Wit, Character, Folklore & Customs of the North Riding of Yorkshire / With a Glossary of over 4,000 Words and Idioms Now in Use

CHAPTER XII
IDIOMS AND THE PECULIAR USE OF CERTAIN WORDS

The folk-speech of our county abounds in idioms, and possesses many forms of curious phraseology.

It is these and other peculiarities which add much to its forcefulness, and form one of its main features.

It will be the object of this short chapter to explain some of these usages and idioms.

In writing such a chapter there is one difficulty presents itself—where to commence. There is too much material. As a starting-point, let us take the following remark, which was made to me the other day by an old dame:—

• ‘Them lads weean’t deea ez tha’re tell’d; Ah may shoot at ’em ez oft ez Ah leyke, tha deean’t mend ther waays. Ah wadn’t mahnd if tha war onny bit leyke;’ i.e. ‘Those boys will not do as they are told; I may shout at ’em as often as I may, they do not mend their ways. I would not mind if they were any way reasonable.’

One word with reference to ‘’em.’ Writers on Yorkshire mark ‘them,’ so written, with an elision point (’em).

Is this correct? I offer an opinion for what it is worth. The vocabulary of our people dates back to a very remote period; the same may be said of many of the rules which govern their speech. May not this ‘em’ be a case in point; and instead of being a contraction of ‘them,’ only the plural form ‘hem,’ which they have retained along with many other old-time words?

Wicliff, in the parable of the Prodigal Son, translates as follows:—‘And the younger of hem;’ and a few lines below, we find, ‘and he departed’ (divided) ‘to hem.’ Although our people have not retained in their vocabulary the word ‘departed,’ they have held on to another equally archaic, i.e. parting, ‘partinge,’ to divide. I leave this for others better able than I to decide.

In the old dame’s statement it was said that the lads would not mend their ways. ‘To mend our ways’ is equivalent to saying, ‘improve,’ ‘to grow better’; and to be ‘onny bit leyke’=being reasonable.

In the sentence ‘Yon’s nowt ti mahn,’ the word ‘yon’ signifies ‘that or those over there.’ ‘Yon chap’ is ‘that man over there’; or ‘yon coos,’ ‘those cows over there.’ ‘That chap’ points out a man near at hand; ‘yon chap,’ one who is a greater or less distance removed from the speakers. Hence, ‘Yon is nothing to mine’ tells that the thing spoken of was some distance away. ‘To,’ in the statement ‘to mine,’ is equivalent to ‘compared with,’ i.e. ‘That (one) is nothing when compared with mine.’

‘To’ also=‘for,’ e.g. ‘good ti nowt,’ ‘good for nothing.’ Again, ‘to’=‘this.’ And although to some it sounds odd to hear a farmer say, ‘Wa s’all ’ev a good crop ti year,’ ‘we shall have a good crop to’ (this) ‘year,’ it only sounds peculiar because it is unfamiliar. The same individual who would smile at such usage, would perhaps a moment afterwards ask, ‘what have we to dinner to-day?’ i.e. ‘What have we for dinner this day?’ The usage of the negative in the double, treble, or quadruple form is not infrequent. ‘Ah nivver at neea tahm sed nowt aboot nowt ti neeabody neeaways; Ah’d nivver neea call teea,’ literally, reads thus: ‘I never at no time said nothing about nothing to nobody no way; I had never no reason to;’ or, ‘I never said a word to any one; I had no reason to.’ ‘Ah’d nivver neea call teea.’ ‘Call’=‘reason.’ ‘Ah’ll gi’e him a good calling when he cums in; bud he wants his jacket lacing weel t’ maist ov owt.’ ‘To call’ here=‘to scold.’

‘Sha called ma leyke all that; aye! ivverything ’at sha c’u’d lig her tung teea.’ In this instance, ‘called’ means more than a scolding; it means, ‘to defame,’ ‘to have said of the person shameful things,’ ‘to illify64,’ ‘to speak evil of.’ ‘To lace any one’s jacket,’ is ‘to administer a sound thrashing’; and to say ‘ivverything ’at one can lay the tongue to,’ is to heap upon a person all the opprobrious epithets we can remember or invent. We should not say to a child, ‘What is your name?’ Possibly did we do so, we should be met with a blank stare of amazement. The correct form would be, ‘What do they call you?’ and you would have an answer at once.

We should not say ‘Shout to John,’ but ‘Call of John’; or ‘Thoo’ll ’a’e ti shoot on him looder na that, if thoo aims ti mak him hear,’ i.e. ‘you will have to shout to him louder than that, if you intend to make him hear.’ This word ‘call’ caused considerable bewilderment to one who had to make a complaint to a mother of her son. Being a stranger, the mother replied to him in her best English, but although she managed to divest her speech of much of its usual vocabulary, idiom and the peculiar use of certain words were not so easily laid on one side. She began, ‘It’s ti little ewse, bud Ah’ll call on him, an’ Ah’ll call him well when he cums; bud it’s ti no good my calling him when he does cum, foor Ah’ve called him many a tahm afoor.’

Now, why the good lady should promise to call for him when he had come, and to assure the gentleman it was of no use calling him when he arrived, because she had done so many a time before, didn’t leave things as clear as they might have been. What she really meant to say was, ‘I will shout for him, and give him a scolding when he comes; but really scolding is of little use, as I have done so many a time before.’

A little way back the word ‘aim’ was used—‘if thoo aims ti mak him hear.’

‘Aim’=‘to intend,’ ‘to hope,’ ‘to think,’ ‘to go.’

• ‘Ah aim ti git deean ti-day’=I intend to get done to-day; or, I hope to get done to-day.
• ‘Ah aim ’at sha’ll git better’=I think that she will get better.
• ‘Ah aim ’at he’s a better talker ’an t’ parson’=I think that he is a better speaker than the parson.
• ‘He’s aiming t’ wrang road’=He’s going in the wrong direction.
• ‘Ah aim ’at it’s good eneeaf ti deea’=I think that it is easy enough to do.

The word ‘good’=‘easy,’ also ‘considerable.’

• ‘Ther war a good lot o’ sheep an’ a goodish few pigs,’ i.e. There were a considerable number of sheep, and equally so of pigs.

‘Good’ also=‘well.’

• ‘Thoo mud ez good cum ti morn ez t’ daay eftther’=You may as well come in the morning as the day after.

‘To lap up a thing’ is ‘to conclude,’ ‘finish,’ ‘overcome.’

• ‘Ah s’all lap it up iv a minit’=I shall be done in a minute.
• ‘Ah’ll seean lap yon job up’=I will soon end that affair.
• ‘If Ah caan’t lap yon chap up, Ah’ll gi’e ower’=If I cannot overcome (thrash) yon man, I will give over; literally, I will admit my incapacity to do anything.

‘To gi’e ower’=‘to cease.’

• ‘Noo, bairns! gi’e ower potching steeans at t’ ducks; ya’ll be laamin’ sum on ’em, an’ then sum on ya’ll be gitting ta’en afoor yer betters’=Now, children, cease throwing stones at the ducks; you will be hurting some of them, and then some of you will be getting taken before your betters.

‘To be taken’ or ‘having to appear before one’s betters’=‘appearing before the justices.’

‘Bunch’ and ‘punch’ are two words over which mistakes are often made. ‘Bunch’ is to kick with the foot or knee, ‘punch’ is to hit with the hand.

• ‘He bunched, an’ Ah punched, an’ wa baith toupled inti t’ beck tigither.’
• ‘Mrs. Ridge, will ya mak your Sally gi’e ower? sha’s bunching ma.’
• ‘Nobbut when thoo lugs (my hair), Ah deean’t bunch nobbut when thoo lugs, an’ ivvery tahm ’at thoo lugs, Ah’ll bunch. If it’s gahin to be lug foor bunch, it s’all be bunch foor lug,’ shouted Sally.

The very common occurrence of changing the past participle passive into the infinitive active, with ‘be,’ is somewhat curious. Instead of saying, ‘it will have to be seen to,’ we should say, ‘it’ll be ti leeak teea’; or, ‘the dog is dead, it will have to be buried,’ would become, ‘t’ dog’s deead, it’ll be ti sahd by.’ ‘To sahd by’ is ‘to bury,’ and ‘to put out of the road’ is ‘to kill.’ ‘Wa’ve ’ed ti put t’ au’d meer oot o’ t’ road.’

As the following bit of information introduces many of our idioms, I will give it as uttered.

‘Thoo maunt let on aboot it, bud oor Tom’s keeping company wi’ Hannah, Mary’s lass; an’ Ah’ll tell tha what, she diz git hersen up when they gan oot. Ah nivver thowt foor oor Tom ti keep company wi’ her; sha’s far an’ awaay t’ best leeaking ov onny on ’em. Aye! byv a lang waay; bud he’s gitten weel in wi’ t’ au’d woman, an’ he can gan an’ hing his hat up onny tahm he ’ez a mahnd teea. Ah’ve gi’en him an inklin’ ’at he mun allus mak hissen mensful, an’ ti think on nivver ti let wit owt aboot Nancy. They ’ed a few wo’ds t’other daay aboot her; it war all alang of summat ’at Jack let slip; an’, mah wo’d, bud Tom did ramp an’ rahve when he gat ti knaw. Sha sed ’at sha wadn’t be played fast an’ loose wi’; bud Ah tell’t him ti feeace it oot, an’ nut git oot o’ heart, an’ fall oot t’ ane wi’ t’ ither ower a larl matter leyke that. Bud he sed ’at sha war grieved an’ vexed an’ putten aboot; an’ moreover ’an that, Ah tell’d him nut ti tak t’ hig, bud ti tak neea ‘count on what fau’k sed, bud ti deea his best ti hit it off, an’ gi’e ower acting leyke ez if he’d gitten a slaate off, an’ nut ti fetch things up, or else sha’d be gi’ing him t’ cau’d shou’der, an’ mebbe gi’ing him t’ sack if he gat her back up; onny road, tha’ve gitten things straighten’d up a bit noo, seea lang ez it lasts.’

• ‘To let on’=to tell, to divulge.
• ‘Keeping company’=to be engaged.
• ‘An’ Ah’ll tell tha what’=I assure you.
• ‘To get oneself up’ is to pay great attention to one’s appearance.
• ‘Ah nivver thowt foor’=expected.
• ‘Far an’ awaay’=much.
• ‘Byv a lang waay’=much.
• ‘T’ au’d woman’=either wife or mother.
• ‘To hing one’s hat up’=to be on very friendly terms.
• ‘An inklin’=a hint.
• ‘To mak oneself mensful’=to put on one’s best.
• ‘To think on’=to bear in mind.
• ‘To let wit’=to divulge.
• ‘Few wo’ds’=a slight disagreement.
• ‘All alang of’=owing to.
• ‘Ramp an’ rahve’=a violent passion.
• ‘Fast an’ loose’= first one way and then another.
• ‘Feeace it out’=to meet an accusation boldly.
• ‘To fall out with’=to quarrel with.
• ‘Larl matter’=of small moment.
• ‘Grieved an’ vexed an’ putten aboot’=to be annoyed.
• ‘Moreover ’an that’=besides.
• ‘Tak t’ hig’=to take offence.
• ‘Count on’=notice.
• ‘To hit it off’=to agree.
• ‘Gi’e ower’=cease.
• ‘A slaate off:’ to have a slate off=to be an idiot.
• ‘Fetch things up’=to mention bygones.
• ‘To get the cau’d shou’der’=to be treated coolly.
• ‘To give or get the sack’=to dismiss, to lose a situation.
• ‘To get one’s back up’=to be provoked to anger.
• ‘To get things straightened up’=to arrange things in proper order, to settle matters in dispute.

To the above list may be added a few others which are equally common:—

• ‘Ah’ll mak sewer o’ that, hooivver.’ ‘To make sure’ is to put a thing in a safe place.
• ‘Ah’ll mak an end on ’t.’ ‘To make an end of’ is to destroy, or conclude a matter once for all.
• ‘Recollect’ is generally used instead of ‘remember,’ but ‘beear i’ mahnd’ is most commonly used.
• ‘Ah nobbut want nobbut yan.’ ‘Nobbut yan’ is ‘only one.’ I only want one.
• ‘Hard eneeaf’=without doubt. ‘He’ll deea ’t hard eneeaf.’
• ‘Ah put it all waays.’ To put things all ways=explaining a thing in every conceivable manner.
• ‘Ah feel nobbut midlin’=only moderately well.
• ‘Ah’s neycely noo.’ ‘Nicely’ is equal to almost quite well.
• ‘Ah’s better’ does not imply that the patient has recovered, but is recovering.
• ‘It’s nowt bud a misfit, onny road ya tak ’t’=it is nothing but a bad fit (answers badly), or altogether out of place.
• ‘Ah s’u’d be all reet if ’twarn’t for this naggin’ pain’=toothache.
• ‘Nighest ov onny’=nearest of any. ‘Ah gat nighest tiv him ov onny on ’em.’
• ‘Not suited’=not pleased. ‘Ah war neean seea suited at what sha sed.’
• ‘Naay, what! wa s’all be forced ti gan.’ ‘Forced’ is to be obliged. ‘Naay, what!’ implies either surprise or disappointment.
• ‘Whya, yan sees him noos an’ thens.’ ‘Noos and thens’=occasionally.
• ‘It won’t be lang fo’st’=it won’t be long before.
• ‘Whya, Ah’ll tell tha what; if thoo nobbut taks it this road, tho’ll mebbe change thi mahnd.’ To take=to consider.
• ‘Ah thowt for ti cum, bud Tommy wadn’t.’ ‘Thowt for ti cum’=almost decided to, intended.
• ‘Ah caan’t say hoo, bud wa’ve gitten oot wiv ’em.’ To get out with, or fall out with=to be at variance.
• ‘Wa’re kind agaan noo; Ah’ve ’ed it ower wiv him.’ To be kind is to be friendly; and to have it over with is to have given and received a full explanation.
• ‘It war that pick dark ’at Ah couldn’t see t’ hoss’s heead.’ ‘Pick dark’=absolutely dark.
• ‘He’s sthrangely setten up wi’ t’ thing.’ ‘Setten up’=very pleased.
• ‘Ah mun be gahin’; Ah ’ev ti ride on shank’s gallowaay ti neet,’ i.e. to walk.
• ‘He’ll ’a’e ti mahnd an’ treead his teeas streight, or he’ll be gitting t’ sack.’ To tread one’s toes straight is to be careful to do right in all things.
• ‘Ah caan’t gan up Roseberry leyke Ah yance c’u’d, Ah git seea oot o’ puff noo.’ ‘Oot o’ puff,’ and ‘sho’t o’ puff,’ is to be out of breath, and short of breath.
• ‘Whya, Ah thowt ’at ther war nobbut varra slack deed,’ i.e. dull, nothing doing.
• ‘Ah nivver war oot i’ sike a steeping rain afoor,’ i.e. pouring down.
• ‘Ah laid it oot tiv him all roads,’ i.e. explained. I explained it to him every way.
• ‘Thoo can saay what thoo leykes, bud Ah reckon nowt on him,’ i.e. have a very poor opinion of him.
• ‘Ah warn’t satisfied aboot it, efter Ah’d seed it,’ i.e. certain.
• ‘Ah start ti morn; Bob dizn’t want t’ meer whahl t’ daay efter, he’s nut gahin’ ti start whahl then,’ i.e. begin.
• ‘Ah’s nut thruff wi’ ’t yet’=finished.
• ‘Ah’s be agate ti morn.’ ‘Agate’ is ‘to commence.’
• ‘He nivver did a hand to’n all t’ tahm ’at he war here,’ i.e. a single thing, or stroke of work.
• ‘Ah maad fahve on ’em hand running,’ i.e. without interruption, or without ceasing to work.
• ‘‘Ez ’t kessen up yet?’=has it been found?
• ‘Tho’ll ’a’e ti knuckle down,’ i.e. humble oneself.
• ‘Sha’s a bad un, sha’s allus setting things aboot.’ ‘To set about’ is to spread reports.
• ‘It gans weel wi’ them ’at weel gans wi’’=it goes well with those that well goes with, i.e. nothing succeeds like success.
• ‘Tha’re gahin’ ti ’ev grand deed; sha’s ti be sahded by o’ Tho’sday.’ ‘Grand deed,’ something out of the ordinary; ‘sahded by,’ buried.
• ‘Ah’ve wrought hard all t’ day, bud Ah’ve brokken its heart noo.’ ‘Wrought hard,’ is to work hard; and ‘to break the heart of an undertaking,’ is to get the upper hand of it.
• ‘Neea, Ah’s a bit ta’en in; it show’d ti be a good un, bud it’s warse ’an a nahn wi’ t’ taal cut off.’ ‘To show’=to appear, and a nine with its tail cut off stands a cypher.
• ‘It didn’t fetch what Ah reckon’d it wad.’ ‘Fetch’=realize, ‘reckoned’=thought.
• ‘Ah war hard an’ fast asleep when ‘Liza cam,’ i.e. sound asleep.
• ‘Martha sez ’at sha’s cumin’ roond neycely,’ i.e. improving.
• ‘Ah’ll a’e neea mair o’ that; Ah’ll seean steck t’ yat o’ that gam.’ ‘To steck the gate’=to put a stop to, i.e. to close.
• ‘Ah caan’t forgit what he did ti ma; it’s stuck i’ mah gizzard ivver sen,’ i.e. taken a thing very much to heart, something which can neither be forgotten nor forgiven.

‘He’ll be dropping in for ’t yet; bud Ah’ve tell’d him ower an’ up agaan, bud it’s teea neea good.’ ‘To drop in’ has several meanings: (1) To look in—‘Ah’ll drop in an’ see tha tineet;’ (2) punishment—‘Tho’ll drop in for ’t when ta gans yam,’ i.e. you will either be thrashed, scolded, or punished in some form when you go home. ‘Ower an’ up agaan’ is a redundancy for ‘many a time’; ‘to neea good,’ of no use, useless. ‘It’s teea neea good gahin’, ’coz he’s nut at yam’=it is useless going, because he is not at home.

‘If it fairs up thoo maay pop ower ti Jane, bud thoo’ll ’a’e ti mahnd thisen an’ see ’at t’ cau’d dizn’t sattle o’ thi chist; thoo’s a larl piece better ’an what thoo ’ez been, an’ ther’s nowt aboot that; but thoo’ll ‘ ti hap thisen up, thoo seeams a bit closed up ez it is; an’ Ah seear thoo diz leeak a bad leeak, bud thoo’ll cum on neycely if thoo nobbut taks care.’

• ‘To fair up’=to cease raining, to become fine.
• ‘To pop ower’=to run, to go quickly to.
• ‘To mahnd thisen’=to take care of oneself.
• ‘To sattle o’ thi chist’ i.e. for the cold to attack the lungs.
• ‘A larl piece better’=a little better.
• ‘Ther’s nowt aboot that’=no doubt of that.
• ‘To hap up’=to wrap up.
• ‘To be closed up’=difficulty in breathing.
• ‘To leeak a bad leeak’=to look ill.
• ‘To cum on’=to improve.

‘Sha’s cuming on neycely noo, sha’s gitten a to’n foor t’ better, bud Ah thowt it war gahin ti be all owered wiv her yance ower.’

• ‘To be owered with’=to cease, to be the last end of.
• ‘Yance ower’=once over, once.
• ‘Ah’s gahin’ ower65 ti Bessy’s; t’ rest on ya mun stop wheer ya are, ther’s ower66 monny on ya ti cum wi’ ma.’

‘Ah war hard set ti git it deean byv t’ tahm.’

• ‘To be hard set’=to be much bothered, to find a thing difficult to do.

‘He sidled aboot t’ Squire whahl he gat his rent sattled.’

‘He’s awlus skewing aboot t’ doctor’s; Ah aim ’at he’s efter yan o’ t’ lasses.’

• ‘To sidle about a person’=being obsequious.
• ‘To gan skewing about a place’=to look or go about slily.
• ‘To skew about’=to walk like a fool.

‘If thoo’s gahin ti be agate, Ah’ll get agate, an’ set agate Matther.’

• ‘Be agate’=to be astir.
• ‘Get agate’=to commence work; and ‘to set agate,’ to set another to work, or to start oneself. ‘If you are going to be astir, I will commence (the job), and set Matthew to work (also).’

‘To hang in the bell ropes’ is either the time occurring between the first publishing of the banns, or that during which a wedding may be postponed.

‘To let oneself down’=to perform some action which lowers us in the estimation of others.

‘He’s gitten neea heart i’ t’ job, nivver neeabody ’ez when tha’re rahding t’ deead hoss.’

• ‘To ride the dead horse’ is to do work for which payment has been made beforehand; hence, a man shews no energy in such work.

‘It’s a fine daay, ther’s nowt aboot that; bud Ah’s ’fraid it’s nowt bud a weather breeder.’

• This is often said specially of fine weather when inappropriate to the season.

‘To look hard at anything’ is to do so earnestly.

‘Ho’d on a bit, thoo’s nut gahin’ ti rahd rough-shod ower me.’ ‘Ho’d on a bit,’ spoken in an ordinary tone, means simply ‘wait,’ ‘stay a moment.’ But in case of an argument, its utterance conveys the information that the tongue of one of the disputants is wagging a little too freely, or it may imply, ‘cease speaking altogether.’ E.g. I heard a man say the other day to a fellow workman: ‘Thoo ho’d on a bit, wa’ve ’ed eneaf o’ thi blather,’ i.e. ‘you cease speaking (hold your noise), we have had enough of your silly talk.’ The tone of the ‘thoo’ gave such an emphasis, that there could be no mistaking the command which it implied. On the other hand, ‘Here, Ah saay, ho’d on a bit,’ carries no greater weight than ‘That will do for the present.’

‘To ride rough-shod over any one’=utterly ignoring or treating with contempt their desires and wishes.

‘Wa’ve been tul him, an’ wa’ve tell’t him ez plaan ez wa c’u’d what wa wanted an’ what wa meant ti ’ev, an’ wa didn’t minsh matters nowther; an’ when wa’d deean, he just to’n’d roond, an’ tell’d uz ’at wa mud jump up all t’ lot on uz for owt ’at he cared; he s’u’d gan his awn gate, neea matter what wa sed or did. Ah tell ya what, chaps—it seeams ti me ez if he meant ti rahd rough-shod ower t’ lot on uz.’

• ‘Minsh matters’=not speaking in a straightforward way; another form of the same expression is, ‘nut ti be ower neyce,’ not over-nice, careless as to expressions or the method employed.
• To tell a person he may ‘jump up,’ means he may just do as he likes.
• ‘To gan one’s awn gate’=going our own way, i.e. acting as we think best.

‘Ah deean’t reckon mich on him—he diz ivverything by fits an’ starts, an’ ya caan’t lay onny store byv owt he sez he’s at t’ beck an’ call ov ivverybody; an’ he’s fo’st this road an’ then that, whahl yan caan’t pleeace neea dependence on owt ’at he owther sez or diz.’

• ‘Reckon’=think.
• ‘Fits an’ starts’=erratically and at odd times.
• ‘To lay store by’=to value, to believe in, trust.
• ‘Beck an’ call’=to be the servant of any one who beckons or calls.
• ‘Fo’st this road an’ then that’=first one way and then another, unstable.

The following are also commonly heard:—

• ‘To give oneself airs,’ i.e. to ape manners, &c., above one’s station in life.
• ‘To be despert thrang,’ i.e. being very busy.
• ‘Almost any day’=at any time.
• ‘Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb,’ i.e. might as well be punished for committing a big fault as a little one.
• ‘As good luck would have it’=as good fortune happened.
• ‘Away’=continue. ‘He may knock away, I shan’t go to the door,’ i.e. he may continue knocking.
• ‘To fancy oneself’ is to be conceited.
• ‘As matters stand’=as things are.
• ‘At all events’=in any case.
• ‘From the bottom of the heart,’ i.e. wholly, absolutely. Ex. ‘I believe what you say from the bottom of my heart.’
• ‘Cut an’ come again’=help yourself; when you have eaten that, have more.
• ‘Dragged by wild horses,’ torture in any form. ‘I wadn’t ‘ tell’d owt; neea, Ah’d ’a’e been dragged aboot wi’ wild hosses fost;’ i.e. I would have been put to torture first.
• ‘To follow like a shadow’ is to keep close to.
• ‘For my own part’=to my way of thinking.
• ‘As far as in one lies’=to the best of one’s ability.
• ‘Not to allow the grass to grow under one’s feet’ is to be very energetic, diligent in business.
• ‘To be hand and glove with any one,’ is to be very intimately associated with them.
• ‘For once in a way’=this time, just once.
• ‘To scrape one’s tongue’=to talk affectedly.
• ‘To be over head and ears in anything’=to be completely so—over head and ears in debt, in love, &c.
• ‘To hang heavy on one’s hands’=to be difficult to dispose of.
• ‘Not to know whether one is on his head or his heels’ is to be absolutely bewildered.
• ‘On that score’=on that account.
• ‘Over and above (ower an’ aboon)’=more than. Ex. ‘An’ ower an’ aboon that he sed——,’ and more than that he said——.
• ‘To pour into one’s ears’=giving information with great unction.
• ‘To quake in one’s shoes (ti quake in yan’s shoon)’=to be in great fear.
• ‘Spoil the ship for a happorth of tar’=penny wise and pound foolish.
• ‘To stir up strife’=making mischief.
• ‘Stir your stumps,’ or ‘cut your sticks’=off you go.
• ‘To the top of one’s bent’=to fully carry out our inclination.
• ‘That’s telling,’ often said after a question has been asked, and implies, ‘You would like to know, but I shall not tell you.’
• ‘Up to Dick’=just as it should be, perfection.
• ‘To be wrang i’ t’ heead’=being out of one’s mind.
• ‘Not to be worth one’s salt’=useless.
• ‘To sleep like a top’=to sleep soundly.

To conclude. It was said of one, who was somewhat inclined to be a fop,

I am certain of one thing—a Yorkshireman, no matter what his position may be, never quite leaves his Yorkshire behind him. I was standing one day waiting for the steamer which was to bring me once again to old England, when a gentleman quite close to me said to his lady companion, ‘It’s a beautiful sight, is the sea67.’ I turned to him, and raising my hat, remarked, ‘Ah’s a Yorkshireman an’ all.’ That was enough, we were friends the whole of the voyage. No, we Yorkshire people cannot, if we would, leave our county behind us. And thank the gods for that.