C words

The following phrases and words were in ordinary use by my workmates on Crackington Farm, St. Gennys, in the thirties and forties.

If the list has any value it lies in the fact that I came to St, Gennys from Plymouth in 1940, and can, therefore, pinpoint the time and place of their use. Also, I worked beside the hedge with my workmates and was accorded the courtesy and camaraderie, which is such a characteristic of Crackington folk; but which might have been restricted towards a well-cut suit and tape recorder.

These words were met exclusively in conversation and I cannot, therefore, vouch for the spelling. I have tried to record them phonetically, because some of them, (want is an outstanding example) vary greatly, in pronunciation from 'down Cornwall'.

Mr. John Court has expressed his opinion that such words as he can recognise as of Cornish derivation or survival are from the Old Cornish, rather than the later form; suggesting that the advance of English down the spine route of the present A 39 cut off these pockets of the old language from later developments further west.

Errors may well have crept in, as none of this material was recorded until thirty years later, stimulated by Mrs. Veronica Chesher and her constant question, 'Have you written it down. ' , and encouraged by Dr. Phillips and the staff at the Institute of Cornish Studies at Redruth.

A.
Ackymile	The blue Tit.
Aglets	(Egglets)Hawthorn berries
Ancient	unusual, incongruous
Angletwitch	The earthworm; a restless child
Apparatus	The slab; the cast-iron fronted cooking range comprising a fire basket which could be open or closed, boiling rings, side oven, and, sometimes, a side boiler with draw-off taps
Apperd	Usually a poor, wheesht apperd. A demoralised, inconsequential person.
Appledrone	The wasp
B.	Back to top
Bacon Rack	A sturdy rack, some four feet square, suspended from the kitchen ceiling. Made of wooden bars; it carried the cured bacon and ham in tap, as well as father's hunting whip, mother's knitting, and the weekly paper.
Baking ire	A circular iron plate 4in. thick, and 2ft. to 2ft. 6ins, in diameter, which lay on the oven hearth. See Kettle.
Bal	(a as in at). A ht an noise. An incessant talker, or crying child would be told "Hold thy bal". Mechanical noise would be a rattle, a noisy worker woud be Rattling Janny. A completely different use was to strike, hit. 'Eff you voachon my vit I'll bal you."
Balsh	(a as in at) A coarse cord, possibly made of coconut fibre, not very strong or rot-proof but cheap. Available in large balls, and used exclusively for roping down thatch on ricks
Bar rows	Windrows. Two or three swars gathered into one by the rake; by raising the hay from the damn bottom into the sun and wind drying was expedited, and by concentrating the crop,time was saved in loading, pooking, or, latterly, baling.
Beel	To break the shell of aletching egg
Beens	Bands. When corn was cut by mowing machine, sickle or scythe, the loose stalks were gathered into sheaves and bound with beens made from some of the crop. Wheat straw was long enough to encircle the sh~.f without joining, so four straws were used, not twisted,to tie the sheaf by twisting the ends together and tucking them into the sheaf. Oaten straw was shorter and weaker, so twelve straws were taken, the heads twisted together, the straws divided to make a double length twisted, for strength,and used as for wheat. Bagley was even softer, and shorter, so a thumb bean was spun and used as before. Wads of rushes were bound with ten or twelve rushes treated as oaten straw. Faggots of wood were bound with beans of nuttall or withy; they were twisted at the thin end so that an eye could be made, and at the thick end in order that the end could be bent into the faggot after encircling the faggot and being passed through the eye.^parings from a neglected hedge containing a lot of thorn, furze,briar and brambles was wrapped up with one of the longer brambles, and when dry thrust whole into the cloam oven and used to heat it
Belly Brace	Engineers' hand drill, as distinct from the carpenter's cranked brace.
Bested	Defeated, outwitted. Also, considered, debated.
Big as bulls'	Arrogant
Bilders	Hemlock
Birds' Eyes	Germander Speedwell.
Bobsididoh	Tantrum. "She valled over my boots and played up bobsididoh.•
Boo town	Acommon name for the field above the farm.
Boolies.	Large pebbles. Sea boolies were used to build cottages near the sea and also for hedging.
Black Janny	W.D.& HO.Wills Superfine Shag Tobacco. for hand made cigarettes.
Boryer	Gimlet.
Botten Traade	Shop goods, not home made.
Boughed	Bent.
Brandis	An iron triangle on three legs on which to rest a saucepan over the fire on the open hearth.
Brave	Used in a commendatory sense in any connection except courage, A brave (long) way; a brave(good) bullock; I'm feeling brave (fit) now; "He was brave and worried."
Brief	When a man had a severe misfortune he would prepare an account of it and take it around to his neighbours in the hope that they would contribute to a 'relief fund'. Last used, not very successfully, in the twenties.
Brimble hook	The semi-circular hook used for paring hedges.
Brishstick	The Magpie. Essentially a St. Gennys word, originated in the twenties
Browse	Hedge parings. We pare the hedges and burn the browss.
Bull-ed	Two syllables. In season, of a cow.
Bullums	Sloes, fruit of the black thorn.
Burden Rope	A general purpose rope, some eight feet long, used primarily to carry a large heap of loose hay on the shoulders.
Bussa	A large cloam pot; bigger than a stain or stug.
Buss calf	A calf reared on the cow.
Butt Clat	When a Cornish hedge is built it can be faced with stone orclats (turves). If there is a good ream and deep earth clats are cut resembling concrete blocks and are laid, one on another,with the grass showing on the vertical face.
Buzzy milk	Colostrum. Esteemed for making a thick milk pudding.
C	Back to top
Cabby	Limp, demoralised, of man or animal; damp, humid weather.
Chaw	(Chough'?) Jackdaw.
Caudy	Of sheep, infested with liver fluke.
Cheen	Sprout. Potatoes cheen out when they sprout We cheen them when we break off the sprouts.
Chest wagon	A wagon fitted with raised sides, and usually,with limited lock.
Chipping and chapping	Talking in an affected,refained way.
Chuff	Annoyed
Clat	A turf, cut to shape, as in hedging; not a tob.
Clidgy	Tacky, sticky, said of food or soil.
Clits	The toes of a cloven footed animal.
Cloam	Earthenware, sometimes of china.
Cluck	Broody.
Clunk	To swallow, gulp.
Clush	To gather protectingly, as a hen with chicks.
Coose	Chase, course.
Coosy	Short s. Rough, coarse.
Cope	the muzzle used to prevent a ferret from killing a rabbit, and lying up.
Codling Water	Water in a pan or bowl for washing the hands.
Corker	Usually (a fair corker ); exceedingly, and unexpectedly good. The candidate, or his speech could be a fair corker.
Coz	The flagged or cobbled area of a farmyard near the house.
Craiking	Moving about stiffly, as with Rheumatism.
Creepy stool	A very low stool for the smallest chillern to set pon in front the vire.
Crib	Mid-morning snack; a light meal. 'Cribbee a mite and your appetite will come'.
Cribben	Part of the harness of a 'Vore' hoss.
Crock	A large, cast-iron, open vessel hung on the crooks at one side of the open hearth;(the fountain would be on the other); in which stews and vegetables were cooked.
Crooks	Two iron hooks suspended from a bar across the chimney; they were adjustable for height and could be slid sideways to bring them over the fire. See crock.
Crowns	Same as crib.

Crum	When the angle made by a tool shaft to the blade is small, it is cruet. See Outright.
Ox cue	The iron plates nailed to the clits of draught oxen to save wear; as horse shoes.
Cuff	A piece of leather or old gun -boot, worn over the back of the right hand and fore-arm when paring thorns and brimbles.
Cush now	Relax. Said to comfort a person who is upset.
D.	Back to top
Dag	A small hand axe.
Dagging	Longing. 'I'm dagging to know
Gone daid	Died.
Datching	Thatching.
Deef	Deaf
Deshells	Thistles.
Dilly	(Diligence coach?) A boy's soap box trolley.
Dimmut	Twilight
Dimpsy	also Twilight
Dipchick	The moorhen.
Dishwasher	The Pied Wagtail.
Dog dancing	Insubordinate behaviour of children.
Doloshing	A good dressing or coat of, say,oil, manure, or paint.
Dough-bake	A dull, stupid person
Dowss	The husks and broken straw which fall from the threshing machine.
Doxy	Smart, neatly turned-out young woman.
Drangray.	A narrow way betwwen two walls or buildings.
Drayzack	As doughbake.
Dreshing	Threshing.
Dressing Heap	A heap or ridge of compost of farmyard dung, shell sand, wood ash, and soil ploughed out from the hedge bottoms, mixed and spread to improve the soil. A Sandryge (Carnsew Diary 1576)
Drickstool	Threshold.
Drix	brittle, usually of wood.
Dryeth	Weather condition favourable for drying.
Durns	Door jamb
Ducks' Disease	Suffering from... Posterior too near the ground. Short.

E.	Back to top
Emmets	Ants. See Vuzz Emmet.
Epping Stock	Upping block , Mounting Stone. There high horses were mounted.
Ettol	The D shackle used to join two links of chain.
F.	Back to top
Fagairy	Accent on the second syllable. Ostentatious irrelevance.excessive trimmings to a dress; exhibitionism.
Fagging Hook	A heavy bramble hook,used in making faggots.
Faggots	When a hedge was 'laid' or Coppice cleared, the stouter growth not needed for steeping was'run out' and put aside, and the side growths then removed together with the other small growth was bound with a been for convenient haulage, on wagons.On arrival home the faggots were built into a neat rick, like corn, and thatched.
Fairy	The Shrewmouse.
Feeling Hearted	Sympathetic, tender.
Fenigling	Cheating, swindling.
Ferrecking	about Used derogatorily of fussing, busying.
Fiddly dabbing	Messing about, not working seriously, or with a purpose.
Fitchy	A ferret.
Flantaw	An explosion of temper.
Flasket	A large oval basket with a handle each end; used for carrying laundry.
Flink	'In a brave flink' In high dudgeon, haughtily offended.
Flirt of rain	A very light shower.
Flitterbits	Broken into fragments. When Janny bills fell off the load of hay, he told the doctor Aw my dear days Doctor, my leg's all brawk to flitterbits.
Floor	The stubble behind the reaper.
Flop dock	Foxglove
Flour hutch	Sometimes a barrel,with a lid; but usually a chest with a hinged lid, and often with beading and drawer pulls on the front to imitate a chest of drawers; used to hold up to a hundredweight and a half of flour for domestic use.
Flower knot	Flower bed.
Fluxing	A slopping to and fro of a liquid.
Fooching	Fumbling.
Footling	Coming footling; a malpresentation at birth.
Forends	The ground at each end of the plough furrows left unploughed for the team or tractor to turn on. It was ploughed last of all by driving round and round the field.
Fore pose	The gatepost to which the gate was hapsed.
Forthy	Self assertive.
Fountain	A four or five gallon kettle with a draw-off tap at the bottom,It hung permanently from one of the crooks in the open hearth,to maintain a constant supply of hot water.
Frail	A deep bag made of plaited rushes and often kept shut by a sea shell stitched to one side and passing through a loop on the other; sometimes lined, used on the coast for carrying fish, and elsewhere for shopping or crib. The tool bag used by plumbers and carpenters, now made of canvas, was formerly made of rushes and lined with hessian, and called a tool frail.
Frape	Make secure. 'All fully framed' Ready to go.
Freth	A fence made by driving stakes four feet high, and interlacing them with cut branches and saplings like a wattle hurdle; as distinct from a plush hedge, which was similarly made, except that the growth was not severed and continued to grow.
Fricking	Contraction of ferrecking.
Frightenable	Awe inspiring.
Frightened	Surprised. 'I should n' be frightened if her come to tay.
From bye	Later on.
Fulling	The in-filling of loose earth between the two faces of stone or clats in a Cornish hedge.

G.	Back to top
Gaddle	To drink a lot of anything.
Gamber	The knee joint.
Gape	Yawn. 'Gaping like a young rook'.
Gathering Rake	A rake made exclusively of wood; with tines six inches long and a five foot handle, fixed to the head by splitting the handle for two feet of its length and spreading the ends to fit into holes drilled in the head, eighteen inches apart. It was sometimes used for gleaning, and sometimes for combing the sides and ends of a rick to help shed the rain; but also for turning a hayswar (swathe) by gathering a rakeful to the left foot and then by a dexterous twist of the ankle, or a sort of hop, flinging the swan upside down to dry. On Bodain Aoor I once saw six people working across a field in this way, all hopping in unison.Fascinating.
Givish	Generous
Glittery	Slippery with frost.
Goocoo	Cuckoo.
Grafter	A spade with a blade eighteen inches long, and tapering from four inches wide at the end to eight inches at the top. Used for digging trenches through clay soil to take land drain tiles (pipes
Grammersow	The Wood Louse.
Creep	The shallow trench at the foot of a haedge to take the surface water.
Gribble away	Crimmble.
Grizzling	Smirking.
Groot	Ploughland; bare earth.
Grootis	The mould-board of a plough.
Gruffing and grunting like a boar pig.	Audibly struggling.
Gurry Butt	A box trolley about six feet by four feet, with a pair of ten inch iron wheels near the back corners, and metal runners or skids at the front. Pulled by a horse in chains, a safe vehicle on steep fields and sidling ground.
Gurry	As above without sides

H,	Back to top
Hacker	Mattock.
Tetty Hacker	A mattock with two tines instead of a flat blade.
Half Knack	An incompetent, not an expert.
Hanging Foss	The post to which a gate is hinged.
Hangbough	The heavy, vertical member of a gate to which the hinge was secured.
Hans	A term of approval. Sometimes a noun; sometimes an adjective detached from its noun; 'The flowers were some hansum', not 'They were hansum flowers'
Hapse	Hasp.
From Harry Freeman	A gift.
Hedging	May be 'running' a hedge, by digging a continuous strip from the foot of the hedge and putting it on top; or 'making' a hedge by steeping the top growth, and cutting out the surplus; and, where necessary ,building up the face; or building' a hedge from scratch; or 'putting up a sherd', by building up a large gap. Use of posts,rails, netting or wire would be fencing, not hedging.
Hedge Swar	The swathe nearest the hedge. The last to be cut in the hayfield, in case of damage to the machine by fallen stones stakes &c, and last to be picked up, being slowest to dry.
Hedgey Boar	Hedgehog.
Heeling Up	Earth was drawn up around potato stalks when they were a few inches high, as a weather protection, and to prevent the crop from becoming green.
Helset to Langdon	Essentially St. Gennys. George Burnard had a farm at Helset, and another, some miles away, at Langdon. One day when threshing, an employee felt agrieved that he had to carry the corn too far from the machine and remarked it was 'like carrying corn from Helset to Langdon.'
Holler most	awful Shout a lot.
Holm	Oak.
looping and	Haling Making a hullaballoo.
Horniwink	The Lapwing.
Horse Coper	Horse dealer.
Horse Jock	Horse jockey.
Hoss up	Raise to a convenient height for working.
Pig Hoss	A stout wooden stretcher on legs, on which a pig was laid after killing for scraping, cleaning etc. •
Sawing Hoss	A frame in which poles could rest securely for sawing.
Hossy	In use, in season of a mare.
House Snail	The shelled snail, as distinct from the slug.
Housing	Visiting neighbours, gossiping.
Housy	Lack lustre appearance of man or beast which has been indoors too long.
Huds	The calix of a ripe strawberry.
Humfrytite	Hermaphrodite.
I.	Back to top
Iies	Awns of barley or wheat.
Image	A scarecrow.
Itemy	Fussy, finnicky, particular over details.

J.	Back to top
John Runyan	The rabbit. (Taboo?)
Johnny Fortnight	Itinerant trader making regular calls. Not a 'rep'.
Jonies	Treasured small bric-a-brac.
Jonnick	Honest.
K.	Back to top
Kawn	Supper.
Keenly	Workmanlike. Efficient.
Keeping stones	Cattle were frequently tied side by side in house, and head to head. Between their heads was a feed walk.The keeping stones were large slabs of slate set vertically to define the walk.
Kersey Wave	Stone hedging laid in a herring-bone pattern.
Kettle	A cast iron pan, two feet in diameter, eight inches deep, It was inverted over the baking ire, after the latter had been cleared of ashes and fire and the loaf or meal put on it. The fire was then replaced on and around the kettle and cooking proceeded. Loaves of bread and cake were made round in order to use the space to a maxim um.
In a Kibble	In trouble, with a problem.
Keeve	A half barrel.
Kiggled up	Built precariously, insecure.
Kit	The buzzard.
Knap	A steep slope.
Knee Bag	A hessian sack wrapped around the waist as an apron.
L.	Back to top
Lades	The frames set up at each end of a harvest wagon, to retain the load.
Landed	Arrived, completed.
Lands	To reduce unnecessary travelling, when ploughing or breaking down,fields were divided into strips, or lands
Land water	Flood water.
Larrens	Laziness.
Leary	Empty. If a field of hay was being cut 'one way' the machine world return out of gear, and therefore, travel leary. Hungry would be thurl.
Lease cow	A dry cow.
Leasing Gutter	A land drain.
Lerruping	about Running about boisterously
All to Lerruos	In rags, torn to pieces.
Let out	To turn cattle out of a house or pen. To unharness a horse.
Liners	Bundles of combed straw or reed for thatching
Linhay	An open-sided shed
Looking	for the bull. Of a cow in season.
Loo side	in the loo. Sheltered from the weather.
Long dog	A whippet or greyhound.
Lopping Hound on the lop	A dog travelling the neighbourhood, rabbitting, or looking for a bitch, or worst of all, in company with another, sheep worrying. He could expect scant quarter from anyone who spotted him.
Lug	Green weed. The grass and weed in corn. The trash in stubbles.
M.	Back to top
Malkin	A dirty child. Strictly, the long handled mon used to wipe out the hot ashes from the cloam oven before putting in the food to cook.
Master	Above average, 'It's master hot today.' 'He's a master man with a scythe'.
Maund	A large bucket shaped basket with handles each side used for unloading loose cargo from the hold of a ship.
Maygames	Tantrums.
Meated and bedded	the cattle Fed and littered them.
Meat beans	Broad beans
Dry Meat	Preserved fodder hay etc. for cattle.
Milkmaids	Lesser stitchwort.
Milky	deshels Sow thistles.
Mores	Roots.
Most haid	A superlative. 'A most haid rattle' a tremendous uproar
Motes	Stumps.
Mudmire	A morass.
Mutton rose	White clover.
Muzzling	Rooting by a pig. Untidy work by humans
N,	Back to top
Nattlings	The intestines of a pig; sometimes cooked alone, at others used as sausage skins.
Narky	Irritable.
Nicey	A sweet.
Nistle drish	or nistle bird. The runt of a sow's litter.
Nogging	Hauling tree trunks out of the wood.
Norky	Cold with a searching wind. Snipey.
Nuttall	The hazel.
O.	Back to top
Open hearth	dackalong every cottage had an open hearth; a recess to ten feet wide and three to five feet deep. The raised floor, of granite,was in one piece, and the hearth framed with monolithic granite piers and lintel. The only furnishings were the baking ire, and brandis, and maybe, a creepy stool. In one corner of the wall was a cloam oven and hanging from a bar across the chimney were the crooks.
Ousel pipe	The trachea.
Oused up	Breathless.
Outride	A travelling representative, taking orders.
Outright	Opposite to crum. A. tea spoon is outright, a ladle,crum.
P.	Back to top
Packed	Machines were packed because they were too wide to pass through gateways in their working trim. Sometimes they folded as a mower,or telescoped, as a rake, or were turned end on as a drill.
Padstow Pride	Red Valerian.
You Party	A mode of addressing a person or persons of any number, 'Where be yuo party gwain?
Patch hook	A heavy hand hook used for cutting growth up to three inches diameter. The form with a curved cutting edge on one side and a straight edge on the back, is rare in St.Gennys.

Pie Bird	Magpie.
Pillum	The white dust found in badly made hay.
Pitched to	Began to. 'He pitched to run.'
Planchen	A loft floor.
Platt	Haddock.
luffy	Yielding but tough.
Plum	To increase in volume, with consequent loss of firmness; as yeast cake, or soil, after frost.
Plush	(I) To renovate a hedge growing on the flat, i.e. not on an earth bank. The overgrown wood is out out and fresh growth interlaced between vertical stakes of dead wood, to make a living fence. (2) On Crackington Farm are two small enclosures of marsh,called Big and Little Plush.
Poaching	The treading and churning of a pasture by cattle in wet weather.
Poaching about	Used derisively of a person walking about aimlessly, and getting in the way.
Pbok	The small stacks into which half made hay is built when catchy weather prevents it from being taken directly to the rick.
Go poor	Said of an animal; to lose condition
loss abroad	Prop open.
Pump pit	well.
Pussy	The Hare.
Q.	Back to top
Quail	To wilt, dry up.
Qauat	Go quat, to collapse.
Quilkin	The frog.
R.	Back to top
Rags	Large roofing slates in random sizes, trimmed on three sides.
Bane	On the beach, a reef of rock. In the quarry, a vein or stratum.
Rase	The junction of top-soil with sub-soil.
Rattling,	A Rattle to pump, An uproar,'usually mechanical.
Rattle the Bucket and Run	To carry out a project and avoid the consequences.
Ream	The turf and its fibrous root mat.
Gathering Rib	A length of three-eights iron rod, bent to a semicircle and fitted with a handle, looking like'a bramble hook. Used to gather loose out corn into sheaf size bundles ready for binding by hand.
Rising Stone	Quarrying.
Get the Rounders	To receive a vigorous reprimand, usually from wife or boss.
Rubbing Poss	Stone post for cattle to rub against and spare the hedges.
Rummaging.	Of cattle, in season.
Rummaging about	Indulging in horse-play.
S.	Back to top
Sally me ansum	Mesembrianthemum.
Samsoddle	Badly or under cooked food
Seat	A glancing blow. Also, 'Just his seat',typical.
Gone scat	Broken; bankrupt.
Scawin	Elder tree.
Sclow	A superficial scratch.
Scoad	To spread lime, dung or sand. Artificial manure, and grass seeds were sown, and corn and roots drilled.
Scoad yourself	Go away, scram.
Scoot	The strip of iron fixed to the heel of a boot,to take the wear.

Scoapy	The appearance of the sky before rain.
To Scoot	Run away.
Scotch	A trig; a block to prevent a wheel from turning, and a wagon moving.
Scouts	The outside slabs from a tree trunk, when it is squared up on the rack bench.
Scraff	Rubbish.
Scrawled up	Dried with the heat.
Scruffing	Mauling each other, no blows, and not true wrestling.
Scuddy	Scanty, shallow soil.
Seams	The wicker panniers used on pack donkeys to land shell sand from the beach to the sandpits above high water mark, where it was stored until collected by wagons for dressing the land for corn. It was also a measure of volume.
to Get Set	Immobilised. Usually of horses, unable to move from overloading, soft ground, or a bad turning.
Sharps	Shafts of a vehicle.
Sherds	Broken pieces, maybe glass or china, but also a gap in a hedge.
Shimmy Shirts	Stitchwort.
Shiner	When hedging, a large stone was sometimes set on edge, contrary to accepted practice, It filled a bigger gap,was not so stable,and was bad to build on.
Shippon	The milking house, in which cows were tied to stiddles.
Shirrack him up a mite.	Shout at him. Rouse him.
Shocks	Sheaves were set in shocks on end to keep the grain off the damp floor. The number of sheaves per shock varied with the kind of corn; four for barley,six for oats,eleven for wheat.
Shoulder Bag	A sack worn as a cape, which, with knee bag, and cap formed the wet weather wear.
Sidling ground	Ground sloping sideways from the direction of travel.
Skalls of or Skads of	An abundance of.
Skeddick	A morsel. 'I have n't a skeddick left'
Skim Clat	when hedging on scuddy ground there is not depth enough of soil to cut a butt clat, so thin skim clats are cut and laid on top of each other on their flats, instead of on edge, to form the hedge face.
Skinamalink	A very thin person.
Skirting arrishes	Shallow ploughing of stubbles to encourage the germinationand destruction of weed seeds.
Skitter	A very light dressing.
Slasher	A large hook on a five foot handle for trimming hedge tops.
Slay Roof	Monopitch.
Skiddywiff	Out of alignment.
Sleepers	The exudation in the corner of the eye.
Sleepy	Of wood which has lost its nature, and become soft and drix.
On the slin	Not at right angles.
Slip	A pig between ^year and porker in size.
Slipper tongue	A facile speaker.
Slock	To coax, persuade, seduce.
Sloo	To slide, skid. The skid pan in which a wagon wheel rests descending a hill.

Smeech	If the wick of the oil lamp needs trimming, or is turned too high, the lamp will smeech, and leave a black deposit on the glass chimney.
Smoothy	A persuasive talker. A flatterer.
Smutties	The blackened branches left when a furze brake has been swaled.
	Greatly esteemed for a clear fire.
Snail	The slug.
Sowpig	Wood louse.
Came a sounder	Fell heavily.
Sour sab	Sour dock.
Went down Souse	Fell heavily.
Spanging	The barrier of poles or wire stretched across the stream at a drinking place, to prevent the cattle from straying up or down stream.
spear hook	A small version of the patch hook, used in making thatching spears.
Spit	The depth of a shovel blade.
Spitting Irons	Metal plates, frequently two toe plates,nailed to the instep of the left boot to take the wear when spitting.
Spize out	Squeeze out of a container under pressure.
Pig Spooks	An elaborate form of pig ring put in a pig's nose to prevent it from muzzling.
Spurt	A flat metal strip an inch and a half wide, with a v notch in the end and fitted with a five foot handle. Used for hand weeding thistles in corn by cutting them off below ground.
Sputter	Making a lot of commotion.
Spyair	Pronunciation of spear.cr.
Squandered	Scattered, a burst bag of potatoes, a scattered flock of sheep.
Squirmy eyed	Peering.
On the Squint	At an angle to.
No Sprall	A as in that. Lassitude, no enthusiasm.
Stand to Work	To work as a general worker; not a specialist,as cowman, thatcher.
Stane	A cloam vessel between a stug and bussa, in size.
Starving	often with the cold, sometimes for a drink or smoke.
Stat	Stoat.
Steep	When making a hedge the growth retained is cut halfway through and laid along the top of the hedge to keep on growing.
Up on the Sticks	In bed.
Stickle	Steeply inclined.
Stickler	A meticulous person; one who has to have things just zackly.
Stiddles	Wooden posts three to four inches in diameter, a row of which is fixed vertically at threefoot six inches in a bullocks' house and to which the cattle are individually tied.
Stiddle irons	Iron bars bolted to a wall or solid partition to serve the same purpose as stiddles.
Stogged	Impeded, possibly by mud or work or engagements.
Stog pit	A mudmire, Contemptuously of a dirty, unkempt area.
Strat	To abort.
Strick	Wheaten straw, especially for thatch.
Stroamy	Streaky.
Stour	A haze of dust or smoke.
Strothing about	Walking about in an arrogant, provocative manner.
Stug	A cloam casserole.
Catch a Swinger	To give or receive a violent, accidental blow.
Suent	Flowing, running smoothly; a stream, a passage of music, a machine, or a day's work.
Steeve	Stiff.
T.	Back to top
Tack up	To harness.
Tack down	To soothe, pacify.
Tallet	A loft, usually floored from side to side, A floor covering only part of the area would be a planchen
Tame vuzz	Isolated furze bushes encroaching on a pasture.
Teal	Till.
Terrify	Tease. Terrification Annoyance.
Tetty Oggan	A pie containing potatoes.
Thurt	Mentally obtuse, slow in the uptake.
Thiccy	That or that one.
Thurl	Empty, hollow,of man or beast. Hungry , poor.
Timber bottoms	Clogs.
up Timbern hill	Gone to bed , usually of children.
to Tich Pipe	Have a rest, a breather.
Totely	Senile.
Toe Plates	Iron segments nailed-:,to the front end of boot soles to take wear.
Towser	An apron made of sacking for rough jobs.
Traveller	Tramp or Gypsy.
Tough man	A character. One who does the unexpected.
Tonguing	Nagging.
Too Royce	Used as an affirmative.
Tew mite	Same as above.
Traipsing about On the lop	Travelling around unnecessarily.
Trendle	A tank, made of granite, slate, or wood, sometimes a kieve, in which a pig was salted down.
Truckles	Sack cart.
Turn out	Let: cattle out of a house.
Tut	Pouffe.
Twick	Before a new made hay rick settled handfuls of hay were pulled out of its sides to make it more shapely, and also, more water proof.
Tap of Hay	When hay was required,a rick would be tapped, by cutting a section about five feet square, a slab from this section, about two feet thick would make a tap.
Tiding	Beach combing.
Tisbuts	Trifles. 'Tisbut this and 'tisbut that.
Titch up	Provoke, needle.
Tetty Hacker	Two toed mattock. Tetty Hogging Digging potatoes.
Take abroad	Dismantle.
Trig	Scotch, a block behind a wheel.
U.	Back to top
Undershot Wagon.	A wagon, whose fore carriage can be turned under it, giving a very short lock, it was usually a flat bed.
Urts day	Usually Monday, when we finished the left-overs from the previous day's good meal; also called frugals.
Usine	A manger.
V.	Back to top
Vaidg	Humid weather.
Vale	of a shovel; the rib in the centre of the blade, stiffening it.
Varmint	A nuisance. Among Gypsies, the adder.
Veer	A pig, up to eight weeks old.
Vearn	Fern, bracken.
Visgee	A bouble headed mattock. A favourite tool for rooting vuzz.
Vitty	Correct, proper.
Voaching	Treading heavily
Voadling around	Fiddling about aimlessly.
Vurrens	For-ends
Vore	Furrow
Vuzz brake	A large patch of gorse, maybe, a whole hillside.
Vuzz Crop	An individual furze bush.
W.	Back to top
Wad	A sheaf of rushes.
Wambly	Weak in the legs. Walking uncertainly.
Want	A as in that. A mole.
Wap	The warble fly, which causes gadding in cattle. Therefore a person excited 'has got the wap.'
What's on then?	The customary greeting in St. Gennys.
Withy	Willow.

Withy Dags	Cuttings of willow some three feet long, driven into a repaired gap in a hedge as an instant protection, and allowed to root and grow as a permanent fence.
Wattle Stick	A willow wand.
Wash tray	A deep wooden box used as a bath pan for washing clothes.
Weather dog	Fragment of a rainbow, associated with showers.
Weesht	Debilitated, Dale.
Western Nannies	Short sharp showers coming in from the sea.
Wheedler	Coaxer.
Wilky	Frog, Quilkin.
Wimblestock	Carpenter's cranked brace.
Demshur Windsucker	Devon men are reputed to indicate agreement by sucking in their breath.
Looking like a Wainnard	Perished with the cold.
Wippy	An instant.
Wolving about	Rolling about, tossing in pain.
Y.	Back to top
Yaffle	An armful of hay, or similar.
Yess of a pig.	Its posterior.
Yorks	A length of binder twine, or a neat leather strap with buckle worn around the leg below the knee, outside the trousers, to prevent dragging when bending the knee; children and visitors were told it was to prevent the snakes from crawling up.
Yule	A four tined prong, with its tines turned at right angles to the stick. It was used as a coarse rake in the garden; but its main use was for pulling dung off a cart into heaps for subsequent spreading.
Yute or Hyute of Rain.	A downpour.
Z.
Zay	Sea
	Back to top

I don't know if Cornish folk are more prone to use similes than others, as I was impressed by the wide use of them in St. Gennys, in the late thirties, and also by the aptness of many of them, particularly where they related to everyday articles.

A behind like the cow's tail.

Bald as a hegg, was very expressive,and so was the alternative, Bald, as a plate.

The bass in the local band made a sound like a ground Zay (sea)

Bag like a bucket described a good dairy cow.

Like a bear with a sore head.

A backside like a camel, described a slimmer. A belly like a willkie (frog), was the reverse.

Big as a house, was obvious, so was big as bull's beef.

Black as a witch

Blind as a bat

Blue a niddle (needle)

Bold as brass, Brown as a berry, Bright as a button, were all common place, but: Burrid as a witch, had more sinister undertones.

Busy as Bessy

Cold as a quilken, or charity

Clean as a new pin

Crooked as a dog's hind leg, or a ram's horn

Comfortable as an old shoe; applied to an easy going person.

Awkward as a cow handling a musket

Crafty as a fox, was a commendation

Dark as a cow's guts, became dim as a bovine's interior in women's company.

Deef (deaf) as a adder

Dear as saffern

Like a dog in a fair.

Dressed up like a Christmas tree was a fop

Dribbling away like a barrel of snow

Drink like a veesh (fish)

Drunk as a handcart, was not so obvious,but Like a dying duck in a thunderstorm was.

Dill (dull) as ditchwater might apply to a sermon

Eat like a horse

Empty as a keg

Enough for two men and a dog-would describe a good meal

Face like a wet week. Long and miserable

Fat as a pig or butter

Vaall like a log.

Vit like a dass elephant, heighteen inches of ire for each vit was the smith's description of our poney.

Looking as fierce as a buckrat.

Like a blue ass fly on a frosty morning, described a visitor in a hurry. Fight like cats

Full as a teek (tick)

Gaping (yawning) like a young rook

Glasing (staring) like a stat or chad

Go like the clappers, or a skeiner, or a lamplighter

Grey as a badger

Green as rishes or a lick

Grow like a wearn (fern) of a child

Gruffing and grunting like a boar pig, said of a pompous old autocrat.

Happy as a lark, or as a pig in muck

Hard as ire (iron) or Hell's door or a nail

Heart of a lion

Looking like he had been pulled through a hedge backwards

Like a bane with one chick, a monomaniac

Busy as a hen digging for daylight

Honest as the sun, a great compliment.

Jumped like a mackerel startled

Kick like a hoss

Like Lady Fan Todd, dressed to death and killed with fashion.

Lame as a duck or a dog

Light as vanity

Limp as a rag

Laugh like a pisky or a drain

Lively as a cricket

As long as this week and next

Mad as a curly (curlew) implied scattiness but Mad as a Scot meant a rage

Mazed as a brish and wet as a scrubber

Milk like a fountain applied to a good cow.

Miserable as sin

Old as Digory or as the hills

Like an owl peering out of an ivybush

Peert (pert) as a wheelbarrow, used derisively

Poor as a coot referred to physical condition and Poor as a church mouse implied financial stringency

Play like kittens was the ambition of every wagoner for his over-corned horses

Pretty as a picture

Proud as Lucifer

Quiet as a mouse meant silent but ,Quiet as an old sheep meant docile

Red as a rat or a lily or a roost cock

Right as ninepence

Rolled like a tetty after one fell

Rotten as a pear

Rough as Roughtor or Egypt

Rin (run) like a stag or a long dog

scratching away like an old hen Scritch like a whitneck

Shake like a leaf

Short as a shilling = brusque manner

Sick as a hound

Slipper as a snail

Sleep like a ringer, presumably like a campanologist during sermon time

Smoke like a dragon, tobacco smoker, like a witch, for a stove

Soar as a rig, - rigs are large cattle warts

Go like a star shoot

Stiff as a gate or a crutch

Stink like a fitchy

Straight as a gun or a die, usually morally

Strong as a lion or an elephant

Sweet as a nut

Swear like a toostore •possibly tooth dier

Sweat like a beetburrow. backalong ground was prepared for arable by skimming the clat and drawing it into rows, which were burnt,producing much moist heat. These rows were beet burrows. The process was often called Demshuring.

Taisy as the pigs or a vuzz emmet

Talk like a lawyer or a cheapjack

Temper like a fiend

Tender as a chicken, of food; as the eye of my head, of an injury.

Thick as a hedge, refers to visibiliy, thick mentally would be 'He id'n just zackly.'

Tight as a drum.

Tired as a tramp or a fox

Like Tom Toddy, all head and no body.

Weak as a ranny (wren)

Wild as a hawk

Wise as an old owl

Looking like a white washed wall, or white about the gills, pallid

Work like a fool

Like a yard of pump water, or a rasher of wind, very thin

Anything could be'like whatever' 'It rained like whatever' 'He was rich as whatever' 'It is big as Whatever'

Also 'like fire' modern' like hell'. Yellow as a guinea.

Phrases heard in St. Gennys in the I940 s

Maud Annie, on Sundays, was "dressed up like a Christmas tree."

Marshall Skitch liked junket because "all you got to do is gape and swallow."

"Kissing's out of favour when the vuzz is out of bloom."

At the end of the evening,"Cats to doors, men to bed, and maidens rake the fire out."

When working in a biting east wind,"maister's in the field all day."

"The wagoner who would n't steal corn for his horses isn't worth keeping."

A poor dish of tea was made with" tay begrudged and water bewitched."

When a mystery had been solved."So that's what's the matter with Annie's wooden leg."I have no idea who Annie was, or what ailment afflicted the leg.

An indifferent sewing job was done with "red hot needle and burning thread." The large stitches involved in a hasty repair were "cot's claws."

An illegitimate child was "a gateposs cheeld" or "came over the fields."

When a man was unjustly accused ,they"had the wrong pig by the ear."

A person with unnecessary luggage,was `like Nellie Jarvis, come to sarvice bag, box and bundle."

'An extravagant demand "was no more needed than a toad needs side pockets."

"The right time to out a shovel stick is when you see it." i.e. before someone else does; regardless of the time of year.

A man exaggerating was said "to draw the long bow".

Also it was said"He got a churn of milk from two steers and a lease (dry) cow."

"Old Jerry will soon find you if you make a noise like that."