Ive moved around the uk quite a bit, and one of the things that fascinates me is all the customs, and folklore that goes with each area, how a local recipe can change every couple of miles, and dialect. There is so much about the uk that not all of us know. I just wandered (hoped) there would be some on here with local area tales to tell?
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I’ve noticed the same with fermented foods - how they can differ by area. Who’d have thought there would be so many different ways to ferment cabbage!
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I love these little quirks. One area i was in used to say that their grandfathers said it was bad luck to take a woman on a fishing boat, though that sounded more like an excuse to me. Or another place there 4 small lakes at the foot of a mountain, that were the foot prints of 2 giants who fought to the death.
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My mother said never to put new shoes on a table. Don’t know why
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Ye, ive heard that before, where on earth do they come from? Not putting an umbrella up in the house, why is it badluck? Also the toothfairy, whats her story?
Scots dialect some of you might like:
Charles Murray
He cut a sappy sucker from the muckle rodden-tree,
He trimmed it, an’ he wet it, an’ he thumped it on his knee;
He never heard the teuchat when the harrow broke her eggs,
He missed the craggit heron nabbin’ puddocks in the seggs,
He forgot to hound the collie at the cattle when they strayed,
But you should hae seen the whistle that the wee herd made!
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Oh wow, thats amazing. How would it translate in the queens English.lol. thank you
He cut a fresh twig from a large Rowan tree
He trimmed it and pressed it on his knee
That’s the Scot in me…
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Love it. Sod the the queens english, we’ll stick with yours…
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We can. That said but I was required to use correct English at school. Any errors were punish with the leather belt !
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back in da pool - my birth place as teenager lad we would walk down the street behind some girls oour age and shout:
Aye der girl?
their reply: wot
our reply : dya wanna fella?
their reply : who’s askin?
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BAKERS DOZEN
A baker’s dozen means thirteen. This old saying is said to come from the days when bakers were severely punished for baking underweight loaves. Some added a loaf to a batch of a dozen to be above suspicion.
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BITE THE BULLET
This old saying means to grin and bear a painful situation. It comes from the days before anesthetics. A soldier about to undergo an operation was given a bullet to bite.
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BITTER END
Anchor cable was wrapped around posts called bitts. The last piece of cable was called the bitter end. If you let out the cable to the bitter end there was nothing else you could do, you had reached the end of your resources.
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FLASH IN THE PAN
Muskets had a priming pan, which was filled with gunpowder. When flint hit steel it ignited the powder in the pan, which in turn ignited the main charge of gunpowder and fired the musket ball. However, sometimes the powder in the pan failed to light the main charge. In that case, you had a flash in the pan.
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I’m fascinated by folklore, traditions, and colloquial differences in language.
In days of yore (yore wot, I hear you ask?) members of a congregation would often bring animals with them to church.
Later on, that little fence thing with a gate was installed in front of the alter to stop animals from eating the cloths and candles, (and possibly pooping in the pulpit).
There were no organs, but often instead there would be a minstrels’ gallery at the back if the church was posh enough. When it was time to sing, the congregation would be told to “Turn and face the music.”
Within the West Country of England that roughly encompasses Gloucestershire south-westwards plus Wiltshire and Dorsetshire, speech describing something as simple as posting a letter will differ.
For example, I post, I posts, I do post.
By here in Zumerzet (named after the Summer Settlers who brought livestock to graze in the Summer months, then left for higher ground when it flooded in Winter), tend to say, “by here” instead of, “here.”
Americans often ask, “Where is it at?” instead of “where is it?”; whereas Bristolians (Bristol being a city and a county) tend to say, “Where’s it too?”
Then there is the never ending war of the scones between Cornwall and Devon. Clotted cream then jam, or jam then clotted cream.
Even the UN’s special envoy has never been able to mediate on that one.
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We take things to the extreme sometimes. I speak with quite a posh accent, or so im told. Im not posh, its just down to place of birth and parents insisting we spoke properly etc. I lived in the scottish back of beyonds and used to look after my neighours 3 yr old, who started going home and pronouncing his words like me and his dad used to be constantly correcting him.
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There was also , " are you dancing, are you asking" wasnt there?
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Ahhh, i knew about the 13 bit but didnt know the meaning behing it until now. Thank you
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Oh wow. They were really put through it weren’t they.
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