Yorkshire Words Of The Week

My sister, Barbara, and I quickly became friends with the children of Gordon Smith, tenant of the nearest farm. We quickly picked up the local dialect from Ken and Rosalie Smith but one expression still puzzles me; a common insult amongst children and adults alike was: “thoo greeat sank!” I still can’t figure out the origin of “sank” though I suspect it might be a reference to Sankey the Methodist hymn writer and composer?

In those early days, my fluency sometimes failed me. Gordon once paused in the middle of harnessing his “gallowa” to a cart in the yard and shouted to me: “Fetch barfin off skealbease will tha’ Jimmy lad! It’s it’ steable!” I ran into the stable and stopped dead with the realisation that I hadn’t a clue what Gordon meant. Luckily, Ken followed me and, with a grin, took the horse’s collar from the partition between the stalls and went to give it to his father.

From Brian Berridge, Burn, Selby

My father-in-law was an engine driver on the former LNER and worked out of Selby engine sheds.

He often came out with two nonsensical sayings which I have not found any origin for. He regularly drove on the Selby to Bridlington line, passing through the station of Nafferton.

When this name was announced, dad would always say: “That’s where they shoe pigs with steam.”

A second village name which caused comment was “Biggin”, a village near Sherburn-in-Elmet.

When he was asked where he was going, he frequently replied: “I’m of to Biggin for two eggs.”

Has anyone else heard these sayings and can enlighten me on their origins or were they confined to Selby engine shed?

From John Senior, Birchfield Grove, Skelmanthorpe, Huddersfield.

With reference to Charles Taylor’s letter of March 10, “Poppo”’ was certainly used by young children in this part of the West Riding in the 1940s to mean a horse.

“Cushy cow” was also used and I can remember hearing a farmer shouting “cush,cush” as he called the cows to take them to be milked. One phrase I don’t recall seeing in your correspondence is “keeping t’band in t’nick”. This could be used to describe of someone trying to prevent a situation occurring from which conflict might arise. I suppose it might be derived from what happens if the rope round a pulley jumps out of the groove.