Folk-Speech of Cumberland and Some Districts Adjacent Being Short Stories and Rhymes in the Dialects of the West Border Counties

Well! t’ bargin was, ’at I sud carry them to Skeàl-hill. Sooa back we pot—t’ jolly jist watchin’ his bags o’ t’ way as if t’ steans was guineas, an’ I was a thief. When we gat t...

“An’ days went by an’ neàbody went nār to t’ tinkler’s dooar, At last some barns peep’t in an’ so’ some huller’t bleùd on t’ flooar, An’ than t’ hoose dooar was drūven in, an’ s...

I pled for my companions rouch— I trow’t they couldna mean to fley her: But only heard her breath’s quick souch, For fient a word could I get frae her.

Let’s feeace, Martha, feeace it, Whativer cūms behint! God niver sends a mowth wi’owt A sūm’at ut put in’t. We s’, happen, hev a mowth or two Ut feed besides owr ā’n, What matte...

We’re hingin’ i’ t’ bell reàps[3]—to t’ parson I’ve toak’t, An’ I gev him a hint as he maffelt an’ jwoak’t, To mind when she sud say “love, honour, OBEY,” ’At she doesn’t slip t...

An’ it keept on sa bad, he tūrn’t maffelt an’ maiz’t, An’ sa wankle an’ wake ’at he to’k tull his bed, Whoar, liggin’ hoaf deid, ey, an’ mair nor hoaf craiz’t, He cūd think aboo...

IN CORDIAL RECOGNITION OF THE PRE-EMINENT INDUSTRY AND SKILL DISPLAYED IN HIS ELUCIDATIONS OF THE HOMELY SPEECH OF OUR NATIVE COUNTY, AND IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE UNFA...

“An’ fowk wad _threep_ that she did green For what wad gar her skirl An’ skreich some day.” _Ramsay._ Christ’s Kirk on the Green. “Some _threep_ ’at the times ’ill get better.”...

The corruptions or variations of consonants are not so marked as those of vowels. The most notable are the hardening of Th into Dd, making father, _fadder_, mother, _mūdder_, et...

A blue-devilled fellow at Coniston said he could not stay in his house because there was _flayan_ in it. “Ey,” said his mother, “If there isn’t there will be—there ’ill be empty...

“_Lowp_ off the steed, says false Sir John, Yere bridal bed ye see.” Ballad—May Colean. “My heart keeps such a rout, It _lowps_ an’ _lowps_ as if it wad _lowp_ out.” _Ewan Clark...