Dialect

A Dialect Podcast

The podcast, made by Countrystride in 2022, records valuable content. Listen to it here:

https://www.countrystride.co.uk/single-post/countrystride-81-cumbrian-dialect

(The producers have given permission for this link to be included.)

SOME FAVOURITE BITS O' DIALECT

Everyone has their own favourite dialect poem or story. Here is just a taste of the rich variety of works which have been written since the 1750s when authors first started to try to get down the traditional speech of native Cumbrians. These are favourites of some of the Lakeland Dialect Society's committee members.

The Snow

John Richardson (1817-1886)

It com doon as whist an' as deftly as death,

O' soond nut a murmur, o' air nut a breath;

Flake reacin' wi' flake. Oh! 'twas bonny ta see

Hoo it cuvver't up moontain, an' valley, an' tree.

Doon, doon it com floatin', sa white an' sa clear,

Ivvery twig, ivvery leaf, hed its burden to bear;

Ivvery dyke, ivvery hoose, ivvery rough cobble wo'

Hed its blossom, its reuf, or its copin' o' snow.

Mi Moontain

Bryan Dawson

Frae t' bottom on t' deepest valley

Frae t' top on t' hee'est fell

Frae Pattad'le ta Helvellyn

Langd'le to Bowfell.

Frae Windama in t' springtime

Tul Grassma in ta' t' fall

The's a moontain ta kap as moontains

That's bin climm'd bi yan an all.

It's a moontain amang moontains

Wid a summit bowt bi t' fell and rock

Ta remember them wat deed for us

Wid a cenotaph on t' top

Oot trampan t' fells, in t' rain, in t' sun, in t' snow

It's bin tramped on a thoosan ear o' so

Nivver short on a challenge, Ah clim up on ta t' rock

Ah stop for'ra drink and a natter

Fowk ken it weel as they pass it

On t' way ower ta Wastwatter

Thoo can crack on aboot Scafell

T' Crinkles an' aw the rest

But ta them that knaws t' moontains

This is yan on t' very best

It's yan ta crack on aboot

Ta clim when ivver thoo's able

Bi noo, thoo must a kent it

That's reet! - Mi moontain's caw'd Great Gable.