bbc voices recordings - british library · tired daggled*1 (used by grandmother who learnt it from...

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BBC VOICES RECORDINGS http://sounds.bl.uk

Title:

Cinderford, Gloucestershire

Shelfmark:

C1190/14/03

Recording date:

10.03.2005

Speakers:

Harvey, Charles (Dave), b. 1938 Berry Hill; male; retired coalminer (father coalminer; mother housewife)

Morgan, Keith, b. 1943 Coleford; male; barber (father coalminer; mother housewife)

Olivey, Elsie, b. Cinderford; female; retired school secretary (father coalminer; mother housewife)

Smith, Kathleen, b. Collafield, Gloucestershire; female; retired teacher (father coalminer; mother

housewife)

The interviewees are friends who have lived all their lives in the Forest of Dean.

ELICITED LEXIS

pleased chuffed; pleased

tired daggled*1

(used by grandmother who learnt it from “Forester” father, liked); dog-beat2 (“I

be dog-beat”); knackered; cream crackered∆ (modern); drowsy; dozy

unwell half-dead (“I be half-dead”); feeling a bit poorly; under the weather; middling; fair-to-

middling (suggested by interviewer, used)

hot hot; boiling (“I be boiling, old butty”); sweltering; warm (“yun* it warm?”)

cold fruz* (“I be fruz”); frozen; nearped up

○ (“I be all nearped up” used by grandfather);

nithered; starved (“you do look starved”); starving cold; parky (used by husband)

annoyed got it on thee○3

(“what’s the matter with thee I should think thou’st got it on thee” used in

Forest of Dean in past); that do kill my pig○4

(used in past by friend’s grandmother from

Littledean); miffed, peeved (modern)

1 SED Basic Material Vol. 2 The West Midland Counties Part 2 (1970) records ‘duggled’ in this sense at EXHAUSTED (VI.13.8).

2 OED (online edition) records ‘dog-tired’ and ‘beat’ in this sense.

○ see English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905)

* see Survey of English Dialects Basic Material (1962-1971)

▼ see Ey Up Mi Duck! Dialect of Derbyshire and the East Midlands (2000)

∆ see New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006)

◊ see Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010)

♦ see Urban Dictionary (online)

⌂ no previous source (with this sense) identified


BBC Voices Recordings

throw chuck; peck (of e.g. stick/stone, “pecking order” also used in darts/quoits); lob

play truant skive off; bunk off; skive; skiving off; skiving; mooching (used in Berry Hill)

sleep sleep; kip; get thy head down; forty winks

play a game play (“beest thou coming out to play?”)

hit hard ram; clout (“give it a good clout”, “I’ll clout thee one in a minute”); wallop; tan (“I’ll tan

thee” used by mother); tancel○ (“I’ll tancel thy bottom” used by husband/mother)

clothes clobber (also used for ‘to hit somebody’); glad rags (of clothes worn to go out “somewhere

special”)

trousers britch (“have you washed my britch, mother?” used by miners in past of moleskin trousers)

child’s shoe daps (most common locally)

mother our mam, mam; mum (used as child at Monmouth Grammar School in contrast to “mam” at

home); old lady (disliked by own mother of self)

gmother gran; grandma, granny (used to distinguish between paternal/maternal grandmother); gran,

grandma (used to distinguish between paternal/maternal grandmother); nan (suggested by

interviewer, not common locally in past, used by own grandchildren in Hertfordshire of

other grandmother)

m partner old man (“me old man”)

friend butty (“all right, old butty […] aye, not so bad, how beest thou?”); mate (“me old mate”)

gfather gransher* (common locally in past, “gransher Morgan gransher Davis” used to distinguish

between paternal/maternal grandfather); gransh*; grampy

◊, gramps

5 (used by own

grandchildren); grandad (“grandad Holder gransher Beech” used to distinguish between

maternal/paternal grandfather); grandpa (used by own grandson, considered “posh”)

forgot name whatsit (“thick whatsit”); wossname∆6

; whats-her-name; wheresit◊7

; what’s-his-name

kit of tools tool box; tools (“go and fetch thy tools”)

trendy tart; flibbertigibbet (suggested by husband, used of “frivolous” person); wench; yuppie

(used in 1980s); chav (suggested by interviewer as used negatively, not known in this

sense, “chavvy” associated with “gypsy” language)

f partner the missus; wife; partner, other half (used now of unmarried female partner)

baby babby○; little’un

∆ (used of own grandchildren)

rain heavily pelt down; chuck it down∆; bucket down; cats and dogs; tipping down

♦; bucketing down

toilet privy (used in past); loo; W.C.; long drop◊

walkway alley; snicket (learnt from mother from Bishop’s Cleeve)

long seat sofa (“get up off thick sofa” used by mother in past); settee (used now, used in past by aunt

considered “posh”); chaise-longue (“posh”)

run water brook; stream

main room living-room (suggested by interviewer, used now); lounge (suggested by interviewer, not

used); big kitchen (used in past in contrast to “little kitchen” for ‘kitchen’); front room

(used in past of room with piano reserved for special occasions/Sundays)

rain lightly spitting; spit; drizzle (“it’s a-drizzling”)

3 English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905) records ‘to be on with oneself’ in sense of ‘to be in a disturbed or agitated state of

mind’. 4 English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905) records ‘to kill anyone’s pig’ in sense of ‘to cause serious disappointment’.

5 Collins English Dictionary (online edition at http://www.collinsdictionary.com/) includes ‘gramps’ in this sense.

6 Partridge New Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) records ‘wossface’ in this sense.

7 Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) records ‘wheresis’ in this sense.



rich rolling in’t8; loaded; well off

left-handed watty○; cack-handed; watty-handed

○

unattractive look like the back of a bus∆; “her hae

○ got a mouth like a forty shilling iron pot”▼9

(used by

grandfather in past of female with “big mouth”); “her’s like a bolting of straw tied up with

one band”○10

(used by grandfather of overweight female); drawn through a hedge

backwards11

(of untidy hair)

lack money skint; hard up (“hard up and happy”)

drunk three parts in the wind12

; pissed; three sheets in the wind; had one too many

pregnant up the spout; bun in the oven (used by mother); in the club

attractive dishy (used by husband); pretty (“that’s a pretty lass”); smashing (“smashing, her is”)

insane bonkers; nutcase (“thick’s a nutcase” common in Forest of Dean in past); off his head;

idiotic, idiots (“right idiot” considered unkind)

moody got the fly on hine○13

(“thick hae got the fly on hine/her hae got the fly on her, her have”

used in Berry Hill); sulky; mardy (used in Midlands)

SPONTANEOUS LEXIS

ah = yes (0:04:50 (that’s definitely a a typical Forest kind of word, is it?) (yeah) yes, all all every one

that’s been mentioned here would be said in the o… in the Forest dialect, yeah, ah; 0:26:11 (I got ‘pretty’

I don’t know uh “her’s a”) (‘pretty’?) (“that’s a pretty that’s a pretty lass”) ‘smashing’ ah (‘smashing’

aye, aye) “smashing, her is”; 0:47:27 (and a huge great beast of a mangle) ah (great big iron thing, you

know) (yeah, huge) (enormous) and then our mother’d w… get me winding these blinking hand around on

the mangle and uh her’d look at it and her’d say, “oh another couple of times through and that’ll be all

right” and then her’d tighten the top on hine down (yeah, that’s right, yeah) so it was much harder to

turn)

and all = as well, too (0:54:06 (there was nothing ever wasted on a pig) (my dad) no, only the squeal

(everything was eaten even his feet) aye (my dad used to have it cold and sliced up with mustard) (just the

squeal?) only the squeal that’s th’ only thing that was wasted (and what what’s that?) on a pig [makes

squealing noise] (oh, I see) they even ate the fat and all)

antimacassar = protective/ornamental cover over upholstered chair (0:31:04 (something like black plastic

type stuff it was) that’s right, yes (but uh trim between the leather and the polythene I suppose whatever

whatever that was) or on top, like, yeah, but it always had an antimacassar on the back I do remember

that)

aye = yes (0:23:26 (“her’ve got a mouth like a forty shilling iron pot” now what was a what was a forty

shilling iron pot?) that was a big one a stew pot, aye (that was a ‘big mouth’ obviously); 0:26:11 I got

‘pretty’ I don’t know uh “her’s a” (‘pretty’?) “that’s a pretty that’s a pretty lass” (‘smashing’ ah)

‘smashing’ aye, aye (“smashing, her is”); 0:42:16 the old Piggery Lane we used to call it it’s now called

um oh, blimey, Worcester Walk (oh yes) Worc…. Worcester Worcester Road or something (well but that’s

Worcester Lodge, isn’t it?) aye, yeah, that’s up well it’s the piggery to me there was pigs always kept

down there; 0:59:47 (that’s what it was really I suppose ‘thy tools’ “go and fetch thy tools” father used to

say) (yes, yes, yeah) aye, aye, “out the shed”; 1:15:37 (‘daddocky’ that’s a nice) ‘daddocky’ a ‘rotten’

8 Macmillan Dictionary (online edition at http://www.macmillandictionary.com/) includes ‘rolling in it’ in this sense.

9 Richard Scollins and John Titford’s Ey Up Mi Duck! Dialect of Derbyshire and the East Midlands (2000) records ‘oh’s gorra

pan/gob like a parish oven’ in this sense. 10

English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905) entry for ‘bolting’ includes ‘’er wuz jest like a boutin o’ straw ooth one bun’ round

it’ in sense of ‘uncomely servant-woman’. 11

Cassell Dictionary of English Idioms (1999) includes ‘to look as if one has been dragged through the hedge backwards’

meaning ‘to look untidy or dishevelled’. 12

OED (online edition) records ‘three sheets in the wind’ in this sense. 13

English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905) records ‘fly’ in sense of ‘passion, temper’.



(yeah, ‘rotten wood’ yes) ‘rotten wood’, aye, aye […] that was used in the mines a lot, you know, when a

(yes, yes, yes) when a pair of timber or summat started to rot, “thick thick’s got a bit daddocky better

replace it” (yeah, and a ‘gammy’ leg is a ‘gammy’ leg is a, you know) aye, aye, is a ‘bad’ leg)

band = string (0:23:35 and the other one he used to say you can normally tell about fat people he was

quite rude about women actually, “her’s like a bolting of straw tied up with one band”)

blimey = exclamation expressing surprise/incredulity/exasperation (0:42:16 the old Piggery Lane we used

to call it it’s now called um oh, blimey, Worcester Walk (oh yes) Worc…. Worcester Worcester Road or

something (well but that’s Worcester Lodge, isn’t it?) aye, yeah, that’s up well it’s the piggery to me there

was pigs always kept down there)

bloke = man (1:03:00 and that uh that’s what’s said about uh a little bouncy uh fella something like that,

“he’s a dappy-looking bloke, isn’t, he’s a little dappy one, yun her?” they used to say (‘dapper’, yeah)

(‘dapper’) (a ‘dapper’, yes); 1:22:37 you knew I do the fella I just said the big bloke there was two but him

him and his father used to come to Northern14

on the on a motorcycle)

blinking = euphemism for ‘bloody’ used as intensifier (0:47:27 (and a huge great beast of a mangle) ah

(great big iron thing, you know) (yeah, huge) (enormous) and then our mother’d w… get me winding these

blinking hand around on the mangle and uh her’d look at it and her’d say, “oh another couple of times

through and that’ll be all right” and then her’d tighten the top on hine down (yeah, that’s right, yeah) so

it was much harder to turn)

blooming = euphemism for ‘bloody’ used as intensifier (0:49:44 years ago about this time of the year this

was Christmas pudding making time (that’s right) I used to make hundreds of these blooming things;

1:09:43 and as you look up at a tall building it looks as though it’s falling over, doesn’t it, (aye, that’s

right) so sometimes I’d nearly fall off the blooming toilet because I was so busy looking up there and

daydreaming)

bolting = bundle of straw (0:23:35 and the other one he used to say you can normally tell about fat people

he was quite rude about women actually, “her’s like a bolting of straw tied up with one band”)

brawn = potted meat made from bolied pig’s head (0:54:26 the head I mean the head was turned into um

(brawn) brawn, yeah)

Brummy = person from Birmingham (1:18:51 like Keith’s just said if you’re talking to somebody a Scouse

Liverpool or or a Brummy or Newcastle or wherever soon ever you start talking to them, you know,

you’ve got a good idea where they come from)

bubble-and-squeak = leftover vegetables fried up as meal (0:48:14 […] you had bubble bubble and

squeak for dinner, didn’t you?)

butty = form of address, friend (0:04:29 no, I put down ‘boiling’ or well ‘boiling’ actually, you know, “I

be I be boiling, old butty” uh ‘hot’ of course, yes, yes (I put ‘sweltering’) (‘sweltering’ right) (and I put

‘warm’ ‘W’ ‘double A’ ‘R’ ‘M’ “yun it warm?”); 0:11:42 and a lot of the wit you had just the way you

were talking to somebody you might greet somebody, “how beest thee, old butty, how’s thy hacker

cutting?” (aye, aye) (yes) well that’s just uh a greeting, you know, to your friend; 0:12:10 (although your

‘butty’ was your ‘friend’, you know, the butty wasn’t that popular underground, was he?) this is this is this

is (no, he was very unpopular) yeah, this is the thing I find very difficult to understand (yeah) ’cause the

‘butty-man’ was often feared sometimes hated sometimes loved but ‘butty’ ‘my butty’ ‘me old butty’ is is

quite definitely your friend, isn’t it, your ‘mate’ your ‘pal’; 1:12:53 (‘cwtch’ you know ‘cwtch’ and all this

sort of thing and uh, yeah) (‘cwtch’, aye) ‘cwtch’ what ‘couch-grass’ or ‘cwtch up to me’ (‘cwtch up to

you’ yeah) yeah, that’s right, ’cause that’s another I think that’s another very endearing expression, isn’t

it, “come on, me butty, cwtch up to me” […] (“oh, give us a cwtch”))

butty(-man) = gang leader in coalmine (0:11:54 they also referred to pit life where your ‘butty’ was a

system of payment in the pits you went to the ‘butty-man’ and your ‘hacker’ of course was your ‘axe’ that

had to be nice and sharp for cutting the timber if he was cutting sharp, you know, and cutting well then he

he was fine; 0:12:10 (although your ‘butty’ was your ‘friend’, you know, the butty wasn’t that popular

14

Presumably, Northern United Colliery, Cinderford.



underground, was he?) this is this is this is (no, he was very unpopular) yeah, this is the thing I find very

difficult to understand (yeah) ’cause the ‘butty-man’ was often feared sometimes hated sometimes loved

but ‘butty’ ‘my butty’ ‘me old butty’ is is quite definitely your ‘friend’, isn’t it, your ‘mate’ your ‘pal’;

0:12:32 the ‘butty’ in the mine was the man that had all the mana... the money off the management or

whoever owned the mine and he shared it out with the the workers uh with hi… the tea… working under

him and he gave them what he thought they’d earned)

caddle = trouble, bother (1:19:57 we hardly knew the word trouble except to say, “I don’t trouble”

meaning ‘I don’t care’ (that’s right, ‘trouble’ yeah) you see there’s a completely different uh meaning

there, isn’t there, anything irksome was ‘too much caddle’)

cagmag = unappetising/unwholesome food (0:43:16 well bad cooks it was ‘cagmag’ I do remember that

uh, you know, women who couldn’t cook, “oh, we’re not not eating that cagmag”)

cattie15

= tipcat (0:10:07 well it’s like cattie, isn’t it, the game it’s ‘cattie’ this side but I understand it’s

‘peggy’ over your side, is that right, so I’ve been told (could well be, my love, yes) and it’s the same thing,

you see)

chap = man (1:22:13 (everybody in Cinderford knew Archie) oh aye, yeah, nice chap (yeah, lovely old

boy); 1:23:02 Vern was a odd-boy at the F… New Fancy (yes) […] that was hard life that was for young

chaps and used to tell me about him and his dad used to walk from Cinderford to The Fancy16

every

morning that’s a bloody good stroll on its own, mind, and him would do twelve hours or more hodding

and uh then go home and have his tea (that’s it, yeah))

chimmock* = chimney (1:47:01 “so up we gets right early and thick chimmock for to sweep”

17; 1:47:46

“so if thee beest going to sweep the chimmock just gie thee a tip get a chimmock sweeping expert ’cause

him hae got the proper kit”17

)

chitterling = small intestine of pig (0:53:36 mother’s favourite uh dish was chitterling chitterling and um

tripe)

conflab = chat, talk (1:36:35 […] ah, poor old Fred as died (yes) and I was to meet him when he came

down this time (yes, yes, yes) it was fixed up at the BBC that I was to meet him and uh have a conflab with

him)

copper = coins, loose change (1:08:15 I suppose back then it would only be a couple of coppers)

copper = water boiler for cooking or laundry (0:47:14 there was a copper in the corner and then a big

dolly-tub great (dolly was a big long wooden thing you pump it up and down) a a dolly-tub was normally

a cask and you you it was a sort of this action up and down)

cwtch = (to) cuddle (1:12:53 (‘cwtch’ you know ‘cwtch’ and all this sort of thing and uh, yeah) (‘cwtch’,

aye) ‘cwtch’ what ‘couch-grass’ or ‘cwtch up to me’ (‘cwtch up to you’ yeah) yeah, that’s right, ’cause

that’s another I think that’s another very endearing expression, isn’t it, “come on, me butty, cwtch up to

me” […] (“oh, give us a cwtch”))

daddock = rotten/decayed wood (1:15:37 (‘daddocky’ that’s a nice) ‘daddocky’ a ‘rotten’ (yeah, ‘rotten

wood’ yes) ‘rotten wood’, aye, aye […] that was used in the mines a lot, you know, when a (yes, yes, yes)

when a pair of timber or summat started to rot, “thick thick’s got a bit daddocky better replace it” (yeah,

and a ‘gammy’ leg is a ‘gammy’ leg is a, you know) aye, aye, is a ‘bad’ leg)

dapper = neat/trim/smart (1:03:00 (and that uh that’s what’s said about uh a little bouncy uh fella

something like that, “he’s a dappy-looking bloke, isn’t, he’s a little dappy one, yun her?” they used to say)

‘dapper’, yeah (‘dapper’) a ‘dapper’, yes)

dinner = main evening meal (1:15:58 this was Geoff’s grandmother who lived next door and she had a

habit of always coming into their house when they were just sitting down to dinner and she’d walk

through the door and she’d, you know, fold her arms and she’d say, “whenever I do come in here thee

15

Iona & Peter Opie’s Children’s Games with Things (1997, pp.316-321) includes ‘cattie’ and ‘peggy’ as regional variants of

traditional game in which wooden cat (‘tip-cat’) is struck/tipped at one end with stick so as to spring up and is then hit as far as

possible. 16

The New Fancy coal mine, operational until 1944 and now a designated picnic area and viewing site. 17

This passage is ‘performed’ by a speaker reciting dialect verse.



beest always stuffing thy weasands” (‘wazzock’) now ‘weasand’ is a ‘weasand’ your ‘gullet’ now that’s

Shakespearean (yeah, could be, yeah) ‘weasand’ comes into Shakespeare (what’s a wazzock then?))

dolly-tub = washing tub (0:47:14 there was a copper in the corner and then a big dolly-tub great (dolly

was a big long wooden thing you pump it up and down) a a dolly-tub was normally a cask and you you it

was a sort of this action up and down)

ear-hole = ear (1:02:34 if I said to our mam instead of ‘mam’, “uh what’st got for tea, old lady?” I think

I’d’ve had a smack on the ear-hole a bit quick; 1:23:02 Vern was a odd-boy at the F… New Fancy (yes)

[…] that was hard life that was for young chaps and used to tell me about him and his dad used to walk

from Cinderford to The Fancy16

every morning that’s a bloody good stroll on its own, mind, and him

would do twelve hours or more hodding and uh then go home and have his tea (that’s it, yeah))

fair play = congratulations, well done (1:14:55 “fair play to all them helpers they do praise them every

one for the work them must put into it when their own day’s work is done”17

)

fella = man (1:03:00 and that uh that’s what’s said about uh a little bouncy uh fella something like that,

“he’s a dappy-looking bloke, isn’t, he’s a little dappy one, yun her?” they used to say (‘dapper’, yeah)

(‘dapper’) (a ‘dapper’, yes); 1:22:37 you knew I do the fella I just said the big bloke there was two but him

him and his father used to come to Northern14


fellow = man (0:40:21 I know a fellow who used to live on Gloucester Road in Coleford which is the main

road through (yes) his house was one side the road and his toilet was the other side the road)

folk = people (1:47:26 “now I’ve heard of folk a-saying chimmock sweeping yun’t a chore but by the time

we’d finished soot were blowing out the door”17

)

fore = before (0:37:54 couple of spoonfuls that fore you went to bed and ain’t never had no cold at all)

fowl = poultry (0:52:48 it was just off the garden there was nothing else (no, off the garden) I mean it was

only what you, you know, the pig and the fowls and the and garden that really kept you going)

gammy = deformed/misshapen/injured (1:15:37 ‘daddocky’ that’s a nice (‘daddocky’ a ‘rotten’) yeah,

‘rotten wood’ yes (‘rotten wood’, aye, aye […] that was used in the mines a lot, you know, when a) yes,

yes, yes (when a pair of timber or summat started to rot, “thick thick’s got a bit daddocky better replace

it”) yeah, and a ‘gammy’ leg is a ‘gammy’ leg is a, you know (aye, aye, is a ‘bad’ leg))

gie○ = to give (1:39:49 I never gied it a lot of thought; 1:47:46 “so if thee beest going to sweep the

chimmock just gie thee a tip get a chimmock sweeping expert ’cause him hae got the proper kit”17

)

godsend = welcome event, lucky chance (1:04:22 that was that was a by-product of coal, wadn it, or

summat or other (I dunno what it was made of) it was produced by the NCB18

or something (I dunno what

it was made of) that was a godsend to th’ old ladies […] when they didn’t hae to stitch the trousers any

more)

hacker = axe (0:11:54 they also referred to pit life where your ‘butty’ was a system of payment in the pits

you went to the ‘butty-man’ and your ‘hacker’ of course was your ‘axe’ that had to be nice and sharp for

cutting the timber if he was cutting sharp, you know, and cutting well then he he was fine)

hae○ = to have (0:23:26 “her hae got a mouth like a forty shilling iron pot” now what was a what was a

forty shilling iron pot? (that was a big one a stew pot, aye) that was a ‘big mouth’ obviously; 0:27:50 (and

what was one you said just now, Dave?) ‘got the fly’ “thick hae got the fly on hine” (aye, ‘got the fly on’)

(‘got the fly on hine’?) “thick got the fly on hine” aye (never heard that one) or ‘on her’ “her hae got the

fly on her, her have”; 0:44:24 the first time I had that was at my grandmother’s (I hated it) as a little boy

and it was all fat there was no lean (yeah, I hated it) I think the only pink bits grandfather used to hae the

pink bits; 0:53:02 but I can remember when Keith was talking about the the Christmas pudding being

mixed up after, mind, it was always, “can I hae the wooden spoon or whatever and and finish that bit off”;

1:48:35 get some cruel sod chuck a cockerel down there or summat, wouldn’t her, by time him hae

fluttered to the bottom him hae swept the chimney)

hod = cart/sled for conveying coal (1:23:02 Vern was a odd-boy at the F… New Fancy (yes) […] that was

hard life that was for young chaps and used to tell me about him and his dad used to walk from

18

National Coal Board.



Cinderford to The Fancy16

every morning that’s a bloody good stroll on its own, mind, and him would do

twelve hours or more hodding and uh then go home and have his tea (that’s it, yeah); 1:23:57 a ‘hod’ was

a sleigh to something like a sleigh a box then that was loaded with coal)

hoss = horse (1:07:14 some of them had a bucket underneath, you know, (oh, yes) and a chap used to

come round with hoss and cart once a week (what’s-his-name Smith) (that’s right, yes) Shitty Smith;

1:25:00 they used to say they used to treat hosses a lot better underground than the men (oh yeah, this is

what I’ve always, yes, yes, yes) (oh aye) ’cause they could it cost more to get another hoss (aye))

how’s thy hacker cutting♦19

= greeting used by miners in past (0:11:42 and a lot of the wit you had just

the way you were talking to somebody you might greet somebody, “how beest thee, old butty, how’s thy

hacker cutting?” (aye, aye) (yes) well that’s just uh a greeting, you know, to your friend)

jerry = chamber-pot (1:25:09 he said you’d cry all day and you cried all night and it was no good asking

your mother because she’d say, “stick it in the jerry” (aye, that’s right) and apparently that was the cure,

you see)

kid = young child (1:19:13 there is quite a interest among amongst the young kids ’cause we Dave and

meself, you know, we’ve been to lot of the s… primary schools to talk to the kids there; 1:20:35 I can

remember one of the teachers came to me and said, “Kath, you’re a Forester, aren’t you?” he said, “this

kid’s written in his story about a p… having a pikelets they had pikelets them days” you see (aye, pikelets

lovely) (yes) “whatever’s that?” so I said, “well, Tony, it’s um sort of a crumpet”)

kiddy = young child (1:07:04 a little raised seat at the end for the child so so your ch… kiddy was sitting

up)

lass = girl, young woman (0:26:11 I got ‘pretty’ I don’t know uh “her’s a” (‘pretty’?) “that’s a pretty

that’s a pretty lass” (‘smashing’ ah) ‘smashing’ aye, aye (“smashing, her is”))

leaf = inner layer of fat round kidneys of pig (0:55:13 the leaves of lard which came down both sides sort

of well past the kidneys I suppose they were two long well we called them ‘leaves’ and that would be cut

into one inch squares)

lingo = language of specific speech community (0:11:22 the the complete language uh uh lingo I don’t

think uh is that much difference but you get odd words that differ, Keith, in uh in in the dialect, don’t

you?)

maiden lady = older unmarried woman (0:50:20 our Christmas Day pudding was always the last one from

the year before and that would hang up on the landing all that time and it was beautiful (aye) but I mean

there were always maiden ladies and neighbours, you know, and and you gave them nearly all away

actually, didn’t you?)

mam = mother, mum (0:30:12 oh, no, my aunt was tried to be posh she called it a ‘settee’, you see, our

mam said, “get up off thick sofa”)

missus = wife (1:06:52 and some had two or three holes so you could sit down with your missus as well

hold hand)

my love = form of address (0:07:38 oh no, let me put you right there, my love, we’re speaking proper it’s

them tothers as don’t speak right; 0:10:07 (well it’s like cattie, isn’t it, the game it’s ‘cattie’ this side but I

understand it’s ‘peggy’ over your side, is that right, so I’ve been told) could well be, my love, yes (and it’s

the same thing, you see))

nog-man○ = fool, simpleton (1:16:45 (what was that sorry, Elsie?) well a ‘nog-man’ (aye) well it’s a

‘fool’ (bit bit thick, like) a ‘fool’ a silly man, you know (‘N’ ‘O’ ‘G’ ‘M’ ‘O’ ‘N’ ‘nog-man’))

odd-boy = young casual labourer (1:23:02 Vern was a odd-boy at the F… New Fancy (yes) […] that was

hard life that was for young chaps and used to tell me about him and his dad used to walk from



twelve hours or more hodding and uh then go home and have his tea (that’s it, yeah))

oh aye○ = yes, confirming or contradicting (1:22:13 (everybody in Cinderford knew Archie) oh aye, yeah,

nice chap (yeah, lovely old boy); 1:25:00 (they used to say they used to treat hosses a lot better

19

Urban Dictionary (online) records ‘how’s she cutting’ in this sense.



underground than the men) (oh yeah, this is what I’ve always, yes, yes, yes) oh aye (’cause they could it

cost more to get another hoss) aye)

peggy15

= tipcat (0:10:07 well it’s like cattie, isn’t it, the game it’s ‘cattie’ this side but I understand it’s

‘peggy’ over your side, is that right, so I’ve been told (could well be, my love, yes) and it’s the same thing,

you see; 0:10:48 and they would get someone in the village that could hit this peggy stick buzzing for a

long way, you know (yes))

pikelet = crumpet, savoury muffin (1:20:35 I can remember one of the teachers came to me and said,

“Kath, you’re a Forester, aren’t you?” he said, “this kid’s written in his story about a p… having a

pikelets they had pikelets them days” you see (aye, pikelets lovely) (yes) “whatever’s that?” so I said,

“well, Tony, it’s um sort of a crumpet”)

pushbike = bicycle (1:21:55 he used to tell me about his first job he had he used to cy… used to cycle from

Cinderford to Chepstow every day (that’s right, yeah) pushbike from Cinderford to Chepstow must be

getting best part of twenty mile I should think)

right = very, really (1:22:49 and they’d both sit on this AJS20

motorcycle and there was about thirty-odd

stone on there altogether I expect and no sooner did they get on the t… back tyre’d go right flat and they’d

go wobbling off up across the yard on the thing with the tyre rolling around, like; 1:47:01 “so up we gets

right early and thick chimmock for to sweep”17

)

Scouse = person from Liverpool (1:18:51 like Keith’s just said if you’re talking to somebody a Scouse

Liverpool or or a Brummy or Newcastle or wherever soon ever you start talking to them, you know,

you’ve got a good idea where they come from)

scowl-hole = quarry, gravel pit in Forest of Dean (0:33:54 I mean my grandmother’s toilet it was uh a bit

of a shed perched on the edge of a sco… scowl-hole (yes, that’s funny, yes) and they used to chuck a bag

of quicklime in there every (that’s right, yeah) every month or so (that’s right, yeah) occasionally they

used to shift en a bit further up the scowl-hole)

scores of = loads of, lots of (1:03:59 I’ve seen my mother do this scores of times when you put a patch on

the knee you only sewed it up the two sides and along the top)

scrutchings○ = scratchings, crisp residue of pork fat after rendering lard (0:55:42 but even the little bits of

fat that were left after you poured the liquid off we ate those they were called ‘scrutchings’ ‘scrutchings’

(aye) and they were beautiful when they were cold, you know)

sod = nuisance, so-and-so (1:48:35 get some cruel sod chuck a cockerel down there or summat, wouldn’t

her, by time him hae fluttered to the bottom him hae swept the chimney)

soon ever♦ = as soon as (1:18:51 like Keith’s just said if you’re talking to somebody a Scouse Liverpool or

or a Brummy or Newcastle or wherever soon ever you start talking to them, you know, you’ve got a good

idea where they come from)

summat∆ = something (1:01:01 (aye, ‘butty’ “all right, old butty?” “aye, not so bad how beest thou?”)

(yeah) or ‘me old mate’ or summat or other (aye, ‘old mate’); 1:04:22 that was that was a by-product of

coal, wadn it, or summat or other (I dunno what it was made of) it was produced by the NCB18

or

something (I dunno what it was made of) that was a godsend to th’ old ladies […] when they didn’t hae to

stitch the trousers any more; 1:15:37 (‘daddocky’ that’s a nice) ‘daddocky’ a ‘rotten’ (yeah, ‘rotten wood’

yes) ‘rotten wood’, aye, aye […] that was used in the mines a lot, you know, when a (yes, yes, yes) when a

pair of timber or summat started to rot, “thick thick’s got a bit daddocky better replace it” (yeah, and a

‘gammy’ leg is a ‘gammy’ leg is a, you know) aye, aye, is a ‘bad’ leg; 1:44:25 this is a little story about a

brass band ’cause we got a hell of a heritage of brass band in the Forest I think there’s summat like eight

or nine brass bands now; 1:48:35 get some cruel sod chuck a cockerel down there or summat, wouldn’t

you, by time him hae fluttered to the bottom him hae swept the chimney)

suss = to catch out, find out (0:19:31 uh I’d mooch meself in me time and hide in the gorse bushes ’cause

you hears the truant officer going by in his little car you would uh until he’d gone by and then creep out

20

A.J. Stevens & Co. Ltd., British motorcycle manufacturer 1909-1931.



from there but mum would always suss me because I’d got dirty trainers or mud on me boots or

something)

surry○ = form of address (1:14:48 “them Christmas lights in Coleford, surry, don’t them look a sight not

much in the daytime but what a show at night”17

)

tea = main evening meal (1:02:34 if I said to our mam instead of ‘mam’, “uh what’st got for tea, old

lady?” I think I’d’ve had a smack on the ear-hole a bit quick; 1:23:02 Vern was a odd-boy at the F… New

Fancy (yes) […] that was hard life that was for young chaps and used to tell me about him and his dad

used to walk from Cinderford to The Fancy16

every morning that’s a bloody good stroll on its own, mind,

and him would do twelve hours or more hodding and uh then go home and have his tea (that’s it, yeah))

thick = stupid, unintelligent (1:16:45 (what was that sorry, Elsie?) (well a ‘nog-man’) aye (well it’s a

‘fool’) bit bit thick, like (a ‘fool’ a silly man, you know) (‘N’ ‘O’ ‘G’ ‘M’ ‘O’ ‘N’ ‘nog-man’))

(thrilled) to bits∆ = extremely (0:41:37 so course I was thrilled to bits that they could go in a-flushing

away (aye) but my dad was a bit worried all this flushing)

time back = a long time ago (0:14:14 these sayings that you’ve mentioned I remember from time back

(yeah) but today I don’t hear that so often (no) not round where I live)

tother = (the) other (0:07:38 oh no, let me put you right there, my love, we’re speaking proper it’s them

tothers as don’t speak right; 0:32:27 (my grandparents on that side both pure Gloucestershire are from

little villages around Bishop’s Cleeve so um I’m and and) tother side of the river (and they have both got

the I mean they both had original Gloucestershire surnames))

trouble○ = to grieve, worry (1:19:57 we hardly knew the word trouble except to say, “I don’t trouble”

meaning ‘I don’t care’ (that’s right, ‘trouble’ yeah) you see there’s a completely different uh meaning

there, isn’t there, anything irksome was ‘too much caddle’)

want = mole (1:17:24 what about moles then ’cause they were ‘wants’, weren’t they, and a mole t…

molehill was an ‘wanty-tump’ ‘wanty-tump’, yeah (aye))

wanty-tump○ = molehill (1:17:24 what about moles then ’cause they were ‘wants’, weren’t they, and a

mole t… molehill was an ‘wanty-tump’ ‘wanty-tump’, yeah (aye))

wazzock = idiot, fool (1:15:58 (this was Geoff’s grandmother who lived next door and she had a habit of

always coming into their house when they were just sitting down to dinner and she’d walk through the

door and she’d, you know, fold her arms and she’d say, “whenever I do come in here thee beest always

stuffing thy weasands”) ‘wazzock’ (now ‘weasand’ is a ‘weasand’ your ‘gullet’ now that’s

Shakespearean) yeah, could be, yeah (‘weasand’ comes into Shakespeare) what’s a wazzock then?)

weasand◊ = gullet, throat (1:15:58 this was Geoff’s grandmother who lived next door and she had a habit

of always coming into their house when they were just sitting down to dinner and she’d walk through the

door and she’d, you know, fold her arms and she’d say, “whenever I do come in here thee beest always

stuffing thy weasands” (‘wazzock’) now ‘weasand’ is a ‘weasand’ your ‘gullet’ now that’s Shakespearean

(yeah, could be, yeah) ‘weasand’ comes into Shakespeare (what’s a wazzock then?))

whatchacallit◊ = thingummyjig, whatsit (0:37: 17 (so there wasn’t a lock on the doors then, no) […] (no,

you had to whistle while you was in there) (no, just a li…. just a clap uh uh one them you pressed en

down) yeah, clo… whatchacallits (and on the inside and lift en up from the outside) that’s right, yeah

(in… inside, yeah) (was there a r… a covering on it a roof or anything?) (oh, a bit of a roof, aye, might

have hole in him))

PHONOLOGY

KIT [ɪ]

(0:07:00 ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ use of the pronouns ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ and this [ðɪs] sort of thing’s [θɪŋz] pure

Old English [ɔʊɫd ɪŋglɪʃ] uh but a lot of the words came out of the the mines and the the pits, [pɪts] you

know, during the forties and fifties [fɪftɪz] and so on; 0:11:54 they also referred to pit life [pɪt ləɪf] where

your ‘butty’ was a system [sɪstəm] of payment in the pits [pɪts] you went to the ‘butty-man’ and your



‘hacker’ of course was your ‘axe’ that had to be nice and sharp for cutting the timber [tɪmbɚ] if he was

cutting sharp, you know, and cutting well then he he was fine; 0:53:36 mother’s favourite [fɛɪvɹɪt] uh dish

[dɪʃ] was chitterling [ʧɪtəlɪn] chitterling [ʧɪtəlɪn] and um tripe; 1:09:43 and as you look up at a tall

building [bɪɫdɪŋ] it looks as though it’s falling over, doesn’t it, (aye, that’s right) so sometimes I’d nearly

fall off the blooming toilet because I was so busy [bɪzi] looking up there and daydreaming)

<en-, ex-> (0:21:46 we was never very well-endowed [wɛlɪndəʊd] with them types round here

years ago; 1:12:53 (‘cwtch’ you know ‘cwtch’ and all this sort of thing and uh, yeah) (‘cwtch’,

aye) ‘cwtch’ what ‘couch-grass’ or ‘cwtch up to me’ (‘cwtch up to you’ yeah) yeah, that’s right,

’cause that’s another I think that’s another very endearing expression, [ɪndɪɚɹɪŋ ɪkspɹɛʃən] isn’t

it, “come on, my butty, cwtch up to me” […] (“oh, give us a cwtch”); 1:19:57 we hardly knew the

word trouble except [ɪksɛpt] to say, “I don’t trouble” meaning ‘I don’t care’ (that’s right,

‘trouble’ yeah) you see there’s a completely different uh meaning there, isn’t there, anything

irksome was ‘too much caddle’; 1:38:49 you enjoyed [ɪnʤɔɪd] reading your poem out, didn’t you?

(yes, but I think, you know, I think you can become unpopular if you do things too often))

DRESS [ɛ]

(0:14:14 these sayings that you’ve mentioned [mɛnʃənd] I remember [ɹɪmɛmbɚ] from time back (yeah) but

today I don’t hear that so often (no) not round where I live; 1:21:55 he used to tell [tɛɫ] me about his first

job he had he used to cy… used to cycle from Cinderford to Chepstow [ʧɛpstou] every [ɛvɹi] day (that’s

right, yeah) pushbike from Cinderford to Chepstow [ʧɛpstou] must be getting [gɛtn̩] best [bɛst] part of

twenty [twɛnti] mile I should think)

dead, head, shed (0:06:43 of course our our our dialect and our language goes right back to Celtic

times that’s when it started a lot of the uh the words we use come from that time when we talk

about ‘head’ [hɛd] “head” [jʌd]; 0:17:01 I got ‘half dead’ [aːfʤʌd] (‘half-dead’ [aːfʤʌd] does

that mean is that mean ‘half-dead’? [haːfdɛd]) (yes) ‘dead’ [dɛd] ‘dead’ [ʤʌd] means ‘dead’,

[dɛd] aye, but only ‘half-dead’ [aːfʤʌd] so you ain’t ‘dead’ [ʤʌd] all the way, like, you be only

‘half-dead’ [aːfʤʌd] you’m’n’t very well, like (right) (feeling a bit ‘poorly’ mainly, you know);

0:20:00 (what about ‘to sleep’?) (‘sleep’) (‘kip’) (‘kip’ ‘sleep’, yeah) ‘get thy head down’ [gɛt ðɪ

jʌd dəʊn]; 0:59:47 (that’s what it was really I suppose ‘thy tools’ “go and fetch thy tools” father

used to say) (yes, yes, yeah) aye, aye, “out the shed” [əʊt ðə ʒʌd]; 1:45:13 “straight roads was no

problem you just kept going on but crossroads was a headache [jʌdɛɪk] for thick poor drummer

man”17

)

TRAP [a]

(0:10:07 well it’s like cattie, [kati] isn’t it, the game it’s ‘cattie’ [kati] this side but I understand

[ʌndəstand] it’s ‘peggy’ over your side, is that [ðaʔ] right, so I’ve been told (could well be, my love, yes)

and it’s the same thing, you see; 0:50:20 our Christmas Day pudding was always the last one from the

year before and that [ðaʔ] would hang [haŋ] up on the landing [landɪŋ] all that [ðat] time and it was

beautiful (aye) but I mean there were always maiden ladies and neighbours, you know, and and you gave

them nearly all away actually, [akʃəli] didn’t you?; 1:03:59 I’ve seen my mother do this scores of times

when you put a patch [paʧ] on the knee you only sewed it up the two sides and along the top)

band, man (0:12:32 the ‘butty’ in the mine was the man [man] that had all the mana... the money

off the management or whoever owned the mine and he shared it out with the the workers uh with

hi… the tea… working under him and he gave them what he thought they’d earned; 0:23:35 and

the other one he used to say you can normally tell about fat people he was quite rude about women

actually, “her’s like a bolting of straw tied up with one band” [ɚːz ləɪk ə bəʊɫtn̩ ə stɹɔː təɪd ʌp wɪ

wʌn bɒnd]; 1:01:11 (uh ‘male partner’?) ‘old man’ [ɔʊɫd mɒn] (‘my old man’ [məɪ oːɫ mɒn])



(‘my old man’ [mi oːɫ mɒn] ah); 1:16:45 (what was that sorry, Elsie?) (well a ‘nog-man’

[nɒgmən]) (aye) (well it’s a ‘fool’) (bit bit thick, like) (a ‘fool’ a silly man, you know) ‘N’ ‘O’ ‘G’

‘M’ ‘O’ ‘N’ ‘nog-man’ [nɒgmɒn]; 1:45:57 “so if thou see a bandsman [banzmɒn] a-marching

with a drum turn en round and face en back and away back to his home”17

)

canst not (0:51:36 (I mean they had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and the whole lot was

dug) that’s right, yes (and all planted with vegetable) yes (I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t

grow no flowers” he said, “no, they do give me indigestion, my boy” him said, you know) my my

grandfather would’ve said, “thee canstn’t eat flowers” [ði kʌsən jʌt fləʊɚz])

LOT [ɒ > ɑ]

(0:11:22 the the complete language uh uh lingo I don’t think uh is that much difference but you get odd

[ɒd] words that differ, Keith, in uh in in the dialect, don’t you?; 0:47:14 there was a copper [kɒpɚ] in the

corner and then a big dolly-tub [dɒlitʌb] great (dolly [dɒli] was a big long [lɒŋ] wooden thing you pump it

up and down) a a dolly-tub [dɒlitʌb] was normally a cask and you you it was a sort of this action up and

down; 1:22:49 and they’d both sit on [ɒn] this AJS20

motorcycle and there was about thirty-odd stone

[θɚːːɑd stoun] on [ɒn] there altogether I expect and no sooner did they get on [ɒn] the t… back tyre’d go

right flat and they’d go wobbling [wɒblɪn] off up across the yard on [ɒn] the thing with the tyre rolling

around, like)

want (1:17:24 what about moles then ’cause they were ‘wants’, [ʌnts] weren’t they, and a mole t…

molehill was an ‘wanty-tump’ [ʌntitʌmp] ‘wanty-tump’, [ʌntitʌmp] yeah (aye))

watty (0:22:29 (‘left-handed’?) (‘whacky’) oh, ‘watty’ [wati] (‘whacky’) oh, ‘watty’ [wati] is is the

one I remember ‘watty’ [wɒti] ‘watty’ [wati] (well it might’ve been that I misheard it, you see,

when I was a child […]) (‘watty’ [wɒti] I got))

STRUT [ʌ]

(0:11:54 they also referred to pit life where your ‘butty’ [bʌti] was a system of payment in the pits you

went to the ‘butty-man’ [bʌtiman] and your ‘hacker’ of course was your ‘axe’ that had to be nice and

sharp for cutting [kʌtn]̩ the timber if he was cutting [kʌtn̩] sharp, you know, and cutting [kʌtɪn] well then

he he was fine; 0:19:31 uh I’d mooch myself in my time and hide in the gorse bushes ’cause you hears the

truant officer going by in his little car you would uh until [ʌntɪɫ] he’d gone by and then creep out from

there but [bʌt] mum [mʌm] would always suss [sʌs] me because I’d got dirty trainers or mud [mʌd] on my

boots or something [sʌmθɪn]; 0:41:37 so course I was thrilled to bits that they could go in a-flushing away

[əflʌʃɪn əwɛɪ] (aye) but my dad was a bit worried [wʌɹɪd] all this flushing [flʌʃɪn])

ONE (0:23:26 (“her’ve got a mouth like a forty shilling iron pot” now what was a what was a forty

shilling iron pot?) that was a big one [ə b ɪg ʌn] a stew pot, aye (that was a ‘big mouth’

obviously); 0:41:14 and I was hoping this toilet would be finished for this party ’cause I didn’t

want to take them down the garden to the old one [wʌn]; 0:46:47 and we’d be stood the other side

the hedge because we knowed sooner or later the bladder would come over the hedge old Frank’d

chuck one (use it for a football) and there was a scrabble for the bladder, mind, and you’d blow

that one [ðaʔn̩] up and tie the top and that was a football (yeah) (ah) last probably a week and then

would go all dry and crack and that was the end of en, like; 0:52:48 it was just off the garden there

was nothing [nʌθɪŋ] else (no, off the garden) I mean it was only what you, you know, the pig and

the fowls and the and garden that really kept you going; 0:54:43 but we had a chitterling stick and

it I mean all through my childhood (aye) it lived on the ledge over the door out in the kitchen (aye,

white one [wəɪt ʌn]) it was a white one [wʌn] (aye) beautifully white where it’d been washed and

washed and washed again; 0:56:40 (‘babby’ or ‘little one’ [lɪʔlən]) we used to call it ‘babby’ but I

call my grandson the ‘little one’ now [lɪʔɫ̩ən] (right) (aye) so it’s changed, see; 1:03:00 and that uh

that’s what’s said about uh a little bouncy uh fellow something like that, “he’s a dappy-looking



bloke, isn’t, he’s a little dappy one, isn’t her?” [iːz ə lɪʔɫ̩ dapiən jʌnəː] they used to say (‘dapper’,

yeah) (‘dapper’) (a ‘dapper’, yes); 1:07:14 some of them had a bucket underneath, you know, (oh,

yes) and a chap used to come round with horse and cart once [wʌns] a week (what’s-his-name

Smith) (that’s right, yes) Shitty Smith; 1:44:38 of course a lot of stories grew up around brass

bands and this is one [wʌn] about a chap who used to play the bass drum and he was only a little

tiny fellow and when he was marching along her couldn’t see over the top of the bass drum;

1:48:25 well then them would tie a gorse bush on the (that’s right, yes, yeah) on the string or rope,

look, then they’d drag that one [ðatn̩] down the chimney)

FOOT [ʊ]

(0:49:44 years ago about this time of the year this was Christmas pudding [kɹɪsməs pʊdɪn] making time

(that’s right) I used to make hundreds of these blooming things; 1:09:43 and as you look [lʊk] up at a tall

building it looks [lʊks] as though it’s falling over, doesn’t it, (aye, that’s right) so sometimes I’d nearly

fall off the blooming toilet because I was so busy looking [lʊkɪn] up there and daydreaming; 1:21:55 he

used to tell me about his first job he had he used to cy… used to cycle from Cinderford to Chepstow every

day (that’s right, yeah) pushbike [pʊʃbəɪk] from Cinderford to Chepstow must be getting best part of

twenty mile I should think)

brook (0:29:31 (‘running water smaller than a river’?) (a ‘brook’ [bɹʌk]) (‘brook’ [bɹʌk]) (‘brook’

[bɹʊk]) (a ‘brook’ [bɹʊk] or a ‘stream’) […] that’s what I got ‘B’ ‘R’ ‘U’ ‘K’ a ‘brook’ [bɹʌk]

(yeah, the ‘brook’ [bɹʌk] “down the brook” [dəʊn ðə bɹʌk]) so we be all in agreement over thick

then)

BATH [aː > ɑː]

(0:02:02 um I just started writing after [aːftɚ] I retired mainly for my grandchildren who I thought

wouldn’t know anything about Forest life; 0:31:04 something like black plastic [plaːstɪk] type stuff it was

(that’s right, yes) but uh trim between the leather and the polythene I suppose whatever whatever that was

(or on top, like, yeah, but it always had an antimacassar on the back I do remember that); 0:47:14 there

was a copper in the corner and then a big dolly-tub great (dolly was a big long wooden thing you pump it

up and down) a a dolly-tub was normally a cask [kaːsk] and you you it was a sort of this action up and

down; 0:50:20 our Christmas Day pudding was always the last [lɑːst] one from the year before and that

would hang up on the landing all that time and it was beautiful (aye) but I mean there were always

maiden ladies and neighbours, you know, and and you gave them nearly all away actually, didn’t you?;

0:55:42 but even the little bits of fat that were left after [ɑːftə] you poured the liquid off we ate those they

were called ‘scrutchings’ ‘scrutchings’ (aye) and they were beautiful when they were cold, you know)

CLOTH [ɒ ~ ɑ]

(0:08:10 I found that (yes) ’cause I went to Monmouth School and I lost [lɒst] some of my friends here um

well I uh when I came home I would have to revert to Forest otherwise they wouldn’t talk to me; 1:22:49

and they’d both sit on this AJS20

motorcycle and there was about thirty-odd stone on there altogether I

expect and no sooner did they get on the t… back tyre’d go right flat and they’d go wobbling off [ɑf] up

across [əkɹɑs] the yard on the thing with the tyre rolling around, like; 1:25:00 they used to say they used

to treat horses a lot better underground than the men (oh yeah, this is what I’ve always, yes, yes, yes) (oh

aye) ’cause they could it cost [kɑst] more to get another horse (aye); 1:33:53 the winters was always hard,

you know, (yes, yeah) and they were frosted [fɹɒstɪd] in the ground for months (that’s right I know) and

you could hit the sprouts off [ɑf] with hammer, couldn’t you?)

NURSE [əː]

(0:08:10 I found that (yes) ’cause I went to Monmouth School and I lost some of my friends here um well I

uh when I came home I would have to revert [ɹɪvɚːt] to Forest otherwise they wouldn’t talk to me; 0:12:32

the ‘butty’ in the mine was the man that had all the mana... the money off the management or whoever



owned the mine and he shared it out with the the workers [wɚːkɚz] uh with hi… the tea… working

[wɚːkɪn] under him and he gave them what he thought they’d earned [ɚːnd]; 1:19:57 we hardly knew the

word [wɚːd] trouble except to say, “I don’t trouble” meaning ‘I don’t care’ (that’s right, ‘trouble’ yeah)

you see there’s a completely different uh meaning there, isn’t there, anything irksome [ɚːksəm] was ‘too

much caddle’)

FLEECE [iː]

(0:09:44 because they were such, you know, isolated communities years ago and uh the the people [piːpɫ̩]

they worked in the pit they lived in the village nearby they mixed with their mates keeping [kiːpɪn] the

sheep [ʃiːp] and never went far really it was such an insular life; 0:11:42 and a lot of the wit you had just

the way you were talking to somebody you might greet [gɹiːt] somebody, “how beest thee, old butty, how’s

thy hacker cutting?” (aye, aye) (yes) well that’s just uh a greeting, [gɹiːtɪn] you know, to your friend;

1:07:14 some of them had a bucket underneath, [ʌndɚniːθ] you know, (oh, yes) and a chap used to come

round with horse and cart once a week [wiːk] (what’s-his-name Smith) (that’s right, yes) Shitty Smith)

beat, eat (0:16:23 aye, you see well mine do go very similar to that ‘dog-beat’ [dɒgbjʌt] (oh, right,

oh, yes) “I be dog-beat” [əɪ bi dɒgbjʌt] where that come from I don’t know (‘dog-beat’ [dɒgbiːt])

(‘knackered’ I put); 0:43:16 well bad cooks it was ‘cagmag’ I do remember that uh, you know,

women who couldn’t cook, “oh, we’re not not eating that cagmag” [nɒt iːtɪn ðat kagmag]; 0:50:08

(we didn’t go short for Christmas pudding) (no, that was it this is) (’cause the neighbours come

round, “here’s a Christmas pudding”) (yeah, this is, yeah) (well we had probably had more than

what we had) we were still eating [jʌtɪn] them at Easter (well we’ve just finished the one up now,

Keith); 0:51:36 (I mean they had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and the whole lot was dug)

that’s right, yes (and all planted with vegetable) yes (I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t


grandfather would’ve said, “thee canstn’t eat flowers” [ði kʌsən jʌt fləʊɚz])

been, beest, feet, keep, seen, sleep, sweep, week (0:09:44 because they were such, you know,

isolated communities years ago and uh the the people they worked in the pit they lived in the

village nearby they mixed with their mates keeping the sheep [ʃiːp] and never went far really it was

such an insular life; 0:11:42 and a lot of the wit you had just the way you were talking to somebody

you might greet somebody, “how beest thee, [əʊ bɪst ði] old butty, how’s thy hacker cutting?”

(aye, aye) (yes) well that’s just uh a greeting, you know, to your friend; 0:20:00 (what about ‘to

sleep’?) ‘sleep’ [slɪp] (‘kip’) ‘kip’ ‘sleep’, [slɪp] yeah (‘get thy head down’); 0:43:25 well a a

Sunday dinner was just known or a um a coo… a meal in the week [wɪk] always known as “plate

of cook”, wasn’t it, ‘plate of cook’ (yeah) did you ever ever call it that over here?; 0:53:53 they’d

push the stick through and keep [kɪp] threading it on the stick till they couldn’t get no more and

then cut the chitterling off; 0:54:06 (there was nothing ever wasted on a pig) my dad (no, only the

squeal) everything was eaten even his feet [fɪt] (aye) (my dad used to have it cold and sliced up

with mustard) (just the squeal?) (only the squeal that’s the only thing that was wasted) (and what

what’s that?) (on a pig [makes squealing noise]) (oh, I see) (they even ate the fat and all); 1:07:14

some of them had a bucket underneath, [ʌndɚniːθ] you know, (oh, yes) and a chap used to come

round with horse and cart once a week [wiːk] (what’s-his-name Smith) (that’s right, yes) Shitty

Smith; 1:19:13 there is quite a interest among amongst the young kids ’cause we Dave and myself,

you know, we’ve been [bɪn] to lot of the s… primary schools to talk to the kids there; 1:29:34 I

think he must’ve been [biːn] the only boy in the family because when his mum packed his bag in

the morning she always put two little squares of chcocolate in it and he said day after day after

day them squares of chocolate disappeared; 1:37:47 what I’ve been [bɪn] doing is sending some of



these into The Forester21

(yes) the local newspaper and they’ve been [bɪn] printing some of them

because well it’s called ‘The Forester’; 1:45:49 “they never found poor Billy though rumours flew

quite thick someone’d seen [zɪn] a drummer about ten miles north of Wick”17

; 1:47:46 “so if thee

beest going to sweep the chimmock [ɪf ðiː bɪs gwaɪnə swɪp ðə ʧɪmək] just give thee a tip get a

chimmock sweeping expert [gɛd ə ʧɪmək swɪpɪn ɛkspɚt] ’cause him have got the proper kit”17

)

clean, pleased, tea (0:14:48 (what about ‘pleased’?) ‘chuffed’ (oh I got ‘chuffed’ as well) yeah,

well I got ‘pleased’ [plɛɪzd]22

; 1:19:39 little boy went home and said, “righto, mother, what’st got

on the what’st got on the table for tea [wɒs gɒd ɒn ðə tɔɪbɫ ̩fɚ teɪ] let’s be let’s be having on

thee”; 1:47:35 “thick soot well it got everywhere I can tell thee it was a sight we was cleaning

[klɛɪnɪn] up all Saturday and well into Saturday night”17

)

weasand (1:15:58 this was Geoff’s grandmother who lived next door and she had a habit of always

coming into their house when they were just sitting down to dinner and she’d walk through the

door and she’d, you know, fold her arms and she’d say, “whenever I do come in here thee beest

always stuffing thy weasands” [ðiː bɪst ɔːɫwɪz stʌfɪn ðɪ wazənz] (‘wazzock’) now ‘weasand’

[wazən] is a ‘weasand’ [wiːsand] your ‘gullet’ now that’s Shakespearean (yeah, could be, yeah)

‘weasand’ [wiːzand] comes into Shakespeare (what’s a wazzock then?))

FACE [ɛɪ]

(0:10:07 well it’s like cattie, isn’t it, the game [gɛɪm] it’s ‘cattie’ this side but I understand it’s ‘peggy’

over your side, is that right, so I’ve been told (could well be, my love, yes) and it’s the same [sɛɪm] thing,

you see; 0:50:20 our Christmas Day pudding [kɹɪsməs dɛɪ pʊdɪŋ] was always the last one from the year

before and that would hang up on the landing all that time and it was beautiful (aye) but I mean there

were always maiden ladies [mɛɪdn ̩lɛɪdɪz] and neighbours, [nɛɪbəz] you know, and and you gave [gɛɪv]

them nearly all away [əwɛɪ] actually, didn’t you?; 1:37:47 what I’ve been doing is sending some of these

into The Forester21

(yes) the local newspaper [njuːzpɛɪpɚ] and they’ve been printing some of them

because well it’s called ‘The Forester’)

ain’t (0:17:01 I got ‘half dead’ (‘half-dead’ does that mean is that mean ‘half-dead’?) (yes) ‘dead’

‘dead’ means ‘dead’, aye, but only ‘half-dead’ so you ain’t [ɛnt] ‘dead’ all the way, like, you be

only ‘half-dead’ you’m’n’t very well, like (right) (feeling a bit ‘poorly’ mainly, you know); 0:37:54

couple of spoonfuls that fore you went to bed and ain’t [ɛɪnt] never had no cold at all)

always (0:43:25 well a a Sunday dinner was just known or a um a coo… a meal in the week always

[ɔːwɪz] known as “plate of cook”, wasn’t it, ‘plate of cook’ (yeah) did you ever ever call it that

over here?; 0:50:20 our Christmas Day pudding was always [ɔːɫwɪz] the last one from the year

before and that would hang up on the landing all that time and it was beautiful (aye) but I mean

there were always maiden ladies and neighbours, you know, and and you gave them nearly all

away actually, didn’t you?)

away, day, paper, plate, replace, straight (0:43:25 well a a Sunday dinner was just known or a um

a coo… a meal in the week always known as “plate of cook”, [plaɪt ə kʊk] wasn’t it, ‘plate of

cook’ [plɛɪt ə kʊk] (yeah) did you ever ever call it that over here?; 1:14:55 “fair play to all them

helpers they do praise them every one for the work them must put into it when their own day’s

work is done” [wɛn ðɛ˞ː əʊn daɪz wɚːk ɪz dʌn]17

; 1:15:37 (‘daddocky’ that’s a nice) ‘daddocky’ a

‘rotten’ (yeah, ‘rotten wood’ yes) ‘rotten wood’, aye, aye […] that was used in the mines a lot, you

know, when a (yes, yes, yes) when a pair of timber or summat started to rot, “thick thick’s got a bit

daddocky better replace it” [bɛɚ ɹɪplaɪs ɪʔ] (yeah, and a ‘gammy’ leg is a ‘gammy’ leg is a, you

know) aye, aye, is a ‘bad’ leg; 1:31:31 “I were sat there in front the fire with the paper [paɪpɚ]

21

Local weekly newspaper published under various titles since 1874. 22

This pronunciation is consciously ‘performed’ in imitation of older dialect speakers.



a… a-reading on hine and the missus said, ‘what’st fancy for a bit of second veg today, Herb?’”17

;

1:37:47 what I’ve been doing is sending some of these into The Forester21

(yes) the local

newspaper [njuːzpɛɪpɚ] and they’ve been printing some of them because well it’s called ‘The

Forester’; 1:45:13 “straight [stɹaɪʔ] roads was no problem you just kept going on but crossroads

was a headache for thick poor drummer man”17

; 1:45:57 “so if thou see a bandsman a-marching

with a drum turn en round and face en back and away [əwaɪ] back to his home”17

)

case, play, praise, table (0:20:39 (what about ‘to play a game’?) I got to ‘play’ [plɔɪ] […] “beest

thou coming out to play?” [stðəʊ kʌmɪn əʊt tə plɔɪ]; 0:26:34 (um ‘insane’?) (‘bonkers’)

‘bonkers’ or or, “thick’s a nutcase” [ðɪks ə nʌtkɔɪs] (what was that?) “thick’s a nutcase” [ðɪks ə

nʌtkɔɪs]; 1:14:55 “fair play to all them helpers [vɛ˞ː plɔɪ tu ɔːɫ ðɛm ɛɫpɚz] they do praise them

every one [ðɛɪ də pɹɔɪz əm ɛvɹɪ wʌn] for the work them must put into it when their own day’s work

is done”17

; 1:19:39 little boy went home and said, “righto, mother, what’st got on the what’st got

on the table for tea [wɒs gɒd ɒn ðə wɒs gɒd ɒn ðə tɔɪbɫ̩ fɚ teɪ] let’s be let’s be having on thee”)

<-day> (0:13:05 that was the ones that didn’t go to church on Sundays [sʌndɪz] (that was the ones

as took all the money, Keith) (they u… they usually had a few more sheep than the rest as well)

(aye, that’s right); 0:39:27 and by the side the boiler where where uh the washing and that was

boiled in on the Monday [mʌndi] and the Christmas puddings boiled in there a-coming up to

Christmas; 0:43:25 well a a Sunday dinner [sʌndi dɪnɚ] was just known or a um a coo… a meal in

the week always known as “plate of cook”, wasn’t it, ‘plate of cook’ (yeah) did you ever ever call

it that over here?)

PALM [ɑː ~ aː]

(0:09:10 well to be perfectly honest if you, you know, you wouldn’t be understood half [hɑːf] the time,

would you, (no) if you spoke in the real old dialect; 0:44:59 there was always one on the wash-house door

half [aːf] of side of bacon hanging (aye) and in the dark used to glisten, didn’t it, used to really glisten;

1:00:36 now my one grandson he calls me ‘gransher’ but uh uh the his uh the other family in Redbrook he

calls ‘grandpa’ [gɹandpɑː] and ‘grandma’ [gɹanmɑː]; 1:08:40 he said, “is it inside?” and I said, “yes”

“oh, well then you can’t [kaːn] have a second one upstairs if you’d’ve had an outside toilet you could’ve

had one down and up” now what how’s that for red tape could’ve had two)

aunt (0:30:12 oh, no, my aunt [ant] was tried to be posh she called it a ‘settee’, you see, our mam

said, “get up off thick sofa”; 0:40:31 that reminds me of where one of my aunts [ɑːnts] lived in

Birmingham and and it was, you know, there was this long long row continuous row of cottages

houses I suppose you’d call them and there was, like, a back yard and then the toilets were all out

at the end of the yard (a row of toilets out there, like) yes (yeah) not so very many)

father (0:51:36 I mean they had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and the whole lot was dug

(that’s right, yes) and all planted with vegetable (yes) I said to grandfather [gɹanfɛɪðɚ] one day,

“we don’t grow no flowers” he said, “no, they do give me indigestion, my boy” him said, you

know (my my grandfather [gɹanfɑːðə] would’ve said, “thee canstn’t eat flowers”))

THOUGHT [ɔː > ɑː]


uh when I came home I would have to revert to Forest otherwise they wouldn’t talk [tɔːk] to me; 0:29:58

do you know I put ‘settee’ then I thought [θɔːʔ] we didn’t use to call it [kɔːl ɪʔ] that, no, ‘sofa’; 0:44:48

remember I got a bottle of brown sauce [bɹəʊn sɑːs] and I smacked this bloody sauce [sɑːs] all over I ate

it but I ever since I never had no trouble eating home-cured bacon I love it; 1:09:43 and as you look up at

a tall [tɔːɫ] building it looks as though it’s falling over, [fɔːlɪŋ əʊvɚ] doesn’t it, (aye, that’s right) so

sometimes I’d nearly fall off [fɔːl ɒf] the blooming toilet because I was so busy looking up there and

daydreaming; 1:24:46 he said, “I rolled over and (yeah) and uh cri…”, he said, “I cried my eyes out” and



I thought, [ðɑːʔ] “Lord, whatever did bring me down a place like this surely there was something better in

life than this?”)

GOAT [oʊ]


uh when I came home [houm] I would have to revert to Forest otherwise they wouldn’t talk to me; 0:12:32

the ‘butty’ in the mine was the man that had all the mana... the money off the management or whoever

owned [əʊnd] the mine and he shared it out with the the workers uh with hi… the tea… working under him

and he gave them what he thought they’d earned; 0:40:21 I know [nou] a fellow [fɛlou] who used to live

on Gloucester Road [glɑstɚ ɹoud] in Coleford which is the main road [ɹoud] through (yes) his house was

one side the road [ɹoud] and his toilet was the other side the road [ɹoud]; 1:23:02 Vern was a odd-boy at

the F… New Fancy (yes) […] that was hard life that was for young chaps and used to tell me about him

and his dad used to walk from Cinderford to The Fancy16

every morning that’s a bloody good stroll on its

own, [oun] mind, and him would do twelve hours or more hodding and uh then go [gou] home [oum] and

have his tea (that’s it, yeah))

don’t (know), froze, going to, home, stone (0:01:18 um she said to me, “David, why don’t you

write some of your stories down?” [wəɪ dʌn ju ɹəɪt sʌm əv jɔ˞ː stɔːɹɪz dəʊn]; 0:05:00 (OK then uh

what about the opposite of that ‘cold’?) I put ‘froze’ [vɹʌz] (you put what sorry?) “I be froze” [əɪ

bi vɹʌz]; 0:08:10 I found that (yes) ’cause I went to Monmouth School and I lost some of my friends

here um well I uh when I came home [houm] I would have to revert to Forest otherwise they

wouldn’t talk to me; 0:11:22 the the complete language uh uh lingo I don’t think uh is that much

difference but you get odd words that differ, Keith, in uh in in the dialect, don’t you? [dʌnjə];

0:26:11 I got ‘pretty’ I don’t know [dʌnəʊ] uh “her’s a” (‘pretty’?) “that’s a pretty that’s a pretty

lass” (‘smashing’ ah) ‘smashing’ aye, aye (“smashing, her is”); 1:03:45 especially for old Bill

Chapel as lived just down here (yeah, you actually) old Bill was about thirty stone [θɚːdi stʊn];

1:22:49 and they’d both sit on this AJS20

motorcycle and there was about thirty-odd stone [θɚːːɑd

stoun] on there altogether I expect and no sooner did they get on the t… back tyre’d go right flat

and they’d go wobbling off up across the yard on the thing with the tyre rolling around, like;

1:38:30 I don’t know [dʌnəʊ] I’ve just done it to amuse myself I said to my husband next year

somebody else can do that ’cause I’ve I’m going to [gənə] hand that cup over and somebody else

can take it (you might win again) I’m not going in for it next year; 1:45:57 “so if thou see a

bandsman a-marching with a drum turn en round and face en back and away back to his home”

[wʌm]17

; 1:51:15 because we’ve all got similar backgrounds our poems are going to [gənə] be

similar, aren’t they, you can’t get away from it)

going (1:21:44 uh oh, he w… he was about a hundred-and-one I think but he used to c… open the

back door and he’d say, “ how beest going on then?” [əʊ bɪst gwaɪn ɒn ðɛn] (aye) and I’d say,

“not so bad, old butty”; 1:45:13 “straight roads was no problem you just kept going on [jə ʤʌs

kɛp gwaɪn ɑn] but crossroads was a headache for thick poor drummer man”17

; 1:47:46 “so if thee

beest going to sweep the chimmock [ɪf ðiː bɪs gwaɪnə swɪp ðə ʧɪmək] just give thee a tip get a

chimmock sweeping expert ’cause him have got the proper kit”17

)

only (0:17:01 I got ‘half dead’ (‘half-dead’ does that mean is that mean ‘half-dead’?) (yes) ‘dead’

‘dead’ means ‘dead’, aye, but only [ouni] ‘half-dead’ so you ain’t ‘dead’ all the way, like, you be

only [ouni] ‘half-dead’ you’m’n’t very well, like (right) (feeling a bit ‘poorly’ mainly, you know);

0:54:06 (there was nothing ever wasted on a pig) (my dad) no, only [ɒni] the squeal (everything

was eaten even his feet) aye (my dad used to have it cold and sliced up with mustard) (just the

squeal?) only [ɒni] the squeal that’s the only [ðɒni] thing that was wasted (and what what’s that?)

on a pig [makes squealing noise] (oh, I see) they even ate the fat and all)



over (1:45:41 “off over hill and valley over moor and mountain crest [ɑˑf ɔ˞ː ɪl ən vali ɔɚ mɔɚ ən

məʊntɪŋ kɹɛst] wondering when the shout’d come to halt and have a rest”17

)

so, <-ow> (0:08:27 do you know what you’ve just made me realise something now by saying that

that’s probably why I got in so many fights [sə mɛni fəɪts] at school; 0:40:21 I know a fellow

[fɛlou] who used to live on Gloucester Road in Coleford which is the main road through (yes) his

house was one side the road and his toilet was the other side the road; 0:40:31 that reminds me of

where one of my aunts lived in Birmingham and and it was, you know, there was this long long

row continuous row of cottages houses I suppose you’d call them and there was, like, a back yard

and then the toilets were all out at the end of the yard (a row of toilets out there, like) yes (yeah)

not so very many [nɒt sə vɛɹi mɛni]; 1:03:00 and that uh that’s what’s said about uh a little bouncy

uh fellow [fɛlɚ] something like that, “he’s a dappy-looking bloke, isn’t, he’s a little dappy one,

isn’t her?” they used to say (‘dapper’, yeah) (‘dapper’) (a ‘dapper’, yes); 1:21:44 uh oh, he w… he

was about a hundred-and-one I think but he used to c… open the back door and he’d say, “ how

beest going on then?” (aye) and I’d say, “not so bad, [nɒt sə bad] old butty”; 1:22:37 you knew I

do the fellow [fɛlə] I just said the big bloke there was two but him him and his father used to come

to Northern14


GOAL [ɔʊ] (0:10:07 well it’s like cattie, isn’t it, the game it’s ‘cattie’ this side but I understand it’s ‘peggy’ over your

side, is that right, so I’ve been told [tɔʊɫd] (could well be, my love, yes) and it’s the same thing, you see;

0:37:54 couple of spoonfuls that fore you went to bed and ain’t never had no cold [kɔʊɫd] at all; 1:06:52

and some had two or three holes [ɔʊɫz] so you could sit down with your missus as well hold [ɔʊɫd] hand;

1:23:02 Vern was a odd-boy at the F… New Fancy (yes) […] that was hard life that was for young chaps

and used to tell me about him and his dad used to walk from Cinderford to The Fancy16

every morning

that’s a bloody good stroll [stɹɔʊɫ] on its own, mind, and him would do twelve hours or more hodding and

uh then go home and have his tea (that’s it, yeah))

GOOSE [uː]

(0:19:31 uh I’d mooch [muːʧ] myself in my time and hide in the gorse bushes ’cause you hears the truant

officer [tɹuːənt ɑfɪsɚ] going by in his little car you would uh until he’d gone by and then creep out from

there but mum would always suss me because I’d got dirty trainers or mud on my boots [buːts] or

something; 0:23:35 and the other one he used to [juːstə] say you can normally tell about fat people he was

quite rude [ɹuːd] about women actually, “her’s like a bolting of straw tied up with one band”; 0:55:42 but

even the little bits of fat that were left after you poured the liquid off we ate those they were called

‘scrutchings’ ‘scrutchings’ (aye) and they were beautiful [bjuːtɪfʊɫ] when they were cold, you know;

1:37:47 what I’ve been doing [duːɪn] is sending some of these into The Forester21

(yes) the local

newspaper [njuːzpɛɪpɚ] and they’ve been printing some of them because well it’s called ‘The Forester’)

afternoon (1:44:19 I said he’s been quiet all afternoon [aːftənʊn] now he’s deciding to have a

chirrup)

blooming (0:49:44 years ago about this time of the year this was Christmas pudding making time

(that’s right) I used to make hundreds of these blooming [blʌmɪn] things; 1:09:43 and as you look

up at a tall building it looks as though it’s falling over, doesn’t it, (aye, that’s right) so sometimes

I’d nearly fall off the blooming [blɪmɪn] toilet because I was so busy looking up there and

daydreaming)

habitual do (0:13:48 but the one I’ve put down for that is um is uh if you’re upset or annoyed with

somebody, “that do kill my pig” [ðat duːkɪɫ məɪ pɪg]; 0:16:23 aye, you see well mine do go very

similar to that [məɪn də gou vɛɹi sɪməlɚ tə ðat] ‘dog-beat’ (oh, right, oh, yes) “I be dog-beat”

where that come from I don’t know (‘dog-beat’) (‘knackered’ I put); 0:22:57 dad was



ambidextrous he could write or with with either hand my father could, yeah (is anybody here left-

handed out of interest?) (no) no, only when I do comb my hair [əuni wɛn əɪ də koum mi ɛɚ];

0:28:24 ‘drizzle’ “it’s a-drizzling” (‘drizzle’) aye, meaning it’s (yes) it’s just raining but if it do

g… get any less [ɪf ɪt də g gɛt ɛni lɛs] it won’t be raining at all; 0:51:36 I mean they had two ac...

nearly two acres of garden and the whole lot was dug (that’s right, yes) and all planted with

vegetable (yes) I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t grow no flowers” he said, “no, they do

give me indigestion, my boy” [ðaɪ də gɪv mi ɪndɪʤɛsʧən məɪ bɔɪ] him said, you know (my my

grandfather would’ve said, “thee canstn’t eat flowers”); 1:15:58 this was Geoff’s grandmother

who lived next door and she had a habit of always coming into their house when they were just

sitting down to dinner and she’d walk through the door and she’d, you know, fold her arms and

she’d say, “whenever I do come in here [wɛnɛvɚ əɪ də kʌm ɪn ɪɚ] thee beest always stuffing thy

weasands” (‘wazzock’) now ‘weasand’ is a ‘weasand’ your ‘gullet’ now that’s Shakespearean

(yeah, could be, yeah) ‘weasand’ comes into Shakespeare (what’s a wazzock then?))

fool, school (0:08:15 when I came home I would have to revert to Forest otherwise they wouldn’t

talk to me or they um, you know, said we were toffee-nosed or something like that but at school

[skuːɫ] we weren’t allowed to (yeah, that’s right) use the Forest words; 0:08:27 do you know what

you’ve just made me realise something now by saying that that’s probably why I got in so many

fights at school [skuːəɫ]; 1:16:45 (what was that sorry, Elsie?) well a ‘nog-man’ (aye) well it’s a

‘fool’ [fuːəɫ] (bit bit thick, like) a ‘fool’ [fuːɫ] a silly man, you know (‘N’ ‘O’ ‘G’ ‘M’ ‘O’ ‘N’

‘nog-man’))

PRICE [əɪ]

(0:02:02 um I just started writing [ɹəɪtɪŋ] after I retired [ɹɪtəɪɚd] mainly for my grandchildren who I

thought wouldn’t know anything about Forest life [ləɪf]; 0:10:07 well it’s like cattie, isn’t it, the game it’s

‘cattie’ this side [səɪd] but I understand it’s ‘peggy’ over your side, [səɪd] is that right, [ɹəɪt] so I’ve been

told (could well be, my love, yes) and it’s the same thing, you see; 0:11:54 they also referred to pit life [pɪt

ləɪf] where your ‘butty’ was a system of payment in the pits you went to the ‘butty-man’ and your ‘hacker’

of course was your ‘axe’ that had to be nice [nəɪs] and sharp for cutting the timber if he was cutting

sharp, you know, and cutting well then he he was fine [fəɪn]; 0:12:32 the ‘butty’ in the mine [məɪn] was

the man that had all the mana... the money off the management or whoever owned the mine [məɪn] and he

shared it out with the the workers uh with hi… the tea… working under him and he gave them what he

thought they’d earned; 0:53:36 mother’s favourite uh dish was chitterling chitterling and um tripe [tɹəɪp])

my, thy (0:00:14 uh lived here all my [mɪ] life I was born in the Forest of Dean in fact sixty-two

years ago I work at Coleford at the moment and I run the local barber’s shop source of a lot of

material for dialect and humour; 0:12:10 (although your ‘butty’ was your ‘friend’, you know, the

butty wasn’t that popular underground, was he?) this is this is this is (no, he was very unpopular)

yeah, this is the thing I find very difficult to understand (yeah) ’cause the ‘butty-man’ was often

feared sometimes hated sometimes loved but ‘butty’ ‘my butty’ [məɪ bʌti] ‘my old butty’ [mi əʊɫd

bʌti] is is quite definitely your friend, isn’t it, your ‘mate’ your ‘pal’; 0:19:31 uh I’d mooch myself

[misɛɫf] in my [mi] time and hide in the gorse bushes ’cause you hears the truant officer going by

in his little car you would uh until he’d gone by and then creep out from there but mum would

always suss me because I’d got dirty trainers or mud on my [mi] boots or something; 0:20:00

(what about ‘to sleep’?) (‘sleep’) (‘kip’) (‘kip’ ‘sleep’, yeah) ‘get thy head down’ [gɛt ðɪ jʌd

dəʊn]; 0:22:57 dad was ambidextrous he could write or with with either hand my [mi] father

could, yeah (is anybody here left-handed out of interest?) (no) no, only when I do comb my [mi]

hair; 0:41:37 so course I was thrilled to bits that they could go in a-flushing away (aye) but my

[mə] dad was a bit worried all this flushing; 0:44:24 the first time I had that was at my [mi]



grandmother’s (I hated it) as a little boy and it was all fat there was no lean (yeah, I hated it) I

think the only pink bits grandfather used to hae the pink bits; 1:19:13 there is quite a interest

among amongst the young kids ’cause we Dave and myself, [misɛɫf] you know, we’ve been to lot of

the s… primary schools to talk to the kids there; 1:24:46 he said, “I rolled over and (yeah) and uh

cri…”, he said, “I cried my eyes out” [əɪ kɹəɪd mi əɪz əʊt] and I thought, “Lord, whatever did

bring me down a place like this surely there was something better in life than this?”)

tyre (1:22:49 and they’d both sit on this AJS20

motorcycle and there was about thirty-odd stone on

there altogether I expect and no sooner did they get on the t… back tyre’d go right flat [bak təɪɚːd

gou ɹəɪt flat] and they’d go wobbling off up across the yard on the thing with the tyre [tɚː] rolling

around, like)

CHOICE [ɔɪ]

(0:13:48 but the one I’ve put down for that is um is uh if you’re upset or annoyed [ənɔɪd] with somebody,

“that do kill my pig”; 0:15:18 and you sort of harden your voice [vɔɪs] when you’re saying it; 0:39:27 and

by the side the boiler [bɔɪlɚ] where where uh the washing and that was boiled [bɔɪɫd] in on the Monday

and the Christmas puddings boiled [bɔɪɫd] in there a-coming up to Christmas; 0:41:14 and I was hoping

this toilet [tɔɪlət] would be finished for this party ’cause I didn’t want to take them down the garden to the

old one)

MOUTH [əʊ]

(0:20:19 a lot of ‘S’s were pronounced [pɹənəʊnst] with a ‘Z’ in the Forest dialect Keith, isn’t it? (oh

yeah, all on them) all on them; 0:40:31 that reminds me of where one of my aunts lived in Birmingham and

and it was, you know, there was this long long row continuous row of cottages houses [həʊzɪz] I suppose

you’d call them and there was, like, a back yard and then the toilets were all out at the end of the yard (a

row of toilets out there, like) yes (yeah) not so very many; 0:52:48 it was just off the garden there was

nothing else (no, off the garden) I mean it was only what you, you know, the pig and the fowls [fəʊɫz] and

the and garden that really kept you going; 1:33:53 the winters was always hard, you know, (yes, yeah) and

they were frosted in the ground [gɹəʊnd] for months (that’s right I know) and you could hit the sprouts

[spɹəʊts] off with hammer, couldn’t you?)

couch-grass (1:12:53 (‘cwtch’ you know ‘cwtch’ and all this sort of thing and uh, yeah) (‘cwtch’,

aye) ‘cwtch’ what ‘couch-grass’ [kʊʧ gɹaːs] or ‘cwtch up to me’ (‘cwtch up to you’ yeah) yeah,

that’s right, ’cause that’s another I think that’s another very endearing expression, isn’t it, “come

on, my butty, cwtch up to me” […] (“oh, give us a cwtch”))

our (0:50:20 our [ɑ˞ː] Christmas Day pudding was always the last one from the year before and

that would hang up on the landing all that time and it was beautiful (aye) but I mean there were

always maiden ladies and neighbours, you know, and and you gave them nearly all away actually,

didn’t you?; 1:51:15 because we’ve all got similar backgrounds our [ɑ˞ː] poems are going to be

similar, aren’t they, you can’t get away from it)

NEAR [ɪə > ɪː]

(0:00:14 uh lived here all my life [lɪvd ɪːɹ ɔːɫ mɪ ləɪf] I was born in the Forest of Dean in fact sixty-two

years [jɪɚz] ago I work at Coleford at the moment and I run the local barber’s shop source of a lot of

material [mətɪːɹiəɫ] for dialect and humour; 0:08:10 I found that (yes) ’cause I went to Monmouth School

and I lost some of my friends here [hɪɚ] um well I uh when I came home I would have to revert to Forest

otherwise they wouldn’t talk to me; 0:12:10 (although your ‘butty’ was your ‘friend’, you know, the butty

wasn’t that popular underground, was he?) this is this is this is (no, he was very unpopular) yeah, this is

the thing I find very difficult to understand (yeah) ’cause the ‘butty-man’ was often feared [fɪɚd]

sometimes hated sometimes loved but ‘butty’ ‘my butty’ ‘my old butty’ is is quite definitely your friend,

isn’t it, your ‘mate’ your ‘pal’)



ear, here, year (0:00:14 uh lived here all my life [lɪvd ɪːɹ ɔːɫ mɪ ləɪf] I was born in the Forest of

Dean in fact sixty-two years [jɪɚz] ago I work at Coleford at the moment and I run the local

barber’s shop source of a lot of material for dialect and humour; 0:04:50 (that’s definitely a a

typical Forest kind of word, is it?) (yeah) yes, all all every one that’s been mentioned here [jɚː]

would be said in the o… in the Forest dialect, yeah, ah; 0:08:10 I found that (yes) ’cause I went to

Monmouth School and I lost some of my friends here [hɪɚ] um well I uh when I came home I

would have to revert to Forest otherwise they wouldn’t talk to me; 0:49:44 years [jɪɚz] ago about

this time of the year [jɚː] this was Christmas pudding making time (that’s right) I used to make

hundreds of these blooming things; 0:50:08 we didn’t go short for Christmas pudding (no, that was

it this is) ’cause the neighbours come round, “here’s a Christmas pudding” [jɚːz ə kɹɪsməs

pʊdɪn] (yeah, this is, yeah) well we had probably had more than what we had (we were still eating

them at Easter) well we’ve just finished the one up now, Keith; 1:02:34 if I said to our mam instead

of ‘mam’, “uh what’st got for tea, old lady?” I think I’d’ve had a smack on the ear-hole [jɚːɹɔʊɫ]

a bit quick)

nearly, really (0:09:44 because they were such, you know, isolated communities years ago and uh

the the people they worked in the pit they lived in the village nearby they mixed with their mates

keeping the sheep and never went far really [ɹiːli] it was such an insular life; 0:44:59 there was

always one on the wash-house door half of side of bacon hanging (aye) and in the dark used to

glisten, didn’t it, used to really [ɹɪːli] glisten; 0:51:36 I mean they had two ac... nearly [nɚːli] two

acres of garden and the whole lot was dug (that’s right, yes) and all planted with vegetable (yes) I

said to grandfather one day, “we don’t grow no flowers” he said, “no, they do give me

indigestion, my boy” him said, you know (my my grandfather would’ve said, “thee canstn’t eat

flowers”); 1:09:43 and as you look up at a tall building it looks as though it’s falling over, doesn’t

it, (aye, that’s right) so sometimes I’d nearly [nɪːli] fall off the blooming toilet because I was so

busy looking up there and daydreaming)

SQUARE [ɛə > ɛː]

(0:12:32 the ‘butty’ in the mine was the man that had all the mana... the money off the management or

whoever owned the mine and he shared [ʃɛ˞ːd] it out with the the workers uh with hi… the tea… working

under him and he gave them what he thought they’d earned; 0:22:57 dad was ambidextrous he could write

or with with either hand my father could, yeah (is anybody here left-handed out of interest?) (no) no, only

when I do comb my hair [ɛɚ]; 1:29:34 I think he must’ve been the only boy in the family because when his

mum packed his bag in the morning she always put two little squares [skwɛɚz] of chcocolate in it and he

said day after day after day them squares [skwɛɚz] of chocolate disappeared)

START [ɑː]

(0:02:02 um I just started [stɑ˞ːtɪd] writing after I retired mainly for my grandchildren who I thought

wouldn’t know anything about Forest life; 0:40:31 that reminds me of where one of my aunts lived in

Birmingham and and it was, you know, there was this long long row continuous row of cottages houses I

suppose you’d call them and there was, like, a back yard [bak jɑ˞ːd] and then the toilets were all out at the

end of the yard [jɑːd] (a row of toilets out there, like) yes (yeah) not so very many; 0:41:14 and I was

hoping this toilet would be finished for this party [pɑ˞ːti] ’cause I didn’t want to take them down the

garden [gɑ˞ːdn]̩ to the old one; 0:55:13 the leaves of lard [lɑ˞ːd] which came down both sides sort of well

past the kidneys I suppose they were two long well we called them ‘leaves’ and that would be cut into one

inch squares)

NORTH [ɔː > ɑː]

(0:00:14 uh lived here all my life I was born [bɔ˞ːn] in the Forest of Dean in fact sixty-two years ago I

work at Coleford at the moment and I run the local barber’s shop source of a lot of material for dialect



and humour; 0:47:14 there was a copper in the corner [kɔ˞ːnɚ] and then a big dolly-tub great (dolly was a

big long wooden thing you pump it up and down) a a dolly-tub was normally [nɔ˞ːməli] a cask and you

you it was a sort of [sɔːdəv] this action up and down; 0:52:35 well ‘21 strike I was born [bɔ˞ːn] ’26 strike I

was growing up and I mean times were damned hard then I don’t ever remember going hungry but I got a

suspicion that parents very often did; 1:45:49 “they never found poor Billy though rumours flew quite

thick someone’d seen a drummer about ten miles north [nɑ˞ːθ] of Wick”17

)

horse (1:07:14 some of them had a bucket underneath, you know, (oh, yes) and a chap used to

come round with horse and cart [ɒsəŋkɑ˞ːt] once a week (what’s-his-name Smith) (that’s right,

yes) Shitty Smith; 1:25:00 they used to say they used to treat horses [ɒsɪz] a lot better underground

than the men (oh yeah, this is what I’ve always, yes, yes, yes) (oh aye) ’cause they could it cost

more to get another horse [ɒs] (aye))

or (1:06:52 and some had two or three [tuː ə θɹiː] holes so you could sit down with your missus as

well hold hand)

<-wa-> (0:04:29 (no, I put down ‘boiling’ or well ‘boiling’ actually, you know, “I be I be boiling,

old butty” uh ‘hot’ of course, yes, yes) (I put ‘sweltering’) (‘sweltering’ right) and I put ‘warm’

‘W’ ‘double A’ ‘R’ ‘M’ “isn’t it warm?” [jʌnɪʔ wa˞ːm])

FORCE [ɔː]

(0:00:14 uh lived here all my life I was born in the Forest of Dean in fact sixty-two years ago I work at

Coleford at the moment and I run the local barber’s shop source [sɔ˞ːs] of a lot of material for dialect and

humour; 0:07:00 ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ use of the pronouns ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ and this sort of thing’s pure Old

English uh but a lot of the words came out of the the mines and the the pits, you know, during the forties

[fɔːtɪz] and fifties and so on; 0:55:42 but even the little bits of fat that were left after you poured [pɔ˞ːd]

the liquid off we ate those they were called ‘scrutchings’ ‘scrutchings’ (aye) and they were beautiful when

they were cold, you know)

CURE [ʊə > ɔː > ɔə ~ ɑː]

(0:07:00 ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ use of the pronouns ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ and this sort of thing’s pure [pjʊɚ] Old

English uh but a lot of the words came out of the the mines and the the pits, you know, during [ʤɔːɹɪn] the

forties and fifties and so on; 0:17:01 (I got ‘half dead’) (‘half-dead’ does that mean is that mean ‘half-

dead’?) (yes) (‘dead’ ‘dead’ means ‘dead’, aye, but only ‘half-dead’ so you ain’t ‘dead’ all the way, like,

you be only ‘half-dead’ you’m’n’t very well, like) (right) feeling a bit ‘poorly’ [pɑ˞ːli] mainly, you know;

0:32:27 my grandparents on that side both pure [pjʊɚ] Gloucestershire are from little villages around

Bishop’s Cleeve so um I’m and and (tother side of the river) and they have both got the I mean they both

had original Gloucestershire surnames; 0:53:25 I mean they’d be horrified today to see us getting all that

fatty home-cured [oumkjʊɚd] bacon into us but people had their guts full of hard work in them days as

well, you see, and they were burning it off in energy; 1:45:13 “straight roads was no problem you just kept

going on but crossroads was a headache for thick poor [pɑ˞ː] drummer man”17

; 1:45:41 “off over hill and

valley over moor and mountain crest [ɑˑf ɔ˞ː ɪl ən vali ɔɚ mɔɚ ən məʊntɪŋ kɹɛst] wondering when the

shout’d come to halt and have a rest”17

)

happY [I > ɪ]

(0:10:07 well it’s like cattie, [kati] isn’t it, the game it’s ‘cattie’ [kati] this side but I understand it’s

‘peggy’ [pɛgi] over your side, is that right, so I’ve been told (could well be, my love, yes) and it’s the same

thing, you see; 0:12:32 the ‘butty’ [bʌti] in the mine was the man that had all the mana... the money [mʌni]

off the management or whoever owned the mine and he shared it out with the the workers uh with hi… the

tea… working under him and he gave them what he thought they’d earned; 0:55:13 the leaves of lard

which came down both sides sort of well past the kidneys [kɪdnɪz] I suppose they were two long well we

called them ‘leaves’ and that would be cut into one inch squares; 1:09:43 and as you look up at a tall



building it looks as though it’s falling over, doesn’t it, (aye, that’s right) so sometimes I’d nearly [nɪːli]

fall off the blooming toilet because I was so busy [bɪzi] looking up there and daydreaming)

lettER [ə]

(0:00:14 uh lived here all my life I was born in the Forest of Dean in fact sixty-two years ago I work at

Coleford [kɔʊɫfɚd] at the moment and I run the local barber’s [bɑ˞ːbɚz] shop source of a lot of material

for dialect and humour [hjuːmɚ]; 0:11:54 they also referred to pit life where your ‘butty’ was a system of

payment in the pits you went to the ‘butty-man’ and your ‘hacker’ [akɚ] of course was your ‘axe’ that had

to be nice and sharp for cutting the timber [tɪmbɚ] if he was cutting sharp, you know, and cutting well

then he he was fine; 0:47:14 there was a copper [kɒpɚ] in the corner [kɔ˞ːnɚ] and then a big dolly-tub

great (dolly was a big long wooden thing you pump it up and down) a a dolly-tub was normally a cask and

you you it was a sort of this action up and down)

commA [ə]

(0:04:10 I mean aitch is pretty well redundant in Forest unless you use it where it shouldn’t be used in

front of words with an ‘O’ or something, “the opera” [ðə hɒpəɹə] something like that; 0:29:58 do you

know I put ‘settee’ then I thought we didn’t use to call it that, no, ‘sofa’ [səʊfə])

horsES [ɪ]

(0:40:31 that reminds me of where one of my aunts lived in Birmingham and and it was, you know, there

was this long long row continuous row of cottages [kɒtɪʤɪz] houses [həʊzɪz] I suppose you’d call them

and there was, like, a back yard and then the toilets were all out at the end of the yard (a row of toilets out

there, like) yes (yeah) not so very many; 1:25:00 they used to say they used to treat horses [ɒsɪz] a lot

better underground than the men (oh yeah, this is what I’ve always, yes, yes, yes) (oh aye) ’cause they

could it cost more to get another horse (aye))

startED [ɪ]

(0:06:43 of course our our our dialect and our language goes right back to Celtic times that’s when it

started [stɑ˞ːtɪd] a lot of the uh the words we use come from that time when we talk about ‘head’ “head”;

0:51:36 I mean they had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and the whole lot was dug (that’s right, yes)

and all planted [plaːntɪd] with vegetable (yes) I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t grow no flowers”

he said, “no, they do give me indigestion, my boy” him said, you know (my my grandfather would’ve said,

“thee canstn’t eat flowers”); 1:33:53 the winters was always hard, you know, (yes, yeah) and they were

frosted [fɹɒstɪd] in the ground for months (that’s right I know) and you could hit the sprouts off with

hammer, couldn’t you?)

mornING [ɪ > n]̩

(0:02:14 um [KST] my interests besides that are singing [sɪŋɪŋ] and um [KST] painting [pɛɪntɪŋ] and

knitting [nɪtɪŋ] and looking [lʊkɪn] after grandchildren; 0:11:54 they also referred to pit life where your

‘butty’ was a system of payment in the pits you went to the ‘butty-man’ and your ‘hacker’ of course was

your ‘axe’ that had to be nice and sharp for cutting [kʌtn̩] the timber if he was cutting [kʌtn]̩ sharp, you

know, and cutting [kʌtɪn] well then he he was fine; 0:53:53 they’d push the stick through and keep

threading [θɹɛdn]̩ it on the stick till they couldn’t get no more and then cut the chitterling [ʧɪdɫ̩ɪn] off;

1:09:43 and as you look up at a tall building [bɪɫdɪŋ] it looks as though it’s falling over, [fɔːlɪŋ əʊvɚ]

doesn’t it, (aye, that’s right) so sometimes I’d nearly fall off the blooming [blɪmɪn] toilet because I was so

busy looking [lʊkɪn] up there and daydreaming [dɛɪdɹiːmɪn])

FULL RHOTICITY

(0:00:14 uh lived here all my life [lɪvd ɪːɹ ɔːɫ mɪ ləɪf] I was born [bɔ˞ːn] in the Forest of Dean in fact

sixty-two years [jɪɚz] ago I work [wɚːk] at Coleford [kɔʊɫfɚd] at the moment and I run the local barber’s

[bɑ˞ːbɚz] shop source [sɔ˞ːs] of a lot of material [mətɪːɹiəɫ] for [fɚ] dialect and humour [hjuːmɚ];



0:02:02 um I just started [stɑ˞tɪːd] writing after [aːftɚ] I retired [ɹɪtəɪɚd] mainly for [fə] my

grandchildren who I thought wouldn’t know anything about Forest life; 0:11:54 they also referred [ɹɪfɚːd]

to pit life where [wɛ˞ː] your [jɚː] ‘butty’ was a system of payment in the pits you went to the ‘butty-man’

and your ‘hacker’ [akɚ] of course [əv kɔ˞ːs] was your [jɚː] ‘axe’ that had to be nice and sharp [ʃɑ˞ːp] for

[fɚː] cutting the timber [tɪmbɚː] if he was cutting sharp, [ʃɑ˞ːp] you know, and cutting well then he he

was fine; 0:12:32 the ‘butty’ in the mine was the man that had all the mana... the money off the

management or [ɔ˞ː] whoever [uːɛvɚ] owned the mine and he shared [ʃɛ˞ːd] it out with the the workers

[wɚːkɚz] uh with hi… the tea… working [wɚːkɪn] under [ʌndɚ] him and he gave them what he thought

they’d earned [ɚːnd]; 0:32:27 my grandparents [gɹandpɛ˞ːnts] on that side both pure [pjʊɚ]

Gloucestershire [glɒstɚʃɚ] are [ə] from little villages around Bishop’s Cleeve so um I’m and and (tother

side of the river [tʌðɚ zəɪd ə ðə ɹɪvɚ]) and they have both got the I mean they both had original

Gloucestershire [glɒstɚʃɚ] surnames [sɚːnɛɪmz]; 0:47:14 there [ðɛː] was a copper [kɒpɚ] in the corner

[kɔ˞ːnɚ] and then a big dolly-tub great (dolly was a big long wooden thing you pump it up and down) a a

dolly-tub was normally [nɔ˞ːməli] a cask and you you it was a sort of [sɔːdəv] this action up and down;

1:19:57 we hardly [hɑ˞ːdli] knew the word [wɚːd] trouble except to say, “I don’t trouble” meaning ‘I

don’t care’ [əɪ dəʊnʔ kɛɚ] (that’s right, ‘trouble’ yeah) you see there’s a completely different uh meaning

there, [ðɛɚ] isn’t there, [ɪzənʔ ðɛɚ] anything irksome [ɚːksəm] was ‘too much caddle’)

hyper-rhoticity (1:03:00 and that uh that’s what’s said about uh a little bouncy uh fellow [fɛlɚ]

something like that, “he’s a dappy-looking bloke, isn’t, he’s a little dappy one, isn’t her?” they used to say

(‘dapper’, yeah) (‘dapper’) (a ‘dapper’, yes))

PLOSIVES

T

frequent word final T-glottaling (e.g. 0:10:07 well it’s like cattie, isn’t it, [ɪzn̩ɪʔ] the game it’s ‘cattie’

this side but I understand it’s ‘peggy’ over your side, is that [ðaʔ] right, so I’ve been told (could well be,

my love, yes) and it’s the same thing, you see; 0:12:32 the ‘butty’ in the mine was the man that had all the

mana... the money off the management [manɪʤmənʔ] or whoever owned the mine and he shared it out

[əʊʔ] with the the workers uh with hi… the tea… working under him and he gave them what he thought

they’d earned; 0:29:58 do you know I put [pʊʔ] ‘settee’ then I thought [θɔːʔ] we didn’t [dɪdnʔ̩] use to call

it [ɪʔ] that, [ðaʔ] no, ‘sofa’; 1:09:43 and as you look up at a tall building it looks as though it’s falling

over, doesn’t it, [dʌnːɪʔ] (aye, that’s right) so sometimes I’d nearly fall off the blooming toilet [tɔɪləʔ]

because I was so busy looking up there and daydreaming; 1:20:35 I can remember one of the teachers

came to me and said, “Kath, you’re a Forester, aren’t you?” he said, “this kid’s written in his story about

a p… having a pikelets they had pikelets them days” you see (aye, pikelets lovely) (yes) “whatever’s

that?” [wɒʔɛvɚz ðaʔ] so I said, “well, Tony, it’s um sort of a crumpet” [kɹʌmpɪʔ]; 1:38:12 so I put [pʊʔ]

that [ðaʔ] into a poem and I do a little sort of sketch with it, you see, little drawings (oh) stupid drawings

and things)

word medial & syllable initial T-glottaling (0:30:53 buttons [bʌʔn̩z] sort of s… pressed into them (that’s

it) or sewed in (lovely to lie on when you were ill) aye, aye (yes) (by the fire); 0:34:14 do you know what

they used to get the News of The World23

or The Daily Herald24

and rip it up into little [lɪʔɫ̩] squares and

hang it on a nail (we always had The Farmers Weekly25

) I don’t know why they done that why did they do

that, Keith? (we always had The Farmers Weekly) Farmers Weekly, like (posh, you see) (there was a lot of

23

British national Sunday newspaper published 1843-2011. 24

British national daily newspaper published 1912-1964. 25

British weekly magazine first published 1934.



pages in there); 0:44:48 remember I got a bottle [bɒʔɫ]̩ of brown sauce and I smacked this bloody sauce

all over I ate it but I ever since I never had no trouble eating home-cured bacon I love it; 0:47:27 (and a

huge great beast of a mangle) ah (great big iron thing, you know) (yeah, huge) (enormous) and then our

mother’d w… get me winding these blinking hand around on the mangle and uh her’d look at it and her’d

say, “oh another couple of times through and that’ll be all right” and then her’d tighten [təɪʔn̩] the top on

hine down (yeah, that’s right, yeah) so it was much harder to turn; 1:15:37 (‘daddocky’ that’s a nice)

‘daddocky’ a ‘rotten’ [ɹɒʔn̩] (yeah, ‘rotten wood’ yes) ‘rotten wood’, [ɹɒʔn̩ ʊd] aye, aye […] that was used

in the mines a lot, you know, when a (yes, yes, yes) when a pair of timber or summat started to rot, “thick

thick’s got a bit daddocky better replace it” (yeah, and a ‘gammy’ leg is a ‘gammy’ leg is a, you know)

aye, aye, is a ‘bad’ leg; 1:20:35 I can remember one of the teachers came to me and said, “Kath, you’re a

Forester, aren’t you?” he said, “this kid’s written [ɹɪʔn]̩ in his story about a p… having a pikelets they

had pikelets them days” you see (aye, pikelets lovely) (yes) “whatever’s that?” [wɒʔɛvɚz ðaʔ] so I said,

“well, Tony, it’s um sort of a crumpet”; 1:38:12 so I put that into a poem and I do a little [lɪʔɫ̩] sort of

sketch with it, you see, little [lɪʔɫ̩] drawings (oh) stupid drawings and things)

frequent T-voicing (e.g. 0:01:26 uh I started [stɑ˞ːdɪd] do a little [lɪdɫ̩] bit [bɪd] of verse and now carried

on I’ve done over fifty bits of rhyming verse I’d sooner call it I don’t profess to be a poet at all; 0:50:20

our Christmas Day pudding was always the last one from the year before and that would hang up on the

landing all that time and it was beautiful [bjuːdɪfəɫ] (aye) but [bəd] I mean there were always maiden

ladies and neighbours, you know, and and you gave them nearly all away actually, didn’t you?; 0:53:02

but I can remember when Keith was talking about the the Christmas pudding being mixed up after, mind,

it was always, “can I have the wooden spoon or whatever [wɒdɛvɚ] and and finish that bit [bɪd] off”;

0:53:25 I mean they’d be horrified today to see us getting [gɛdɪn] all that fatty home-cured bacon into us

but people had their guts full of hard work in them days as well, you see, and they were burning it off in

energy; 0:53:53 they’d push the stick through and keep threading it on the stick till they couldn’t get no

more and then cut the chitterling [ʧɪdɫ̩ɪn] off; 1:03:45 especially for old Bill Chapel as lived just down

here (yeah, you actually) old Bill was about thirty [θɚːdi] stone; 1:20:35 I can remember one of the

teachers came to me and said, “Kath, you’re a Forester, aren’t you?” he said, “this kid’s written in his

story about [əbəʊd] a p… having a pikelets they had pikelets them days” you see (aye, pikelets lovely)

(yes) “whatever’s that?” so I said, “well, Tony, it’s um sort of a crumpet” [ɪs əm sɔ˞ːd əv ə kɹʌmpɪʔ];

1:44:25 this is a little [lɪdɫ̩] story about [əbəʊd] a brass band ’cause we got [gɒd] a hell of a heritage of

brass band in the Forest I think there’s something like eight or nine brass bands now; 1:51:15 because

we’ve all got similar backgrounds our poems are going to be similar, aren’t they, you can’t get [gɛd]

away from it; 1:38:12 so I put that into a poem and I do a little sort of [sɔːdə] sketch with it, you see, little

drawings (oh) stupid drawings and things)

debuccalisation of word final T (1:38:30 I don’t know I’ve just done it to amuse myself I said to my

husband next year somebody else can do that ’cause I’ve I’m going to hand that cup over and somebody

else can take it (you might win again) I’m not [nɒʰ] going in for it next year)

G

labialisation of G (1:21:44 uh oh, he w… he was about a hundred-and-one I think but he used to c… open

the back door and he’d say, “ how beest going on then?” [əʊ bɪst gwaɪn ɒn ðɛn] (aye) and I’d say, “not

so bad, old butty”; 1:45:13 “straight roads was no problem you just kept going on [jə ʤʌs kɛp gwaɪn ɑn]

but crossroads was a headache for thick poor drummer man”17

; 1:47:46 “so if thee beest going to sweep

the chimmock [ɪf ðiː bɪs gwaɪnə swɪp ðə ʧɪmək] just give thee a tip get a chimmock sweeping expert

’cause him have got the proper kit”17

)

NASALS



NG

frequent NG-fronting (e.g. 0:01:26 uh I started do a little bit of verse and now carried on I’ve done over

fifty bits of rhyming [ɹəɪmɪn] verse I’d sooner call it I don’t profess to be a poet at all; 0:49:44 years ago

about this time of the year this was Christmas pudding [kɹɪsməs pʊdɪn] making [mɛɪkɪn] time (that’s

right) I used to make hundreds of these blooming [blʌmɪn] things; 0:53:25 I mean they’d be horrified

today to see us getting [gɛdɪn] all that fatty home-cured bacon into us but people had their guts full of

hard work in them days as well, you see, and they were burning [bɚːnɪn] it off in energy; 0:53:53 they’d

push the stick through and keep threading [θɹɛdn̩] it on the stick till they couldn’t get no more and then cut

the chitterling [ʧɪdɫ̩ɪn] off; 1:37:47 what I’ve been doing [duːɪn] is sending [sɛndɪn] some of these into

The Forester21

(yes) the local newspaper and they’ve been printing [pɹɪntɪn] some of them because well

it’s called ‘The Forester’)

<-thing> with NK (0:08:55 I find it’s something [sʌmɪŋk] you don’t naturally put on it just comes natural

to you wh… (yes, that’s right) when you’re talking, you know)

N

frequent syllabic N with nasal release (e.g. 0:02:02 um I just started writing after I retired mainly for my

grandchildren who I thought wouldn’t [wʊdn̩] know anything about Forest life; 0:04:10 I mean aitch is

pretty well redundant in Forest unless you use it where it shouldn’t [ʃʊdn̩ʔ] be used in front of words with

an ‘O’ or something, “the opera” something like that; 0:15:18 and you sort of harden [hɑ˞ːdn̩] your voice

when you’re saying it; 0:23:35 and the other one he used to say you can normally tell about fat people he

was quite rude about women actually, “her’s like a bolting of straw tied up with one band” [ɚːz ləɪk ə

bəʊɫtn̩ ə stɹɔː təɪd ʌp wɪ wʌn bɒnd]; 0:24:17 ‘hard up and happy’ them used to say, didn’t them,

[dɪdn̩əm] but I can’t see anybody get… silly saying really if you was hard up you wasn’t that happy, like;

0:43:16 well bad cooks it was ‘cagmag’ I do remember that uh, you know, women who couldn’t [kʊdn̩t]

cook, “oh, we’re not not eating that cagmag”; 0:44:59 there was always one on the wash-house door half

of side of bacon hanging (aye) and in the dark used to glisten, didn’t it, [dɪdn̩ɪʔ] used to really glisten;

0:47:14 (there was a copper in the corner and then a big dolly-tub great) dolly was a big long wooden

[wʊdn̩] thing you pump it up and down (a a dolly-tub was normally a cask and you you it was a sort of

this action up and down); 0:47:45 most of the underclothes was white cotton [kɒtn̩] calico and it had to be

boiled to keep it white sheets were boiled everything was boiled in this copper in the corner; 0:50:20 our

Christmas Day pudding was always the last one from the year before and that would hang up on the

landing all that time and it was beautiful (aye) but I mean there were always maiden ladies [mɛɪdn ̩lɛɪdɪz]

and neighbours, you know, and and you gave them nearly all away actually, didn’t you? [dɪdn̩ʔ ju];

0:41:14 and I was hoping this toilet would be finished for this party ’cause I didn’t want to take them

down the garden [gɑ˞ːdn]̩ to the old one; 0:45:37 there didn’t [dɪdn̩ʔ] seem to be any s… s…, you know,

sadness about it at all; 1:15:37 ‘daddocky’ that’s a nice (‘daddocky’ a ‘rotten’) yeah, ‘rotten wood’ [ɹɒtn̩

wʊd] yes (‘rotten wood’, (aye, aye […] that was used in the mines a lot, you know, when a) yes, yes, yes

(when a pair of timber or summat started to rot, “thick thick’s got a bit daddocky better replace it”) yeah,

and a ‘gammy’ leg is a ‘gammy’ leg is a, you know (aye, aye, is a ‘bad’ leg); 1:44:38 of course a lot of

stories grew up around brass bands and this is one about a chap who used to play the bass drum and he

was only a little tiny fellow and when he was marching along her couldn’t [kʊdn̩t] see over the top of the

bass drum)

syllabic N with epenthetic schwa (0:14:14 these sayings that you’ve mentioned I remember from time

back (yeah) but today I don’t hear that so often [ɒftən] (no) not round where I live)

FRICATIVES



H

frequent H-dropping (e.g. 0:00:46 uh born in Berry Hill [bɛɹi hɪɫ] c… I always call that the capital of the

Forest Berry Hill [bɛɹi ɪɫ]; 0:11:54 they also referred to pit life where your ‘butty’ was a system of

payment in the pits you went to the ‘butty-man’ and your ‘hacker’ [akɚ] of course was your ‘axe’ that had

to be nice and sharp for cutting the timber if he was cutting sharp, you know, and cutting well then he he

was fine; 0:22:57 dad was ambidextrous he could write or with with either hand [əɪðɚ and] my father

could, yeah (is anybody here left-handed out of interest?) (no) no, only when I do comb my hair [ɛɚ];

0:44:59 there was always one on the wash-house [wɒʃəʊs] door half [aːf] of side of bacon hanging [aŋɪn]

(aye) and in the dark used to glisten, didn’t it, used to really glisten; 0:46:47 and we’d be stood the other

side the hedge [ðʌðɚ səɪd ðə ɛʤ] because we knowed sooner or later the bladder would come over the

hedge [ouvɚ ðɛʤ] old Frank’d chuck one (use it for a football) and there was a scrabble for the bladder,

mind, and you’d blow that one up and tie the top and that was a football (yeah) (ah) last probably a week

and then would go all dry and crack and that was the end of en, like; 0:50:48 we kept ducks and hens [ɛnz]

and one thing and another; 0:51:36 I mean they had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and the whole lot

[ðɔʊɫ lɒʔ] was dug (that’s right, yes) and all planted with vegetable (yes) I said to grandfather one day,

“we don’t grow no flowers” he said, “no, they do give me indigestion, my boy” him said, you know (my

my grandfather would’ve said, “thee canstn’t eat flowers”); 0:53:25 I mean they’d be horrified [ɒɹɪfəɪd]

today to see us getting all that fatty home-cured [oumkjʊɚd] bacon into us but people had their guts full

of hard [ɑ˞ːd] work in them days as well, you see, and they were burning it off in energy; 1:06:52 and

some had two or three holes [ɔʊɫz] so you could sit down with your missus as well hold [ɔʊɫd] hand

[and]; 1:33:53 the winters was always hard, [ɑ˞ːd] you know, (yes, yeah) and they were frosted in the

ground for months (that’s right I know) and you could hit [ɪt] the sprouts off with hammer, [wi amɚ]

couldn’t you?)

hypercorrect H (0:04:10 I mean aitch is pretty well redundant in Forest unless you use it where it

shouldn’t be used in front of words with an ‘O’ or something, “the opera” [ðə hɒpəɹə] something like

that; 0:37: 17 (so there wasn’t a lock on the doors then, no) […] (no, you had to whistle while you was in

there) no, just a li…. just a clap uh uh one them you pressed en down (yeah, clo… whatchacallits) and on

the inside and lift en up from the outside (that’s right, yeah) in… inside, [hɪnsəɪd] yeah (was there a r… a

covering on it a roof or anything?) oh, a bit of a roof, aye, might have hole in him; 1:28:50 and that’s all

[hɔːɫ] his job is to drill this hole uh (that’s right, yeah) in this bit of uh casting whatev… (soul-

destroying))

LIQUIDS

R

approximant R (0:02:02 um I just started writing [ɹəɪtɪŋ] after I retired [ɹɪtəɪɚd] mainly for my

grandchildren [gɹanʧɪɫdɹən] who I thought wouldn’t know anything about Forest [fɒɹɪst] life; 0:20:19 a

lot of ‘S’s were pronounced [pɹənəʊnst] with a ‘Z’ in the Forest [fɒɹɪst] dialect Keith, isn’t it? (oh yeah,

all on them) all on them; 0:23:35 and the other one he used to say you can normally tell about fat people

he was quite rude [ɹuːd] about women actually, “her’s like a bolting of straw tied up with one band” [ɚːz

ləɪk ə bəʊɫtn̩ ə stɹɔː təɪd ʌp wɪ wʌn bɒnd]; 1:25:00 they used to say they used to treat [tɹiːt] horses a lot

better underground [ʌndɚgɹəʊnd] than the men (oh yeah, this is what I’ve always, yes, yes, yes) (oh aye)

’cause they could it cost more to get another horse (aye))

L



clear onset L (0:39:27 and by the side the boiler [bɔɪlɚ] where where uh the washing and that was boiled

in on the Monday and the Christmas puddings boiled in there a-coming up to Christmas; 0:51:36 I mean

they had two ac... nearly [nɚːli] two acres of garden and the whole lot [ðɔʊɫ lɒʔ] was dug (that’s right,

yes) and all planted [plaːntɪd] with vegetable (yes) I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t grow no

flowers” [wi dounʔ gɹou nou fləʊɚz] he said, “no, they do give me indigestion, my boy” him said, you

know (my my grandfather would’ve said, “thee canstn’t eat flowers” [ði kʌsən jʌt fləʊɚz]); 0:55:13 the

leaves [liːvz] of lard [lɑ˞ːd] which came down both sides sort of well past the kidneys I suppose they were

two long [lɒŋ] well we called them ‘leaves’ [liːvz] and that would be cut into one inch squares)

dark coda L (0:39:27 and by the side the boiler where where uh the washing and that was boiled [bɔɪɫd]

in on the Monday and the Christmas puddings boiled [bɔɪɫd] in there a-coming up to Christmas; 0:52:48

it was just off the garden there was nothing else [nʌθɪŋ ɛɫs] (no, off the garden) I mean it was only what

you, you know, the pig and the fowls [fəʊɫz] and the and garden that really kept you going; 0:55:13 the

leaves of lard which came down both sides sort of well [wɛɫ] past the kidneys I suppose they were two

long well we called [kɔːɫd] them ‘leaves’ and that would be cut into one inch squares; 1:09:43 and as you

look up at a tall [tɔːɫ] building [bɪɫdɪŋ] it looks as though it’s falling over, doesn’t it, (aye, that’s right) so

sometimes I’d nearly fall off the blooming toilet because I was so busy looking up there and daydreaming)

frequent syllabic L with lateral release (e.g. 0:32:27 my grandparents on that side both pure

Gloucestershire are from little [lɪtɫ̩] villages around Bishop’s Cleeve so um I’m and and (tother side of the

river) and they have both got the I mean they both had original Gloucestershire surnames; 0:55:42 but

even the little [lɪtɫ̩] bits of fat that were left after you poured the liquid off we ate those they were called

‘scrutchings’ ‘scrutchings’ (aye) and they were beautiful when they were cold, you know; 1:19:57 we

hardly knew the word trouble except to say, “I don’t trouble” meaning ‘I don’t care’ (that’s right,

‘trouble’ yeah) you see there’s a completely different uh meaning there, isn’t there, anything irksome was

‘too much caddle’ [kadɫ̩]; 1:44:38 of course a lot of stories grew up around brass bands and this is one

about a chap who used to play the bass drum and he was only a little [lɪtɫ]̩ tiny fellow and when he was

marching along her couldn’t see over the top of the bass drum)

syllabic L with epenthetic schwa (0:00:46 uh born in Berry Hill c… I always call that the capital of the

Forest [kapɪtəl ə ðə fɒɹɪst] Berry Hill)

GLIDES

yod with T (1:38:12 so I put that into a poem and I do a little sort of sketch with it, you see, little drawings

(oh) stupid [stjuːpɪd] drawings and things)

yod dropping with N (1:18:51 like Keith’s just said if you’re talking to somebody a Scouse Liverpool or

or a Brummy or Newcastle [nuːkaːsɫ̩] or wherever soon ever you start talking to them, you know, you’ve

got a good idea where they come from)

yod dropping – other (1:38:49 (you enjoyed reading your poem out, didn’t you?) yes, but I think, you

know, I think you can become unpopular [ʌmpɒpəlɚ] if you do things too often)

yod coalescence (0:06:19 he once he writes for The Countryman26

every month or quarter or whenever it

is and uh he’s was asked to send up a list of Forest words which he co... duly [ʤuːli] collected and sent

up; 0:07:00 ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ use of the pronouns ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ and this sort of thing’s pure Old

English uh but a lot of the words came out of the the mines and the the pits, you know, f… during [ʤɔːɹɪn]

the forties and fifties and so on; 0:08:27 do you know what [ʤu nəʊ wɒʔ] you’ve just made me realise

something now by saying that that’s probably why I got in so many fights at school; 0:34:14 do you know

what [ʤuː nou wɒʔ] they used to get the News of The World22

or The Daily Herald23

and rip it up into

26

British monthly magazine first published 1927.



little squares and hang it on a nail (we always had The Farmers Weekly24

) I don’t know why they done

that why did they do that, Keith? (we always had The Farmers Weekly) Farmers Weekly, like (posh, you

see) (there was a lot of pages in there))

ELISION

prepositions

frequent of reduction (e.g. 0:00:46 uh born in Berry Hill c… I always call that the capital of [ə] the

Forest Berry Hill; 0:01:26 uh I started do a little bit of [ə] verse and now carried on I’ve done over fifty

bits of [ə] rhyming verse I’d sooner call it I don’t profess to be a poet at all; 0:07:05 uh but a lot of [ə] the

words came out of the the mines and the the pits, you know, during the forties and fifties and so on;

0:32:27 (my grandparents on that side both pure Gloucestershire are from little villages around Bishop’s

Cleeve so um I’m and and) tother side of [ə] the river (and they have both got the I mean they both had

original Gloucestershire surnames); 0:37:54 couple of [ə] spoonfuls that fore you went to bed and ain’t

never had no cold at all; 0:40:31 that reminds me of where one of [ə] my aunts lived in Birmingham and

and it was, you know, there was this long long row continuous row of cottages houses I suppose you’d call

them and there was, like, a back yard and then the toilets were all out at the end of the yard (a row of [ə]

toilets out there, like) yes (yeah) not so very many; 0:44:48 remember I got a bottle of [ə] brown sauce and

I smacked this bloody sauce all over I ate it but I ever since I never had no trouble eating home-cured

bacon I love it; 0:44:59 there was always one on the wash-house door half of side of [ə] bacon hanging

(aye) and in the dark used to glisten, didn’t it, used to really glisten; 0:49:44 years ago about this time of

the year this was Christmas pudding making time (that’s right) I used to make hundreds of [ə] these

blooming things; 1:29:34 I think he must’ve been the only boy in the family because when his mum packed

his bag in the morning she always put two little squares of [ə] chcocolate in it and he said day after day

after day them squares of [ə] chocolate disappeared; 1:37:47 what I’ve been doing is sending some of [ə]

these into The Forester21

(yes) the local newspaper and they’ve been printing some of them because well

it’s called ‘The Forester’; 1:38:12 so I put that into a poem and I do a little sort of [sɔːdə] sketch with it,

you see, little drawings (oh) stupid drawings and things)

over reduction (1:45:41 “off over hill and valley over moor and mountain crest [ɑˑf ɔ˞ː ɪl ən vali ɔɚ mɔɚ

ən məʊntɪŋ kɹɛst] wondering when the shout’d come to halt and have a rest”17

)

with reduction (0:21:46 we was never very well-endowed with [wɪ] them types round here years ago;

0:51:36 I mean they had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and the whole lot was dug (that’s right, yes)

and all planted with [wɪ] vegetable (yes) I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t grow no flowers” he

said, “no, they do give me indigestion, my boy” him said, you know (my my grandfather would’ve said,

“thee canstn’t eat flowers”); 1:33:53 the winters was always hard, you know, (yes, yeah) and they were

frosted in the ground for months (that’s right I know) and you could hit the sprouts off with [wi] hammer,

couldn’t you?)

negation

secondary contraction (0:04:29 (no, I put down ‘boiling’ or well ‘boiling’ actually, you know, “I be I be

boiling, old butty” uh ‘hot’ of course, yes, yes) (I put ‘sweltering’) (‘sweltering’ right) and I put ‘warm’

‘W’ ‘double A’ ‘R’ ‘M’ “isn’t it warm?” [jʌnɪʔ wa˞ːm]; 0:25:06 it’s a bit like um German, isn’t it, [ɪnːɪʔ]

really, ‘drei’ ‘three’ and and ‘thou beest’ is like ‘du’ it’s the slightly like German; 0:26:58 in the

community years ago they was accepted, wasn’t them, [wɒnəm] and they was looked after; 0:50:08 we

didn’t go [dɪŋ gou] short for Christmas pudding (no, that was it this is) ’cause the neighbours come

round, “here’s a Christmas pudding” (yeah, this is, yeah) well we had probably had more than what we

had (we were still eating them at Easter) well we’ve just finished the one up now, Keith; 0:53:53 they’d



push the stick through and keep threading it on the stick till they couldn’t get [kʊŋ gɛʔ] no more and then

cut the chitterling off; 0:58:28 that isn’t [ɪn] a Forest word at all ‘yuppie’; 1:03:00 and that uh that’s

what’s said about uh a little bouncy uh fellow something like that, “he’s a dappy-looking bloke, isn’t, he’s

a little dappy one, isn’t her?” [jʌnəː] they used to say (‘dapper’, yeah) (‘dapper’) (a ‘dapper’, yes);

1:09:43 and as you look up at a tall building it looks as though it’s falling over, doesn’t it, [dʌnːɪʔ] (aye,

that’s right) so sometimes I’d nearly fall off the blooming toilet because I was so busy looking up there

and daydreaming; 1:47:26 “now I’ve heard of folk a-saying chimmock sweeping isn’t [jʌnt] a chore but by

the time we’d finished soot were blowing out the door”17

)

simplification

frequent word final consonant cluster reduction (e.g. 0:01:18 um she said to me, “David, why don’t

you write some of your stories down?” [wəɪ dʌn ju ɹəɪt sʌm əv jɔ˞ː stɔːɹɪz dəʊn]; 0:02:02 um I just started

writing after I retired mainly for my grandchildren who I thought wouldn’t [wʊdn̩] know anything about

Forest life; 0:04:29 (no, I put down ‘boiling’ or well ‘boiling’ actually, you know, “I be I be boiling, old

butty” uh ‘hot’ of course, yes, yes) (I put ‘sweltering’) (‘sweltering’ right) and I put ‘warm’ ‘W’ ‘double

A’ ‘R’ ‘M’ “isn’t it warm?” [jʌnɪʔ wa˞ːm]; 0:06:19 he once he writes for The Countryman26

every month

or quarter or whenever it is and uh he’s was asked [ɑːst] to send up a list of Forest words which he co...

duly collected and sent up; 0:08:15 when I came home I would have to revert to Forest otherwise they

wouldn’t [wʊdn]̩ talk to me or they um, you know, said we were toffee-nosed or something like that but at

school we weren’t [wɚːn] allowed to (yeah, that’s right) use the Forest words; 0:08:27 do you know what

you’ve just made me realise something now by saying that that’s [ðas] probably why I got in so many

fights at school; 0:10:07 well it’s like cattie, isn’t it, [ɪzn̩ɪʔ] the game it’s ‘cattie’ this side but I understand

it’s ‘peggy’ over your side, is that right, so I’ve been told (could well be, my love, yes) and it’s the same

thing, you see; 0:11:22 the the complete language uh uh lingo I don’t think uh is that much difference but

you get odd words that differ, Keith, in uh in in the dialect, don’t you? [dʌnjə]; 0:25:06 it’s a bit like um

German, isn’t it, [ɪnːɪʔ] really, ‘drei’ ‘three’ and and ‘thou beest’ is like ‘du’ it’s the slightly like German;

0:24:17 ‘hard up and happy’ them used to say, didn’t them, [dɪdn̩əm] but I can’t see anybody get… silly

saying really if you was hard up you wasn’t that happy, like; 0:26:11 I got ‘pretty’ [pɚːti] I don’t know

[dʌnəʊ] uh “her’s a” (‘pretty’?) “that’s a pretty that’s a pretty lass” [as ə pɚːti las] (‘smashing’ ah)

‘smashing’ aye, aye (“smashing, her is”))0:26:58 in the community years ago they was accepted, wasn’t

them, [wɒnəm] and they was looked after; 0:41:14 and I was hoping this toilet would be finished for this

party ’cause I didn’t [dɪdn̩] want to [wɒnə] take them down the garden to the old one; 0:43:25 well a a

Sunday dinner was just known or a um a coo… a meal in the week always known as “plate of cook”,

wasn’t it, [wʊznɪt] ‘plate of cook’ (yeah) did you ever ever call it that over here?; 0:48:14 […] you had

bubble bubble and squeak for dinner, didn’t you? [dɪdn̩ju]; 0:48:39 any woman, you know, who had sort

of two or three boys and husband at work in the pit, like, it was a life of sheer drudgery, wasn’t it?

[wɒdn̩ɪt] (aye, it was); 0:50:06 that year that mother’s boiled into water we didn’t go [dɪŋ gəu] short of a

Christmas pudding (no, that’s it this is) ’cause the neighbours come round, “here’s a Christmas pudding”

(this is, yeah) oh we had a (that’s right) probably had more than what we had uh (we were still eating

them at Easter); 0:51:36 (I mean they had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and the whole lot was dug)

that’s right, yes (and all planted with vegetable) yes (I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t grow no

flowers” he said, “no, they do give me indigestion, my boy” him said, you know) my my grandfather

would’ve said, “thee canstn’t eat flowers” [ði kʌsən jʌt fləʊɚz]; 0:53:53 they’d push the stick through and

keep threading it on the stick till they couldn’t get [kʊŋ gɛʔ] no more and then cut the chitterling off;

0:58:28 that isn’t [ɪn] a Forest word at all ‘yuppie’; 1:03:00 and that uh that’s what’s said about uh a

little bouncy uh fellow something like that, “he’s a dappy-looking bloke, isn’t, he’s a little dappy one, isn’t



her?” [jʌnəː] they used to say (‘dapper’, yeah) (‘dapper’) (a ‘dapper’, yes); 1:04:22 that was that was a

by-product of coal, wasn’t it, or summat or other (I don’t know [dʌnou] what it was made of) it was

produced by the NCB18

or something (I don’t know [dʌnou] what it was made of) that was a godsend to

the old ladies […] when they didn’t [dɪdn̩] have to stitch the trousers any more; 1:08:40 he said, “is it

inside?” and I said, “yes” “oh, well then you can’t [kaːn] have a second one upstairs if you’d’ve had an

outside toilet you could’ve had one down and up” now what how’s that for red tape could’ve had two;

1:09:43 and as you look up at a tall building it looks as though it’s falling over, doesn’t it, [dʌnːɪʔ] (aye,

that’s right) so sometimes I’d nearly fall off the blooming toilet because I was so busy looking up there

and daydreaming; 1:19:39 little boy went [wɛn] home and said, “righto, mother, what’st got on the

what’st got on the table for tea [wɒs gɒd ɒn ðə wɒs gɒd ɒn ðə tɔɪbɫ̟ fɚ teɪ] let’s be let’s be having on

thee” [lɛs biː lɛs biː avɪn ɒn ðə]; 1:20:35 I can remember one of the teachers came to me and said, “Kath,

you’re a Forester, aren’t you?” he said, “this kid’s written in his story about a p… having a pikelets they

had pikelets them days” you see (aye, pikelets lovely) (yes) “whatever’s that?” so I said, “well, Tony, it’s

um sort of a crumpet” [ɪs əm sɔ˞ːd əv ə kɹʌmpɪʔ]; 1:33:53 the winters was always hard, you know, (yes,

yeah) and they were frosted in the ground for months (that’s right I know) and you could hit the sprouts

off with hammer, couldn’t you? [kʊdnj̩əuː]; 1:38:30 I don’t know [dʌnəʊ] I’ve just done it to amuse myself

I said to my husband next year somebody else can do that ’cause I’ve I’m going to [gənə] hand that cup

over and somebody else can take it (you might win again) I’m not going in for it next year; 1:51:15

because we’ve all got similar backgrounds our poems are going to be similar, aren’t they, you can’t get

away from it [ju kɑːŋ gɛd əwɛɪ fɹəm ɪt])

word medial consonant cluster reduction (0:08:55 I find it’s something [sʌmɪŋk] you don’t naturally

put on it just comes natural to you wh… (yes, that’s right) when you’re talking, you know; 0:51:36 (I mean

they had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and the whole lot was dug) that’s right, yes (and all planted

with vegetable) yes (I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t grow no flowers” he said, “no, they do give

me indigestion, my boy” him said, you know) my my grandfather would’ve said, “thee canstn’t eat

flowers” [ði kʌsən jʌt fləʊɚz])

word initial syllable reduction (0:39:52 I always felt it’d always been inside but looking at it

occasionally [lʊkɪŋ at ɪt kɛɪʒnəli] I think I got a feeling ’cause there a sort of backdoor and then there’s

another door here was that originally the backdoor and was it sort of just outside the door and in; 0:48:51

I can remember one Chr… uh coming up to one Christmas uh mother had about half a dozen Christmas

puddings I suppose in the boiler alongside the range, [ɪn ðə bɔɪlɚ lɑŋsəɪd ðə ɹɛɪnʒ] like, in the corner;

0:49:44 years ago about [bəʊt] this time of the year this was Christmas pudding making time (that’s right)

I used to make hundreds of these blooming things; 0:53:02 but I can remember when Keith was talking

about [bəʊt] the the Christmas pudding being mixed up after, mind, it was always, “can I have the

wooden spoon or whatever and and finish that bit off”; 1:03:45 especially [spɛʃli] for old Bill Chapel as

lived just down here (yeah, you actually) old Bill was about thirty stone; 1:38:30 I don’t know I’ve just

done it to amuse myself [tə mjuːz məɪsɛɫf] I said to my husband next year somebody else can do that

’cause I’ve I’m going to hand that cup over and somebody else can take it (you might win again) I’m not

going in for it next year)

syllable deletion (0:13:19 I got ‘got it on thee’ (‘got it on the’?) ‘got it on thee’ (I should think thou’st got

it on thee” [əɪ ʃɪŋk ðəst gɑt ɪt ɑn ðə]; 0:13:48 but the one I’ve put down for that is um is uh if you’re

upset or annoyed with somebody, [sʌmdi] “that do kill my pig”; 0:31:04 something like black plastic type

stuff it was (that’s right, yes) but uh trim between the leather and the polythene I suppose [spouz]

whatever whatever that was (or on top, like, yeah, but it always had an antimacassar on the back I do

remember that); 0:55:13 the leaves of lard which came down both sides sort of well past the kidneys I

suppose [spoʊz] they were two long well we called them ‘leaves’ and that would be cut into one inch



squares; 1:00:36 now my one grandson he calls me ‘gransher’ but uh uh the his uh the other family [famli]

in Redbrook he calls ‘grandpa’ and ‘grandma’)

definite article reduction (0:29:05 always called the ‘front room’ whether it was the back of the house

[ðə bak ə ðəʊs] or no; 0:44:24 the first time I had that was at my grandmother’s (I hated it) as a little boy

and it was all fat there was no lean (yeah, I hated it) I think the only [ðɒni] pink bits grandfather used to

have the pink bits; 0:46:47 and we’d be stood the other side the hedge [ðʌðɚ səɪd ðə ɛʤ] because we

knowed sooner or later the bladder would come over the hedge [ouvɚ ðɛʤ] old Frank’d chuck one (use it

for a football) and there was a scrabble for the bladder, mind, and you’d blow that one up and tie the top

and that was a football (yeah) (ah) last probably a week and then would go all dry and crack and that was

the end of en, [ðɛnd ɒvn̩] like; 0:51:36 I mean they had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and the whole

lot [ðɔʊɫ lɒʔ] was dug (that’s right, yes) and all planted with vegetable (yes) I said to grandfather one day,

“we don’t grow no flowers” he said, “no, they do give me indigestion, my boy” him said, you know (my

my grandfather would’ve said, “thee canstn’t eat flowers”); 0:54:06 (there was nothing ever wasted on a

pig) (my dad) no, only the squeal (everything was eaten even his feet) aye (my dad used to have it cold and

sliced up with mustard) (just the squeal?) only the squeal that’s the only thing [ðɒni θɪŋ] that was wasted

(and what what’s that?) on a pig [makes squealing noise] (oh, I see) they even ate the fat and all; 1:04:22

that was that was a by-product of coal, wasn’t it, or summat or other (I don’t know what it was made of) it

was produced by the NCB18

or something (I don’t know what it was made of) that was a godsend to the

old ladies [ðəʊd lɛɪdɪz] […] when they didn’t have to stitch the trousers any more)

it reduction (0:07:38 oh no, let me put you right there, my love, we’re speaking proper it’s them tothers

[sɛm tʌðɚz] as don’t speak right; 0:11:01 whether it is [tɪz] a myth it may well be, my love, but uh but that

that is what I’ve heard; 0:21:25 (we’re starting off with uh’rich’) (we didn’t have any rich people in my

life) ‘rolling in it’ [ɹɔʊlɪn ɪnt] I got; 0:48:39 (any woman, you know, who had sort of two or three boys and

husband at work in the pit, like, it was a life of sheer drudgery, wasn’t it?) aye, it was [twɑz]; 1:47:35

“thick soot well it got everywhere I can tell thee it was a sight [twɒz ə səɪt] we was cleaning up all

Saturday and well into Saturday night”17

)

L-deletion (0:17:01 I got ‘half dead’ (‘half-dead’ does that mean is that mean ‘half-dead’?) (yes) ‘dead’

‘dead’ means ‘dead’, aye, but only [ouni] ‘half-dead’ so you ain’t ‘dead’ all the way, like, you be only

[ouni] ‘half-dead’ you’m’n’t very well, like (right) (feeling a bit ‘poorly’ mainly, you know); 0:22:57 dad

was ambidextrous he could write or with with either hand my father could, yeah (is anybody here left-

handed out of interest?) (no) no, only [ouni] when I do comb my hair; 0:42:16 the old Piggery Lane we

used to call [kɔː] it it’s now called [kɔːd] um oh, blimey, Worcester Walk (oh yes) Worc…. Worcester

Worcester Road or something (well but that’s Worcester Lodge, isn’t it?) aye, yeah, that’s up well it’s the

piggery to me there was pigs always kept down there; 0:43:25 well a a Sunday dinner was just known or a

um a coo… a meal in the week always [ɔːwɪz] known as “plate of cook”, wasn’t it, ‘plate of cook’ (yeah)

did you ever ever call it that over here?; 0:44:24 the first time I had that was at my grandmother’s (I hated

it) as a little boy and it was all fat there was no lean (yeah, I hated it) I think the only [ðɒni] pink bits

grandfather used to have the pink bits; 0:54:06 (there was nothing ever wasted on a pig) (my dad) no, only

[ɒni] the squeal (everything was eaten even his feet) aye (my dad used to have it cold and sliced up with

mustard) (just the squeal?) only [ɒni] the squeal that’s the only [ðɒni] thing that was wasted (and what

what’s that?) on a pig [makes squealing noise] (oh, I see) they even ate the fat and all; 1:04:22 that was

that was a by-product of coal, wasn’t it, or summat or other (I don’t know what it was made of) it was


or something (I don’t know what it was made of) that was a godsend to the old

ladies [ðəʊd lɛɪdɪz] […] when they didn’t have to stitch the trousers any more)

frequent TH-deletion (e.g. 0:07:38 oh no, let me put you right there, my love, we’re speaking proper it’s

them tothers [sɛm tʌðɚz] as don’t speak right; 0:20:19 (a lot of ‘S’s were pronounced with a ‘Z’ in the



Forest dialect Keith, isn’t it?) oh yeah, all on them [əm] (all on them [əm]); 0:24:17 ‘hard up and happy’

them [əm] used to say, didn’t them, [dɪdn̩əm] but I can’t see anybody get… silly saying really if you was

hard up you wasn’t that happy, like; 0:26:11 I got ‘pretty’ [pɚːti] I don’t know uh “her’s a” (‘pretty’?)

“that’s a pretty that’s a pretty lass” [as ə pɚːti las] (‘smashing’ ah) ‘smashing’ aye, aye (“smashing, her

is”); 0:30:53 buttons sort of s… pressed into them [əm] (that’s it) or sewed in (lovely to lie on when you

were ill) aye, aye (yes) (by the fire); 0:55:04 talk about sticky I think a lot of glue in them [əm] I think st…

y… you were after you was there forever washing your hands and washing your mouth and everything;

1:07:14 some of them [əm] had a bucket underneath, you know, (oh, yes) and a chap used to come round

with horse and cart once a week (what’s-his-name Smith) (that’s right, yes) Shitty Smith; 1:10:58 well it

doesn’t doesn’t pay them [əm] to say you talk funny round here I’ll tell you; 1:18:51 like Keith’s just said

if you’re talking to somebody a Scouse Liverpool or or a Brummy or Newcastle or wherever soon ever you

start talking to them, [əm] you know, you’ve got a good idea where they come from; 1:48:25 well then

them [əm] would tie a gorse bush on the (that’s right, yes, yeah) on the string or rope, look, then they’d

drag that one down the chimney)

V-deletion (0:23:26 “her’ve got a mouth like a forty shilling iron pot” [ɚːɹə gɑd ə məʊθ ləɪk ə fɔ˞ːti ʃɪlɪn

əɪɚn pɑt] now what was a what was a forty shilling iron pot? (that was a big one a stew pot, aye) that was

a ‘big mouth’ obviously; 0:27:50 (and what was one you said just now, Dave?) ‘got the fly’ “thick’ve got

the fly on hine” [ðɪkə gɒʔ ðə fləɪ ɒn ɪn] (aye, ‘got the fly on’) (‘got the fly on hine’?) “thick got the fly on

hine” aye (never heard that one) or ‘on her’ “her’ve got the fly on her, her have” [ɚːɹə gɒʔ ðə fləɪ ɒn ɚ

ɚː av]; 0:44:24 the first time I had that was at my grandmother’s (I hated it) as a little boy and it was all

fat there was no lean (yeah, I hated it) I think the only pink bits grandfather used to have the pink bits

[gɹaɱfaːðɚ juːstə a ðə pɪŋk bɪts]; 0:51:36 (I mean they had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and the

whole lot was dug) that’s right, yes (and all planted with vegetable) yes (I said to grandfather one day,

“we don’t grow no flowers” he said, “no, they do give me indigestion, my boy” him said, you know) my

my grandfather would’ve [wʊdə] said, “thee canstn’t eat flowers”; 0:53:02 but I can remember when

Keith was talking about the the Christmas pudding being mixed up after, mind, it was always, “can I have

the wooden spoon [kən əɪ aˑ ðə wʊdn ̩spuːn] or whatever and and finish that bit off”; 1:04:22 that was

that was a by-product of coal, wasn’t it, or summat or other (I don’t know what it was made of) it was


or something (I don’t know what it was made of) that was a godsend to the old

ladies […] when they didn’t have to stitch the trousers [dɪdn̩ adə stɪʧ ðɚː tɹəʊzɚz] any more; 1:29:34 I

think he must’ve [mʌstə] been the only boy in the family because when his mum packed his bag in the

morning she always put two little squares of chcocolate in it and he said day after day after day them

squares of chocolate disappeared; 1:39:49 I never gived [gɪd] it a lot of thought; 1:47:46 “so if thee beest

going to sweep the chimmock just give thee a tip [ʤʌst gɪ ðiː ə tɪp] get a chimmock sweeping expert

’cause him have got the proper kit” [kəz ɪmə gɒt ðə pɹɒpɚ kɪt]17

; 1:48:35 get some cruel sod chuck a

cockerel down there or summat, wouldn’t you, by time him have fluttered to the bottom [ɪm ə flʌtɚd tə ðə

bɑtəm] him have swept the chimney [ɪm ə swɛpt ðə ʧɪmni])

W-deletion (0:18:57 they’d got a quoit board [kɔɪt bɔ˞ːd] down there and he’d come in the morning I think

it was more to show off than anything grab the quoits [kɔɪts] and and the lot would go on the pin; 0:24:03

and if your hair was untidy you’d look as though you’d been ‘drawn through a hedge backwards’ [dɹɔːn

θɹuː ə hɛʤ bakɚdz] (backwards [bakɚdz]) (aye, that’s another) backwards [bakɚdz] (heard of that one,

yeah) yes (aye); 1:15:37 (‘daddocky’ that’s a nice) ‘daddocky’ a ‘rotten’ [ɹɒʔn̩ ʊd] (yeah, ‘rotten wood’

yes) ‘rotten wood’, [ɹɒʔn̩ ʊd] aye, aye […] that was used in the mines a lot, you know, when a (yes, yes,

yes) when a pair of timber or summat started to rot, “thick thick’s got a bit daddocky better replace it”

(yeah, and a ‘gammy’ leg is a ‘gammy’ leg is a, you know) aye, aye, is a ‘bad’ leg; 1:17:24 what about



moles then ’cause they were ‘wants’, [ʌnts] weren’t they, and a mole t… molehill was an ‘wanty-tump’

[ʌntitʌmp] ‘wanty-tump’, [ʌntitʌmp] yeah (aye))

LIAISON

linking R (0:00:14 uh lived here all my life [lɪvd ɪːɹ ɔːɫ mɪ ləɪf] I was born in the Forest of Dean in fact

sixty-two years ago I work at Coleford at the moment and I run the local barber’s shop source of a lot of

material for dialect and humour)

zero intrusive R (1:00:36 now my one grandson he calls me ‘gransher’ but uh uh the his uh the other

family in Redbrook he calls ‘grandpa’ and ‘grandma’ [gɹandpɑː ən gɹanmɑː]; 1:38:12 so I put that into a

poem and I do a little sort of sketch with it, you see, little drawings [dɹɔːɪŋz] (oh) stupid drawings

[dɹɔːɪnz] and things)

SUBSTITUTION

negation

Z to D with negative (0:48:39 any woman, you know, who had sort of two or three boys and husband at

work in the pit, like, it was a life of sheer drudgery, wasn’t it? [wɒdn̩ɪt] (aye, it was); 1:04:22 that was that

was a by-product of coal, wasn’t it, [wɒdn̩ɪt] or summat or other (I don’t know what it was made of) it

was produced by the NCB18

or something (I don’t know what it was made of) that was a godsend to the

old ladies […] when they didn’t have to stitch the trousers any more; 1:07:26 he had a g… a b… brass

stick, wasn’t it, [wɒdn̩ɪt] measuring stick (aye, aye); 1:25:19 however hard it was it was a brotherhood,

wasn’t it? [wʌdn̩ɪt])

metathesis (0:26:11 I got ‘pretty’ [pɚːti] I don’t know uh “her’s a” (‘pretty’?) “that’s a pretty that’s a

pretty lass” [as ə pɚːti las] (‘smashing’ ah) ‘smashing’ aye, aye (“smashing, her is”))

EPENTHESIS

J-onglide (0:04:29 (no, I put down ‘boiling’ or well ‘boiling’ actually, you know, “I be I be boiling, old

butty” uh ‘hot’ of course, yes, yes) (I put ‘sweltering’) (‘sweltering’ right) and I put ‘warm’ ‘W’ ‘double

A’ ‘R’ ‘M’ “isn’t it warm?” [jʌnɪʔ wa˞ːm]; 0:04:50 (that’s definitely a a typical Forest kind of word, is it?)

(yeah) yes, all all every one that’s been mentioned here [jɚː] would be said in the o… in the Forest

dialect, yeah, ah; 0:06:43 of course our our our dialect and our language goes right back to Celtic times

that’s when it started a lot of the uh the words we use come from that time when we talk about ‘head’

[hɛd] “head” [jʌd]; 0:16:23 aye, you see well mine do go very similar to that ‘dog-beat’ [dɒgbjʌt] (oh,

right, oh, yes) “I be dog-beat” [əɪ bi dɒgbjʌt] where that come from I don’t know (‘dog-beat’)

(‘knackered’ I put); 0:19:31 uh I’d mooch myself in my time and hide in the gorse bushes ’cause you hears

[jɚːz] the truant officer going by in his little car you would uh until he’d gone by and then creep out from

there but mum would always suss me because I’d got dirty trainers or mud on my boots or something;

0:20:00 (what about ‘to sleep’?) (‘sleep’) (‘kip’) (‘kip’ ‘sleep’, yeah) ‘get thy head down’ [gɛt ðɪ jʌd

dəʊn]; 0:50:08 (we didn’t go short for Christmas pudding) (no, that was it this is) (’cause the neighbours

come round, “here’s a Christmas pudding” [jɚːz ə kɹɪsməs pʊdɪn]) (yeah, this is, yeah) (well we had

probably had more than what we had) we were still eating [jʌtɪn] them at Easter (well we’ve just finished

the one up now, Keith); 0:51:36 (I mean they had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and the whole lot

was dug) that’s right, yes (and all planted with vegetable) yes (I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t




grandfather would’ve said, “thee canstn’t eat flowers” [ði kʌsən jʌt fləʊɚz]; 1:02:34 if I said to our mam

instead of ‘mam’, “uh what’st got for tea, old lady?” I think I’d’ve had a smack on the ear-hole [jɚːɹɔʊɫ]

a bit quick; 1:03:00 and that uh that’s what’s said about uh a little bouncy uh fellow something like that,

“he’s a dappy-looking bloke, isn’t, he’s a little dappy one, isn’t her?” [jʌnəː] they used to say (‘dapper’,

yeah) (‘dapper’) (a ‘dapper’, yes); 1:45:13 “straight roads was no problem you just kept going on but

crossroads was a headache [jʌdɛɪk] for thick poor drummer man”17

; 1:47:26 “now I’ve heard of folk a-

saying chimmock sweeping isn’t [jʌnt] a chore but by the time we’d finished soot were blowing out the

door”17

)

W-onglide (1:45:57 “so if thou see a bandsman a-marching with a drum turn en round and face en back

and away back to his home” [wʌm]17

)

+/- VOICE

fricative voicing (0:05:00 (OK then uh what about the opposite of that ‘cold’?) I put ‘froze’ [vɹʌz] (you

put what sorry?) “I be froze” [əɪ bi vɹʌz]; 0:16:23 aye, you see [jə ziː] well mine do go very similar to that

‘dog-beat’ (oh, right, oh, yes) “I be dog-beat” where that come from I don’t know (‘dog-beat’)

(‘knackered’ I put); 0:24:48 ‘three sheets in the wind’ [dɹiː ʃiːts ɪn ðə wɪnd] I should’ve put down there

(‘three sheets to the wind’?) “three” [dɹiː] ‘D’ ‘R’ double ‘E’; 0:25:06 it’s a bit like um German, isn’t it,

really ‘drei’ “three” [dɹiː] and and ‘thou beest’ is like ‘du’ it’s the slightly like German; 0:32:27 (my

grandparents on that side both pure Gloucestershire are from little villages around Bishop’s Cleeve so um

I’m and and) tother side [zəɪd] of the river (and they have both got the I mean they both had original

Gloucestershire surnames); 0:50:08 we didn’t go short for [vɚ] Christmas pudding (no, that was it this is)

’cause the neighbours come round, “here’s a Christmas pudding” (yeah, this is, yeah) well we had

probably had more than what we had (we were still eating them at Easter) well we’ve just finished the one

up now, Keith; 0:59:47 (that’s what it was really I suppose ‘thy tools’ “go and fetch thy tools” father used

to say) (yes, yes, yeah) aye, aye, “out the shed” [əʊt ðə ʒʌd]; 1:01:01 (aye, ‘butty’ “all right, old butty?”

“aye, not so bad how beest thou?”) (yeah) or ‘my old mate’ or summat [zʌmət] or other (aye, ‘old mate’);

1:04:22 that was that was a by-product of coal, wasn’t it, or summat [zʌmət] or other (I don’t know what

it was made of) it was produced by the NCB18

[ɛnziːbiː] or something [zʌmɪn] (I don’t know what it was

made of) that was a godsend to the old ladies […] when they didn’t have to stitch the trousers any more;

1:48:35 get some cruel sod chuck a cockerel down there or summat, [zʌməʔ] wouldn’t you, by time him

have fluttered to the bottom him have swept the chimney; 1:47:35 “thick soot [zʊt] well it got everywhere I

can tell thee it was a sight we was cleaning up all Saturday [zatɚdi] and well into Saturday [zatɚdi]

night”17

; 1:45:49 “they never found poor Billy though rumours flew quite thick someone’d seen a

drummer [zʌmwʌn əd zɪn ə dɹʌmɚ] about ten miles north of Wick”17

)

WEAK-STRONG CONTRAST

word final vowel strengthening (0:40:31 that reminds me of where one of my aunts lived in Birmingham

and and it was, you know, there was this long long row continuous row of cottages houses I suppose you’d

call them and there was, like, a back yard and then the toilets [tɔɪlɪts] were all out at the end of the yard

(a row of toilets [tɔɪləts] out there, like) yes (yeah) not so very many; 0:45:37 there didn’t seem to be any

s… s…, you know, sadness [sadnɪs] about it at all)

PARALINGUISTIC



kiss-teeth (0:02:14 um [KST] my interests besides that are singing and um [KST] painting and knitting and

looking after grandchildren)

LEXICALLY SPECIFIC VARIATION

again (0:10:32 and then you’ve got a long stick, you see, which you hit it with it flies up in the air and then

you have to hit it again [əgɛɪn] to see who can hit it the furthest; 0:44:37 for my dinner it was put back on

the plate for my dinner I left it again [əgɛn])

ate (0:44:48 remember I got a bottle of brown sauce and I smacked this bloody sauce all over I ate [ɛt] it

but I ever since I never had no trouble eating home-cured bacon I love it; 0:55:42 but even the little bits of

fat that were left after you poured the liquid off we ate [ɛt] those they were called ‘scrutchings’

‘scrutchings’ (aye) and they were beautiful when they were cold, you know)

because (1:37:47 what I’ve been doing is sending some of these into The Forester21

(yes) the local

newspaper and they’ve been printing some of them because [bɪkɒz] well it’s called ‘The Forester’);

1:51:15 because [bɪkəz] we’ve all got similar backgrounds our poems are going to be similar, aren’t they,

you can’t get away from it)

either (0:22:57 dad was ambidextrous he could write or with with either [əɪðɚ] hand my father could,

yeah (is anybody here left-handed out of interest?) (no) no, only when I do comb my hair)

often (0:12:10 (although your ‘butty’ was your ‘friend’, you know, the butty wasn’t that popular

underground, was he?) this is this is this is (no, he was very unpopular) yeah, this is the thing I find very

difficult to understand (yeah) ’cause the ‘butty-man’ was often [ɒftən] feared sometimes hated sometimes

loved but ‘butty’ ‘my butty’ ‘my old butty’ is is quite definitely your ‘friend’, isn’t it, your ‘mate’ your

‘pal’; 0:52:35 well ‘21 strike I was born ’26 strike I was growing up and I mean times were damned hard

then I don’t ever remember going hungry but I got a suspicion that parents very often [ɒfən] did; 1:38:49

(you enjoyed reading your poem out, didn’t you?) yes, but I think, you know, I think you can become

unpopular if you do things too often [ɒfən])

GRAMMAR

DETERMINERS

definite article reduction (0:29:05 always called the ‘front room’ whether it was the back of th’ house or

no; 0:46:47 and we’d be stood th’ other side the hedge because we knowed sooner or later the bladder

would come over th’ hedge old Frank’d chuck one (use it for a football) and there was a scrabble for the

bladder, mind, and you’d blow that one up and tie the top and that was a football (yeah) (ah) last

probably a week and then would go all dry and crack and that was th’ end of en, like; 0:51:36 I mean they

had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and th’ whole lot was dug (that’s right, yes) and all planted with

vegetable (yes) I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t grow no flowers” he said, “no, they do give me

indigestion, my boy” him said, you know (my my grandfather would’ve said, “thee cossen eat flowers”);

0:54:06 (there was nothing ever wasted on a pig) (my dad) no, only the squeal (everything was eaten even

his feet) aye (my dad used to have it cold and sliced up with mustard) (just the squeal?) only the squeal

that’s th’ only thing that was wasted (and what what’s that?) on a pig [makes squealing noise] (oh, I see)

they even ate the fat and all; 1:04:22 that was that was a by-product of coal, wadn* it, or summat or other

(I dunno what it was made of) it was produced by the NCB18

or something (I dunno what it was made of)

that was a godsend to th’ old ladies […] when they didn’t hae to stitch the trousers any more)

zero definite article (1:48:35 get some cruel sod chuck a cockerel down there or summat, wouldn’t you,

by _ time him hae fluttered to the bottom him hae swept the chimney)



a for an (1:19:13 there is quite a interest among amongst the young kids ’cause we Dave and meself, you

know, we’ve been to lot of the s… primary schools to talk to the kids there; 1:23:02 Vern was a odd-boy at




own, mind, and him would do twelve hours or more hodding and uh then go home and have his tea (that’s

it, yeah))

zero indefinite article (0:37: 17 (so there wasn’t a lock on the doors then, no) […] (no, you had to whistle

while you was in there) no, just a li…. just a clap uh uh one them you pressed en down (yeah, clo…

whatchacallits) and on the inside and lift en up from the outside (that’s right, yeah) in… inside, yeah (was

there a r… a covering on it a roof or anything?) oh, a bit of a roof, aye, might have _ hole in him; 0:48:39

any woman, you know, who had sort of two or three boys and _ husband at work in the pit, like, it was a

life of sheer drudgery, wadn it? (aye, ‘twas); 1:07:14 some of them had a bucket underneath, you know,

(oh, yes) and a chap used to come round with _ hoss and cart once a week (what’s-his-name Smith) (that’s

right, yes) Shitty Smith; 1:14:37 coming up towards Christmas I done _ little bit of a poem about the

Christmas lights in Coleford; 1:19:13 there is quite a interest among amongst the young kids ’cause we

Dave and meself, you know, we’ve been to _ lot of the s… primary schools to talk to the kids there;

1:23:02 Vern was a odd-boy at the F… New Fancy (yes) […] that was _ hard life that was for young chaps

and used to tell me about him and his dad used to walk from Cinderford to The Fancy16

every morning

that’s a bloody good stroll on its own, mind, and him would do twelve hours or more hodding and uh then

go home and have his tea (that’s it, yeah); 1:33:53 the winters was always hard, you know, (yes, yeah) and

they were frosted in the ground for months (that’s right I know) and you could hit the sprouts off with _

hammer, couldn’t you?)

demonstrative them (0:07:38 oh no, let me put you right there, my love, we’re speaking proper it’s them

tothers as don’t speak right; 0:21:46 we was never very well-endowed with them types round here years

ago; 0:37: 17 (so there wasn’t a lock on the doors then, no) […] (no, you had to whistle while you was in

there) no, just a li…. just a clap uh uh one them you pressed en down (yeah, clo… whatchacallits) and on

the inside and lift en up from the outside (that’s right, yeah) in… inside, yeah (was there a r… a covering

on it a roof or anything?) oh, a bit of a roof, aye, might have hole in him; 0:53:25 I mean they’d be

horrified today to see us getting all that fatty home-cured bacon into us but people had their guts full of

hard work in them days as well, you see, and they were burning it off in energy; 0:54:58 but them pig’s

trotters weren’t they sticky did you ever eat any?; 1:20:35 I can remember one of the teachers came to me

and said, “Kath, you’re a Forester, aren’t you?” he said, “this kid’s written in his story about a p…

having a pikelets they had pikelets them days” you see (aye, pikelets lovely) (yes) “whatever’s that?” so I

said, “well, Tony, it’s um sort of a crumpet”; 1:29:34 I think he must’ve been the only boy in the family

because when his mum packed his bag in the morning she always put two little squares of chcocolate in it

and he said day after day after day them squares of chocolate disappeared)

demonstrative thick (0:26:34 (um ‘insane’?) (‘bonkers’) ‘bonkers’ or or, “thick’s a nutcase” (what was

that?) “thick’s a nutcase”; 0:27:50 (and what was one you said just now, Dave?) ‘got the fly’ “thick hae

got the fly on hine” (aye, ‘got the fly on’) (‘got the fly on hine’?) “thick got the fly on hine” aye (never

heard that one) or ‘on her’ “her hae got the fly on her, her have”; 0:29:31 (‘running water smaller than a

river’?) (a ‘brook’) (‘brook’) (‘brook’) (a ‘brook’ or a ‘stream’) […] that’s what I got ‘B’ ‘R’ ‘U’ ‘K’ a

‘brook’ (yeah, the ‘brook’ “down the brook”) so we be all in agreement over thick then; 0:30:12 oh, no,

my aunt was tried to be posh she called it a ‘settee’, you see, our mam said, “get up off thick sofa”;

1:15:37 (‘daddocky’ that’s a nice) ‘daddocky’ a ‘rotten’ (yeah, ‘rotten wood’ yes) ‘rotten wood’, aye, aye

[…] that was used in the mines a lot, you know, when a (yes, yes, yes) when a pair of timber or summat

started to rot, “thick thick’s got a bit daddocky better replace it” (yeah, and a ‘gammy’ leg is a ‘gammy’

leg is a, you know) aye, aye, is a ‘bad’ leg)

NOUNS



zero plural (1:21:55 he used to tell me about his first job he had he used to cy… used to cycle from

Cinderford to Chepstow every day (that’s right, yeah) pushbike from Cinderford to Chepstow must be

getting best part of twenty mile I should think)

PRONOUNS

him in co-ordinate subjects (1:22:37 you knew I do the fella I just said the big bloke there was two but

him him and his father used to come to Northern14

on the on a motorcycle; 1:23:02 Vern was a odd-boy at




own, mind, and him would do twelve hours or more hodding and uh then go home and have his tea (that’s

it, yeah))

singular object us (1:12:53 (‘cwtch’ you know ‘cwtch’ and all this sort of thing and uh, yeah) ‘cwtch’,

aye (‘cwtch’ what ‘couch-grass’ or ‘cwtch up to me’) (‘cwtch up to you’ yeah) (yeah, that’s right, ’cause

that’s another I think that’s another very endearing expression, isn’t it, “come on, me butty, cwtch up to

me”) […] “oh, give us a cwtch”)

thee, thou, thy (0:06:57 then you got uh s... a lot of it which was pure Old English ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ the

use of the pronouns ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ this sort of thing that’s pure Old English; 0:11:42 and a lot of the wit

you had just the way you were talking to somebody you might greet somebody, “how beest thee, old butty,

how’s thy hacker cutting?” (aye, aye) (yes) well that’s just uh a greeting, you know, to your friend;

0:25:06 it’s a bit like um German, isn’t it, really ‘drei’ “three” and and ‘thou beest’ is like ‘du’ it’s the

slightly like German; 0:51:36 (I mean they had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and th’ whole lot was

dug) that’s right, yes (and all planted with vegetable) yes (I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t grow

no flowers” he said, “no, they do give me indigestion, my boy” him said, you know) my my grandfather

would’ve said, “thee cossen eat flowers”; 1:02:34 if I said to our mam instead of ‘mam’, “uh what’st got

for tea, old lady?” I think I’d’ve had a smack on the ear-hole a bit quick; 1:15:58 this was Geoff’s

grandmother who lived next door and she had a habit of always coming into their house when they were

just sitting down to dinner and she’d walk through the door and she’d, you know, fold her arms and she’d

say, “whenever I do come in here thee beest always stuffing thy weasands” (‘wazzock’) now ‘weasand’ is

a ‘weasand’ your ‘gullet’ now that’s Shakespearean (yeah, could be, yeah) ‘weasand’ comes into

Shakespeare (what’s a wazzock then?); 1:19:39 little boy went home and said, “righto, mother, what’st

got on the what’st got on the table for tea let’s be let’s be having on thee”)

gendered pronoun (0:11:54 they also referred to pit life where your ‘butty’ was a system of payment in

the pits you went to the ‘butty-man’ and your ‘hacker’ of course was your ‘axe’ that had to be nice and

sharp for cutting the timber if he [ = ‘axe’] was cutting sharp, you know, and cutting well then he he [ =

‘miner’] was fine; 0:37: 17 (so there wasn’t a lock on the doors then, no) […] (no, you had to whistle

while you was in there) no, just a li…. just a clap uh uh one them you pressed en down (yeah, clo…

whatchacallits) and on the inside and lift en up from the outside (that’s right, yeah) in… inside, yeah (was

there a r… a covering on it a roof or anything?) oh, a bit of a roof, aye, might have hole in him [= ‘roof’])

historic en, her [= he], hine (0:27:50 (and what was one you said just now, Dave?) ‘got the fly’ “thick

hae got the fly on hine” (aye, ‘got the fly on’) (‘got the fly on hine’?) “thick got the fly on hine” aye (never

heard that one) or ‘on her’ “her hae got the fly on her, her have”; 0:33:54 I mean my grandmother’s toilet

it was uh a bit of a shed perched on the edge of a sco… scowl-hole (yes, that’s funny, yes) and they used to

chuck a bag of quicklime in there every (that’s right, yeah) every month or so (that’s right, yeah)

occasionally they used to shift en a bit further up the scowl-hole; 0:37: 17 (so there wasn’t a lock on the

doors then, no) […] (no, you had to whistle while you was in there) no, just a li…. just a clap uh uh one

them you pressed en down (yeah, clo… whatchacallits) and on the inside and lift en up from the outside



(that’s right, yeah) in… inside, yeah (was there a r… a covering on it a roof or anything?) oh, a bit of a

roof, aye, might have hole in him; 0:46:47 and we’d be stood th’ other side the hedge because we knowed

sooner or later the bladder would come over th’ hedge old Frank’d chuck one (use it for a football) and

there was a scrabble for the bladder, mind, and you’d blow that one up and tie the top and that was a

football (yeah) (ah) last probably a week and then would go all dry and crack and that was th’ end of en,

like; 0:47:27 (and a huge great beast of a mangle) ah (great big iron thing, you know) (yeah, huge)

(enormous) and then our mother’d w… get me winding these blinking hand around on the mangle and uh

her’d look at it and her’d say, “oh another couple of times through and that’ll be all right” and then her’d

tighten the top on hine down (yeah, that’s right, yeah) so it was much harder to turn; 1:03:00 and that uh

that’s what’s said about uh a little bouncy uh fella something like that, “he’s a dappy-looking bloke, isn’t,

he’s a little dappy one, yun her?” they used to say (‘dapper’, yeah) (‘dapper’) (a ‘dapper’, yes);; 1:44:38

of course a lot of stories grew up around brass bands and this is one about a chap who used to play the

bass drum and he was only a little tiny fellow and when he was marching along her couldn’t see over the

top of the bass drum)

pronoun exchange (0:23:35 and the other one he used to say you can normally tell about fat people he

was quite rude about women actually, “her’s like a bolting of straw tied up with one band”; 0:24:17 ‘hard

up and happy’ them used to say, didn’t them, but I can’t see anybody get… silly saying really if you was

hard up you wasn’t that happy, like; 0:26:11 (I got ‘pretty’ I don’t know uh “her’s a”) (‘pretty’?) (“that’s

a pretty that’s a pretty lass”) ‘smashing’ ah (‘smashing’ aye, aye) “smashing, her is”; 0:27:50 (and what

was one you said just now, Dave?) ‘got the fly’ “thick hae got the fly on hine” (aye, ‘got the fly on’) (‘got

the fly on hine’?) “thick got the fly on hine” aye (never heard that one) or ‘on her’ “her hae got the fly on

her, her have”; 0:26:58 in the community years ago they was accepted, wasn’t them, and they was looked

after; 0:47:27 (and a huge great beast of a mangle) ah (great big iron thing, you know) (yeah, huge)

(enormous) and then our mother’d w… get me winding these blinking hand around on the mangle and uh

her’d look at it and her’d say, “oh another couple of times through and that’ll be all right” and then her’d

tighten the top on hine down (yeah, that’s right, yeah) so it was much harder to turn; 0:51:36 I mean they

had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and th’ whole lot was dug (that’s right, yes) and all planted with

vegetable (yes) I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t grow no flowers” he said, “no, they do give me

indigestion, my boy” him said, you know (my my grandfather would’ve said, “thee cossen eat flowers”);

1:03:00 and that uh that’s what’s said about uh a little bouncy uh fella something like that, “he’s a dappy-

looking bloke, isn’t, he’s a little dappy one, yun her?” they used to say (‘dapper’, yeah) (‘dapper’) (a

‘dapper’, yes); 1:23:02 Vern was a odd-boy at the F… New Fancy (yes) […] that was hard life that was

for young chaps and used to tell me about him and his dad used to walk from Cinderford to The Fancy16

every morning that’s a bloody good stroll on its own, mind, and him would do twelve hours or more

odding and uh then go home and have his tea (that’s it, yeah); 1:48:25 well then them would tie a gorse

bush on the (that’s right, yes, yeah) on the string or rope, look, then they’d drag that one down the

chimney; 1:48:35 get some cruel sod chuck a cockerel down there or summat, wouldn’t you, by time him

hae fluttered to the bottom him hae swept the chimney)

frequent possessive me (e.g. 0:00:14 uh lived here all me life I was born in the Forest of Dean in fact

sixty-two years ago I work at Coleford at the moment and I run the local barber’s shop source of a lot of

material for dialect and humour; 0:12:10 (although your ‘butty’ was your ‘friend’, you know, the butty

wasn’t that popular underground, was he?) this is this is this is (no, he was very unpopular) yeah, this is

the thing I find very difficult to understand (yeah) ’cause the ‘butty-man’ was often feared sometimes

hated sometimes loved but ‘butty’ ‘my butty’ ‘me old butty’ is is quite definitely your friend, isn’t it, your

‘mate’ your ‘pal’; 0:19:31 uh I’d mooch meself in me time and hide in the gorse bushes ’cause you hears

the truant officer going by in his little car you would uh until he’d gone by and then creep out from there

but mum would always suss me because I’d got dirty trainers or mud on me boots or something; 0:22:57

dad was ambidextrous he could write or with with either hand me father could, yeah (is anybody here left-



handed out of interest?) (no) no, only when I do comb me hair; 0:44:24 the first time I had that was at me

grandmother’s (I hated it) as a little boy and it was all fat there was no lean (yeah, I hated it) I think the

only pink bits grandfather used to hae the pink bits; 1:19:13 there is quite a interest among amongst the

young kids ’cause we Dave and meself, you know, we’ve been to lot of the s… primary schools to talk to

the kids there; 1:24:46 he said, “I rolled over and (yeah) and uh cri…”, he said, “I cried me eyes out”

and I thought, “Lord, whatever did bring me down a place like this surely there was something better in

life than this?”)

unbound reflexive (0:00:57 worked in the mines practically all my life uh for the National Coal Board

and father and myself mining in our own right; 1:19:13 there is quite a interest among amongst the young

kids ’cause we Dave and meself, you know, we’ve been to lot of the s… primary schools to talk to the kids

there)

relative as (0:07:38 oh no, let me put you right there, my love, we’re speaking proper it’s them tothers as

don’t speak right; 0:13:05 (that was the ones that didn’t go to church on Sundays) that was the ones as

took all the money, Keith (they u… they usually had a few more sheep than the rest as well) aye, that’s

right; 1:03:45 especially for old Bill Chapel as lived just down here (yeah, you actually) old Bill was

about thirty stone; 1:36:35 […] ah, poor old Fred as died (yes) and I was to meet him when he came down

this time (yes, yes, yes) it was fixed up at the BBC that I was to meet him and uh have a conflab with him)

relative that (0:10:48 and they would get someone in the village that could hit this peggy stick buzzing for

a long way, you know (yes))

VERBS

present

be – am generalisation (0:17:01 I got ‘half dead’ (‘half-dead’ does that mean is that mean ‘half-dead’?)

(yes) ‘dead’ ‘dead’ means ‘dead’, aye, but only ‘half-dead’ so you ain’t ‘dead’ all the way, like, you be

only ‘half-dead’ you’m’n’t very well, [jəm ʌnt vɛɹi wɛɫ] like (right) (feeling a bit ‘poorly’ mainly, you

know))

be – be generalisation (0:04:29 no, I put down ‘boiling’ or well ‘boiling’ actually, you know, “I be I be

boiling, old butty” uh ‘hot’ of course, yes, yes (I put ‘sweltering’) (‘sweltering’ right) (and I put ‘warm’

‘W’ ‘double A’ ‘R’ ‘M’ “yun it warm?”); 0:05:00 (OK then uh what about the opposite of that ‘cold’?) I

put ‘fruz’ (you put what sorry?) “I be fruz”; 0:05:25 to me it absolutely describes what you feel like on a

horrible cold winter day ‘near…’ “I be all nearped up” my grandfather used to say; 0:05:40 I’m also of

course ‘starved’ “I be starved” (aye, ‘starving’) (aye, yeah) or “you do look starved” (aye, not meaning

‘hungry’ but ‘starving cold’) yes (oh I see) (aye, aye); 0:16:23 aye, you see well mine do go very similar to

that ‘dog-beat’ (oh, right, oh, yes) “I be dog-beat” where that come from I don’t know (‘dog-beat’)

(‘knackered’ I put); 0:17:43 “I be all right but I ache all over”; 0:29:31 (‘running water smaller than a

river’?) (a ‘brook’) (‘brook’) (‘brook’) (a ‘brook’ or a ‘stream’) […] that’s what I got ‘B’ ‘R’ ‘U’ ‘K’ a

‘brook’ (yeah, the ‘brook’ “down the brook”) so we be all in agreement over thick then)

have – have generalisation (0:15:28 (I find a lot of the old men are very soft spoken) (yes) (very soft

spoken anout it) (yes, oh yeah) you know probably that’ve happened in later years do you think, Keith, or

(I don’t know but um); 0:27:50 (and what was one you said just now, Dave?) ‘got the fly’ “thick’ve got the

fly on hine” (aye, ‘got the fly on’) (‘got the fly on hine’?) “thick got the fly on hine” aye (never heard that

one) or ‘on her’ “her’ve got the fly on her, her have”)

past

zero past (0:16:23 aye, you see well mine do go very similar to that ‘dog-beat’ (oh, right, oh, yes) “I be

dog-beat” where that come from I don’t know (‘dog-beat’) (‘knackered’ I put); 0:49:14 I can see her now

(it’d disintegrated) she undone the took the top off see if it wanted a drop more water in there and the



steam come out from there and it’d all all the it’d all come undone; 0:50:08 we didn’t go short for

Christmas pudding (no, that was it this is) ’cause the neighbours come round, “here’s a Christmas

pudding” (yeah, this is, yeah) well we had probably had more than what we had (we were still eating them

at Easter) well we’ve just finished the one up now, Keith; 1:31:04 every Monday Herb would come there

with a different um a different tale and this one day he come there and uh we all sat on the trolleys)

regularised past (0:46:47 and we’d be stood th’other side the hedge because we knowed sooner or later

the bladder would come over th’ hedge old Frank’d chuck one (use it for a football) and there was a

scrabble for the bladder, mind, and you’d blow that one up and tie the top and that was a football (yeah)

(ah) last probably a week and then would go all dry and crack and that was th’ end of en, like; 1:39:46

(that’s right ’cause uh my husband was a blacksmith) (oh I wondered, yeah, yeah) I never gived it a lot of

thought)

generalisation of simple past (0:05:00 (OK then uh what about the opposite of that ‘cold’?) I put ‘fruz’

(you put what sorry?) “I be fruz”)

generalisation of past participle (0:34:14 do you know what they used to get the News of The World22

or

The Daily Herald23

and rip it up into little squares and hang it on a nail (we always had The Farmers

Weekly24

) I don’t know why they done that why did they do that, Keith? (we always had The Farmers

Weekly) Farmers Weekly, like (posh, you see) (there was a lot of pages in there); 0:49:14 I can see her

now (it’d disintegrated) she undone the took the top off see if it wanted a drop more water in there and the

steam come out from there and it’d all all the it’d all come undone; 1:14:37 coming up towards Christmas

I done little bit of a poem about the Christmas lights in Coleford)

be –was generalisation (0:21:46 we was never very well-endowed with them types round here years ago;

0:22:00 back then if you was caught with no light on the back of your cycle your bike then you was had up

in court; 0:26:58 in the community years ago they was accepted, wasn’t them, and they was looked after;

0:37: 17 (so there wasn’t a lock on the doors then, no) […] no, you had to whistle while you was in there

(no, just a li…. just a clap uh uh one them you pressed en down) (yeah, clo… whatchacallits) (and on the

inside and lift en up from the outside) (that’s right, yeah) (in… inside, yeah) (was there a r… a covering

on it a roof or anything?) (oh, a bit of a roof, aye, might have hole in him); 0:47:46 most of the

underclothes was white cotton calico and it had to be boiled to keep it white sheets were boiled everything

was boiled in this copper in the corner; 0:52:20 it was wartime (aye) (yeah) you know, and there wasn’t

nothing about anyway, you you know, the rations was meagre; 0:55:04 talk about sticky I think a lot of

glue in them I think st… y… you were after you was there for ever washing your hands and washing your

mouth and everything; 1:33:53 the winters was always hard, you know, (yes, yeah) and they were frosted

in the ground for months (that’s right I know) and you could hit the sprouts off with hammer, couldn’t

you?)

be – were generalisation (1:31:31 “I were sat there in front the fire with the paper a… a-reading on hine

and the missus said, ‘what’st fancy for a bit of second veg today, Herb?’”17

; 1:47:26 “now I’ve heard of

folk a-saying chimmock sweeping yunt a chore but by the time we’d finished soot were blowing out the

door”17

)

compounds

double conditional (1:08:40 he said, “is it inside?” and I said, “yes” “oh, well then you can’t have a

second one upstairs if you’d’ve had an outside toilet you could’ve had one down and up” now what how’s

that for red tape could’ve had two)

simple past with progressive meaning (0:46:47 and we’d be stood th’ other side the hedge because we

knowed sooner or later the bladder would come over th’ hedge old Frank’d chuck one (use it for a

football) and there was a scrabble for the bladder, mind, and you’d blow that one up and tie the top and

that was a football (yeah) (ah) last probably a week and then would go all dry and crack and that was th’

end of en, like; 0:49:25 I can remember mother now sat down by there crying her eyes out)

<a-> participle (0:28:24 ‘drizzle’ “it’s a-drizzling” (‘drizzle’) aye, meaning it’s (yes) it’s just raining but

if it do g… get any less it won’t be raining at all; 0:41:37 so course I was thrilled to bits that they could go



in a-flushing away (aye) but my dad was a bit worried all this flushing; 1:31:31 “I were sat there in front

the fire with the paper a… a-reading on hine and the missus said, ‘what’st fancy for a bit of second veg

today, Herb?’”17

; 1:45:57 “so if thou see a bandsman a-marching with a drum turn en round and face en

back and away back to his home”17

; 1:47:26 “now I’ve heard of folk a-saying chimmock sweeping yunt a

chore but by the time we’d finished soot were blowing out the door”17

)

frequent habitual do (e.g. 0:05:40 I’m also of course ‘starved’ “I be starved” (aye, ‘starving’) (aye,

yeah) or “you do look starved” (aye, not meaning ‘hungry’ but ‘starving cold’) yes (oh I see) (aye, aye);

0:13:48 but the one I’ve put down for that is um is uh if you’re upset or annoyed with somebody, “that do

kill my pig”; 0:16:23 aye, you see well mine do go very similar to that ‘dog-beat’ (oh, right, oh, yes) “I be

dog-beat” where that come from I don’t know (‘dog-beat’) (‘knackered’ I put); 0:22:57 dad was

ambidextrous he could write or with with either hand me father could, yeah (is anybody here left-handed

out of interest?) (no) no, only when I do comb me hair; 0:28:24 ‘drizzle’ “it’s a-drizzling” (‘drizzle’) aye,

meaning it’s (yes) it’s just raining but if it do g… get any less it won’t be raining at all; 0:51:36 I mean

they had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and th’ whole lot was dug (that’s right, yes) and all planted

with vegetable (yes) I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t grow no flowers” he said, “no, they do give

me indigestion, my boy” him said, you know (my my grandfather would’ve said, “thee cossen eat

flowers”); 1:15:58 this was Geoff’s grandmother who lived next door and she had a habit of always

coming into their house when they were just sitting down to dinner and she’d walk through the door and

she’d, you know, fold her arms and she’d say, “whenever I do come in here thee beest always stuffing thy

weasands” (‘wazzock’) now ‘weasand’ is a ‘weasand’ your ‘gullet’ now that’s Shakespearean (yeah,

could be, yeah) ‘weasand’ comes into Shakespeare (what’s a wazzock then?); 1:24:46 he said, “I rolled

over and (yeah) and uh cri…”, he said, “I cried me eyes out” and I thought, “Lord, whatever did bring

me down a place like this surely there was something better in life than this?”)

frequent zero auxiliary have (e.g. 0:14:48 (what about ‘pleased’?) ‘chuffed’ (oh I _ got ‘chuffed’ as

well) well I _ got ‘pleased’; 0:17:01 I _ got ‘half dead’ (‘half-dead’ does that mean is that mean ‘half-

dead’?) (yes) ‘dead’ ‘dead’ means ‘dead’, aye, but only ‘half-dead’ so you ain’t ‘dead’ all the way, like,

you be only ‘half-dead’ you’m’n’t very well, like (right) (feeling a bit ‘poorly’ mainly, you know); 0:26:11

I _ got ‘pretty’ I don’t know uh “her’s a” (‘pretty’?) “that’s a pretty that’s a pretty lass” (‘smashing’ ah)

‘smashing’ aye, aye (“smashing, her is”); 1:44:25 this is a little story about a brass band ’cause we _ got

a hell of a heritage of brass band in the Forest I think there’s something like eight or nine brass bands

now)

invariant there was (0:34:14 (do you know what they used to get the News of The World22

or The Daily

Herald23

and rip it up into little squares and hang it on a nail) we always had The Farmers Weekly24

(I

don’t know why they done that why did they do that, Keith?) we always had The Farmers Weekly

(Farmers Weekly, like) (posh, you see) there was a lot of pages in there; 0:42:16 the old Piggery Lane we

used to call it it’s now called um oh, blimey, Worcester Walk (oh yes) Worc…. Worcester Worcester Road

or something (well but that’s Worcester Lodge, isn’t it?) aye, yeah, that’s up well it’s the piggery to me

there was pigs always kept down there; 1:22:49 and they’d both sit on this AJS20

motorcycle and there was

about thirty-odd stone on there altogether I expect and no sooner did they get on the t… back tyre’d go

right flat and they’d go wobbling off up across the yard on the thing with the tyre rolling around, like)

historic present (0:19:31 uh I’d mooch meself in me time and hide in the gorse bushes ’cause you hears

the truant officer going by in his little car you would uh until he’d gone by and then creep out from there

but mum would always suss me because I’d got dirty trainers or mud on me boots or something; 1:47:01

“so up we gets right early and thick chimmock for to sweep”17

)

for to infinitive (1:47:01 “so up we gets right early and thick chimmock for to sweep”17

)

bare infinitive (0:01:26 uh I started _ do a little bit of verse and now carried on I’ve done over fifty bits of

rhyming verse I’d sooner call them I don’t profess to be a poet at all; 0:31:04 (something like black plastic

type stuff it was) that’s right, yes (but uh _ trim between the leather and the polythene I suppose whatever

whatever that was) or on top, like, yeah, but it always had an antimacassar on the back I do remember



that; 0:49:14 I can see her now (it’d disintegrated) she undone the took the top off see if it wanted a drop

more water in there and the steam come out from there and it’d all all the it’d all come undone)

NEGATION

multiple negation (0:37:54 couple of spoonfuls that fore you went to bed and ain’t never had no cold at

all; 0:44:48 remember I got a bottle of brown sauce and I smacked this bloody sauce all over I ate it but I

ever since I never had no trouble eating home-cured bacon I love it; 0:51:36 I mean they had two ac...

nearly two acres of garden and th’ whole lot was dug (that’s right, yes) and all planted with vegetable

(yes) I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t grow no flowers” he said, “no, they do give me indigestion,

my boy” him said, you know (my my grandfather would’ve said, “thee cossen eat flowers”); 0:52:20 it

was wartime (aye) (yeah) you know, and there wasn’t nothing about anyway, you you know, the rations

was meagre; 0:53:53 they’d push the stick through and keep threading it on the stick till they couldn’t get

no more and then cut the chitterling off)

alternative negator (0:48:39 any woman, you know, who had sort of two or three boys and husband at

work in the pit, like, it was a life of sheer drudgery, wadn* it? (aye, ‘twas); 0:51:36 (I mean they had two

ac... nearly two acres of garden and th’ whole lot was dug) that’s right, yes (and all planted with

vegetable) yes (I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t grow no flowers” he said, “no, they do give me

indigestion, my boy” him said, you know) my my grandfather would’ve said, “thee cossen○ eat flowers”;

1:25:19 however hard it was it was a brotherhood, wadn* it?; 1:04:22 that was that was a by-product of

coal, wadn* it, or summat or other (I dunno what it was made of) it was produced by the NCB

18 or

something (I dunno what it was made of) that was a godsend to th’ old ladies […] when they didn’t hae to

stitch the trousers any more)

alternative negator no (0:29:05 always called the ‘front room’ whether it was the back of the house or

no)

ain’t for negative be (0:17:01 I got ‘half dead’ (‘half-dead’ does that mean is that mean ‘half-dead’?)

(yes) ‘dead’ ‘dead’ means ‘dead’, aye, but only ‘half-dead’ so you ain’t ‘dead’ all the way, like, you be

only ‘half-dead’ you’m’n’t very well, like (right) (feeling a bit ‘poorly’ mainly, you know))

amn’t, yun(’t)* for negative be (0:04:29 (no, I put down ‘boiling’ or well ‘boiling’ actually, you know, “I

be I be boiling, old butty” uh ‘hot’ of course, yes, yes) (I put ‘sweltering’) (‘sweltering’ right) and I put

‘warm’ ‘W’ ‘double A’ ‘R’ ‘M’ “yun it warm?”; 0:17:01 I got ‘half dead’ (‘half-dead’ does that mean is

that mean ‘half-dead’?) (yes) ‘dead’ ‘dead’ means ‘dead’, aye, but only ‘half-dead’ so you ain’t ‘dead’ all

the way, like, you be only ‘half-dead’ you’m’n’t very well, [jəm ʌnt vɛɹi wɛɫ] like (right) (feeling a bit

‘poorly’ mainly, you know); 1:03:00 and that uh that’s what’s said about uh a little bouncy uh fella

something like that, “he’s a dappy-looking bloke, isn’t, he’s a little dappy one, yun her?” they used to say

(‘dapper’, yeah) (‘dapper’) (a ‘dapper’, yes); 1:47:26 “now I’ve heard of folk a-saying chimmock

sweeping yun’t a chore but by the time we’d finished soot were blowing out the door”17

)

ain’t for negative have (0:37:54 couple of spoonfuls that fore you went to bed and ain’t never had no cold

at all)

PREPOSITIONS

deletion

zero of (0:37:54 couple of spoonfuls _ that fore you went to bed and ain’t never had no cold at all;

0:40:21 I know a fellow who used to live on Gloucester Road in Coleford which is the main road through

(yes) his house was one side _ the road and his toilet was the other side _ the road; 0:46:47 and we’d be

stood th’ other _ side the hedge because we knowed sooner or later the bladder would come over th’

hedge old Frank’d chuck one (use it for a football) and there was a scrabble for the bladder, mind, and

you’d blow that one up and tie the top and that was a football (yeah) (ah) last probably a week and then

would go all dry and crack and that was th’ end of en, like; 1:31:31 “I were sat there in front _ the fire



with the paper a… a-reading on hine and the missus said, ‘what’st fancy for a bit of second veg today,

Herb?’”17

)

preposition deletion – other (0:59:47 (that’s what it was really I suppose ‘thy tools’ “go and fetch thy

tools” father used to say) (yes, yes, yeah) aye, aye, “out _ the shed”; 1:20:35 I can remember one of the

teachers came to me and said, “Kath, you’re a Forester, aren’t you?” he said, “this kid’s written in his

story about a p… having a pikelets they had pikelets _ them days” you see (aye, pikelets lovely) (yes)

“whatever’s that?” so I said, “well, Tony, it’s um sort of a crumpet”; 1:47:26 “now I’ve heard of folk a-

saying chimmock sweeping yunt a chore but by the time we’d finished soot were blowing out _ the

door”17

)

insertion

otiose by (0:49:25 I can remember mother now sat down by there crying her eyes out)

otiose on [= of] (1:19:39 little boy went home and said, “righto, mother, what’st got on the what’st got on

the table for tea let’s be let’s be having on thee”; 1:31:31 “I were sat there in front the fire with the paper

a… a-reading on hine and the missus said, ‘what’st fancy for a bit of second veg today, Herb?’”17

)

substitution off [= from] (0:12:32 the ‘butty’ in the mine was the man that had all the mana... the money off the

management or whoever owned the mine and he shared it out with the the workers uh with hi… the tea…

working under him and he gave them what he thought they’d earned)

on [= of] + pronoun (0:20:19 (a lot of ‘S’s were pronounced with a ‘Z’ in the Forest dialect Keith, isn’t

it?) oh yeah, all on them (all on them); 1:19:39 little boy went home and said, “righto, mother, what’st got

on the what’st got on the table for tea let’s be let’s be having on thee”; 1:31:31 “I were sat there in front

the fire with the paper a… a-reading on hine and the missus said, ‘what’st fancy for a bit of second veg

today, Herb?’”17

)

ADVERBS

unmarked manner adverb (0:07:26 because you don’t hear it so much with the women but then on the

other hand of course the women went off to service when they were about twelve (mum went to

Cheltenham) and they soon learned to speak proper, didn’t they?; 0:07:38 oh no, let me put you right

there, my love, we’re speaking proper it’s them tothers as don’t speak right; 0:08:55 I find it’s something

you don’t naturally put on it just comes natural to you wh… (yes, that’s right) when you’re talking, you

know; 0:15:28 I find a lot of the old men are very soft spoken (yes) very soft spoken anout it (yes, oh yeah)

you know (probably that’ve happened in later years do you think, Keith, or) (I don’t know but um);

1:02:34 if I said to our mam instead of ‘mam’, “uh what’st got for tea, old lady?” I think I’d’ve had a

smack on the ear-hole a bit quick; 1:10:58 well it doesn’t doesn’t pay them to say you talk funny round

here I’ll tell you)

DISCOURSE

frequent utterance final like (e.g. 0:17:01 I got ‘half dead’ (‘half-dead’ does that mean is that mean

‘half-dead’?) (yes) ‘dead’ ‘dead’ means ‘dead’, aye, but only ‘half-dead’ so you ain’t ‘dead’ all the way,

like, you be only ‘half-dead’ you’m’n’t very well, like (right) (feeling a bit ‘poorly’ mainly, you know);

0:24:17 ‘hard up and happy’ them used to say, didn’t them, but I can’t see anybody get… silly saying

really if you was hard up you wasn’t that happy, like; 0:31:04 (something like black plastic type stuff it

was) that’s right, yes (but uh trim between the leather and the polythene I suppose whatever whatever that

was) or on top, like, yeah, but it always had an antimacassar on the back I do remember that; 0:40:31

(that reminds me of where one of my aunts lived in Birmingham and and it was, you know, there was this

long long row continuous row of cottages houses I suppose you’d call them and there was, like, a back



yard and then the toilets were all out at the end of the yard) a row of toilets out there, like (yes) yeah (not

so very many); 0:46:47 and we’d be stood th’ other side the hedge because we knowed sooner or later the

bladder would come over th’ hedge old Frank’d chuck one (use it for a football) and there was a scrabble

for the bladder, mind, and you’d blow that one up and tie the top and that was a football (yeah) (ah) last

probably a week and then would go all dry and crack and that was th’ end of en, like; 0:48:39 any woman,

you know, who had sort of two or three boys and husband at work in the pit, like, it was a life of sheer

drudgery, wadn it? (aye, ‘twas); 0:48:51 I can remember one Chr… uh coming up to one Christmas uh

mother had about half a dozen Christmas puddings I suppose in the boiler alongside the range, like, in the

corner; 1:22:49 and they’d both sit on this AJS20

motorcycle and there was about thirty-odd stone on there

altogether I expect and no sooner did they get on the t… back tyre’d go right flat and they’d go wobbling

off up across the yard on the thing with the tyre rolling around, like; 1:25:55 uh the roof came in and and

buried me up up to about the waist, like)

utterance final look (0:44:42 by tea-time I was hungry, look, so I th… I thought I’d better eat it or I’ll be

getting hungry; 1:48:25 well then them would tie a gorse bush on the (that’s right, yes, yeah) on the string

or rope, look, then they’d drag that one down the chimney)

utterance final mind (0:14:27 no, I’m not that much younger than you, mind; 0:46:47 and we’d be stood

th’ other side the hedge because we knowed sooner or later the bladder would come over th’ hedge old

Frank’d chuck one (use it for a football) and there was a scrabble for the bladder, mind, and you’d blow

that one up and tie the top and that was a football (yeah) (ah) last probably a week and then would go all

dry and crack and that was th’ end of en, like; 0:53:02 but I can remember when Keith was talking about

the the Christmas pudding being mixed up after, mind, it was always, “can I hae the wooden spoon or

whatever and and finish that bit off”; 1:23:02 Vern was a odd-boy at the F… New Fancy (yes) […] that

was hard life that was for young chaps and used to tell me about him and his dad used to walk from



twelve hours or more odding and uh then go home and have his tea (that’s it, yeah))

utterance final see (0:56:40 (‘babby’ or ‘little one’) we used to call it ‘babby’ but I call my grandson the

‘little one’ now (right) (aye) so it’s changed, see)

utterance internal like (0:40:31 that reminds me of where one of my aunts lived in Birmingham and and

it was, you know, there was this long long row continuous row of cottages houses I suppose you’d call

them and there was, like, a back yard and then the toilets were all out at the end of the yard (a row of

toilets out there, like) yes (yeah) not so very many)

intensifier right (1:22:49 and they’d both sit on this AJS20

motorcycle and there was about thirty-odd

stone on there altogether I expect and no sooner did they get on the t… back tyre’d go right flat and they’d

go wobbling off up across the yard on the thing with the tyre rolling around, like)

invariant tag (0:20:19 a lot of ‘S’s were pronounced with a ‘Z’ in the Forest dialect Keith, isn’t it? (oh

yeah, all on them) all on them)

form of address butty (0:04:29 (no, I put down ‘boiling’ or well ‘boiling’ actually, you know, “I be I be

boiling, old butty” uh ‘hot’ of course, yes, yes) (I put ‘sweltering’) (‘sweltering’ right) and I put ‘warm’

‘W’ ‘double A’ ‘R’ ‘M’ “yun it warm?”; 0:11:42 and a lot of the wit you had just the way you were talking

to somebody you might greet somebody, “how beest thee, old butty, how’s thy hacker cutting?” (aye, aye)

(yes) well that’s just uh a greeting, you know, to your friend; 1:12:53 (‘cwtch’ you know ‘cwtch’ and all

this sort of thing and uh, yeah) (‘cwtch’, aye) ‘cwtch’ what ‘couch-grass’ or ‘cwtch up to me’ (‘cwtch up

to you’ yeah) yeah, that’s right, ’cause that’s another I think that’s another very endearing expression,

isn’t it, “come on, me butty, cwtch up to me” […] (“oh, give us a cwtch”))

form of address my boy (0:51:36 I mean they had two ac... nearly two acres of garden and th’ whole lot

was dug (that’s right, yes) and all planted with vegetable (yes) I said to grandfather one day, “we don’t



grow no flowers” he said, “no, they do give me indigestion, my boy” him said, you know (my my

grandfather would’ve said, “thee cossen eat flowers”))

form of address my love (0:07:38 oh no, let me put you right there, my love, we’re speaking proper it’s

them tothers as don’t speak right; 0:10:07 (well it’s like cattie, isn’t it, the game it’s ‘cattie’ this side but I

understand it’s ‘peggy’ over your side, is that right, so I’ve been told) could well be, my love, yes (and it’s

the same thing, you see); 0:11:01 whether ’tis a myth it may well be, my love, but uh but that that is what

I’ve heard)

otiose what (0:42:48 a lot because the food you ate I think you you had more roughage then I think than

what they do to…; 0:50:08 we didn’t go short for Christmas pudding (no, that was it this is) ’cause the

neighbours come round, “here’s a Christmas pudding” (yeah, this is, yeah) well we had probably had

more than what we had (we were still eating them at Easter) well we’ve just finished the one up now,

Keith)

© Robinson, Herring, Gilbert

Voices of the UK, 2009-2012

A British Library project funded by The Leverhulme Trust

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