"Mardy"

According to my great grandparents, to be "marred" or "mardy" meant to be bad-tempered or sulky.  The word was used in particular to describe a spoilt child, often in the form "marred-arse".

"Marred" is of course an old-fashioned word which means "spoilt", as in "the wedding was marred by rain", but its use to describe a person is particular to northern dialects.

"Kiddle"

To "kiddle" or "kiggle" meant to lean on the back two legs of a chair.  I'm not aware of this action having a specific name anywhere other than in the Staffordshire dialect.  Consequently, this word is still in use by my parents today, usually when telling one of my brothers to "stop kiddling on that chair, you'll fall over".

Again, the origin of this word is not clear but I have discovered that "kiggle-caggle" is a term used in the sport of curling to describe the rocking motion of a curling stone on the ice.  It seems probable that the origin is the same.

"Lossucking"

"Lossucking" or "lozzucking" about meant "lounging around" i.e. being lazy.  It was sometimes used by my great grandmother to reproach my great grandfather for not helping, usually in the kitchen.

I haven't been able to find this word's origin but it seems likely to come from the same source as "loll" or "laze".

"Nesh"

"Nesh" was often used by my great-grandfather as a kind of insult, particularly if you were complaining about how cold the weather was;  it meant "weak" or "fragile".

I believe "nesh" is an old English word ("hnesce") which had the same origin as the Dutch word "nes" meaning "soft" or even "foolish".

"Mithered"

Another word often used by my great grandparents was "mithered", sometimes pronounced as "meythered".  It seems to mean "upset" or "aggravated", as in "I'm that mithered about our Elaine".

I believe that this word may have its origins in the Welsh word "moedrodd" which means "to bother".

"Surrie"

My mother's grandparents, Fred and Doris, always called each other "Surrie" instead of "love" or "dear".

My mother used to think they meant the county "Surrey" and could never figure out why two people who'd lived in Staffordshire all their lives would refer to each other as a southern county.

But "Surrie" or "Surry" actually comes from the old word "Sirrah", which has the same origin as "Sir".  "Sirrah" was used by Shakespeare and may be earlier.  It may also be the source of the American word "Siree".

"Sirrah" was often used to address children or as a greeting to a friend, so it makes sense that a husband and wife might use it as a term of endearment.

The Stoke on Trent Dialect

All of my great grandparents were born and lived in the Stoke on Trent area of Staffordshire.  They spoke in a very distinctive dialect and often used words which I have never heard anywhere else.  I thought it would be interesting to preserve these words and try to find out more about where they came from.