Yorkshire Words Of The Week

In Wibsey our interpretation of “leet geen” differed from that of Kath Haigh. It was used of someone who was slow-witted – what we later referred to as “ninepence ha’penny to t’bob”.

I think that our usage of “leet geen” was a dialect version of “lightly given”, ie dim.

Another expression my father used was “skellered” meaning a warped or twisted piece of wood, or similar.

“Arf ‘ackled” meant unready or unkempt. Lovely words. Don’t let them die out.

From: Bernard Longstaff, The Old School, Amotherby, Malton

In a recent letter to Words of the Week I asked about the origin of the word “doffing” and I received the following letter in reply from Harry Gatenby of Gainsborough who has given permission for it to be published as follows.

In the 1950s I was a trainee at Joseph Newsome Ltd at Batley Carr, (now Redbrick Mill). Doffing was an operation carried out by a machine when preparing wool for spinning. It passed through spiked rollers or “combs” until it was finally taken off the machine by a roller, a “doffer”. The wool was then sent to be spun and when the bobbins were full of spun wool an operative removed them and replaced with an empty bobbin.

From: Sarah Wilson (nee Bellass), Oak Cottage, Youlthorpe, York.

Ron Farley of Camblesforth (Country Week, October 22) wrote about a dirty child being described as black bright. This was familiar to me as a child and coincidentally my father lived in Camblesforth as a child in the late 30s early 40s before moving over to Gowthorpe, near Garrowby Hill. In contrast, anyone who was pale would be described as mawky white.

During an exceptionally hot harvest it would often be commented that “it’s fit to maft you”, “it’s mafting” or “I’m mafted”.

If someone looked red in the face or overheated it might be noted they looked “over set”.

In icy conditions, a slippery path would be referred to as “slape”. In exceptionally cold weather you would be “nithered” or it was “nithering”.

Another farming term that seems to have fallen out of common parlance was the term “lowance” (from allowance) to describe a packed lunch and on a hot day we would often take “drinkings” down to our dad when he was combining.

Many a farmer whose buttons had fallen off his working jacket would solve the problem by tying it up with “a bit o’ Massey Harris” (bailer twine).