Wit, Character, Folklore & Customs of the North Riding of Yorkshire With a Glossary of over 4,000 Words and Idioms Now in Use

In such cases, however, ‘a’ cannot be parsed as an article. Many opinions have been given, but perhaps Cobbett, who holds it to be an abbreviation for ‘at,’ meaning ‘without dou...

So far as we have gone, it will be evident to those who read a little between the lines, that mixed up with fact, imagination, and exaggeration, there exists a very considerable...

When Ah war a wee lahtle tottering bairn, An’ ‘ed nobbut just gitten sho’t frocks, When ti gan[81] Ah at fo’st war beginnin’ ti larn, O’ mah bru[82] Ah gat monny hard knocks; Fo...

The old customs and superstitions connected with marriage festivities are perhaps more closely observed here and there in the North Riding than in any other part of Yorkshire. I...

Quite a volume might be written on the above; their number and variety is legion. Therefore in brief only will it be possible to treat many of our omens, &c. To some few of the...

Custom and folklore are so interwoven that it is quite impossible to write of them separately. The North Riding to-day is _par excellence_ the home of both. This is easily accou...

The North Riding is peculiarly rich in children’s lore. I remember when a lad it was considered unlucky to hold a third place whilst crossing a stream. To overcome the difficult...

The North Riding is very prolific in similes and quaint sayings. I have by me a collection of some hundreds, varying in degree of point and humour, but all worthy of being prese...

Witch-lore runs so very much in the same groove, that one fairly good example throws light on many points of interest. It was either the evil eye, or the working of some spell,...

Our country-people, as has been incidentally remarked, are very proud and independent, but I venture to say both their pride and independency are cast in a right groove, and may...

‘EDDICATION an’ self-binnders is gahin ti to’n t’ wo’lld upsahd doon,’ said an honest Yorkshireman to me the other day. ‘Are things in general really much different now from wha...

In writing such a chapter there is one difficulty presents itself—where to commence. There is too much material. As a starting-point, let us take the following remark, which was...

I purpose devoting this chapter to stories which in themselves are good examples, embracing, as they do, many phases of Yorkshire character. With the exception of the first two...

Our country-people possess in a very marked degree the faculty of explaining away anything which for special reasons they do not care to admit. Very often they do this in a marv...

There are many other side-lights to our character, only a few of which it will be possible to notice. But every story is pictured in such varying light and shade as to afford th...

There is a saying current among us in the East Riding that ‘it takes a Yorkshireman to talk Yorkshire’; the very form of the expression smacks of the county; and if this be true...

Educated people do not nowadays say, ‘I sat a sipping of my tea, and a smiling at the kettle a singing on the hob,’ No, it sounds quaint. And to those who know as little of thei...