As a shameless attempt to draw people into my thread on the Black Country dialect here's a little quiz, the first we've had for several years. Send your answers to me in a PM rather than spoil it for people who are a bit slower to read it.

Here are a selection of Black Country Dialect words. Some we have talked about before, some we haven't. How many could you guess the meanings of?

bibble
blart
bostin
bob-owler
clammed
donny
ferk (sometimes "fake")
gammy
jed
cack-onded
lamp
maegrums
skinny
suck
tararabit
wammel
yampy
yamyam
ops'n'ketches
suff

Beware! Some of them don't have the common meanings they have in other places.

As I l briefly look these over before I retire to bed (as my grandfather use to say), I can tell you that they all will be guesses. Some of them look vaguely familiar, but I can't remember their meaning.

You're not alone, Kalleh. I think I know a couple, but the rest might as well be gibberish to me.

I reckon I know three of them as written; I might know a few more were I to hear them.

Let me help a little.

bibble - noun
blart - verb
bostin - adjective
bob-owler - noun
clammed - adjective
donny - noun
ferk (sometimes "fake")- noun
gammy - adjective
jed - adjective
cack-onded - adjective
lamp - verb
maegrums - noun, sort of
skinny - adjective (doesn't mean thin!)
suck - noun
tararabit - phrase
wammel - noun
yampy - adjective
yamyam - noun
ops'n'ketches - phrase
suff - noun

quote:

Originally posted by BobHale:
Let me help a little.

That doesn't help.

quote:

That doesn't help.

It must reduce the possibilities by a factor of about three

OK, answers.
First though in a PM with some guesses, Kalleh suggests that she might learn to work them out. That, as you will see, is highly unlikely, the origins of the words can (usually) be traced but they are often by no means obvious.
Anyway, here goes.


bibble - noun
a small stone

blart - verb
now used solely of children - "to cry or weep"; formerly used to indicate the noise made by cattle

bostin - adjective
very good, excellent

bob-owler - noun
two meanings- originally a moth, metaphorically someone who stays out late at night

clammed - adjective
very hungry

donny - noun
a word used almost only by or to children - hand

ferk (sometimes "fake")- noun
a cigarette

gammy - adjective
lame or weak (a gammy hand, a gammy leg etc)

jed - adjective
dead

cack-onded - adjective
clumsy (originally left-handed)

lamp - verb
hit, beat

maegrums - noun, sort of
pulling a face, also used for throwing a tantrum

skinny - adjective (doesn't mean thin!)
mean (in the sense of not wanting to part with money)

suck - noun
sweets, chocolate, candy

tararabit - phrase
goodbye

wammel - noun
animal (often applied to dogs)

yampy - adjective
mad (in the sense of insane, not the sense of angry)

yamyam - noun
an inhabitant of the Black Country (usually used derogatorily by outsiders but sometimes "reclaimed" by locals)

ops'n'ketches - phrase
at infrequent intervals, actually "hops and catches" though I don't know the origin

suff - noun
drain, sewer

I knew bostin, gammy, cack-onded (although it's cack-'anded around here), tararabit and yamyam. Too many pints in Ma Pardoe's, obviously.