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Traveller in the Glens: 'Our Antrim Dialect' (pt 2)One important item of conversation in these islands is the weather. In the Glens a miserable, wet day is a ‘drauchy’ day, or in frosty weather it ‘has a gey sharp air in it’ or is ‘snell’ or ‘there's no hate [heat] in it’. In summer it is ‘wild close’ or ‘gey warm’ or ‘cowl for this day o’ the year’.A peal of thunder is a ‘brattle’, a very strong wind is ‘a livin’ gale' or ‘gey wuny’. When the wind is in gusts it is ‘gurly’. Snow is ‘snaw’;half-melted snow or slush is ‘snaw bree’. In wet weather, ‘there’s nae drouth’. Smoke is ‘reek’; where a house has a thatched roof, the part at the wall is the ‘easin’’;the latch of the door is the ‘snick' or ‘sneck’; above the fire is the ‘fireboard’; a small stool used by children is a ‘creepie’; a stone seat on each side of the fireplace in older type houses was the ‘hab’ – ‘There he sut in the bar spaags(feet), wan fut on ivery hab, maizlin he’s shins, an' the oul' woman couldn’t get near-han’ the fire to harn the preta-oaten she was bakin’. ’Potatoes are ‘pretas’;meal is ‘male’;porridge ‘stirabout’; a quarter section of a round of cake of griddle bread is a ‘farl’; a basket is a ‘bastick’, elastic is ‘elasket’;to cook anything in a hurry so that it is only scorched is to ‘gie it a scam’. Eventide is ‘duskus’, or ‘daily-gon’, or ‘fore-supper' and dawn is ‘grey-clear’ or ‘the first scad o’dawn’ or ‘skreigh-o-day’. A collie is a ‘coalie’. ‘Jamie pulled the bush out o' the slap, him an’ the coalie went intill the fiel’, an’ in a wee while ivery yowe (ewe) was out ower the ditch barrin’ wan that fell in the sheugh.’ In wet weather, when the wells become muddy looking with the floods, if you bring in a can or a bucket of water you will be advised to let it ‘shire’ before using it, that is, to leave it aside until the solid matter or sediment sinks to the bottom. A ‘go’ of water means one visit to the well whether you carry one or two receptacles. ‘I brought two ‘goes’ of water’ is a common phrase. ‘As light in the loof as a weaver’s (pronounced ‘waver’s’) kiss’ is a very apt description of a gentle-handed nurse, ‘loof’ being the palm of the hand, and ‘weaver’s kiss’ being the almost imperceptible touch Ufa spider when hanging from its thread. Until recently newts were dreaded by us as they were believed to enter the inside of anyone who drank from the pond or well they frequented. ‘Mankeepers’, we call them, and the story goes that a man who had drunk from a mankeeper-infested pool felt strange movements in his tummy shortly afterwards. Becoming alarmed, he consulted a local wise woman who advised him to fast for twenty-four hours then to eat three salt herrings and go and lie beside the pool with his mouth over it. He did exactly as he was told with the result that no less than seven very thirsty newts hopped out of his inhospitable inside and dived gladly into their native element! From the Appletree Press title: Traveller in the Glens (pb), click here for more information.
Part 1 of this 'Traveller in the Glens' Antrim Dialect article |
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