Lakeland Words A Collection of Dialect Words and Phrases as Used in Cumberland and Westmorland, with Illustrative Sentences in the North Westmorland Dialect

KIAV’D—We kiav’d through; got through a difficulty anyhow. They kiav’d doon t’ middle o’ ther bit—that is they wasted t’ middle, an’ warrant ower nice wi’ t’ sides.

HITTY-MISSY—A ning-nang sooart ov a chap ’at’s easy put off, an’ izzant varra particular aboot keepen his word, er diun as he says he will. Also something of which there is much...

CHIRM—To put a lot o’ fancy craft inta yer talk when ye durt know hoo. Noo she thinks neea smo’ drink of hersell chirmen an’ nacken. “She” was a young man fra t’ town.

LOLLOCK—A good big lump. As auld Nanny lad, Ike, said when they’d company at dinner, an’ she ass’d him if he wanted sarra’en wi’ any mair meat. “Aye,” sez he, “Ye can cut us a l...

GOB—Noo this is a rough hag’d un, but it’s varra useful at times, an’ a pooak’s nin prood. Ye can talk aboot a pooak gob, er fur that matter any sooart ov a gob, withoot given o...

DARRAK, DARGUE—Good classical scholars ’ll use this yan an’ net be shamm’d on ’t—John Ruskin amang them. It means a day’s wark, er hoo mich yan can deea in a day. A darrak o’ mo...

SEETER—Nay, Ah’s capt noo! It was a cooat as auld as t’ hills, but she stack tull’t it was as good as new, an’ hed nowder crack ner seeter in ’t. Mak’ what ye can on ’t.

BONNY—A bonny price, a bonny bairn, a bonny auld shindy, a bonny neet, in fact, ther’s neea limits ta owt at’s bonny—an’ a lal word’s a bonny word sometimes.

POWSOWDY—Het yal, an’ sops, an’ barley, an’ ket o’ that mack. Ah durt wonder at them co’en ’t pow-sow, an’ fig-sew, fer some on ’t wad sham a decent auld sew ta sup ’t.

SPROGUED, SPLANSHED, SPRAIGED, SPLATTERED, SPLODDERED—Ye know what it is to wade about in a wet spot, where long grass, or ling, compels one to lift the foot a good height up ea...

FELL-IN—He gat wedded ta a bit ov a lal body ’at he nobbut fell-in wi’ at Martinmas, an’ gat gaily weel bitten. Fell-in wi’ means to make the acquaintance of, or become known to.

AVISED—Black-avised like a man that gits oot o’ bed on t’ wrang side, or gets his fias smeared with grime. A good old standing phrase that often hits off a description when more...

NARK, NARKY, NARKT—It narks yan a bit ta see sec wark. He war a bit narky ower t’ trottin’ do. Some fooak er seea siun narkt. It means put out.

TYKE—A heedless, hearty ho-buck, wi’ a rough heed an’ a rougher tongue, an’ ways ’at seeuner er leeater ’ll land i’ bodder. That’s a tyke. Somehoo we like t’ tike breed if they...

Obvious typographical errors in the plain English of this text have been silently corrected. In the main the dialect sections they remain as printed including the variation in t...

1—Yan. 2—Tahn. 3—Teddera. 4—Meddera. 5—Pimp. 6—Settera. 7—Littera. 8—Hovera. 9—Dovera. 10—Dick. 11—Yan-dick. 12—Tahn-dick. 13—Teddera-dick. 14—Medder-dick. 15—Bumfit. 16—Yan-a-b...