I AM happy that Eric Beardsworth (Letters, May 4), enjoys my writings and I do try to be accurate.
'Up t' suff' is not a saying of mine - I only quoted what my father said it was. As for being 'cove-licked,' my uncle pronounced it that way and some farmers would say that a cow was 'coving' rather than 'cawfing.'
Strange to say, too, if a weaver was waiting for the 'piece-mark' - the end of a particular length of cloth - to repair, he or she was said to be 'coving.'
As regards what Eric says about the hair being swept back at the front, this is more than likely a better explanation of the expression than the one I was given years ago.
Meantime, when a fire was being lit and was 'getting going,' it was said to be 'gettin' agate.'
Should someone talk of retaliation against someone, they would be warned 'nay, tha' maunt do that.'
Does anyone remember in the 1930s, the so-called coded language which many people learned to speak to each other? It was called the AG Talk because AG and GA were incorporated into syllables in words . . .
"WhAGere AGare yAGou GAgoAGing tAGonAGight?" "AGI AGam GAgoAGing tAGo thAGe RAGed LAGiAGon pAGub fAGor AGa pAGint."
ALBERT MORRIS, Clement View, Nelson.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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