In the Travel section of the Tribune there was a good article about "The 'England' Up North." They wrote about afternoon tea at the Fairmont Empress hotel in Victoria, British Columbia, where the hotel calls their spread "The Big Muckle." I'd never heard the word muckle before, but they said it is an old English word meaning "large amount." Is that word still used in England? I asked a few people about it here in the states and no one had heard about it.

Now this is an interesting one because as far as I know it only exists in a kind of mock-Northern English. It's the sort of word writers who have no ear for genuine dialect might throw in to indicate that their character is a northerner.

In fact I have ONLY ever heard it in what is allegedly an old northern proverb -

"many a mickle mak's a muckle" meaning that a lot of little things make a big thing.

However I suspect that it's unlikely that any real northerner has ever said it (except maybe as a joke) it just as no real Scot ever says "Och aye, the noo" and no real cockney ever says "Cor blimey guv."

Interestingly many of the sites that reference this claim it to be Scots but I have only ever associated it with the north of England.

Like Bob, I've only heard it in the alleged proverb. Interestingly, "mickle" and "muckle" seem to be cognates, both meaning "a large amount". See Dictionary.com: mickle and muckle.

I, too, have only ever heard it as that alleged proverb - and it's from Northern England, not Scotland.

Isn't that interesting! The hotel in Canada seems to think it's a real "English" word, as they are using it to describe their "tea."

It reminds me of the difference between a frog and a mountain goat in the rut: Frogs go mucking around the fountain.

Where I am in Hedley BC there's not a lot to do and one of the main activities is mountain goat spotting. This is probably safer than the alternative, bear spotting.

In fact, we have seen examples of both fauna already.

I understand that bears are abundant in the area around Hedley. The game officers warn everyone to wear smll bells on their arms and ankles to warn bears they are in the region. If you want to know if there are bears around, look for feces with little bells in them.

That's a good story - but in truth bears are a problem here - mainly in the autumn. Then they come into town to steal the apples from the trees. The residents have bear scarers - a bit like crow scarers - which make a loud enough bang to drive them off.

A couple of years ago our son's greyhound actually treed a bear. Fortunately the bear climbed the tree rather than turned on the hound - otherwise it would be now be an ex-greyhound.

I shall endeavor to remember this word in the event of a Northern English destination for ourlimerick game...

I think it's funny that Canadians apparently think it's a real word used in England.