SKRIKE
To cry. As in:
"Shurrup skrikin' or ah'll gi' thi' summat skrike abeawt!"
"He were fair skrikin his een eawt" (Crying his eyes out).
Comes from our Scandinavian ancestors. Still used in Norway under a differing form I believe.
MANK
To mess around or fool about, usually getting on someone's nerves, as in:
"Put that water pistol deawn - th'art 23.. Grow up and stop manking abeawt. "
TOOT
To be nosy, as in:
"Look at her, tootin' through them net curtains"
Comes from the Anglo Saxon meaning to spy.
SPARROWFART
Early in the day, as in:
I were up at crack o' sparrowfart.
SPONNY
Brand New.
As in: I geet a bike off me mam fer me birthday - an' it were sponny!
LUG
A knot in your hair,
If you comb your hair and it catches on a knot, you have lugged it.
From the Scandinavian
NIG NOG
Silly Person.
Not an abusive or racial term. This is an old expression used in the North West to express mild disapproval of someone's actions.
As in: "Tha cawn't even spell thi own name -th'art a bluddy nig nog"
PRATERS
Potatoes.
Prater Pie is a favourite in Lancashire as are Prater Cakes (potato cakes) - boiled spuds mashed, seasoned and mixed with flour and baked in the oven. Served with best butter and celery.
If you pill't praters, you peel the potatoes.
"It's praters" means (for some reason) -it's all over with as in : "It's praters for him" (He's dying).
WAZZUM
(Rhymes with chasm)
A worm.
As in: "Let's get some wazzums an go feeshin...
Let's get some worms and go fishing
FAWCE.....
(Rhymes with Sauce)
Meaning cunning, crafty, conniving....
As in: He's as fawce as a ferret.....
He is a very crafty person...
SKEN
To have cross eyes.
As in: He skens lahk a basket o' whelks.
He is badly cross-eyed.
This is a corruption of "a basket of whelps" ie newly-born puppies. Seafood does not, to the best of my knowledge, sken.
(There is a pub in Tyldesley, Lancashire which the locals called Skenning Bob's because of a former landlord's terrible squint. It is now officially called Skenner's.)
GETTEN
Got.
Very similar to the American "gotten". An Anglo Saxon ending.
As in: 'As 'e etten what 'e's getten?
Has he eaten what he has got?
EGGWAP
A mild term of abuse. Perhaps someone has inadvertently knocked over your pint of best mild...
As in: "Yer ruddy greyt eggwap!"
You stupid person.
MEITHER
The ei pronounced as in eight. Or sometimes as in "I".
To annoy; worry; or bother someone. To worry oneself. Someone who talks a lot.
As in: "Stop meitherin me." Or "She could meither a nest o' rats". Or I don't know what th'art meitherin' thisel abeawt".
YEDWARCH
A Headache.
Also Bellywarch - stomach-ache.
I was in an art gallery in Copenhagen in 1999 and I was admiring a self-portrait oil-painting by a famous Danish artist. I remarked to the gallery proprietor that the artist looked like he enjoyed a drink. "Yes", he replied. "The next morning his head always warc." I was in ecstasy - the Norwegians were actually using Lanky dialect!
(Actually from the Scandinavian warcan - to ache).
THRUTCH
One of the best all-purpose Lanky words. A personal favourite of mine...
It means to strain excessively on the lavatory. As in "I were thrutchin' fer ages but nowt happened."
Or, as in "Give it a bit of a thrutch." A push, a knock, a bang...
Or, as in "Thrutch up". Move up...