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Local sayings from yesteryear!


peterinfrance

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I've noticed that in several supermarkets the cashier, after I've paid her, will often end the exchange with a "See you later."

My response is sometimes, "Usual place?"

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On 08/09/2021 at 12:29, DaveJC said:

I always had it down to “see what I mean?”, as clarification that whoever you were speaking to understood you.

Think it’s both - it’s “see you” isn’t it?

so “sithee later”

and

“that’s fixed it sithee”

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Another term my parents used was the word “ Punkah” a punkah was a large canvas sheet hung from the ceilings of homes of well to do Indians and English high ranking civil service personnel and the Tommy’s stationed there in the 1800s, it was pulled to and fro by an Indian man or child to give a little breeze to give a little relief from the heat, both  my parents used the word in relation to the large ears on people, I suppose she picked it up from her own parents. 

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On 17/09/2021 at 18:57, tozzin said:

Another term my parents used was the word “ Punkah” a punkah was a large canvas sheet hung from the ceilings of homes of well to do Indians and English high ranking civil service personnel and the Tommy’s stationed there in the 1800s, it was pulled to and fro by an Indian man or child to give a little breeze to give a little relief from the heat, both  my parents used the word in relation to the large ears on people, I suppose she picked it up from her own parents. 

They were called "punkah wallahs", not sure of that spelling, perhaps "wallers", and I can remember "waller" being used in Sheffield to mean "worker" or "operative", for example when I was at junior school our class teacher called the milk monitors "milk wallers".

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22 minutes ago, Athy said:

They were called "punkah wallahs", not sure of that spelling, perhaps "wallers", and I can remember "waller" being used in Sheffield to mean "worker" or "operative", for example when I was at junior school our class teacher called the milk monitors "milk wallers".

Wallah is the correct spelling. It’s like the spelling of Verandah which I believe is the correct way but the letter H seems to have been discarded.

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44 minutes ago, Lemmy117 said:

On the same theme, someone at work was always asked to be "char wallah", someone who made the tea.

Just looked the word Wallah up and a Wallah was 

a native or inhabitant of a specified place.

"Bombay wallahs"

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I was always led to believe the term Wallah came into the English language from soldiers returning home from service on the Indian sub continent.The tv series “ it ain’t half hot ere ,Mum”….popularised the term Punkah wallah . I must confess I have never heard the term used in our local dialect/ phrases.

 

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2 minutes ago, Lysanderix said:

I was always led to believe the term Wallah came into the English language from soldiers returning home from service on the Indian sub continent.The tv series “ it ain’t half hot ere ,Mum”….popularised the term Punkah wallah . I must confess I have never heard the term used in our local dialect/ phrases.

 

I suppose it depends on how old you are to have heard it, I heard it quite regular in the very late forties and early fifties, after my parents died so did the “ Punkah Wallah” phrase, sad in some respects for me anyway.

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The OED's take on the word is "pertaining to or connected with", hence nao-wala (boatman) or Dilli-walla (inhabitant of Delhi).  Examples given include Agra Walla (from Agra 1776), bangy-wollah (a porter who uses a bangy or yoke 1810), howdah-wallah (an elephant which carries a howdah 1864).

By 1785 in was being used in English as Patriot-wallahs, Suffolk wallah (1853) or big-ship wallah (1917).

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@tozzinI'm sure you're right.  I can't say I'd ever use the term myself, but I can recall older masters at school using the term.  Possibly picked up during National Service?

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I'm basing my theory that my French teacher spent some time in India from his knowledge of Urdu. Each Wednesday morning the "Dustbin Wallahs" would come (the bins were right outside the classroom) and empty them.

There was even a mock Latin verb: Bango, bangere, bangi, bangum.

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1 minute ago, peterinfrance said:

I just remembered another little gem

Blowing off.  As in "is that you blowing off?"

Passing wind !

My Aunt Kate, born in Dublin, use to say to her sons when they released noxious gas , “ go out side and freshen up “ such a beautiful lady.

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Hi,

A dear old friend of mine used to 'Speak-up Brown You're Through'...when somebody broke wind! I've heard this comment from other people. Does anybody know where it comes from? Is it those winde-phones that were used in the trenches in WW1?

Wazzie Worrall

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On 23/09/2021 at 16:32, Hopman said:

I'm basing my theory that my French teacher spent some time in India from his knowledge of Urdu. Each Wednesday morning the "Dustbin Wallahs" would come (the bins were right outside the classroom) and empty them.

There was even a mock Latin verb: Bango, bangere, bangi, bangum.

I worked for a building firm in the office and some of the site lads referred to us as “office wallahs”

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On 23/09/2021 at 18:24, peterinfrance said:

I just remembered another little gem

Blowing off.  As in "is that you blowing off?"

Passing wind !

If I may put my two pennorth into this erudite discussion:

- "Blow off" is used nationwide and is certainly not confined to the Yorkshire area.

- When I was at junior school, the verb used was "let off", and the resulting gust was measured in "arsepower", though this was not an exact science.

- My Dad used to refer to a powerful expulsion by the picturesque name of a "ripstitch", the idea being that the explosion was so powerful that it burst the stitching of one's trousers.

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I wonder what the modern youth would make of the local saying, “ it’s knocked his or her duck off “ I’ve no idea where it came from but as far as I know it’s means experiencing disappointment.

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On the subject of “passing wind” when I was a kid we used the word “trump”. Can’t say I have heard that used in years .🤪

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I think trump was a term that changed to fart when you passed the age of twelve, I’ve always associated it with younger children, not as harsh as fart ?

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I thought it may be interesting to share a couple of pages from the Sheffield Dialect by Abel Bywater, it was published in 1839, the book is rather frail so I can't scan it all. I've included the glossary which is interesting too.

 

Enjoy.IMG20211024114803.thumb.jpg.3d2c3a311bccd206b6462c4f5066278d.jpg

IMG20211024114820.jpg

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Just now, RichardS said:

IMG20211024114424.thumb.jpg.f76f7ae2665fb61f0b7188bb0173d963.jpg

IMG20211024115655.jpg

I find it sad that our dialect is dying out, mainly because of societies outlook on local dialects, I also think that because of a time that saw people not travelling further than their county boundary’s the accent was kept crisp and sharp, this in turn was watered down over the years , in my view local accents were looked down upon them and were made a joke of by people who couldn’t understand us.

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