Yorkshire Words Of The Week

FURTHER to As I Was Saying on August 20 and 27, my father’s version of Daniel was:

“Daniel in the lion’s den chewing bacca to ‘is sen

Angel came an’ knocked at door

Daniel said ‘I’ll chew na moor’”

My father used brussen as applied to my brother meaning the same as “if he fell in t’cut he wouldn’t get wet”.

Other favourites of mine: when a workplace was busy the chaps would say: “We’re pulled out oft place”.

Or when they couldn’t get on for lack of materials: “We’re held up for weft” even though this wasn’t the textile industry.

If my mother had a very hectic day at home, perhaps with interruptions, she would describe it as “Sarah Jane Day”.

The locals felt sorry for the baby when her father, the vicar, christened her Sarah Jane. He was a south countryman. As with many of your readers I enjoy this column very much.

From: MJ Lilly, Follifoot, Harrogate

LOVING this column, like fellow Tykes, I was amused to read Josie Barnes’s letter (August 27) mentioning John Willie Daggtop.

In our family the Christmas turkey, whether cock or hen, has always been called John Willy Plotkin.

Might anyone know why or is it just one of our family’s odd names (of which we have several)?

Dorothy Penso, Lastingham Terrace, York

We had so many ways of telling people and animals to go away. It was the memory of tek yer ‘ook that started me thinking of these idioms.

What kind of hook were people being told to take, was it a fishing hook or, perhaps, a reed hook used for threading the warp for weaving?

Perhaps readers know the answer.

A straying dog was ordered to “ger ‘ome”. As children we told an unwanted child to scram, skidaddle or ‘op it.

A remark of scorn or disdain was: “oh go run up a shutter!”

From: Michael Brown, Linton-on-Ouse, York

When I had been out playing as a child I would run in at dinner time (dinner was always at mid-day in those days) and ask “What’s for dinner mum?” She would usually reply: “Twice round the table and back in time for tea.”

If it looked like rain it was always: “It’s looking black over Bill’s mother’s.” Who Bill was I have no idea.

Also, when anyone mentioned Pudsey, father would say: “Oh that’s where they put pigs on the wall to see the band go by”.