Hull Sayings

This is a thread for discussing the local dialect's, sayings, and language that us Hull folk use.

Here is a 2005 article on some of the popular and lesser known phrases,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/humber/content/articles/2005/02/14/voices_hullspeak_glossary.shtml

Brilliant! We used to `Bool` the pram and my mother used to tell me to `Frame` when she was trying to put socks on my feet. Ofcourse I said the same to my kids and my eldest daughter once said " I don`t know what frame means but I`m trying". I couldn`t answer her because I didn`t really know either.

Why do my ear plugs get all "taffled up" every time I need them.

My mum also used the word "frame".Hull had snickets,not ginnels.Bain was used and the rowing boat at the back of a trawler was a "coggi boat"But why do we shorten words like Prinni Av and Chants Av,as well as Brid and With,but never Horn or Scar.

Questions that have always puzzled me too, as an off-cum'd-un from the West Riding! We would also be told to 'frame ourselves', meaning get on with it, sort yourself out. The one that I couldn't get my head around until I finally moved here was the whole concept of tenfoots. I just couldn't understand what they were. I think they are unique to Hull. My mother-in-law never went out to the shops - she would 'run on road'.

When used as a threat another lad would say,"im gonna bray you" after the event you had been "brayed up"during the event you may get an excited lad knock at your families door and say " come quick a big lads braying your johnny" often the word bray,or brayed could be swapped for belt,or belted,either with an "up"at the end or not,im thinking the "bray or brayed"must come from a blacksmith,and "belt and belted" must come from father taking his belt off.

I used to laugh at me mam (mother) when I came in with my face all red with running about. She used to say-" Yoove got a face like a well-smacked arse". If I came in,in a bad mood,she would say-"Wots wrong with your fizzog,your face is tripping yer!"

As time goes on i believe we either lose these old sayings,or we find another way of saying them,simply because we like to feel better educated,and not sound daft to others,but one thing thats never changed here,and i dont believe it ever will,from youngest to oldest we all know what a "pattie" or "patty" is,you can ask for pattie n chips in any fishshop in hull and they wont blink an eyelid,but try asking in other cities fishshops and they will look at you daft,so did we invent it?

I am not really sure whether the patty(ie) was actualy invented in Hull but I have travelled into almost every corner of these Great British Isles and I have never found the humble patty anywhere else. Most places outside of Hull will try to sell you a meat product in batter a little bit like a Spam fritter and call that a patty (or pattie). I seem to recall a thread which ran on Your mail some time ago in which someone tried to get to the bottom of the pattie thing and after a long and tortuous thread running into several weeks nobody could agree where it originated. Not only that but nobody seemed to be able to agree whether a pattie contained fish or not. Anyway, I don't really care who invented it I am just very glad they did (WITHOUT FISH)

I dont believe there is any fish in a patty,my niece has a fish alergy,and she can scoff pattys like theres no tomorrow,even patty and gravy,if it had fish it would be a fishcake yuk.

"Larking out" was a popular one from when we were children, "Are you larking out?"

I remember the term "bray" and I believe it's still in use today.

Over the years I have noticed a lot of the old fishing terms coming into play, when describing people or items. One I have heard a lot, when talking about a people is "He's a decky learner"

It's siling down, meaning heavy rainfall, is a word we inherited from our near cousins in Jutland. In past times a Dane would argue with his Angle cousin over meaning when both said exactly the same words, but meant something to the complete opposite. They might both say, " The Lad the Daughter kisses", but who kissed who? Recently, I caught mesen saying "It's black over Bill's mother's!" meaning it looks ready for rain. I laughed at mesen and wondered, "Where did that come from, but it is an old Lincolnshire expression. We also use other Lincolnshire words like "mardy, marthering", for miserable and mafted for hot. "Mend the fire!" meaning to tend the fire with fresh coal n rake. Words fascinate me. We will all say clumsy, but sometimes say, "I'm Clembed!" for cold, which are from very old Franco/Flemish. We probably do not realise that both words have the same stem and the original meaning is to be so cold that our limbs are near rigid and we cannot do "ouwt" ought but shake n tremble. The other day,I was tired and the glamourous in-store beautician offered me a seat. I thanked her and was really made-up. Maybe it is just my age?
You'll stay there "While you learn some sense my lad/my lady!" While could mean "await something, then do whatever in the sense of wait until" instead of "while" in the sense do something until some condition is, or is no longer, met.
Going off top door! Now does that refer in some way to the Doors on a Trawling Net? It is used in the sense of real anger n frustration. My Father would say, "Do you know, I feel so rough, I wish I were a black pig n it were killing day tomorrow?" And when things were really bad, "Lass, I wish I were dead n livin in Leeds!" Som't really bright and glowing, (look away Mike, "lest thee dose th'sen a mischief") See, tis shinin like a privy door on a frosty neet!" Only he did not say "privy" I think I'll stop, ha!

Instead of the words ill,sick,or poorly,you were either just plain old "badly" if it was something of a more serious nature then you would hear sentences like," ey yart kiddin he/she was realy realy badly".

Thats a funny thing Tony, If ever we asked where somewhere was and my Mum didn`t know, she would say " Back `o Bills Mothers".
If we were going out on our bikes she would say " Go careful past houses"
If my grandma had had a busy day and was tired she would say " By, I`m jiggered"

My mother had a fine natural soprano voice and would sing all sorts of great songs from various operas and whatnot. To me, mother would sing #Little mister baggy britches... I love you... if you'll be my Sunday fellow... I'll patch up your britches... with green n with yellow... and folk will say~ee... as you lean on the North Sea wa~all... He's got such great patches... in his britches... Keek he's got nay britches at all... repeat.# Do you have any of the like?

Not sure these are Hull sayings,but when it was cold,I was "fair nivered2.It it rained,it was "siling down".Living in north Hull,we could always tell when it was a warm day as we could smell the fish docks." Nice day today,you can smell th fish docks"."Cum back end" was used.And my wife always liked a "sneball"

We also used 'siling down' for heavy rain. I hadn't come across 'nithered' (cold) and 'mafted' (hot) until I came here. Another saying of my mother-in-law's was 'pot on you'.