Wednesday, 15 November 2017

"Blart"

A child's annoying crying would often be described as "blarting"; "stop your blarting" might be something a frazzled parent would say to their children.

This word probably has the same roots as "bleating" (like a lamb) or even "blurting".

Sunday, 12 November 2017

"Snide"

My great grandfather apparently once complained about a hotel room because it was "snide with ants".

Although "snide" is commonly used to mean "mocking" or "malicious", in the Staffordshire dialect it means "overrun" or "full of".

The common meaning derives from the Middle English word "snithen" ("to cut") but whether the Staffordshire dialect meaning has the same source in not clear.

"Duck"

The most famous of all Potteries words must be "duck".  Roughly equivalent to "dear", it's used to address both men ...