Ti stop lennin’, start borrerin’, i.e. To prevent borrowers coming to you, try to borrow from them.
It’s better ’at fau’k s’u’d laugh at ya foor knowing larl aboot owt, ’an ya s’u’d loss yer brass byv pretending ti knaw owermich. It is better that people should laugh at your knowing little about anything, than you should lose your money by pretending to know too much.
When hooap dees, fear’s born. When hope dies, fear is born.
Yan’s nivver afeeard o’ stepping oot o’ t’ waay ti deea a good to’n, if yan’s on t’ reet waay foor deeaing on ’t. One is never afraid of stepping out of the way to do a kindness, if one is in the right way for doing it; i.e. we are never unwilling to step out of our way to do a kindness, if we are sufficiently Christian to do what is right.
Since quite a boy I have jotted down any apt saying which I have heard. Many such, however, are so common, that they daily pass the lips of our country folk. These characteristic Yorkshire sayings, as already shown, are worthy of greater consideration than they have hitherto obtained. Why, I once heard an old Basedale man give a temperance lecture in a few words; he put the whole thing into a nutshell. What he said was terse, brief, full of sound common sense, and decidedly smart. We took it all away with us. And just because it was what it was, we never forgot it—we never wished to forget it—whilst often we have no desire to remember the one-sided, long-winded, intemperate drivel we have to listen to nowadays. Said he, ‘Drink, if nobbut weel followed up, awlus diz yan o’ tweea things. If ya ’a’e gitten plenty o’ brass, it’ll kill ya; if nut, it’ll beggar ya’; i.e. drink, if only well followed up, always does one of two things. If you have plenty of money, it will kill you; if not, it will beggar you.
‘Some fau’k knaw better ’an ti swing on ther awn yat,’ was said of one, who was an inveterate borrower of certain articles, which it was supposed he well could afford to buy for himself.
‘Sha nivver will larn ’at yan s’u’dn’t hug tweea eggs i’ yah han’,’ was said of one who generally spoilt what she was doing by having too many irons in the fire at one time.
‘Neeabody tries if a trap’s kittle wi’ ther finger.’ The application is obvious.
To one who was in the habit of returning at a late hour from the weekly market, and sometimes not quite sober, it was remarked, ‘Late yam fra t’ market off’n spoils a good bargain,’ implying that that which had been gained by the day’s bargaining had been foolishly spent in the public-house.
‘He’s yan o’ them ’at nivver hauf diz owt, bud then Ah’ve notished ’at them ’at leeavs t’ hoos deear oppen, maistly foorgit ti steck t’ yat.’