Shipbuilding on the Wear, help needed with terminology .....

[Tex]

Because Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon have the same origins it's probably quite difficult to pick apart.

One thing @tiptoad does mention often though is that if you look at placenames - the traditional Norse place suffix of '-by' basically stops at the Tees, which suggests they never really settled or had much influence North of it. So probably didn't have that much influence on our dialect.

Certainly, most Norse loan words we use are common to all modern English speakers - skirt etc'.

Aye. I may be wrong but I thought 'wick' meant 'creek' and 'viking' (Germanic V pronunciation of W' meant 'son of the creek'.
There are place names with wick or wich all over the U.K., from as far south as Greenwich and Harwich up through Southwick, Alnwick, Hawick all the way north to ... err ... Wick!

 

[Paddy O'Dors]

Aye. I may be wrong but I thought 'wick' meant 'creek' and 'viking' (Germanic V pronunciation of W' meant 'son of the creek'.
There are place names with wick or wich all over the U.K., from as far south as Greenwich and Harwich up through Southwick, Alnwick, Hawick all the way north to ... err ... Wick!

The two other Southwicks in the UK are just outside of Portsmouth & Brighton

 

[max wartbug]

There is a "display" in the Sunderland museum about the Yards, could be a useful. It's good, so could inspire your endeavors too.

 

[Deleted member 27677]

'Shan' is another word used often back in the day .Dont know if it's a shipyard thing like .

 

[Kitch]

Chur was prevalent with the Teddy boys and Barrow boys in the fifties,some of my mates still use it.
As for "Marra" never heard Townies use it,only pitmen and Yowlers from the villages.

 

[Deleted member 27677]

Chur was prevalent with the Teddy boys and Barrow boys in the fifties,some of my mates still use it.
As for "Marra" never heard Townies use it,only pitmen and Yowlers from the villages.

Spot on .

 

[vinegar hill]

Spot on .

Now Billy I naar Chur it was Che that I couldn't recall just the spelling I suppose.
Me brothers worked in the yards and would say "alreet chur".

 

[Reiver]

Because Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon have the same origins it's probably quite difficult to pick apart.

One thing @tiptoad does mention often though is that if you look at placenames - the traditional Norse place suffix of '-by' basically stops at the Tees, which suggests they never really settled or had much influence North of it. So probably didn't have that much influence on our dialect.

Certainly, most Norse loan words we use are common to all modern English speakers - skirt etc'.

Leaving Durham in the early 60's, for Mansfield, was a shocker as far as vocabulary was concerned.

I'd use words like 'spelk' which they'd never heard of ..... I always assumed they must have a Norse origin.

 

[Paddy O'Dors]

Leaving Durham in the early 60's, for Mansfield, was a shocker as far as vocabulary was concerned.

I'd use words like 'spelk' which they'd never heard of ..... I always assumed they must have a Norse origin.

And clarts.

 

[Deleted member 39436]

"I've waited 2 days for a Fitter to loosen these bolts" could be the chorus

Fitters were the elite at Pickies.

I'm an owld born and bred Mackem and people from my youth used the word Marra.
Oh and what the fuckin hell's che?

Marra was mainly a pit word, my dad and his family always spoke it . Cher was always heard around town as a welcome, alreet Cher.

 

[vinegar hill]

Fitters were the elite at Pickies.


Marra was mainly a pit word, my dad and his family always spoke it . Cher was always heard around town as a welcome, alreet Cher.

I agree mate, I was confused when earlier in the thread che was being spoken about, when it was chur or cher then I recall that.

 

[Charmless Man]

Aye. I may be wrong but I thought 'wick' meant 'creek' and 'viking' (Germanic V pronunciation of W' meant 'son of the creek'.
There are place names with wick or wich all over the U.K., from as far south as Greenwich and Harwich up through Southwick, Alnwick, Hawick all the way north to ... err ... Wick!

Wick comes from an Anglo-Saxon word. Warwic, Ludenwic, Hamwic etc' are places that exist before the Danes arrive and settle.

Similar story as before - the Anglo-Saxons simply had the same word in their language.

 

[The Raven]

....... from the old days.

I'm currently writing a song, for a well known NE 'folk group' on the theme of shipbuilding on the Wear.

I'm from Durham and, to be honest, the Sunderland accent & terminology, is very different ..... especially from the old days.
I'm sure local people know that the NE has a wide variety of accents whereas 'outsiders' think anywhere between Darlington & Ashington sounds the same.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

The heritage of those days is to be treasured, imo, and I'm hoping for some interesting suggestions.

Is it the Unthanks?

 

[WHD]

Che is proper townie Mackem for mate .

Marra is from the fringes of the town ,ryhope,silky,seaham ,Hetton,Houghton etc .
I can safely say your not from Suddick,Barbary coast,East end etc .

The first time I heard "marra" was in the late 80s when a couple of my mates (brothers) moved to Seaham. We went through to see them after a few months and they kept saying "marra" which us lads from seaburn had never heard before.

At first I didn't now what "che" was, but reading further on in this thread, people have said "cher". I remember my dad calling me that when I was a kid, but I it sounded like it should be written "chur" to me.

 

[Butcher's Coat]

Stick a tack on..put a small weld on
whees banging...who's making such a racket
whees got a Sylvester..who's got a chain block..(named Sylvester after Stallone because it was strong)
two halfs and a sunda..prospective overtime for the week

Not quite Cherr.

Sylvester was the company that made said chain blocks/pull-lifts. Nowt to do with Mr Stallone. I was using such devices before he made his fillums.
Also a pull-lift was also referred to as a Yale (the manufacturers).

 

[Alcoholic_Author]

"..but what do we expect, these are the people that unwittingly conjured up our identity for us, by coining a phrase designed to cut us to the core - based on the fact that while we built mighty ships through skilled craftsmen taming hot metal on the Wear, they were generally the ones that received those ships to fit the carpets, curtains and toilet roll holders.."

 

[Cheesy Feet]

Not quite Cherr.

Sylvester was the company that made said chain blocks/pull-lifts. Nowt to do with Mr Stallone. I was using such devices before he made his fillums.
Also a pull-lift was also referred to as a Yale (the manufacturers).

The blokes i worked with used to call the Yale chain blocks 'Sylvesters' and it was always explained that it was after Stallone due to his strength..it appears that 30 years on i've been the victim of a Shipyard related whoosh..the owld bastards!!..cherr.

 

[Butcher's Coat]

The blokes i worked with used to call the Yale chain blocks 'Sylvesters' and it was always explained that it was after Stallone due to his strength..it appears that 30 years on i've been the victim of a Shipyard related whoosh..the owld bastards!!..cherr.

Deffo a shipyard whoosh cherr.

What yard were you in by the way Marra?

 

[Charmless Man]

Leaving Durham in the early 60's, for Mansfield, was a shocker as far as vocabulary was concerned.

I'd use words like 'spelk' which they'd never heard of ..... I always assumed they must have a Norse origin.

Spelk is another Old English word which has an Old Norse cognate.

 

[Cheesy Feet]

Deffo a shipyard whoosh cherr.

What yard were you in by the way Marra?

Pallion..served my time as a Plater 1980 - 1984 and was down the yards till the end..i actually got transferred to Deptford in September 1988 and we all got finished early 1989.