Dialect/slang

[Chrism]

Geordie-exile wrote: Tidgy = little. Perhaps from a similar root to the nickname Tich? I don't know if the following were Leeds-centric, but when I was tidgy I seem to recall a lot of people mis-pronouncing certain words: chimley, bockle, err, can't think of any more just now. Oh - filum. But that's quite common isn't it? Ambliance. I don't know if this one's been mentioned but we used to call the canal the Navvy. ie... ... "mum, am off laiking down t'navvy"

[arry_awk]

Briggy wrote: A friend used to use the expression 'Marra ter Bonny' to describe two people who bore a striking resemblance - she said it came from a farmer who had two plough horses Marra (sp?) and Bonny who had exactly the same markings. 'Marra' in Geordie mining terms meant 'Mate' or friend.So Marra ta Bonny must mean 'friend of Napoleon'Or Boney's mate!Chrism'Navvy' comes from 'Leeds and Liverpool Navigational Canal'Norra lorra people know that!ps. I saw two young guys just getting out of the Navvy atthe Brewery bridge Yesterday. Obviously students, beenfor a swim! (Hope they had a bath afterwards!)

[Uno Hoo]

Ambliance. I don't know if this one's been mentioned but we used to call the canal the Navvy. ie... ... "mum, am off laiking down t'navvy"I'm in pedantic mode. Navvy, or strictly, navi, is short for navigation. Now, it's a correct term if applied to the Aire & Calder Navigation, as this was engineered to make the River Aire navigable by excavating "cuts" to avoid rapids, shallows, etc., so the cuts join up sections of the river. Hence there's a large artificial island where Thwaites Mill stands, established by the cut running almost parallel with the river for quite a long way. There are other cuts between Leeds and Goole.The Leeds & Liverpool, on the other hand, is not a navi, but is a true canal throughout its length, and all its locks are for traversing gradients, not for linking canal and river (except, of course, at its extremities).So, it all depends which stretch of water you were referring to when you told your mum you were off to laik down t'navvy. If it was the A & C, you were technically correct. If it was the L & L, you weren't. I'm sure you'll feel better for knowing this. (If you didn't already).I was always forbidden to swim in the canal - the L & L in my case. But I did. I gashed my hand badly on one occasion, and the wound should really have been stitched, but I didn't dare to report it. Fortunately it healed cleanly, and I still have the scar 50+ years on. But I didn't catch diphtheria, which is what I had always been told was the fate of those who swam in canals.BTW, plenty of people in Bradford call the canal, (the L & L), the navvy, so obviously the term is in wide use.

[Chrism]

Jeez I was only a kid!! It was the L&L and I still call canals navvies. If I go for a cycle up (or down) the one near us (The Trent and Mersey) I always tell the missus " am off forra pedal up t'navvy luv, a won't be long" As kids we only swam in the locks as we thought the watter changing everytime the locks were used was cleaner!!!    

[arry_awk]

And if yer can steer a boat or barge on a canal and NAVIGATE the locks, It's Navigational! Even our teacher at schooil said it was the L&LNC when we called it the navvy!! (OOOOOOH get him!)

[Lilysmum]

Hey uno hoo after gashing your hand in the canal you're lucky it didn't "Gather" ( turn septic)

[Uno Hoo]

Lilysmum wrote: Hey uno hoo after gashing your hand in the canal you're lucky it didn't "Gather" ( turn septic) Yes, I was lucky that it knitted rather than gathered.

[sundowner]

Just a thought could it stem from the name for the men who built the canal navvys?    

[String o' beads]

sundowner wrote: Just a thought could it stem from the name for the men who built the canal navvys?     T'other way round sundowner. That's where the navvies got their name from.

[Chrism]

Aye but weren't they called Navigators?