Last updated at 16:15, Wednesday, 17 June 2009

Cumbria has one of the most interesting - and possibly diverse - dialects in Britain. But even here, though, there are variations between north and south, east and west - and, come to that, between adjoining villages. Here we take a look at Cumberland dialect and give you the chance to hear it being spoken.

• Video: Ethel Fisher recites her poem Gone but not Forgotten

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More audio Click here for more media clips

Hez she ivver used a poop-scoop
When t'corgis couldn't wait
Stannun wid thur legs crosst
Ootside ut Palace Gates?
Hez she ivver peeped through t'curtins
Theer doon Balmoral Way
Than said "Blow me, it's rainun,
Und ah wuz ganna wesh, tuday!"?

It is probably fair to say Queen Elizabeth II has 'nivver lived' this way - but then she's unlikely to have read or heard an affectionate rhyme about her life quite like the one this is taken from.

Penned by Ethel Fisher, She's Nivver Lived, was written in 2002 to celebrate Her Majesty's 50 years on the throne and looks at all the things that she has probably never done during her life.

The lengthy poem - all in dialect - asks if Queen Elizabeth has ever, for example, called at the chip shop or trailed round Woolworths.

Being written in dialect, however, does not mean that people in other parts of the country will understand it because each place has its own particular twang - the north east, West Country, Norfolk . . .

And yet, when people get excited about speech, they forget about Cumbria, which probably has one of the most interesting - and possibly diverse - dialects in Britain. Even here, though, there are variations between north and south, east and west - and, come to that, between adjoining villages.

Most Cumberland dialect words come from Old English but, as you would expect in an area invaded by Norsemen, there are Scandinavian ones as well. For example, dirty children are clarty or mucky and lug (ear) is of Viking origin.

There are also a few French and Scottish words thrown in while shepherds used to count in Celtic numerals, which dated back at least 1,400 years. There are, however, variations, including one for Borrowdale.

After 20 you start again and tick off each score on your fingers.

Some of these words are still occasionally used today but they, like their cousins, are now more likely to be found on fairly obscure websites and treated as curiosities.

Celtic records abound in local river names (Cocker, Derwent), lakes (Crummock Water) and mountains (Skiddaw).

Scandinavian names are plentiful; Norwegian settlers who reached the Cumberland coast worked their way up the river valleys into Lakeland leaving their marks in all the -thwaites, -gills and -forces.

When you approach a man, he may greet you with "Wat fettle?", "Hoo do?" or "Hoo's thi fettle?" If he works with you, he's a marra. Friends are called mates.

There is no shortage of wonderful words to describe animals. Clegs are horseflies and midges, a jinnyspinner is a daddy longlegs, twitchbell an earwig, hedgehogs urchins and wuzzles or wizzles are weasels.

Sheep had - and still have - complicated names. During the winter, the growing lambs are hogs or hoggets and stay so until the next spring when they become gimmers if female, or wedders if doctored. Twinters are two year old sheep and there are also yews (ewes), auld wedders and tups.

In food and drink, kyaks are cakes and tea is allowed to mass in a pot. Vast numbers of Cumbrians enjoy fyutbaw (football) and quite a few take part in Cumberland wrestling with its various ods (holds). Then there is gurrnan through a braffin (grinning through a horse collar) at Egremont Crab Fair.

One sport that seems to have been played only in Aspatria was uggery welt - a type of cricket. Bats were shortened pick shafts and the ball (or cat) a piece of pick shaft three to four inches long. Children's games incluuded tig with the cry "Thoo's it!", biggly (blindman's bluff) and hidy pot (similar to hide the thimble but played with a piece of broken china or pot). Children then were gay lish (very active).

Place names in dialect can be worked out by their spellings but many are often still pronounced this way: Wucki'n (Workington), Whitehebben (Whitehaven), Merrypoort (Maryport) and Speeatry (Aspatria).

Simple words have their dialect equivalents. Spade is a spyad, deaf deef, clothes clyaz, moon mioon, time teym and about aboot.

Ethel, who was born in Flimby but lives in Seaton, has written numerous books in dialect and is a popular fixture on the talks circuit. She has read pieces on radio stations and at major meetings - including the 23rd Psalm from the pulpit of Carlisle Cathedral during a Womens Institute celebration.

She sees her job as trying to preserve the local dialect. "It has not changed but it is used less frequently. A lot of the original words are the same and they won't change but they are used a lot less frequently."

One of the reasons for the dilution of the local dialect is because people from other parts of the country have moved into the area, bringing with them their own ways of speaking.

In any case, although they can learn the dialect, they need the local twang to pronounce the words properly, she added.

Ethel writes her books in 'modern' dialect with the aim of amusing as many people as possible.

"If you use the old dialect, many people won't understand it. Anyone who talks dialect now doesn't use old dialect," she added.

She received the MBE for her services to the community and was presented with the honour by Princess Anne, who urged her not to let the dialect die out.

"I want to keep ours going and I will. It is part of rural England. Everyone has their own bit of dialect," she added.

Another writer - and speaker - is Wendy Campbell, of Aspatria, who has recorded a Christmas carol in local dialect.

She put together her alternative take on The Twelve Days of Christmas to raise funds for the Great North Air Ambulance, which airlifted her granddaughter to hospital in Newcastle over four years ago.

Wendy said the idea for the festive CD was born out of her love for dialect.

“I’ve written in dialect for years and I do readings. I love it and I just don’t want to see it die out,” she added.

On’t sixth day she wrote.......
Ista nut gittan me letters Jobby????
Ah’r ista just beeyan awkart?
Six geese landit this mornin’......
Theh layan eggs awe owat spot, ah doon’t knaw waat ah’s ganna stan in next,
The’v ed cat screeman up’t wa’s......
We edta git vet agyan......anutha 45 pun, cos it waas New eeyars eve.
Mutha’s noo on 100 grains ah valium...nut t’ menshun two bottles ah whiskey she’s suppan afooar ur dinna.
She’s startid ramblan away til ursel...
Arve dun nowt but swill paths, scrub an clean, me ands is red raw, an ah stink ah carbolic...
Theh must be sum way t’ show thee feelin’s widoot awe this kelter.

More dialect:

Wat's Fur Me Dinner? by Ethel Fisher

She's Nivver Lived by Ethel Fisher

• Have you got any examples of Cumberland dialect? Send them to us here and we'll add them to further pages

First published at 11:37, Tuesday, 07 April 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk