Cornish/Mantlepiece

[arrodbo 10]

Is it a Sheffield saying to call the ledge on a Mantlepiece "CORNISH" and where does it originate from please?

[max 13]

Perhaps from the word cornice.

[jenz245 10]

Is it a Sheffield saying to call the ledge on a Mantlepiece "CORNISH" and where does it originate from please?

 

try this thread. http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=52088 someone will know.

Im not sure if it's sheffield but it always makes me laugh when my nan and mum say it. Luckily I haven't got a "cornish" so it hasn't rubbed off on me lol

[smog 10]

It'll be a cornice, a decorative moulding. I'm sure there are lots of funny sheffieldisms though. I looked blank for a couple of years when people said "us 'ass" aka our house. It was a lot of fun having driving lessons when I didn't always understand what the instructor had said, and I've got s.yorks relatives, so no excuse really.

[geek_andy 10]

Definitely 'cornice'.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornice

[rubydazzler 11]

I think it comes from the French word for shelf or ledge. Corniche. Probably dates from the Norman invasion ... presumably 'cornice' is another derivation?

 

The Sheffield pronunction of "door jamb" as "door jourm", is also a corruption of the French pronunciation of "jambe" (leg)

[hillsbro 32]

Yes - the O.E.D. agrees that it comes from corniche/cornice..

[sycamore66j 10]

another one that comes to mind , is it SOFA, SETTEE or COUCH ?

[Linesman 10]

Is it a Sheffield saying to call the ledge on a Mantlepiece "CORNISH" and where does it originate from please?

It was a decorative wooden fitting that was placed over the stone mantlepiece, very often they had a brass tube underneath located into brackets at each end

[brianthedog 10]

another one that comes to mind , is it SOFA, SETTEE or COUCH ?

 

Sofa, definitely.

[alchresearch 214]

How about Gennel / Jennel. Why do those dirty Lancastrians feel the need to call it a ginnel (hard G)?

[hillsbro 32]

It isn't only Lancastrians - Barnsleyites call it a ginnel. Here's my post from another thread:

 

Sheffield.... -... jennel

Barnsley.... -... ginnel

Leicester... -... snicket

Sussex...... -... twitten

North Lincs..-... tenfoot (except Grimsby, where they call it an eightfot - funny lot in Grimsby)..