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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

There Be Pirates Perform in The Manor House

California based band 'There Be Pirates' put on a stirring performance at the museum on Sunday. Visitors packed out the Manor House to see and hear the pirates' music performed, and to take part themselves, children of visitors were encouraged to provide backing music as drums and maracas were distributed among the audience. Below is a video of some of the show (sound quality is not great but it gives an idea of the fun) as well as some photographs of the Pirate band. Carrie Gough (photos by Pete)
Read more

Guest Blog from Tom Normandale, Project Officer of the Cornfield Flowers Project

Image
Cornfield  Flowers Project Cornfield Flowers Project at Ryedale Folk Museum - saving rare arable flowers from extinction in North-east Yorkshire As spring takes hold and the natural world awakes from its winter slumber, the first signs of some of the UK’s rarest wildflowers are eagerly awaited in a corner of the Ryedale Folk Museum. In front of the roundhouse is the Cornfield Flowers Project demonstration field.  For much of the year, this is bare earth with little to hint at the value of the seeds that lie beneath.  By summer time though, this field will be a blast of colourful plants growing amongst a cereal crop, and provides an accessible display of some of the most endangered arable wildflowers in North Yorkshire and the UK. Demonstration field in full bloom at Ryedale Folk Museum The museum has supported our Project since its beginnings, and has been our public face throughout this time – raising awareness of the plight of arable wildflowers and providing a rare opp...
Read more

Our New Bird Hide, now open!

Image
Thanks to the hard work of our volunteers and the North York Moors National Park volunteers we now have a bird hide for visitors to enjoy. The project was also made possible thanks to funding from the Jack Brunton Charitable Trust. The Bird Hide is positioned at the top of the site next to the Iron Age Round House, looking out onto the Cornfield Flower Meadow. Once the meadow begins to flower and the wildlife comes out we hope the hide will be a great place where visitors can enjoy watching nature and through information inside be able to identify what they are looking at. To celebrate our new bird hide we are having an ‘All Things Bird’ week on our social media sites. As chickens are one of the most common types of bird found we thought we would share with you what chickens we have here at the museum. We currently have 8 historic breeds of chicken and 1 duck! All are utlitiy breeds (bred for eggs or meat) apart from our Silkies who are bred for show. Marans This breed was developed in...
Read more