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

by Alexander Craig Gibson

To my poor man or me;

An’ t’ spring o’ t’ year noo brings me nowte

But t’ mind o’ misery.

I can’t see what anudder sees

I’ t’ fields an’ t’ flooers o’ May,

For t’ croft was white wid dog-daisies

When Jwohn was teàn away.

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T’ CLEAN NED O’ KES’ICK.

This phrase is proverbial in central Cumberland, and is generally used in a negative sense; thus, of a person whose character for upright conduct will not bear the full light of day, it is said, “He’s nūt t’ clean Ned o’ Kes’ick.”