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Ahs fair capped thut thus bin a laal bit ov' sun aboot ower week or sah. Nut lang noo und ah'll cast me cloot ahs May 'ull bee oot! Ah thowt thut spring wuz bonnie int'sun so yan oft' pieces this month is Bonnie Spring Time bee John Richardson.

Thu'll ken fra top photo thut ahs got messel a fine crop of pissibeds. Inny yan ken hoo tu git shot widdoot puttin' chemicals doon? Ivvery noo und agyan ah git a paddick int' garden, sah ah divvent want tu deue that.

If thu teks a deek belah thu'll see Countrystride did a show ont'Grasmere Dialect Plays wid Sue Wilkinson lairning thum aboot al t'history.

Noo Sue is garn tu tyak bits fra t'plays back to Grasmere Village Hall ont'10th October. If thu wants to support, or even deue a laal bit ov laikin' on stage, thun git thessel in touch, und ah'll pass thu details on.

As allus, ahs put nixt fower pages ovt' Dialect fra Hundred of Lonsdale on as weel.

Grasmere Dialect Plays

A varra ahn Sue Wilkinson ahs bin wukkin' wid oor marra fra Countrystride.

Hev a listen ahs the lairn thu al' aboot t'plays (und hoo nut tu esk fur thu lasses hend in marriage!). Fowk fra oor society puttin' voice tu t'readings.

As its vanna hafe term ut skeul, thu might like this laal extract fra t'Grasmere Dialect Play - A Will and a Way - wheer a Skeul Inspector dissen ken hoo tu tark reet!

Mary	We've had such a job here this morning. The inspector was in.
Mrs K	Oh, and was he findin' fault, or was he suit'd wi' t' schule?
Mary	I don't know, but I could have laughed. He started asking questions on arithmetic: addition and subtraction and that, and your Sally, she's sharp enough, you know, but she wasn't taking notice, so he shouted out to her to stand up and repeat the sum (sam), you know the way some south-country folk talk. Sally started off, game as a cockroach. "By the waters of Babylon," she'd been learning lately. Poor lass, she thought by the way he said sum (sam) it was a psalm he was meaning. If he'd said sum (soom), she would have dropped to it fast enough. And he was in a way with her for not understanding him.
Mrs K	Poor lass she'd be a bit outfaced like (enter Maggie [Mary's sister] with books).
Mary	Oh, she didn't mind.
Mrs K	Why I'll nivver forgit, yance when I was at shule, there was a inspector comed, he was a outener fra t'south, and he was examinin' Scripture, and he said, "Now tell me summat about Moses (Mouses)," ya kna t'way they say it. And my lile brother shouted out, sharp as leet'ning, "Cats eat 'em."
Maggie	And t'Vicar was in this morning, wi't inspector, and he saw t' new lile lad, Johnny Tyson, from Brant How, and he didn't kna him, and he said, "Why my lad, who are you," like that; and if ye'll believe it, Johnny upends himself, cool as ninepence and says, "I'se first rate, hoos thysel?"

	(A Will and a Way, Act I, pp. 4-5)

Bonnie Spring Time

John Richardson - Cummerland Talk

It cheers yan up when winter's ower,
An' fields ur springen green;
It maks yan seun forgit aw t' coald,
An' frost an' snow theer been:
Noo trees ur brusten into leaf,
An' pomes on t' withe trees hing;
An' bees roos't fra their winter sleep,
Amang them work an' sing.

Theer t' blackburd whisselen on t' thorn-bush,
An' t' throssel on t' esh sings;
An' butterflees turn oot ageann,
An' spreed their gaudy wings.
An' than theer t' lambs i' t' paster field,
Sa full o' spwort an' fun;
They'll aw draw up to some bit hill,
An' than they'll reaces run.

In t' woods theer bonnie primroses,
An' daffies in t' field neuk;
An' daisies wi' their breet gold een,
Up fra t' fresh pasters leuk.
Theer crocuses on t' garden bed,
An' snowdrops i' full blow;
An' menny mair just peepen oot,
Beside some shelteren wo.

Whativver way yan turns yan's eyes,
Theer summet still to please;
Some chirpen burd, some bonnie flooer,
Or brusten bud yan sees.
An', best iv aw, beath rich an' poor,
Beath beggars, Iwords, an' kings,
Ur free alike to leuk at aw
'At bonnie spring time brings.

Crack Was Good

Hev a lissen tu threea tyales fra oor 2011 CD - Crack was Good.

Being a hired lad, wukkin' wid sheep und haytiming.

Hirings - Jack Swainson

Sheep - Hannah Park

Haytime - Jack Swainson

Dialect fra t'Hundred of Lonsdale

Cumberland Wordhord

Lakeland Words 1898 - Bryham Kirkby

Barfin - A horse collar. A grand thing is a barfin ta gurn throo. (see Braffam - Braugham below)

Brim - Top

Brossen-full - Hed mair to eat than’s easy er good.

Dowin - Lunch, ten o’clock.

Aye! aye! thoo allus manishes ta land up aboot dowin time.

Gallases - Braces ta hod yan’s britches up.

Gurn - Gurn, an’ bide ’t. It’s good philosophy when ye ca’t run away frae ’t. Ah yance saw a fella gurnen throo a barfun fer a pun o’ bacca, an’ he gat it.

Haver - Oats.

That field o’ haver liuks weel.

Howk - To scoop out;

howk a whol; howk t’ inside oot.

Kisened - To dry out (and I've heard kissend being used for burnt too).

As kisened as a kill stick. Noo Ah nivver saw a kill stick, but it’s summat varra dry wi’ neea natur left in’t, acos owt ’at’s kisened’s mortal near withoot any sap er owt worth niamen.

Lick-pot, Lang-Man - The first and second fingers.

Roke - Scratch.

That barn’ll roke ivvry mortal thing i’ t’hoose wi’ that nail if tho’ll let it, ’at will ’t.

Shive - Slice

A slice of bread. To cut a neat swathe.

From the Dialect of Cumberland 1873 - Robert Ferguson

Braffam, Braugham - A collar for a horse.

Clev. bargam. Referred by Wedgwood with much probability to the same origin as the word hamberwe, or hanahorough, a coarse horse-collar, made of reed or straw, from beiwe or borough, protection from the hames, the two words of the compound being in this case reversed. (See Barfin above).

Hag - To chop

Dutch:hakken, Old Norse: hiacka, Swedish: hagga, German hacken, to chop, hack.

Kizzent - adj. Parched or shrivelled.

Crav. kizzened. I think the author of the Crav. Gloss, is right in taking the word to be the same as guizened, which Ray gives as applied to tubs or barrels that leak through drought. The origin, then, is evidently to be found in Old Norse gisinn, leaky (of tubs and vessels.) (see Kisened above).

Lick - To beat.

Welsh llachio, to beat, cudgel, Suio-Goth, laegga, to strike.

Lonnin' - A country lane

Frisian Lona, Laan a lane or narrow passage. Perhaps from Old Norse leyna, to hide.

Mislikken - To neglect or forget.
Dut. misselick, ambiguus, dubius, in quo errare, aut de quo dubitare potest.

Poddish - Porridge of oatmeal.

In common use throughout the agricultural districts, especially for breakfast, and though irreverently compared by Dickens to "diluted pin-cushions without the covers," a very wholesome article of diet. Welsh potes, Manx poddash.

Smeeth - Smooth

Ang.-Sax. smzthe, smooth.

Snerp - To contract, tighten, as a knot or snare.
Dan, snerpe, to tighten, contract, Dut. snerpen, to nip.

Teanel - A Basket (West and Cumberland Dialect)

Ang.-Sax. teanel, a basket, from tan, a twig.
Similarly swill, (contraction of swigel,) from Old Norse svigi, a twig.

Waits - Nightly musicians who used to play in the streets at Christmastide.

"Wayte, waker, vigil" Old Norse vakta; Old High German wahten; German wachten - to watch or keep awake.

From a Glossary of Words and phrases pertaining to the Dialect of Cumberland 1878 - William Dickinson

Brek - Fun; a practical joke. A good story, generally of the sporting type; an amusing incident.

Curly kue - G. a flourish in writing, &c.

Fash - G. trouble ; inconvenience.

Fasten eve - Shrove Tuesday evening or the eve of the feast before Lent.

'At Fasten eve neet
Ceuks find cannel leet.'

After this night the cooking is to be done by daylight for the season, or the cooks must provide candles.

Frosk - The Frog (back in 1878 the author noted that the word was nearly obsolete!)

Gowpin - A handful; or the two hands full

Lang-end - The final end.

Pissibeds - The flowers of the dandelion plant.

From a Glossary of the Dialect of the Hundred of Lonsdale - Robert Peacock 1869

Rossel,

(1) v.t. to heat, to roast. "To rossel one's shins."

(2) vi. To bask over a fire.

Thible,Tibel

n - a stick to stir porridge

(this is an interesting variation to me. In Billy Brannan, a tyale fra t'Abbey Holme Billy used Thivel).

Yalla Pumps

n - very young calve; so called from their hoofs being yellow when calved.

Yallow-yowring

n. the yellow-hammer

From the Bank of the River Derwent near the Yearl in Wukkinton' und t'other spots roond aboot.

Beckie - (Workington) A water bailiff who makes sure that the fisherfolk have permission to tickle the trout and salmon!

Brossenful - (sometime Brussenful) To be pleasantly full after after your meal.

Blackite - A bramble, A blackberry.

(Efter picking this yer' crop, ah telt the t'Cumberland Blackite Broonie Recipe)

Button Sticks - (Whitehaven) At the start of the Industrial Revolution poor country folk coming to work in the mines may have used sticks rather than buttons to hold their clothes together.

Chittering - Cold. Linked to shivering or trembling.

Kaylieghed - Supped ower much. Inebriated

Kersmas - Christmas