Dialect/slang

The origins and history of placenames, nicknames, local slang, etc.
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Trojan
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Joined: Sat 22 Dec, 2007 3:54 pm

Post by Trojan »

Ony = any and Mony = many are used in and around Morley. I'm not sure how common this is in the rest of Leeds/W Yorks. You certainly hear it in Rochdale/Oldham. Moider - to pester is another term I hear in Lancashire and Morley. You also hear Myther - same word presumably.Mardy is a very common Yorkshire word - sulky "mardyar$e"Given the Heavy Woollen District's connection with Lancashire (cotton warp woollen weft) I sometimes wonder if certain words and forms of speech peculiar the the HWD migrated there with the cotton. Just a theory.I accept Morley as a part of Leeds, but really in 1974, when the changes happened, the town had more in common with Batley, Dewsbury and Ossett.
Industria Omnia Vincit

String o' beads
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Post by String o' beads »

I used a phrase today that apparently isn't known up here. I said someone would 'play pop with you'. Doesn't make sense when you think about it does it?

Bert
Posts: 159
Joined: Tue 16 Dec, 2008 6:04 pm

Post by Bert »

Where I grew up in Crossgates 'chumps' weren't just any firewoood, they were specifically great chunks of wood for bonfire night, and 'chumping' was going gathering them, often, I'm ashamed to remember, by chopping off enormous limbs from healthy trees in Primrose Valley. Some local gangs preferred to nick other kids' chumps rather than gather their own, so the chumps were all dragged home to someone's back garden and protected by a round-the-clock shift of guards, before being dragging back down into the Valley on bonfire night to make the terrifyingly enormous blaze. All this was done independently by kids with an average age of about twelve. Them were the days.Before Crossgates I spent my infancy in Colton, playing most days on Joe Carrol's Farm on Meynell Road where I tried to 'help' the farm hand, George Calvert, with his millions of duties. Every time I made a mess of a job - i.e. almost every time I tried to do anything - old George would say 'Nay lad, gi ower, tha's like a man med o' band'. Anyone heard that one before?    

Uno Hoo
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Joined: Fri 20 Jun, 2008 2:04 pm

Post by Uno Hoo »

Before Crossgates I spent my infancy in Colton, playing most days on Joe Carrol's Farm on Meynell Road where I tried to 'help' the farm hand, George Calvert, with his millions of duties. Every time I made a mess of a job - i.e. almost every time I tried to do anything - old George would say 'Nay lad, gi ower, tha's like a man med o' band'. Anyone heard that one before?    One of my maternal grandfather's regular sayings.
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, moves on; nor all thy Piety nor all thy Wit can call it back to cancel half a Line, nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

Lilysmum
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Post by Lilysmum »

One of my grandad's sayings too! I mentioned it on this thread a while back

Uno Hoo
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Post by Uno Hoo »

Hi LilysmumI thought it had cropped up before! But it's become a dickens of a long thread tp go checking back. UH
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, moves on; nor all thy Piety nor all thy Wit can call it back to cancel half a Line, nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

Bert
Posts: 159
Joined: Tue 16 Dec, 2008 6:04 pm

Post by Bert »

Hi LiliysmumI've done a search for 'band' on this thread and it only finds my message above. Can you recall what exactly was the phrase you posted before?    

Lilysmum
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Post by Lilysmum »

Hi Bert " Frame thissen,tha's like a man med o band" (band =string) it's on page 20 of this thread.

Bert
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Joined: Tue 16 Dec, 2008 6:04 pm

Post by Bert »

Thank you so much Lilysmum. It's given me a great kick to know that 'man med o' band' is real Leeds dialect and not just a personal mannerism of old George Calvert's. It must have become pretty rare even by the mid 1940s though - I never heard anyone other than George use it back in those days in east Leeds farming country.

Trojan
Posts: 1990
Joined: Sat 22 Dec, 2007 3:54 pm

Post by Trojan »

Bert wrote: Thank you so much Lilysmum. It's given me a great kick to know that 'man med o' band' is real Leeds dialect and not just a personal mannerism of old George Calvert's. It must have become pretty rare even by the mid 1940s though - I never heard anyone other than George use it back in those days in east Leeds farming country. I'd have said it's peculiar to the Rhubarb Triangle rather than just Leeds.
Industria Omnia Vincit

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