Showing posts with label Gornal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gornal. Show all posts

Friday, July 27, 2007

Friday Fun 5


My village of Gornal is famous for two main things. The villages are Upper Gornal, Lower Gornal and Gornal Wood. Gornal men used to be highly sought after by architects as they were skilled bricklayers and the area locally is the home to several brickmakers. The ground around here is very rich in clay and evidence of quarrying can still be readily seen today.
For todays class I thought I'd teach you all a saying or two.

E gid him a right cog-haiver - He hit him with a good punch.
Yow'm like a bibble in a can. - You never shut up.
That wo get the babby a new bonnet - You're not earning enough.

PS The first person to post in the comments the second thing that Gornal is famous for gets a prize!

Friday, June 29, 2007

Friday Fun

Okay, since a few of you wanted to know what yampy meant I think the next few Fridays will be devoted to teaching you all Black Country.
The Black Country dialect is one of the oldest in Europe, it is very similar to old german and the english that was spoken in the middle ages. Many scholars have said that if Chaucer were alive today he would have no trouble communicating in the Black Country. The dialect varies a little from village to village with Darby End and my village of Gornal having the strongest dialects.
Many words still end in -en as in gooen meaning going. The A sound is often pronounced as an O. Man becomes Mon for example. So here are some words and phrases to start you off.
Bin - this is not a receptacle for rubbish but instead means been. So you may be asked 'Where have yow bin?' which means 'Where have you been?'
An answer might be 'Ah've bin ter Brummagem' This means 'I've been to Birmingham.'
A good example of old english words that are still used would be the words Midden or miskin. In anglo saxon it meant a dung heap but was often used to mean rubbish heap. Today it means the outside bin or rubbish as in 'Ah threw it on the midden,'
Next Friday I'll post some more about the Black Country and our dialect with some pictures.