"The Chronicles of a Country Parish" - A village appraisal of Sulgrave published in 1995

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In the major work on dialects "A Survey of English Dialects" edited by H. Orton and W.J. Halliday (published for the University of Leeds by E.J. Arnold and Son Ltd 1962) Sulgrave was one of the five Northamptonshire villages visited. They interviewed the following locals: Harry Branson, Joe Franklin, Val Harding, Ernie Isham and Ted Saunders. Their answers form the basis of the following:


adland headland, the strip of land at the end of the furrow
ay up 'Look out. Mind what you're doing'
backus back part of a house
bait packed food, lunch
binstead bay in a barn for storing corn
blather empty talk (He's full of blather)
bodge work clumsily or roughly
bolsh, botch put down clumsily, sit down carelessly
brevit search about
bumbarrel long-tailed tit (this word was used by John Clare, the Northamptonshire Poet)
cack (or cag) left-handed
cag-mag tough meat; babble
chelp talk in an impertinent way
cherry-curds first milk from a cow after calving
chitter quick talk
clat cow-pat, or lump of clay
coddy man in charge, foreman
craunch (or scraunch) crunch, squash
curlick charlock (a weed)
dabster expert (also derogatory: 'She's a dabster at losing her key')
doddle cigarette end
eckle green woodpecker
faddle fuss over nothing
flack wave ('Don't flack about!')
fligger fledgling bird
foller fallow: also follow
frem firm, crisp (e.g. of lettuce)
gallus rascal (from 'gallows' - one who deserves hanging)
gansey knitted jumper (from Guernsey?)
gline look around in a furtive way
gossuck bill-hook (from 'gorse-hook')
hairiff (also erriff and other spellings) goose-grass, cleavers (another word used by Clare)
hommock walk clumsily
hotch about fidget
hovel lean-to shed, or open-fronted shed for cattle or machinery
ikey proud, snooty ('She's too ikey for me!')
jollop medicine
jitty narrow passage between houses, entry
jonnock(s) honest, straightforward
keach ladle out
keck parsley
kilter (out of) needing adjustment, out of order
lattermath second crop of hay
leaze, lease glean (gather loose wheat ears)
lummox clumsy person ('You gret lummox')
malkin scarecrow; oven-mop
manky not good enough,not working properly
maunge grumble (to children: 'Stop maunging')
mullock rubbish; junk food
nark annoy
nurker someone not to be trusted
onkers knees or haunches
pudding bag cul-de-sac
puther puff out ('The smoke puthers out from the fire')
quank quieten, subdue ('When I catch him I'll quank him')
rammel loose stone (e.g. for wall filling)
rake about wander ('He's allus raking about')
reasty stale (of butter, bacon etc.)
rootle fidget
roust disturb ('Roust 'em up!')
scuffle hoe, loosen soil
shackles poor quality broth or soup (of hot water, dry bread, pepper and salt)
slear slip away furtively, sneak
slurrup drink noisily
snob shoemaker
squich, squitch couch-grass
tatered tired out
thack thatch
thrape beat, flog
tunkey-pig small fat Tonkin pig ('As fat as a tunkey-pig')
unkid ugly, unpleasant
whap beat, hit
whittle worry ('Stop yer whittling!')
woy up! How d'you do?
yackety unsafe, unstable
yawp talk noisily
yep, yup heap