Search the Community

Sixtownships have the Geordie Dictionary. It is worth reading as when we look how we talk around our area, a lot of the words are used by us. We are certainly not Geordies, but our vocabulary is classed as Pitmatic. I will get it online as Mark types it up. So just hang in there until its complete. A A. A preposition - on. A this side - on this side. A. A verb. Aa wad a thowt se - I would have thought so. AA. Pronoun of the first person. Aa divvin'knaa - I do not know. In local works it is usually spelt aw. AA. All. Thor aa' gyen - They are all gone. l(s aa ower-It's all over. AA. To owe. Aa aa nowt - I owe nothing. ABACKA BEYONT. Far away. He lives abacka beyont. AABUT. Almost - ailbut. AAD. Old. An aad wife - an old woman. Canny aad soul - nice old soul. OwId is another form of the word. AA'D. I had. Aa'd better gan canny - I had better be careful. AA'D. I would. Aa'd a been there mesel - I would have been there myself. AAD-FASHINT. Old fashioned. AAFUL. Awful. She set off the aafulest shrieks. AAKWAAD. Awkward. AAL. All. Aal reet - all right. AAN. Own. Me aan fireside. AA WARND. I suppose. Aa-warnd ye think yorsel' clivvor?. I suppose you think yourself clever. ABLEEZE. On fire. ADIT. Horizontal gallery for draining a mine. AFEARD. Afraid. Thor's nowt to be afeared on. There's nothing to be afraid of. AGYEN. Again. AHAD. Hold. Get ahad on 't. Get a hold on it. AHINT. Behind. "There was a man following ahint to pick up the fish that were killed". S. Oliver's Rambles in Northumberland, 1835. Come in ahint was the drover's cry to his dog. AMANG. Among. AMAIN. Without check. When a set of waggons breaks loose they are said to run amain. ARGIE. To argue. Divvent argie. Don't argue. Also the phrase argyin' the toss. Till, sae ill? and sae tast as ye gae, ae man, I drawn twae." ARSE. Backside. An arse-loop was a wide loop in the rope by which a man was supported when repairing a pit-shaft. ASSAY. I say. Assay, what are ye dein there? ATWIX. Between. Ax. Ask. Ax wor lass. Ask my wife. AYE. Yes. A word continually used - why aye - Of course. AYONT. Behind. See Hexham proverb "He comes from Hexham Green, and that's ten miles ayont Hell." B. BAAD. Ill. BAAL. A ball. A stottin-baal - a bouncing ball. A clooty ball -a ball made of rags. BACK END. A term for autumn. BACK-SHIFT. There are two shifts normally worked down the pit. The first is the fore-shift, the second is the back-shift. BASTE. To thrash. Aa'll gie ye sk a byestin' as ye nivver got i' yor life. A baster ball was one made of paper. It was attached to string and could be used to attack other children. BAT. A blow. A bat i' the feyce. A blow in the face. BATTER. A drinking bout. He's on the batter agyen. In recent years it refers to prostitution. She's on the batter. BAY. An enclosure in outdoor children's games. Usually a place of safety. Thoo canna catch me. noo aa's in the bay. BEAK. The nose. BECK. A small stream, The name occurs sixty-three times in Durham but not in Northumberland (Wansbeck is not an exception.) BED-GOON. A bed gown and also a loose jacket worn by women in the harvest field. Later applied to any loose working garment worn by women. Hor bedgoon is laelock. - Her jacket is lilac in colour. (Cushie Butterfield). BEGOX. By God. BEHINT. Behind (but ahint is commoner). BELAA. Below. BELLYFLAPPER. A blow on the stomach by landing flat when diving into the water. BELLY-TIMMER. Food. This was the kind 0'belly-timmer, For myeken pitmen strang and tuiff Pitman's Pay. BET. Bruised by heavy walking. A bet foot. BEUK. A book. BEYUT. To boot. Something additional paid in a case of barter. For instance in bartering horses one will say "I will give you a pound te beyut" i.e. a pound extra. BID. To invite or command. Usually applied to a funeral or wedding so that a refusal was considered an insult. Dee as yer bid - Do what your told. Those who went round with the invitations were called bidders. BIDE. Wait. Bide heor. Wait here. Abide. Aa canna bide yon chap. Stay. Bide a bit. BIGG. Barley. Barley was once sold in Newcastle Bigg Market. BIGGIN. A building. Hence the place called Newbiggin. Also used in pits for a built up pillar of stones. BILE. A boil. Me bile's borst. BILLY. A companion. Ye silly billy is a friendly term. BIN. Hoo bin ye the day. How are you today. BINDIN. A term used when keelmen or pitmen contracted to work for a long period. usually a year. BING. A measure for lead. 8 cwts. BIRKIE. A smart fellow. Usually not an offensive term BITCH. To spoil some work. Ye've myed a bitch on't. You have spoilt it. BLAA. Breath. Get yor blaa. Rest till your breath comes back. BLAA. To blow. Blaa the leet oot Blow out the light. BLAA OOT. A "blow out", a drinking bout. BLABB. To talk loosely. He'll blabber and taak all neet. Hence the term blabber. BLACK-DAM. Carbonic acid gas sometimes encountered in pits. BLACK DIAMONDS. Coal. BLACKEY. The blackbird. BLACK PUDDEN. A food made of blood, suet, and herbs stuffed into the intestines of a pig or sheep. Brockett (1846) tells us, "This savoury and piquant delicacy is a standing dish among~ the people of the North." BLAIR. The bairns were blain'n'. BLASH. Any weak drink. Clarty Blash tea - weak tea. Their streets are like wors - brave and blashy. T. Thompson, Canny Newcastle. BLATHER. To talk nonsense. He jawed a heap of blather. He talked a load of nonsense. BLATHER SKITE. One who talks aimlessly. BLEB. A blister. BLEEZER. A metal sheet, to blow up a fire by increasing the draught. BLOGGED. Blocked. Refers to spouts and pipes. BLOOD ALLEY. A boy's marble, with blue or red lines. BODY. A person. She's a canny aad body. BOGIE. A small, low, four-wheeled cart. Often used by children for play. "In Dean Street, when carts or bogies came down, the noise made one's heart glad, one's lugs fit to strain," Gilchrist. 1835. BOILEY. Milk and bread boiled. BONDAGER. A Northumbrian word to describe a female field-worker whom the "hind" had to supply when he contracted to work for a farmer. BONE. To interrogate. BONNY. Good looking. But is usually used like "canny" to describe character as well as looks. A bonny bairn, a good looking child. A bonny singer, an accomplished singer. Sometimes it is used ironically to describe the opposite, a bonny mess; thor's a bonny game gaan on. The old song says: "My bonny keel laddie. my canny keel laddie." BOODY. A piece of broken pot. Bus 0' boodies. BOOL. Bowl. To play at boolin, a game popular in the north also means to bowl along as in bool your hoop. BOOZE. Drink. He's on the booze - he's on a drinking bout. BORD. A bird. Today it is slang for a girl. BORN. In Northumberland means a burn or large stream. See Ouseburn, Newcastle. BORST. Burst. BOWK. To belch. BOWLD. Bold. BRAN NEW. Brand new, quite new. BRANKS. A bridle to gag nagging women especially used in Newcastle. "The branks, a kind of brake is here, Wor faithers when a' else was vain, compelled the noisy jades to weer. Where're their clappers rain amain." Thomas Wilson. BRASS. Money. BRAT. A disagreeable child. BRAY. To beat. BRAZEN. Impudent, shameless. She's a brazen hussy. BREED. Bread. BREEKS. Trousers. A bran new coat, but aad breeks. A new coat but old trousers. BREWSTER. Brewer. Hence the Brewster Sessions where publicans apply for their licenses. BROCK. Badger. BROON. Brown. BUBBLE. To weep. Give ower bubblin' - Stop crying. BUBBLY JOCK. Turkey cock. Probably so called from the wattles hanging down his neck. BUFF. The bare skin. Stripped to the buff. BUGGER. A rough term of affection in the North. A canny aad bugger. BULLETS. Sweets. So called from the shape of a bullet. The best known were black bullets. still manufactured. Sells bullets and claggum for bairns. Wilson's Songs, 1890. BULLY. A brother, comrade. The crew of a keel were called bullies. BUM. Buttocks. BUMMLER BOX. A small house. BUMMLER. A bee. BUMS. Bailiffs who distrain. Some times called a bum bailiff from the practice of touching the debtor on the back. BUSS. A kiss. BUT AND BEN. Outside and inside. Refers to two-roomed houses with an outer and inner room. BUZZEMS. Besoms or brooms made of twigs. The song Buy Broom Buzzems was made famous by William Pui'vis (Blind Willie) born in Newcastle about 1752. BYEUT. Boot. A byeut i' the hint-end. A kick in the backside. BUM. Buttocks. BUMMLER BOX. A small house. BUMMLER. A bee. BUMS. Bailiffs who distrain. Some times called a bum bailiff from the practice of touching the debtor on the back. BUSS. A kiss. BUT AND BEN. Outside and inside. Refers to two-roomed houses with an outer and inner room. BUZZEMS. Besoms or brooms made of twigs. The song Buy Broom Buzzems was made famous by William Pui'vis (Blind Willie) born in Newcastle about 1752. BYEUT. Boot. A byeut i' the hint-end. A kick in the backside. Will continue with the letter C Just waiting on Mark typing it up.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of miners, including young boys, have lost their lives while working in the pits, not only in Northumberland, but the whole of the country. Now, painstaking research by the Six Townships Community History Group is helping to keep their memory alive. We are currently putting together accounts of how these miners died in the Bedlingtonshire, Wansbeck, Blyth and Morpeth areas. Tyneside Collieries is online too. Deaths in coal mines were a sad and inevitable part of life in the colliery communities. Mining disasters claimed many lives and these tragic events often made the headlines, but today only a few of the worst colliery disasters are ever remembered. In truth there are simply too many deaths and disasters to recall and, like casualties of war, most mine deaths are only remembered as statistics. Attempts are being made to compile definitive statistics on how many men were killed in the mines in our locality, but it is an almost impossible task and we will probably never know the true figure. Read for yourself how these miners died in the bowls of the earth. They should never be forgotten. Latest update to the sixtownships website is now online. It is all about coal mining fatalities in our area and Tyneside http://www.sixtownships.org.uk Latest update to the sixtownships website is now online. It is all about coal mining fatalities in our area and Tyneside