Dialect

Nick, St. Budeaux.Plymouth
We used to "bock" each others creations as kids i.e. sandcastles, dens, modals, etc, meaning; to wreck, break or spoil.

Sue - Kersey Maid
Has anyone heard of "wokis"? Apparently they are Oak Trees according to the Parish Magazine this month.

Sue - 'Kersey Maid
I have heard a Dumbledor is a bee in Devon speak! What is more the character in Harry Potter was named after him as JKR visualised him "buzzing and bumbling around". Is this true? A great chunk is missing from my literary education!

Sharon
I’d like to know if there are any amusing Devon graces or poems to say at table before dinner. I would also like to know whether the words jonies (ornaments) and ursies (flowers) are actual words from Devonshire dialect or simply made up words my grandmother used which the family have always assumed was the case.

Janet, ex Torquay
'Dimsey' meaning dusk, twilight; i.e. fading light.

Miles
"wazzinitz", often heard when observing Devonian sewage workers digging up pipes!

Nick ex Stoke Gabriel
'Zawney' (sic?) meaning somewhat slow on the uptake.

Nick ex Stoke Gabriel
An Uncle,a fisherman, on describing the once abundance of herring at the mouth of the Dart, once said, 'Us used to kaitch so many the gunnows was so low, a robin could drink off the zide!' Broadly speaking, the weight of the catch was so great it depressed the boat into the water.

Graham from Cullompton
us called wasps "appledranes" us zed "Smarts a carrot half scraped" when you was dressed in your finest clothes

Natalia Rolleston
It's coming in a bit doubtful - meaning the weather's turning grey/rainy/stormy

mick , ""Newton"
""non of your crams now" meaning fuss or fads. "where be gwain bhuy "

Dave Cann
Has anyone else heard of the wonderful word "krinkumkrankums?", it means "the fidgets" apparently!

Rachel, North Devon
my old Grannie call chestnuts on trees fuzzy vears.

Dean Morrison, formerly of Barnstaple
We used to call wasps "jaspers."

Nick Baker - ex Stoke Gabriel
'Chipples' meaning spring onions.

Pad - Kingsbridge
Jacqui of Marldon wanted to know a Devonshire word for 'last house'. How about 'Endacott', a well known Devon surname originally meaning someone who lived in the last house or end cottage.Grace - originally from East Allington wanted to know about the word 'battalows' for a gully or drain by a road. Well, my great uncle George used to work for Devon County Roads department and he used to clean out the 'buddle-aws'. This was his way of pronouncing 'buddle holes', and must be onomatopoeic, for when clear, the water would 'buddle' out of these holes.

Pad - Kingsbridge
When a boy, I was sat (sot there) at (to) the kitchen table drawing. My Uncle George came in and I asked him if he could draw. "Ees buy, muck auver a aidge" he replied. Draw=throw.Saltash Cetch = a wet ass and no veesh.Zuent = Smooth, smoothly.Orts = Left over food - as in 'C'mon, ait op yer orts'Be ee bout ort? = Are you doing anything?Black's a rouk = As black as a rook (Alec from Budleigh)Brave and Bravish = considerable, large, as in 'Come to, you godda bravish bidda lan.' Meaning - 'In the final analysis you have acquired a considerable acreage.'Definition of miserliness - 'Mean, ee'd cut a teddy een alf an maake dree awn' = 'He would bisect a potato and contrive three pieces'.Definition of luck - 'Lucky, eef ee putt down twelve gins ee'd pick op leb'm rabbits an a bleddy blackbird'.Blushing - 'Er went red's a carrot 'alf scraped'Switch off the light - 'Maake out the light'Sheeps head - 'urdle bumper' Spectator at a rugby match when a player was injured - "laib'm there, us'll tread'n een fer dung"

Kevin from Exeter
My Mum continues to use a phrase I first heard my Grandad say, and that is "CREATED BOBSZIDI" meaning kicked up a fuss, or complained bitterly!!!Another one is "he, (or she's), a "little eller"....meaning a really naughty child!!!

Jam - Tiverton
"Ee's as 'ard as a dug's 'eed" (hard as a dog's head), meaning that a person or object is hard or tough.