOGNOMY! that's the one.

[snow-leopard.livejournal.com]

Ah! That will be because I never saw it written down before - it was always something shouted at one!!

[venta.livejournal.com]

I have :)

I was also told to wash my fizzog when I was little. Or physog. Or whatever.

I'd always presumed it was a corruption of visage, but stand corrected by the OED :)

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Actually, you stand corrected by me, 'cos I knew this without having to look it up (until I got to the speling).

Of course, standing corrected by the OED is not a good idea, just in case the shelving gives way. In which case, you'll be lying, flattened by the OED.

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

I knew it as well. I would place it as having been used in one of the comics I used to get when I was a wee kid - specifically, the one with Faceache, who used to gurn with a SCRUNGE sound-effect. The comic in question was probably the Topper. (A quick Google suggests apparently not and that it was Buster.)

Cobblers

[wimble.livejournal.com]

The reason you couldn't find him was due to looking in the wrong place. If you'd looked on the stairs, you'd have found him not being there, instead.

Far easier.

[(Anonymous)]

Don't blame me for chimble. Blame your great Grandma, which means it could be a Lincolnshire expression. BTW, you've missed out "femmer" and "mardy". See also this week's letter for claggy

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Not too obscure for us! (well, femmer is. Unless it's under another spelling).

mardy

Eng. regional (chiefly north.).

A. n. A spoilt child.

1874 Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 3 Aug. 4/1 Mard adj.{em}Pettish, peevish, used in speaking of children... Mardy is the corresponding substantive, a spoiled child.

claggy

Chiefly dial.

Tending to clag, or to form sticky lumps or clots; tenaciously sticky, adhesive. Hence {sm}clagginess.

1570 LEVINS Manip. 98 Claggye, lubricus. 1611 COTGR., Iotteux, claggie, clammie, cleauing

[venta.livejournal.com]

Nah, mardy is an adjective, though the definition's close enough.

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Oh, come on. How was I supposed to tell that from the context I was given. Anyway, we've got it down as "noun and adjective". The other two senses are:
(with full quotes, 'cos I like the last one).

B. adj. Usually of a child: spoilt, sulky, whining, moody. Also in extended use.
1903 W. H. STEVENSON in Eng. Dial. Dict. IV. 34/1 [Notts.] A boy who cries with pain is called by his fellows a ‘mardy baby’.
1913 D. H. LAWRENCE Sons & Lovers vi. 127 ‘Now, Miriam,’ said Maurice, ‘you come an' 'ave a go.’ ‘No,’ she cried, shrinking back. ‘Ha! baby. The mardy-kid!’ said her brothers.
1915 D. H. LAWRENCE Rainbow i. 12 Young Tom, whom he called a mardy baby.
1959 J. BRAINE Vodi i. 22 ‘Don't be so bloody soft, man,’ Tom said. ‘I don't want to go.’ ‘You're mardy. You're dead mardy.’
1961 J. I. M. STEWART Man who won Pools 35 'E were a mardy one as a nipper, our Phil.
1975 D. CLARK Premedicated Murder v. 83 ‘You can get all mardy about it if you like,’ said Green, unabashed.
1979 A. SILLITOE Storyteller II. xv. 198 ‘Get some bleddy oil,’ Percy said in a mardy, rasping sort of voice, as if he was on a picnic and not at a funeral.
1995 K. ATKINSON Behind Scenes at Museum (1996) iv. 138 ‘There Samuel, did tha like that? Nice cowd air to haste you to t'Maker.’ The baby made a small snuffling noise. ‘Tha'rt a mardy gowk for all tha cosseting, eh?’

C. Compounds. mardy-arse derogatory, a spoilt, pampered, or cowardly person.
1977 Jrnl. Lancs. Dial. Soc. Dec. 16/1 *Mardy-arse, spoilt child.
1990 Sunday Correspondent 8 Apr. 18/4 Some probably feared being labelled ‘mardy arses’--Mancunian for softies.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Very few people seem to know femmer. Which is a shame, as I'm very femmer this morning. That's mornings for you :)

Babe?

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Phwoa!

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Hey, do you come with machine guns built in?

Re: Babe?

[venta.livejournal.com]

Er, no.