Highways and Byways in SussexLucas, E. V. (Edward Verrall)
History
Highways and Byways in Sussex
Lucas, E. V. (Edward Verrall)
Sussex (England) -- Description and travel
May be and Mayhap (Perhaps). "May be you knows Mass Pilbeam? No! dȯȧn't
ye? Well, he was a very sing'lar marn was Mass Pilbeam, a very sing'lar
marn! He says to he's mistus one day, he says, 'tis a long time, says
he, sence I've took a holiday--so cardenly, nex marnin' he laid abed
till purty nigh seven o'clock, and then he brackfustes, and then he goos
down to the shop and buys fower ounces of barca, and he sets hisself
down on the maxon, and there he set, and there he smoked and smoked and
smoked all the whole day long, for, says he, 'tis a long time sence I've
had a holiday! Ah, he was a very sing'lar marn--a very sing'lar marn
indeed."
Queer (To puzzle): "It has queered me for a long time to find out who
that man is; and my mistus she's been quite in a quirk over it. He dȯȧnt
seem to be quaint with nobody, and he dȯȧnt seem to have no business,
and for all that he's always to and thro', to and thro', for
everlastin'."
[Sidenote: "MUS REYNOLDS"]
Reynolds ("Mus Reynolds" is the name given to the fox): When I was first
told that "Muss Reynolds come along last night" he was spoken of so
intimately that I supposed he must be some old friend, and expressed a
hope that he had been hospitably received. "He helped hisself," was the
reply; and thereupon followed the explanation, illustrated by an
exhibition of mutilated poultry.
Short (Tender): A rat-catcher once told me that he knew many people who
were in the habit of eating barn-fed rats, and he added, "When they're
in a pudding you could not tell them from a chick, they eat so short and
purty."
Shruck (Shrieked): An old woman who was accidentally locked up in a
church where she was slumbering in a high pew, said, "I shruck till I
could shruck no longer, but no one comed, so I up and tolled upon the
bell."
Spannel (To make dirty foot-marks about a floor, as a spaniel dog
does): "I goos into the kitchen and I says to my mistus, I says ('twas
of a Saddaday), 'the old sow's hem ornary,' I says. 'Well,' says she,
'there ain't no call for you to come spanneling about my clean kitchen
any more for that,' she says; so I goos out and didn't say naun, for you
can't never make no sense of women-folks of a Saddaday."
Surelye: There are few words more frequently used by Sussex people than
this. It has no special meaning of its own, but it is added at the end
of any sentence to which particular emphasis is required to be given.
Tedious (Excessive; very): "I never did see such tedious bad stuff in
all my life." Mr. Parish might here be supplemented by the remark that
his definition explains the use of the word by old Walker, as related by
Nyren, when bowling to Lord Frederick Beauclerk, "Oh," he said, "that
was tedious near you, my lord."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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