Folk-Speech of Cumberland and Some Districts Adjacent: Being Short Stories and Rhymes in the Dialects of the West Border CountiesGibson, Alexander Craig
General
Folk-Speech of Cumberland and Some Districts Adjacent: Being Short Stories and Rhymes in the Dialects of the West Border Counties
Gibson, Alexander Craig
English language -- Dialects -- England -- Cumberland -- Texts
BEING
_Another Supplement to “Joe and the Geologist.”_[1]
BY JOE HIS-SEL’.
That Tommy Towman’s a meàst serious leear—an’, like o’ leears, he’s
a desper’t feùl. By jing! if I hed a dog hoaf as daft I wad hang’t,
that wad I! He gits doon aboot Cockerm’uth an’ Wūrki’ton, noo’s an’
than’s; an’ sūm gentlemen theear, they tak’ him inta t’ Globe or t’
Green Draggin, an’ jūst for nowte at o’ else but acoase they think he
kens me, they feed him wid drink an’ they hod him i’ toak till he can
hardly tell whedder end on him’s upbank; an’ than they dro’ him on to
tell them o’ mak’s o’ teàls—o’ mak’s but true an’s—aboot me; an’ t’
pooar lāl gowk hesn’t gumption aneuf to see ’at they’re no’but makin’
ghem on him. But, loavin’ surs! if he’d hed t’ sense of a gūrse gā’n
gezlin he wad niver ha’ browte oot sec a lafter o’ lees as he’s gitten
yan o’ them Wūrki’ton gentlemen (yan ’at ken’s weel hoo to write doon
oor heàmly toke) to put inta prent; an’ what mak’s yan madder nor o’ t’
rest,—to put them i’ prent jūst as if I’d tel’t them me-sel’. I’s nūt
t’ chap to try to cum ower an oald jolly jist wid whinin’ oot “Fadder’s
deid!” when ivery body kens ’at fadder’s whicker nor meàst on us. My
sarty! he’s nin o’ t’ deein’ mak’ isn’t fadder. Wes’ hev to wūrry
fadder when his time cūms, for he’ll niver dee of his-sel’ sa lang as
ther’s any wark to hoond yan on tull. An’ I needn’t tell any body ’at
knows _me_, ’at I was niver t’ chap to tak’ in owder a jolly jist or
any udder feùl; an’ if I was, I’s nūt a likely fellow to be freeten’t
for what I’d done. But ther’s m’appen sūm ’at doesn’t; an’ mebbee
ther’s a lock ’at doesn’t know what a leear Tommy Towman is, an’ sooa,
bee t’ way o’ settin’ me-sel’ reet wid beath maks, I’ll tell yé what
_dūd_ gā forret ’atween me an’ t’ jolly jist t’ seckint time he com tul
Skeàl-hill.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account