Reflections on Life at Netherton

[Canny lass]

If you find it fascinating you'll love a recent book by Barry Hobson Latrinae et Foricae: Toilets in the Roman World. There you'll also find that single toilets were not at all uncommon in Roman times. The Word latrinae means just 'single toilet' while foricae is the latin Word for the multi-seaters - as Hobson calls them. Single toilets abound in roman ruins even today (probably because they were built like brick sh*t houses).

[Maggie/915]

Thanks Canny Lass .

Amazing what you learn on this site.

[Canny lass]

I say the same thing Maggie. Bedders is a veritable mine of information.

[Maggie/915]

When did Nerherton become Nedderton

I remember it changing!

[Maggie/915]

Fat fingers Netherton of course.

Then there is the failing eye sight.

Bloody Cataracts.

'It's not dark yet but it's getting there'

[Canny lass]

Maggie, you ask when Netherton became Nedderton.  I've Always known it as Nedderton, or to be more accurate as 'the village". That's how it was always referred to when I was a Child. I recently found a photo of a programme for a musical evening held in Netherton Colliery 1948 where the' main act' was a Choir from Nedderton. In charge of proceedings was no other than the Rev. Osgathorpe from St. Cuthbert's Bedlington so it's definitely 'our' Netherton.

 

You'll find the photo at:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/131522258@N07/17042919922/

 

Seems we were quite a sophisticated bunch!

Edited April 8, 2015 by Canny lass

[Maggie/915]

Very true.

So many names that I recognise from our lives in and around Netherton.

I knew the tale of Netherton becoming Nedderton but no idea when.

Nedderton is still just 'The Village' to many people.

Since our days at school so much has changed.

There is no bus to Morpeth that now goes through Nedderton.

I would not be able to get to Morpeth and Bertha Burns tea room on a Wednesday to meet my Aunty Kitty.

Obviously no school there either.

Happy thoughts of a life well lived.

[Smudgeinthebudge]

I think the name of the village i.e. Nedderton must have been chosen by somebody who knew the history of the area as it had been named as Nederton rather than Netherton in some old document(s) long ago, remembering that before and sometimes after the seventeenth everybody that wrote just seemed to spell things the way they fancied probably trying to spell phonetically what the natives said.

[Canny lass]

Not surprising really. There was an OE letter that looked like a number 6 written backwards. (sorry, I can't reproduce it here). It could be pronounced as 'd' or as 'th'. The sounds 'd' and 't' are in fact exactly the same as far as the use of the speech organs are concerned. Your lips, teeth and tongue will move into exactly the same position for both sounds. The only difference is that your vocal chords vibate on 'd' and not on 't'.

 

Most sounds come in pairs like this one voiced (with vibration) and one not. You can test it by saying the sounds 'd' and then 't' with your hand over your adams apple. try again with the pairs p and b, and k and g.

 

Tell me to shut up whenever you wish.

[Smudgeinthebudge]

I definitely do not want you to shut up I'm really enjoying this thread. It's not an argument and I've just been making the 'd' and 'th' sounds for a minute or two and you're perfectly right. I'm always happy when I'm learning.

[Smudgeinthebudge]

I meant the seventeenth century not the seventeenth of March!

[Smudgeinthebudge]

Is this letter you meant Canny lass;-

" Ã¾ and Þ (thorn): In Modern English we represent the sounds at the beginning of the word "the" and end of the word "with" with the digraph "th" ("digraph" is a technical term meaning two letters used to represent one sound). Old English had two separate letters for the "th" sound. The first is written like this: þ . It is called "thorn".

 

ð and Þ (eth): Old English scribes could also represent the "th" sound with the letter ð (the capital letter version looks like a capital D with a short horizontal line cutting the vertical line at the left side of the letter in half: Þ). The letter is called "eth," pronounced so that it rhymes with the first syllable in the word "feather."

 

Thorn and eth are used interchangeably to represent both voiced and unvoiced "th" sounds (the sound at the beginning of "the" is voiced; the sound at the end of "with" is unvoiced).

[Maggie/915]

Education education and more education what could be better.

Maybe we should all join a choir too.

That concert looks like a perfect way to spend an evening.

[Canny lass]

It was eth I was meaning. How did you manage to write that here? I'v tried several times and different methods to use phonetic symbols on this site but Always without success.

 

In OE they were using a mish mash of alphabets. The clerics used mostly a Celtic version of the Latin alphabet but, necessity being the mother of invention, they eked it out with a few letters from the Anglo Saxon runic alphabet. Eth and d, being similar in appearance and sound often changed places. Interesting today is that you can see 'dd' in the Welsh language (Celtic). 'dd' is one letter of the alphabet. 'd' is another letter. *dd' is pronounced 'th' as in Think.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

It was eth I was meaning. How did you manage to write that here? I'v tried several times and different methods to use phonetic symbols on this site but Always without success.

 

In OE they were using a mish mash of alphabets. The clerics used mostly a Celtic version of the Latin alphabet but, necessity being the mother of invention, they eked it out with a few letters from the Anglo Saxon runic alphabet. Eth and d, being similar in appearance and sound often changed places. Interesting today is that you can see 'dd' in the Welsh language (Celtic). 'dd' is one letter of the alphabet. 'd' is another letter. *dd' is pronounced 'th' as in Think.

Canny Lass - the only method I have ever used to insert Old English letters like Thorn -  Ã¾ - or  Wingdings   j h k  is by 'Copy' from the fonts in Microsoft Word & 'Paste'  them into the topic you are writing. 

[Smudgeinthebudge]

That's it. Copy and paste. 

[Canny lass]

Eggy, SmudgeITB, Thanks but that's exactly what I've tried. I can't paste anything here. Back to the drawing board!

[Smudgeinthebudge]

I've been looking for downloadable fonts with eth and thorn in them but none suitable found as yet, but I'll keep on trying.

[Canny lass]

Thanks Smudge. I have a full set frrom Goth. uni but they don't paste in either. Nothing pastes in for me. Sometimes I've written a longer text in a Word document and tried to paste the whole text but I've Always had to start over and write it again on the site. I Think it's the price I'm paying for finally getting rid of my wayward capital letters (well. almost gone), crossings out and underlinings.

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Nae gud me sayin owt.....aa naa nowt![ Whey a dae.....a little bit.......Pitwark and gud cyavils!!]

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

We were learnt ti write letters in block capitals.

Noo a find oot it's bad manners using capitals on computers....whose the boss here...us or them!!

[Smudgeinthebudge]

Nae gud me sayin owt.....aa naa nowt![ Whey a dae.....a little bit.......Pitwark and gud cyavils!!]

There's nowt rang with pit work. It was a highly skilled job that a lot of folk today wouldn't be able to do. Health and safety (which I think is a good thing) wouldn't let you step into a cage today. When the world comes to its senses the only deep mining will be done by robots. You should be really proud of yourself for the pit work you have done. Anyone who has worked in those conditions and in that amount of danger can hold their head high against any other profession in the world. Because that is what it was, a profession, not just a labouring job and it should have been paid and respected as a profession.

[Symptoms]

Consider using Alt-codes for those hard to find letters & symbols, including foreign Johnnies.  You could start here: http://symbolcodes.tlt.psu.edu/accents/codealt.html but there are lots of these ... try Googling "Alt codes".   Those who've been around computers since the 'beginning of time' will recall all those numerous thick manuals that came with the tackle;  there was always a chapter of Alt codes in chart form to allow us pioneers to produce copy.  For those that don't know ... when you want to add a particular letter or symbol in a word you press the alt key on the keyboard in conjunction with the code number from the list, and hey presto the letter/symbol appears ... no need to cut and paste.  Tip: create a crib sheet with all the ones you'll commonly use and print it out.

[paul mann]

 Ah remember couped ya creels as cowked ya creels. Might be variations based on hearing or area.