Local words - a glossary

[oggbashan]

This is a quote from the title-page of a 1789 glossary of English dialect:

Local words are of 3 kinds: either Saxon or Danish, in general grown obsolete from disuse, and the introduction of more fashionable terms; the second sort are words derived from some foreign language, as Latin, French, or German, but so corrupted by passing through the mouth of illiterate clowns as to render their origin scarcely discoverable; The third are mere arbitrary words, not deducible from any primary source or language, but ludicrous nominations,.. such as the Church-warden, jack-sharpnails, Crotch-tail, etc.;

In my town our modern local words seem to be related to teenage culture: the meeting places, the activities; the description of persons of the opposite sex and accounts of claimed sexual encounters that are probably overstated...

Some words survive through several generations of teenagers; some last a few short weeks; and some change their meaning almost within days of creation. For example the public house named "The White Swan" was known as the "Mucky Duck" until the owners changed the name to "Scruffy Duck" with a sign of a bedraggled duck. The local word then became "Scruffs" before changing to "The" followed by a four-letter word rhyming with duck. That caused some confusion with those not aware of the local meaning.

What local words did or do you have? Are they meaningful or just fashionable?

Og

 

[egelante]

Caffyl is a word meaning "tangle" or "knot" that exists pretty much only in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It's not to be confused with Ceffyl, which is the Welsh for horse. It's an old word that continues to be used, and will be for the foreseeable future. Certainly my age-group (early 20s) use it a lot, and so that's at least one more generation that will.

Can't think of any others that apply right now.

 

[cantdog]

We have several exclusively Maine words.

dooryard means the area about the house, basically including the ordinary entrance and the area around.

There's also an obsolete term my grandmother used, the dooryard visit. Time was, one would pop round and see friends and family of an evening. A lot of friendly personal interaction vanished with the onset of electronic entertainment in the home, but that was how one did it in the old days: you went to see folks and talk a bit. It's the reason for the social space known as a front porch, neither in the house nor out of it.

You go by in your carriage or auto, and stop at the next place you are visiting. The story my grandmother told is, if you alight from your vehicle the house will invite you in, and of course, it would be impolite to decline, and equally naturally you'd have to stay at least through the space of a cup of tea or something before you could politely leave again. So you don't get out, and you pass fifteen minutes with a dooryard visit. This leaves you able to move on to the next one, and see more people in the run of an evening.

 

[jomar]

usetacould - As in, "I usetacould skip a rock ten times."

catawampus - As in, "We took a shortcut and walked catawampus across the field."

 

[Vermilion]

I couldn;t tell you what words are local from ym hometown (Surrey/London) as I assume that they are used widely because all my acquaintances use them. What I am much more aware of are the Midlands specific words that the Fiance and his family use that I have never come across in the London area.

Wampy - Like a dog who chases his tail, it's an adjective and adverb. A dog behaving nuttily would be a "Wampy dog"... or - "the dog is being wampy again."

Another local one would be to use "Mare" to refer to someone of the female sex... eg- "cheeky mare!"

And "Mardy" or "Mard" to mean a bad mood. So if one is in a mard they would be said to be mardy.

Capisce?

x
V

ps- will add more if and when I think of them

 

[trysail]

'round heah the fish known to auslanders as striped bass is called rockfish.

Male crabs (crustaceans, for god's sakes!) are called jimmies while the females are called sooks.

The regional dialect which is, regretfully, disappearing due to homogenization has some lovely but confounding (to outsiders) pronunciations; here are a few examples:

Maryland- "Merlin"
Sink- "Zinc"
Europe- "Yerp"
Tire- "Tar"
Iron- "Arn"
Eagle- "Iggle"
Oyster- "Urshter"
Water- "Warder"

There are islands in the Chesapeake that have been isolated for so long that the speech of the residents can, at times, be unintelligible to outsiders. Linguists have opined that the dialect of the islanders is almost pure Elizabethan Cornish. Unfortunately, these islands are now, too, subject to the influences of the larger world. It has become nearly impossible for the residents (who call themselves "watermen") to make a living on the Bay. They have been forced to both emigrate and act as stage players for the entertainment of doltish, gawking tourists from Washington, D.C.

 

[jomar]

It has become nearly impossible for the residents (who call themselves "watermen") to make a living on the Bay.

I saw a good documentary on TV about the watermen a few months ago. Mostly old guys now.