#Lancashire Dialect

[wordsmithnikki]

An Alphabetical Compilation of Lancashire Dialect & Phrases, Lancashire Slang & Old Lancashire Words

I've been working on this post for more than a year and would love to get the entries to 100. If you or your family know any good words, sayings or phrases or slang please send them to me: hello@nikkiwordsmith.com or Business WhatsApp 07905 456704

By Nikki Wordsmithhello@nikkiwordsmith.com The Ever-Growing List Of Lancashire Dialect Words, Sayings, Phrases & Lancashire Slang Apeth (a halfpenny, a dimwit) Bap (round piece of bread shaped like a bun) Barm (round piece of bread) Bassinet (bed for baby that looks like a basket) Boggarts (ghosts) Burr left (turn left) Burr reet (turn right) Buzz (bus) Chippy tea (a Friday evening meal…

[regencyronnie]

Coal Miner's Book Available Again After Over 100 Years

I have been keeping rather quiet about a writing project that I have been involved with, as it isn’t my usual sort of thing. I have been rather reticent at promoting it as I haven’t been completely sure how to go about it. This all came about rather suddenly. My wife’s cousin was at a pub in Wigan and began discussing about her great- great-grandfather, who lived in the town. Samuel Woods grew up…

[hairtusk]

listened to the in our times episode about robert burns, and weirdly enough, the most memorable line was '...perhaps if wordsworth hadn't gone to cambridge, he'd have written in cumbrian dialect. conversely, attending university might've ruined robert burns.' and now i can't stop imagining the alternative reality where wordsworth had preserved rural cumbrian dialect by writing his poetry in it. my hearts weeps.

[acwern]

Reading through Liber Cure Cocorum, a Lancashire cookbook from the 1430s, and found my first usage of the letter Yogh in the wild!

Cool things about this cookbook:

1. It's got a bit of Lancashire dialect in it (t'other, t'one, etc.) that's survived to modern usage.

2. It's written entirely in rhyme.

3. It's the first written down example of a recipe going by the name haggis (hagese) using offal and herbs according to Wikipedia.

4. A good handful of the recipes start by telling you to go and kill the thing you'll be eating.

[loki-zen]

i do think there are various ways in which (esp middle to upper class coded) southern english deviates from american english more than some other english dialects and this means that there are uses that sound weird to americans that don’t sound weird to me but which i don’t personally use

[tongue-tales]

The Great Teacake Confusion: A Linguistic Battlefield

Picture this: a seemingly innocent request for a ham teacake unleashes a tempest of linguistic chaos. What could have been a simple bakery order turned into a heated debate on regional dialects, bread products, and the meaning of a teacake. Brace yourselves; this blog will take you on a rollercoaster ride of bread bun battles and linguistic fisty cuffs!

As a colleague innocently asked me what I wanted from the bakers, little did I know that my answer would ignite a maelstrom of confusion. "A ham teacake, please," I replied politely. But oh boy, I had no idea what was coming.

My colleague returned from the shop, brandishing a white bag containing my dinner, suspiciously nodding at it, and said, "I asked for what you asked for." As I looked inside, I saw the familiar bread product that my family affectionately called a teacake. Innocently, I debagged my dinner, thinking all was well.

But wait! The teacake debate was far from over. My colleague insisted that what I held was a "roll." I retorted, "Well, it's a teacake to me!" A showdown between regional dialects had begun.

Suddenly, a voice chimed in, declaring, "That's not a teacake...a teacake contains raisins!" This unexpected attack hit me like a linguistic Pearl Harbor. The battle for regional supremacy had escalated, and my West Cumbrian spirit was ready to fight back. "No! That's a fruit teacake!" I shot back.

Back in my little industrial seaside town, teacakes were teacakes, eaten with ham, chicken, turkey at Christmas, cheese, jam, and all manner of fillings. There was never any debate or fist-shaking. But as I moved away, I discovered that innocent bread product was a linguistic grenade, capable of destroying friendships and causing linguistic wars.

Let's dive into the ring of linguistic fisty cuffs! Some call teacakes bread buns or barm cakes, while others throw "muffins" into the mix. And let's not forget "oven bottoms" and "baps," which add to the confusion.

The term "bread roll" seems straightforward, but it, too, falls into a grey area, with different shapes and definitions. My colleagues' preferences for stotties only added to the linguistic chaos.

Imagine working in a bakery on the Cumbria-Lancashire border—what a challenge that would be! Convincing colleagues about the existence of bread buns might require Prozac within the first hour. But don't worry; evidence from South Yorkshire may provide some support.

So, buckle up for the Great Teacake Confusion, where linguistic battles are fought over seemingly innocent bakery orders. Bread buns, teacakes, muffins, oven bottoms, and baps collide in a whirlwind of dialects and regional preferences. Get ready for a linguistic rollercoaster ride that'll leave you craving answers—and maybe a teacake or two!

So, what do you call those little bread products is it a teacake or a roll? Does balm just stick in your throat?

Join the debate!

[abubblingcandle]

Jamie Tartt Accent Analysis

Um so yeah, after an anon ask to @withbadhair talking about how Phil is posh and Jamie is Manc, I relistened to Phil Dunster's episode on No Such Thing As A Fish again today and got sucked back into how much I love thinking about the intricacies of regional accents and how much I love thinking about Phil's accent work and how it is great!

So here you go -

A Yorkshire Lass' with an obsession with regional UK accents' take on Jamie Tartt's accent

Phil's Intentions with the accent

Phil has said that it was really his choice what sort of Manchester accent they went for (as Jamie wasn't written specifically to be Mancunian) but he was aiming for New Moston sort of area which is north eastern Manchester suburb (see yellow highlighted area on the image)

But he started by mimicking his agent who is apparently sassy and from Manchester but then listened to people like Aitch (who is from Moston which is probably where the idea for Jamie being from Moston/New Moston came from), Marcus Rashford (who is from Wythenshawe which is south Manchester out of the Outer Ring Road), Jesse Lingard (who is from Warrington which is a town between Manchester and Liverpool to the west) the Gallaghers (who are from Burnage which is south eastern - near Highfield Country Park on the map) which was more season 1 Jamie.

It was mentioned that Aitch was a bit inspiration with the attitude and the sort of swagger as well as the accent itself.

Features of a Mancunian Accent (some things to listen out for)

Research says that the Manchester accent can be characterised by a few distinct features:

The LettER vowel: if there is an ER at the end of a word it is pronounced more like UH. So for example "letter" becomes "let-uh"

The HappY vowel: what Jamie is known for. If there is a Y at the end of a word it is pronounced more like EH. For example "poopy" being "poopeh" or "city" being "cit-eh

H-dropping: this is typically northern but prevalent in Manchester. It is not pronouncing the H at the start of a word so instead of saying "head" pronouncing it "ed".

T-glotallisation: if there is a T in the middle of a word it is sort of dragged over. Like in "better" it can be "beh-uh".

-NG: typically if a word ends in -NG you do not say the G. For example "waiting" is "waitin"

All of these features are more easily noticed in words where more than one of them happens like "happy" becomes "appeh" with both H-dropping and the Y at the end

Analysis of Jamie Tartt's accent from a professional (not me)

Manchester Met have done a study of the different dialects within Greater Manchester and have split it into four categories. Lancashire, Mancs, Wigan, Posh. If Phil was aiming for Moston that would be more Manc but some Lancashire.

Dr Rob Drummond who was the lead on this research was sent clips of Jamie Tartt (edit - as a few people commented on this but he is a friend of No Such Thing As A Fish so was sent it in preparation for Phil being on the podcast but was apparently very complimentary so definitely a Phil Dunster win!) and managed to locate very precisely to just north of central Manchester in the Smedley sort of area which is the blue area on the map. If you compare that with Phil's aim of the red area ... that's damn impressive

So if you are looking for areas of Manchester to set your fics around or ways to make your dialogue feel more Tartt. Then we are looking for the Mancs accent and living somewhere in just north/north west of central Manchester based on his accent.

So yeah thanks for reading my thesis. I was going to go into words and sayings here too but it's after midnight and I have been talking to myself for the last hour just repeating the same words in Queens English, Leeds, and Manc 😂

Disclaimer - this is more based on S3 Jamie as S1 Jamie had a lot more subdued characteristics as Phil was finding his feet with the accent.

Side Plug as I have preordered it - Dr Rob Drummond's book called You're All Talk is coming out soon and it is all about this stuff and also social perceptions of linguistic diversity (which as someone who's accent massively chances based on the situation I am in I am super interested in)

[bonefall]

Clanmew Masterpost

Clanmew is a constructed language made for Warrior Cats that I, @bonefall, run with my buddy @troutfur! I make the vocab and he does the grammar. I hope that this post will become a good, central place to keep links to everything we've done so far.

CURRENT VERSION: 1.0 LAST UPDATE: 6/3/2023

Clanmew is an OSV-order language, made with the sounds cats make in mind. "Base Clanmew" is built around the Clan Culture updates of the Better Bones AU, which means it is made with the ecology of southwestern Northern England in mind and only contains words for plants and animals found there. It also has phrases for cooking and crafting.

(specific regions modeled: Lancashire, Chester, Manchester, Merseyside, Clwydd is modeled for river biomes specifically)

You are free to use it for your own projects! We encourage you to consider how this language would evolve in your Clan's history, and add or remove words to make a dialect that reflects the culture's feelings and needs.

THE BASICS:

Everything you need to know for basic structure is in CLANMEW 101. Start here.

We have a constantly updating LEXICON of all the words we have made so far.

Have you made a dialect? Let me know and I can link you here so others can see what you're doing with it!

Below the cut:

In-universe information; How Clanmew evolved linguistically

"Expansion Pack" posts where I discuss etymology

Pronunciation stuff (until I make that IPA chart I keep promising)

Working translations; Names, parables, OC submissions

Dialect submissions (These are manned by other people!)

Historical Trivia

The linguistic evolution of Clanmew from Old Tribemew and Parkmew

Animals are named for the sounds they make.

How pronouns for objects change based on how the speaker feels about it.

More, using human examples

there is a secret post about cursing but you have to find that on your own ;)

Through Time Travel Shenanigans, Hollyleaf's name evolves into the word "Scourge"

The Clanmew Play-by-Play of that

The word for Everything

How hard is it for speakers of the other in-universe languages to pick up Clanmew?

On nicknames!

Squirrelpaw and Crowfoot discover corn

The names of the three ideologies... also thistles.

The Invalid Five

Expansion Packs

Colors

Directions, way-finding

Spirituality terms

Rocks

Beetles

Follow up: some plant parts

Patch (pattern) vs Patch (plants)

Den, camp, territory, construction

The two violets

Shapes of flowers

Volume

Generic terms

Rollypollies and centipedes

Insults

Rain... because this is England

The Clan Clock; time terms

The four seasons

Clerics and Common Herbs

Roses

Water movement

BIRDS AND BATS

Finches

Texture

Dogs

Mint

Parts of fur

Forest terms

Foxes, parts of a forest

Cuckoo bird

DEER

Shade and understorey

Cedar

Waterside words

Pronunciation Stuff

Closest thing to an IPA chart I currently have

My process for coming up with words based on vibes

I was asked for more behind-the-scenes stuff so here you go?

How I hold my mouth when I speak

Trout Tips

How would Clan cats pronounce the Slavic TS, or the word pizza?

On the Double yy

Working translations

BB!Scourge's new warrior name, Iceheart, in Clanmew... and Nightheart!

Light, moon, wind, BB!Raggedstar's pre-honor title name

OC SUBMISSION: Flameshell, Fogwhisper, Willowsong

OC SUBMISSION: Lichennose, Mudthistle, Longpounce

OC SUBMISSION: Fallensky

PACK PACK KILL KILL

"I love you"

Baby talk

"What have I done?"

"Fool Tale"

How to Clanmew-ify a strange word

Dishonor Title for "Mudpuddle"

OC SUBMISSION: Riverrunner, multiple-word names, walking words

OC SUBMISSION: Firefang, Rabbitdash, Peachfeather, plus a bunch of words for weasel-like animals

Ivypool

The use of tense in names

PROPHECY SUBMISSION: "Dust and flame will combine to destroy home"

Skywatcher

OC SUBMISSION: The Caldwell Family

Foxheart

Runningnose

PROPHECY SUBMISSION: Six will come of every rank

OC SUBMISSION: Witherstrike

"I like this" and also parasitic worms

Prism, rainbow-color

OC SUBMISSION: Piebald Creature

Gayheart

Sneeze and Knockout

OC SUBMISSION: Penny-fitzgerald

OC SUBMISSION: Voidwhisper, Chalkwhistle

OC SUBMISSION: Poppyflare, Spikemane, Blizzardfang

OC SUBMISSION: Burning Hawk-fur

Mistyfoot

BRAMBLESTAR BUTCHERS THE BLOSSOMKIT NAMES

Dialect Submissions

Pfurr Clanmew (@troutfur)

[blade-ranger-301]

Character Sheet

I've yet to complete reference sheets for all characters and OCs, and I'm going to start posting my Planes 2 fanfic series.

So I'll put some information about 'em here :)

Blade Ranger

Blade is a young male AW193 hybrid originating from the county of Lancashire, in north England. He's known for having a northern accent. He's about "as broad as they come" - and as a 'northener', he's known for skipping t's and h's and the like when it comes to pronouncing words in a sentence. Typical for people around these parts 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

His dialect often jumps between Lancashire and Mancunian 🐝 as he had spent a lot of time growing up around these areas.

He's strong, attractive, handome, hot, suave, has the most gorgeous blue eyes, and he's known for his grumpiness and short temper. As a typical Brit, he's incredibly stoic, downplays his misfortunes, and he swears...a lot

He's also the chief of Piston Peak Air Attack team, and is one lucky man to have bagged himself the most loyal AW109, who's the queen constantly by his side. He takes no shit off anyone. Anyone new who visits his base will quickly know their place in his territory. This hot ball of anger fuelled by raging testosterone is not someone you want to mess with...ever 🔥🔥🔥

Toni

A young female AW109 with the most beautiful lime green eyes 💚

She's a whole bag of personality. One moment, she's shy, timid and polite - the next, she's passionate, flirty and sassy. Her signature sass look is the rose tinted sunglasses 🕶🩷

She's the PPAA's drop-dead gorgeous secretary - who also happens to be in a fiery relationship with the Chief 😏🔥

She's gentle, caring and loving - yet smart, forward, confident, cocky and annoyingly sassy.

Bravo and Echo

Ah, the twins...Double trouble

These two Superhornets were born as identical twin brothers, raised by a pair of Superhornets from the Jolly Wrenches squadron.

This handsome pair follow their family lineage and join one of the best of the UK's Navy squadrons, the Jolly Wrenches, learning just what it takes to be with the best of the best and fighting to protect their country.

Bravo is the callsign belonging to a calm and reserved Hornet named "Steve". His modex number is 113. Echo is the callsign belonging to his twin, Daniel: a bouncy, energetic boy who's just a big kid. He has the modex code number of 210.

Bravo is known for his stoicism, calm nature and reserved temperament. Though, he can be grumpier and a little frosty ❄️ Echo is the complete opposite. He's a goofball and a total lovable idiot - but that's why we all love him. For identical twins, they sure have their differences on occasions.

The twins use their stellar instincts and honed-in skills to become two of the squadrons' best troops, taking after their parents, especially their father, who was one of the Wrenches' best Superhornets when he was in his prime.

These twins have it all. The military lineage, the best genetics, the handsome looks, amazing service records, heightened flying skills, and that toned, muscley fuselage (think Top Gun volleyball scene but plane-ified)

Delta and Sierra

Delta and Sierra - sisters from another mister. These girls are actually cousins, but they've been close their whole lives and consider themselves as sisters.

Delta is the callsign belonging to Daisy. She wears a yellow helmet adorned by loads of small daisy flowers. Her modex number is 222.

Sierra is the callsign belonging to Emily. Her helmet is the same yellow as her cousins, but decorated with small, white polka dots. Her number is 124.

These two become head over wheels for the Jolly Wrenches' most top troops, Bravo and Echo. Delta eventually becomes a pair with Echo, whilst Sierra can't resist the stoic, cool-as-ice Bravo.

These two blue-eyed babes are also pretty decent within the squadron. Not as many missions as their male counterparts, but still a fair few sorties that they've experienced together.

Micheal

*drawing not mine*

Micheal is a male British Airways Concorde with blue eyes. He's young, male, handome, suave, and insanely rich. This posh supersonic jet is a certified billionaire, though he's very humble about it. He's not one of these posh snobs with a 'Buckingham Palace' London accent, oh no. Despite all the money at his disposal, he's still humble, caring, decent, and a gentleman. He loves to help his close friends if he can. He loves to treat himself and his loved ones, but will occasionally donate a little bit to charities every so often.

He's fast as well as rich. He set the world record for the fastest Concorde to travel from London Heathrow to New York airport.

He loves speed, but upon meeting a Ryanair 737 and unexpectedly falling in love, she teaches him that there's more to life than going fast. Sometimes it's good to slow down; both materially and physically.

Amy

*drawing not mine*

Amy is a female Boeing 737 Max 8 with light blue eyes. She has the sexy split scimitar wingtips that are nornally seen on the 737-800's, and she wears the Ryanair livery.

Amy may be cute and small, but she has a huge heart and a big personality. She's headstrong, forward, confident and sassy.

Nothing annoys this sassy little lady more than the stupid 'Ryanair hard landing' memes, but she doesn't need to speak to stand her ground. Her perfected buttery landings are all that's needed to be said 🧈

Amy eventually meets the most humble, genuine, most handome Concorde in her life. When they eventually fall in love and become a pair, Amy learns to keep this white rocket on a short leash. She's the only one that can slow him down 🚀

Stella and Logan

The proud parents of identical twins, Bravo and Echo.

Before the kids came along, Stella and Logan were active members of the Jolly Wrenches squadron in the 1990's.

Back then, Logan was one of the best Hornets of the Wrenches in his prime, with an impeccable service history and performance record. Stella obviously saw potential in this particular male, yet still played hard to get when they first met. Now, they have two beautiful children to call their own, something that they always wanted. A family.

(I haven't created helmet designs, callsigns or modex numbers for these two yet 😭 hoping I will one day)

Others

Other characters may be mentioned in future posts, art and fanfics. Typically the Jolly Wrenches, staff at Piston Peak, and the rest of the PPAA crew. I have no developments for them as of yet

[wordsmithnikki]

Real Lancashire Accent: The Pike A Poem By Frank Speak, Read In The Lancashire Dialect

Time to honour our gradely hill – The Pike – with a reading by Frank Speak in the local dialect.

Frank Speak of Blackrod reads The Pike poem in Lancashire accent with Lancashire dialect phrases Pikes arrrs Sez womon In Aggy Cwop Horwich Mon Sez think Thee not Jog on Borth sez Belmont lad That hills ars Since me Dars Da Da Da were a Dad All of you Best think on Lord Lever wheezes The Pike is On my map For the Bolton weavers To roll down on Good Friday and Crack their yeds Folks…

[cmrosens]

Fantasy Castle Thoughts

Wandering around castle ruins on the weekend while thinking about my fantasy WIP had me thinking about more worldbuilding stuff in fantasy (the obvious ones being covered by others, such as, where does the shit go? How do they get water? How do they not poison themselves while answering Qu 1?):

That film where they erased the entire town and the castle was sat there for no reason (meant to be Rochester) - look, even if your castle is a strategic fortress in the back of beyond, it will have some kind of nearby settlement. Because: who is building it and how long does it take and where do they all live while they're constructing it? Where do they go afterwards? How do the garrison get food (easier to grow crops and raise livestock nearby than have vulnerable wagons bringing it in and being ambushed).

A lot of castles were not built by locals, because you can't trust the fucking locals, that's (usually) why the castle is THERE. If you don't need a defensive structure you build a manor or a stately home. If you're building a castle, it's usually to subdue the population or to defend against the neighbours, but either way, what often happens is that the king or whoever will round up people from his patrimony he knows he's already whipped into shape and can trust, then force-marches them across country and re-settles them in the area the castle is meant to be. They are the ones who then farm and raise livestock, and push out the locals to do so. Over time, you get some intermingling and after a few gens it's a very different demographic, but you have a story of settlement going on with tensions bubbling under the surface. See also: William Rufus wanting to subdue the North of England, forcibly uprooting his tenants in the South of England and making them build and settle in Carlisle, where he built his castle (11thC); the Earl of Lincoln dragging a load of Yorkshire and Lancashire and Lincolnshire men to re-settle his newly bestowed North Welsh lordships, pushing the Welsh into the uplands while the settlers took over the lowlands (12th-13thC).

The settlers around castles bring their own forms of folk religion, superstition, folklore, dialect, and naming patterns, which are specific to their original region. These may be very similar to the ones where they've been settled. What does that look like? Is the culture of particular villages and settlements a little bit different or maybe strikingly so the closer you get to the castles in your world because of this? What are the issues faced by settlers and by local people, how do they get resolved (or do they)? You'd imagine settlers are favoured in court disputes, but depending on the politics, they may actually be overlooked in efforts to appease the locals, leading to some lords really upsetting the very people they took for granted that they could trust. What's going on with all this local level stuff? By the way:: 21stC "my religion is better than yours" is so fucking boring and overdone imo from Western fantasy. Not every fantasy people has to have a US Evangelical approach to faith. Maybe they just don't care, or as soon as they hear something new they're like oooh this is interesting let's incorporate that! And they do. And it's fine. And that's a normal attitude to have. That might be a lot more fun, because then you get multiple variations on a theme, which create lots of little layers and nuance to your world, rather than a very one-dimensional impression of "homogeneity" with the danger of slipping into ye olde "X Bad, Y Good" dichotomy.

Technology and adapting tech: building castles requires tech, and once you know how long something took to build, you know what the tech was and can work out how it may have developed since then. Also think about how it can be adapted. If you've got a world where castles are required because fighting happens, you have a world full of disabled people. War causes disability. Even tournaments were EXCEEDINGLY dangerous. Henry VIII got permanent brain damage at one. Other knights were left paralysed, many died, some were amputees as a result. People get their legs hacked off due to gangrene from wounds. People get arrows lodged in their spines. People get sick from malnutrition and develop conditions like osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, etc. Picture this: your lord gets severely injured and may never walk again just by falling from his horse (common). Unfortunately, the castle steps are DESIGNED to be difficult to get up and down, because it's a defensive structure, and you DO NOT want to make it easy for enemies to just stroll up to the upper levels which are the most defensible. Bear in mind that the majority of a castle is empty space: the ward. The domestic quarters are built into the walls, usually the inner walls of a concentric castle. Your lord had an upper floor room. In a castle, space is at a premium. You need all the space on the ground floor and it's already occupied. What do you do? Well - you remember that pulley system for heaving big tons of dressed stone up to the top of the scaffolding when constructing the tower? Yeah. Yeah you're going to use that. And if your lord is now permanently disabled and cannot use the stairs, you can work out how to refine that. But right now, you need to get him into bed so the physician can look him over, because if he dies right now this would be terribly politically inconvenient . Even if this hasn't happened in your current story right now, if this was the case for the lord or two BEFORE, the equipment may all still be there, and still be in place.

Anyway if you like this, you might like my newsletter and podcast, and the books I write.

[scotianostra]

On May 17th 1810 the poet Robert Tannahill drowned himself in a Paisley canal.

Some posts can hit home more than others, anyone who has or is going through the hell of real depression will understand more than others. The stigma of the disease is being more talked about more than ever, it’s not a new thing to be depressed, our own Scottish King Robert III is said to have suffered from it, indeed he described himself as “the worst of kings and the most miserable of men”.

On to Robert Tannahill, who, in his lifetime was as famous as our national bard Robert Burns, he was in the same mould of the Ploughman Poet and was the first Secretary of the Paisley Burns Club established in 1805 he also wrote several poems and songs in Burns’ memory.

Tannahill had friends in Glasgow and neighbouring towns, attended the theatre in Glasgow and, importantly, was familiar with the publishers in Glasgow who were established in selling ballad poetry. His early works were also printed in the Glasgow Courier, leading to his recognition as the leading poet of the periodicals. Tannahill’s first collection was ‘The Sodger’s Return’. a Scottish interlude in two acts, with other poems and songs, chiefly in the Scottish dialect. It sold well, and the latter part of the title is a clear homage to Burns.

Robert Tannahill – the ‘Weaver Poet’in Paisley, the son of James Tannahill and Janet Pollock. Young Robert was apprenticed as a weaver at the age of 12 in 1786 and spent a brief time working at Bolton, in Lancashire, England. He returned home to Paisley and began to compose pieces of verse in Scots which were published by various journals. Scottish weavers had a reputation for literacy and cultivated tastes because their work, often done at a loom with the feet, allowed them the freedom to hold and read books. When his father died in 1802, Robert joined the newly established ‘Paisley Literary and Convivial Association’ which was an outlet for his literary tastes.

In 1810 after having work rejected by an Edinburgh publisher Robert drowned himself in the Candren Burn, his body was discovered by his two brothers.

Tannahill was buried at Castlehead Cemetery, Canal Street, Paisley, in an unmarked grave in what was formerly the West Relief Church. In 1866 a granite monument was erected here to his memory. There is also a statue to Tannahill next to Paisley Abbey, erected by public subscription in 1883.

There is a famous story involving Tannahill’s emotional farewell to James Hogg who had travelled west in the hope of meeting the Paisley poet. Hogg says that, upon leaving Tannhill, he ‘had scarcely reached Edinburgh’ before he ‘read in the newspapers an account of his sad end.’

Again I say about depression, nobody knows what is going on inside the mind of people, it’s an invisible illness, a silent killer, you can be talking to someone who shows no signs of depression outwardly, but inside they are toiling, be mindful with people, never be harsh with your words.

Bonny Winsome Mary

Fortune, frowning most severe, Forc'd me from my native dwelling, Parting with my friends so dear, Cost me many a bitter tear: But, like the clouds of early day, Soon my sorrows fled away, When blooming sweet, and smiling gay, I met my winsome Mary.

Wha can sit with gloomy brow, Blest with sic a charming lassie? Native scenes, I think on you. Yet the change I canna rue; Wand'ring many a weary mile, Fortune seem'd to low'r, the while, But now she's gi'en me, for the toil, My bonny winsome Mary.

Though our riches are but few, Faithful hove is aye a treasure— Ever cheery, kind, and true, Nane but her I e'er can lo'e. Hear me, a' ye pow'rs above! Pow'rs of sacred truth and love! While I live I'll constant prove To my dear winsome Mary.

[hairtusk]

having to retake elocution lessons so i can teach my students phonics in received pronunciation without any hint of dialect and i fear this is the final nail in the coffin of my lancashire accent :'))))))

[charm-troll]

I'm reading Mrs S by K. Patrick, I'm only 91 pages in but so far it's excellent. The purpose of this post isn't to be a review but rather that I'm absolutely convinced that I've figured out where this book is set. This might be common knowledge, but I can't find anything about it online so I'm going to share my excitement

So, if you don't know, Mrs S is about a young butch Australian woman who gets a job as the matron of a nameless all-girls private boarding school in rural England. In fact, the book is very carefully nameless all the way through, the only character or place that has anything close to a name is Mrs S.

This school is famous for The Dead Author, there's a statue for her that The Girls (as the pupils are called) worship and that the school cashes in on its connection to, despite The Dead Author by all accounts hating her time there. Early on it's mentioned that the nearby graveyard has a lot of graves from the many pupils who died of TB in the early years of the school. It's all very Jane Eyre.

Later on, Mrs S takes the protagonist to go swimming in the nearby river, and on the drive stop off by a place called Devil's Bridge (okay, so maybe not totally nameless). Now I know a Devil's Bridge that some friends of mine used to jump off when the weather was nice, but I didn't think too much of it cos there's probably lots of places in the UK called that. The bit that really got my attention is when the protagonist looks out the window and thinks "it's nothing but fields and fells."

'Fell' is a word for mountain in a few British dialects, but it is especially associated with the Lake District in Cumbria, a mountainous national park in the north-west of England. At this point I started feeling like I was about to break the case of the century and spent the next 20 minutes sending increasingly excited messages to my partner about how Mrs S is set in Cumbria.

Charlotte Brontë went to a school in Lancashire called Cowan Bridge. She hated her time there, attributed the poor conditions to the deaths of her older sisters Maria and Elizabeth, and it served as the inspiration for Lowood School in Jane Eyre, where Jane's only friend Helen dies in an outbreak of TB. In the 1830s, the school moved a few miles north to a village called Casterton in Westmorland (now Cumbria), and the school was until 2013 a private all-girls boarding school that cashed in on its association with a dead author despite her hating her time there.

The motto of the school in the book, again that I paid no attention to at first, is "one heart, one place" in Latin. And the motto for Casterton? Cor Unum Via Una - one heart, one way.

And for the final piece of the puzzle (so far lol):

Casterton is only a 3 minute drive from Devil's Bridge

Some things are not the same of course, such as the fact that because the original site of the school was moved, I don't think the local graveyard will contain the graves of the pupils of Cowan Bridge, but even so, I am almost 100% sure that this book is set in a fictionalised Casterton, the school that proudly educated two Brontë sisters, and killed two others

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

do you know of any languages in north west england?

I'm assuming you mean indigenous languages?

Caveat, I'm not a linguist and there are very likely people out there with a lot more knowledge of this than me!

There was a language called Cumbric- if you've heard the "yan tan tethra" counting rhyme, that likely came from Cumbric. Cumbric is a Brythonic language, meaning it's closely related to Welsh, Cornish and Breton. Cumbric is believed to have been spoken between Lancashire and Cumberland- so North West England to the Lowlands of Scotland. Lots of place names in the area have Brythonic roots.

Unfortunately, we don't know a lot about Cumbric, and it's believed to have been lost in the 11th Century, although there are suggestions that it could have survived into the 12th Century and beyond as a community language.

As far as I'm aware, there aren't any confirmed written sources for Cumbric, there are some poems which may be written in Cumbric, or may be written in a dialect of Welsh. As far as I'm aware, there's no Cumbric revival, and we don't know enough of the language to resurrect it from (near) death as Cornish was.

I'm not an expert, but if you wanted to learn something close to Cumbric, I would guess the closest option would be Welsh, probably with the North Welsh dialect. However, other linguists who are more expert than me may want to weigh in!

I'll leave you with some lines of a poem which may be (old) Welsh, but may also (possibly) be Cumbric.

Pan elei dy dat ty e vynyd Dydygei ef penn ywrch penn gwythwch penn hyd Penn grugyar vreith o venyd Penn pysc o rayadyr derwennyd When your father went to [the] mountain He brought a head of buck, head of wild pig, head of stag Head of speckled grouse from [the] mountain Head of fish from [the] falls of Derwent

[youngbloodbuzz]

How do you get Jamie’s voice so right like how do you do it. I’ve read hundreds of Bly fics atp and as someone from Lancashire I find a lot of people’s characterisations of Jamie a bit hard to read without making a face LMAO yet yours is so spot-on I just. How

slgbahsdas i have no clue, a lot of bly rewatches and research on lancashire dialect?? I'm so glad we nailed it though cause I love her so much, jamie and dani my favourite blorbos for real

@romanimp