Sheffield Dialect

[Greybeard 10]

Originally posted by LuckyR

The phrase that bugs me is "rate good" as in it was rate good. Would some people please learn the english language

 

 

I think this too, like the use of thee, thou, thy and thine etc. is the continued use of old-world speech patterns. [Even though we ponounce 'right' as 'reight']

 

Using 'right' to emphasise an adverb sounds almost Shakespearean and I don't think it's met with in modern construction.

 

But there seems to be no consistency...'right' as 'reight', 'night' as 'neet', 'fight' as 'feight', 'light' as 'leet' yet other words such as tight, might and sight are pronounced normally.

 

Any philologists on the forum ?

[Phanerothyme 12]

AFAIK reet/rate is in common use up and down the east coast and is, like right, derived from the OE/ON rikitig meaning true, proper, correct etc.

[stella fan 10]

Originally posted by Nu_Skillz

sneck??? nah mate tha got it wrong tha thinkin of Barnsley slang thea kid.

 

some more barnsly slang for ya like:-

 

Coyal = coal

Foty = 40

Ginnle = Jennle/snicket

chimberly = chimney

 

wor a'bart booit for boot n tarn for town.

[uptheowls 10]

Originally posted by Captain_Scarlet

N'ow flower bobs run art, ift ta ant goranuder thal after geroff un shuv.

 

It's also a known fact that to know sheffieldish and to sound like one, one must live no less than 40 yaers in our great city.

 

wot if ur born here?

[PopT 10]

These are a few phrases I remember from my scghooldays in Sheffield.

 

 

Gi 'im a fair huggin - Give him as much as he can hold in two arms without dropping any.

 

Marital advice to son - Keep her poorly shod and well f***ed and she'll never leave thi.

 

It dunt arf shunkle. - It doesn't half shine.

 

Save us apple couk. - Saves me the apple core. (schoolboy)

 

Am clammed to dee-ath. I am very cold.

 

 

I have more if anyone is interested?

[mojoworking 10]

Originally posted by PopT

These are a few phrases I remember from my scghooldays in Sheffield.

 

Marital advice to son - Keep her poorly shod and well f***ed and she'll never leave thi.

 

 

Wasn't that the title of Germaine Greer's autobiography?

[Plain Talker 11]

Originally posted by PopT

Marital advice to son - Keep her poorly shod and well f***ed and she'll never leave thi.

that's similar to the old saying about "keep a woman barefoot in winter, and pregnant in summer, and she'll not leave."

 

It dunt arf shunkle. - It doesn't half shine.

 

"shunkle" is a phrase that we in our family use, even to this day; If my little granddaughter has shiny clothes, or hair-ribbons/bobbles , we will say something like... "Ooh, look! You've got your 'shunkley' ribbons in".

 

Am clammed to dee-ath. I am very cold.

I have more if anyone is interested?

 

my grandma always used to say, if she was cold, that she was "starving" or "starved ter dee'ath".

 

I used to have a mug, on which was printed "A Yorkshireman's advice to his son"

 

this "sage advice" read:-

 

"hear all, see all, and say nowt.

 

eyt all, sup all, and pay nowt

 

and, if tha duz owt fer nowt, allus do it fer thi'ssen!"

 

 

 

I always thought "chimley" or "chimbley" for Chimney was more a Lancashire phrase?

 

My great grandad had a funny quirk of his speech, he used to say whole, in the same way as Fred Dibnah, the steeplejack, not pronouncing it as "hole", but as "Woale"

 

although, as an aside, my ex hubby's gramma' always used to say "scithers" for scissors, (which again, I always thought was more Lancastrian) and the insurance man who called didn't work for the Brittanic insurance, it was the "Pritannic".

 

PT

[fhain29 10]

Originally posted by t020

I thought "rate good" meant "right good" and was just a case of lazy vowel pronunciation?

 

Dialects have nothing to do with lazy lowel pronounciation and should not be confused with speaking improperly. They are forms of languages in their own right and should be cared for and nurtured. They are after all an important carrier of identity and heritage.

That doesn't mean that people shouldn't speak Standard English, too. Most people can and do switch easily, mostly in a regional accent, which has nothing to do with dialect.

I live abroad and find I speak standard English with a light Yorkshire accent (bath instead of barth, apple instead of æpple: can't do that, hurts my mouth) so I can be understood. After three hours in Sheffield though I'm thee-ing and thou-ing and saying "nayow" and "geroff".

[Alanbro 10]

If tha thinks t'Sheffield accent's deerd

That not reight in t'heead

It'll never dee

Believe you me

A've bin far and wide

An' ah can se wi pride

It' ll never dee aart, wack

'til Nelson gets 'is eye back.

Ah know this fer sure

'as tha bin on't Moor ?

and listened ter t'cackle

abaht Bennetts Fishin' Tackle

or 'eerd a retort

abaht local spoort

Nuf sed me owd luv

If tha gives us a shuv

Ah'll sing t'refrain from Annie's song

for ever as long

Blades anthem fer sure

It fair mecks thi roor!

[PopT 10]

In reply to Mojoworking

 

I do not know where Germaine Greer picked up the phrase for her book.

 

Many phrases from our area have travelled with emigration etc.

 

In the southern states of America the old slave dialect of 'Gulla' contains many of our local words, some of which are still use in Sheffield.

 

These words were 'borrowed' from the slave masters.

 

All I know is that my old folks in Sheffield were the marital phrase using it well before any book title, along with many more.

[t020 11]

Originally posted by fhain29

Dialects have nothing to do with lazy lowel pronounciation and should not be confused with speaking improperly. They are forms of languages in their own right and should be cared for and nurtured. They are after all an important carrier of identity and heritage.

That doesn't mean that people shouldn't speak Standard English, too. Most people can and do switch easily, mostly in a regional accent, which has nothing to do with dialect.

I live abroad and find I speak standard English with a light Yorkshire accent (bath instead of barth, apple instead of æpple: can't do that, hurts my mouth) so I can be understood. After three hours in Sheffield though I'm thee-ing and thou-ing and saying "nayow" and "geroff".

 

 

All well and good but I never said dialects have anything to do with lazy vowel pronunciation. I think I know the difference between accents and dialects.

[mojoworking 10]

Originally posted by PopT

In reply to Mojoworking

 

I do not know where Germaine Greer picked up the phrase for her book.

 

Many phrases from our area have travelled with emigration etc.

 

In the southern states of America the old slave dialect of 'Gulla' contains many of our local words, some of which are still use in Sheffield.

 

These words were 'borrowed' from the slave masters.

 

All I know is that my old folks in Sheffield were the marital phrase using it well before any book title, along with many more.

 

Perhaps I was confusing it with the time-honoured motto of the feminist movement?

 

Shod nullus, copulatum plentius, egress nullus