University of Virginia Library

MIDLAND (Group 5): SHEFFIELD.

The following extract is from A. Bywater's Sheffield Dialect, 3rd ed, 1877; as quoted in S.O. Addy's Sheffield Glossary, E.D.S., 1888, p. xv.

Jerra Flatback.

Hah, they'n better toimes on't nah, booath e heitin and clooas; we'n had menni a mess a nettle porridge an brawls on a Sunda mo'nin, for us brekfast... Samma, dusta remember hah menni names we had for sahwer wotcake?

Oud Samma Squarejoint.

O kno'n't, lad; bur o think we'd foive or six. Let's see: Slammak wer won, an' Flat-dick wer anuther; an't tuther wor--a dear, mo memra fails ma--Flannel an' Jonta; an-an-an-an--bless me, wot a thing it is tubbe oud, mo memra gers war for ware, bur o kno heah's anuther; o'st think on enah.-- A, Jerra, heah's menni a thahsand dogs nah days, at's better dun too nor we wor then; an them were t'golden days a Hallamshoir, they sen. An they happen wor, for't mesters. Hofe at prentis lads e them days wor lether'd whoile ther skin wor skoi-blue, and clam'd whoile ther booans wer bare, an work'd whoile they wor as knock-kneed as oud Nobbletistocks. Thah nivver sees nooa knock-kneed cutlers nah: nou, not sooa; they'n better mesters nah, an they'n better sooat a wark anole. They dooant mezher em we a stick, as oud Natta Hall did. But for all that, we'd none a yer wirligig polishin; nor Tom Dockin scales, wit bousters comin off; nor yer sham stag, nor sham revvits, an sich loik. T' noives wor better made then, Jerra.

Jerra:

Hah, they wor better made; they made t' noives for yuse then, but they mayn em to sell nah.

Notes.--Observe 'n for han (plural), have; on't nah, of it now; e heitin, in eating; mess a, dish of, meal of; brawis, brose, porridge; hah, how; sahwer wotcake, leavened oatcake; bur o, but I; mo, my; ma, me; tubbe oud, to be old; gers, gets; war for ware, worse for

wear; o'st, I shall; think on, remember; enah, presently; nah days, nowadays; at's, that are; dun too, treated; nor we, than we; Hallamshoir, Hallamshire, the district including Sheffield and the neighbourhood; sen, say; happen, perhaps; for't, for the; hofe at, half of the; e them, in those; lether'd, beaten; whoile, till; clam'd (for clamm'd), starved; sooat a, sort of; anole, and all; we, with; wirligig, machine; Tom Dockin scales, scales cut out of thin rolled iron instead of being forged; bousters, bolsters (a bolster is a lump of metal between the tang and the blade of a knife); stag, stag-horn handle (?); mayn, pl. make.