[Midland (Group 5): Sheffield.]
The following extract is from A. Bywater’s Sheffield Dialect, 3rd ed, 1877; as quoted in S.O. Addy’s Sheffield Glossary, E.D.S., 1888, p. xv.
Jerra Flatback. Hah, they’n better toimes on’t nah, booath e heitin and clooas; we’n had menni a mess a nettle porridge an brawls on a Sunda mo’nin, for us brekfast... Samma, dusta remember hah menni names we had for sahwer wotcake?
Oud Samma Squarejoint. O kno’n’t, lad; bur o think we’d foive or six. Let’s see: Slammak wer won, an’ Flat-dick wer anuther; an’t tuther wor—a dear, mo memra fails ma—Flannel an’ Jonta; an-an-an-an—bless me, wot a thing it is tubbe oud, mo memra gers war for ware, bur o kno heah’s anuther; o’st think on enah.—A, Jerra, heah’s menni a thahsand dogs nah days, at’s better dun too nor we wor then; an them were t’golden days a Hallamshoir, they sen. An they happen wor, for’t mesters. Hofe at prentis lads e them days wor lether’d whoile ther skin wor skoi-blue, and clam’d whoile ther booans wer bare, an work’d whoile they wor as knock-kneed as oud Nobbletistocks. Thah nivver sees nooa knock-kneed cutlers nah: nou, not sooa; they’n better mesters nah, an they’n better sooat a wark anole. They dooant mezher em we a stick, as oud Natta Hall did. But for all that, we’d none a yer wirligig polishin; nor Tom Dockin scales, wit bousters comin off; nor yer sham stag, nor sham revvits, an sich loik. T’ noives wor better made then, Jerra.
Jerra: Hah, they wor better made; they made t’ noives for yuse then, but they mayn em to sell nah.
Notes.—Observe ’n for han (plural), have; on’t nah, of it now; e heitin, in eating; mess a, dish of, meal of; brawis, brose, porridge; hah, how; sahwer wotcake, leavened oatcake; bur o, but I; mo, my; ma, me; tubbe oud, to be old; gers, gets; war for ware, worse for wear; o’st, I shall; think on, remember; enah, presently; nah days, nowadays; at’s, that are; dun too, treated; nor we, than we; Hallamshoir, Hallamshire, the district including Sheffield and the neighbourhood; sen, say; happen, perhaps; for’t, for the; hofe at, half of the; e them, in those; lether’d, beaten; whoile, till; clam’d (for clamm’d), starved; sooat a, sort of; anole, and all; we, with; wirligig, machine; Tom Dockin scales, scales cut out of thin rolled iron instead of being forged; bousters, bolsters (a bolster is a lump of metal between the tang and the blade of a knife); stag, stag-horn handle (?); mayn, pl. make.
[Midland (Group 6): Cheshire.]
The following extract is from “Betty Bresskittle’s Pattens, or Sanshum Fair,” by J.C. Clough; printed with Holland’s Cheshire Glossary, E.D.S. (1886), p. 466. Sanshum or Sanjem Fair is a fair held at Altrincham on St James’s Day.
Jud sprung upo’ th’ stage leet as a buck an’ bowd as a dandycock, an’ th’ mon what were playingk th’ drum (only it wer’nt a gradely drum) gen him a pair o’ gloves. Jud began a-sparringk, an’ th’ foaks shaouted, “Hooray! Go it, owd Jud! Tha’rt a gradely Cheshire mon!”
Th’ black felly next gen Jud a wee bit o’ a bang i’ th’ reet ee, an Jud git as weild as weild, an hit reet aht, but some hah he couldna git a gradely bang at th’ black mon. At-aftur two or three minutes th’ black felly knocked Jud dahn, an t’other chap coom and picked him up, an’ touch’d Jud’s faace wi’ th’ spunge everywheer wheer he’d getten a bang, but th’ spunge had getten a gurt lot o’ red ruddle on it, so that it made gurt red blotches upo’ Jud’s faace wheer it touched it; an th’ foaks shaouted and shaouted, “Hooray, Jud! Owd mon! at em agen!” An Jud let floy a good un, an th’ mon wi’ th’ spunge had to pick th’ blackeymoor up this toime an put th’ ruddle upo’ his faace just at-under th’ee.
“Hooray, Jud! hooray, owd mon!” shaouted Jock Carter o’ Runjer; “tha’rt game, if tha’rt owd!”
Just at that vary minit Jud’s weife, bad as hoo were wi’ th’ rheumatic, pushed her rooäd through th’ foaks, and stood i’ th’ frunt o’ th’ show.
“Go it agen, Jud! here’s th’ weife coom t’see hah gam tha art!” shaouted Jonas.
Jud turn’d rahnd an gurned at th’ frunt o’ th’ show wi’ his faace aw ruddle.
“Tha girt soo! I’ll baste thi when aw get thi hwom, that aw will!” shaouted Betty Bresskittle; “aw wunder tha artna ashamed o’ thisen, to stond theer a-feightingk th’ deevil hissel!”
Notes.—Jud, for George; leet, light; bowd, bold; dandycock, Bantam cock; gradely, proper; gen, gave; owd, old; reet ee, right eye; git, got; as weild as weild, as wild as could be; aht, out; at- aftur, after; gurt, great; em, him; floy, fly; Runjer, Ringway; game (also gam), full of pluck; hoo, she; rooad, road, way; gurned, grinned; soo, sow (term of abuse); hwom, home; thisen, thyself.