Moose Allain shared some Devon words and the replies were a dictionary of delights – 18 favourites
Everywhere in the world has its own local flavour, sometimes literally in the shape of unique recipes, but more often in terms of accents and the words and phrases used.
Artist and very funny man, Moose Allain shared some expressions he remembered from Devon in the 80s.
When I lived in Devon in the late 80s the local people I worked with routinely referred to young men as ‘bays’ and young women as ‘maids’. I haven’t heard them used since we came back in 2006. These local usages appear to have died out in a generation.
— Moose Allain Ꙭ (@MooseAllain) July 1, 2020
I don’t mix with so many Devon-born people (lots of them back then were from rural areas, we were a maintenance team for the National Trust), but my kids, who grew up here, have never heard them used.
— Moose Allain Ꙭ (@MooseAllain) July 1, 2020
Oh yes, I’ve just remembered on rainy days we used to play a lot of cards in the work hut. The word ‘spawny’ was used universally to mean lucky.
— Moose Allain Ꙭ (@MooseAllain) July 1, 2020
Quite a lot of people recognised those words, like journalist Michael Moran, who explained where he’d heard them.
My pal, who’s from Exeter, has an anecdote about his dad watching TOTP in the 80s and furious asking “is im a bay or a med?” on every other song.
— Michael Moran (@TheMichaelMoran) July 1, 2020
Matthew Warren had good news.
Can confirm those phrases still in use in rural North Devon – have heard them plenty in the 25 years since I moved down here from young and old.
— Matthew Warren (@Nom_Dahl_Warren) July 1, 2020
But Moose’s tweets got people thinking about the words and phrases peculiar to their areas, so although there were far too many to post them all, we picked our favourites.
1.
When my grannie was at school, a mum who wasn't good with writing wrote to the teacher explaining her child's absence. All one word: 'Kepatwumatiddyin'. Kep a'twum a tiddyin. Translation: Kept at home to harvest potatoes. (Dorset). I just love it so I still say "a'twum" sometimes
— Katie (@abflabbulous) July 2, 2020
2.
Our family use "I can't thoil it" in reference to something you could afford but are not willing to pay for. Think it's a Yorkshire-ism?
— It’s me, Lis 🌈 (@luonnotarable) July 1, 2020
3.
Do you know “simmer dim”?
Shetland – describes the light quality in summer when the daylight doesn’t quite fade away to become night (also the name of a lovely beer from Britain’s most Northerly brewery)
— Trevor McCarthy (@MrTrevMcCarthy) July 2, 2020
4.
In Australia bed linen is often called Manchester. Shops have Manchester departments – presumably because the cotton came from Manchester.
— GrumpyByName #2706 on the list (@LessGrumpy) July 2, 2020
5.
My grandad was a miner and spoke his own language. A few words/phrases I remember were “shot n’ sham” for ‘shirt and (under)vest’, “snap” we all used growing up for ‘food’ (northern friends use ‘scran’ for same) and “Sorry” for someone’s name you can’t remember…
— スティ—ブン✌🏻 (@StevenHowe) July 2, 2020
6.
My 87-yr old Sheffield m-in-law, if answering the door in sloppy clothes says, ‘sorry, Im in my dishables’. Apparently ‘dishables’ was a corruption of the French word deshabille, meaning incorrectly dressed. And so the sexy French word became the very northern Dishables.
— Robert Thorogood (@robthor) July 1, 2020
7.
Does my mum – who’s a nurse – insisting to me and my brother that the backs of your knees are called ‘popples’ and the pink bits in the corners of your eyes are called ‘pincies’ count? We believed it well into our 20s.
— Gummy bear (@Mullies) July 1, 2020
8.
My father, who picked up a good imitation of a London grammar school accent in the 1940s, used to say he would creet (kreet?) on going until he got there. Never heard anyone else ever use it, except possibly his Rotherham mother.
— Richard Jones (@bugmanjones) July 2, 2020
9.
Grandmother and Mother used to say 'fenockerate' as in if you can fenockerate me some apples I will make a pie. I'll sew that button on if you can fenockerate me a needle. I have no idea of spelling as I only heard it spoken. Has anyone ever heard this?
— Lois Banderaz-Fizz (@LBFizz) July 2, 2020