The Dialect Questionnaire: Responses from a Helmsley Resident

The map below shows the distance from Helmsley (B) to Ryedale Folk Museum (A).

               

A male Helmsley resident answered the questions below using the following words in the 1950s .  


Question: If you haven’t drunk anything for a long time, you will be very... Answer(s): dry or thirsty

Question: What is left at the bottom of your teacup when you’ve finished drinking the tea? Answer: tea-leaves

Question: If you haven’t eaten any food for a long time, you will be very... Answer: hungry

Question: What do you call something that you eat between meals? Answer: lowance

            Question: What do you say you’ve got when your head hurts? Answer: the headwark

Question: What do you call a very small piece of wood that has got into your finger? Answer: spell

Question: What do you call any running water smaller than a river? Answer: beck


He was a respondent who participated in the Survey of English Dialects.

His answers show a snap shot of some of the regional dialect words used in Helmsley over 60 years ago.


Coming next on Ryedale Folk Museum's blog: the results of the Dialect Questionnaire Project: Part 1.

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