Bradford has a language of its own. Do you use these phrases?

Alan Whitrock writes: “I was brought up in the 50s and had a lot of elderly relatives. My grandmother was born in 1880, in Clayton. She spoke only in dialect. If you asked her what something was she’d answer: ‘It’s a thing for a duck to peeak on’. My mother used to grab hold of my coat and pull it up, saying: ‘Hackle thissen up, tha looks a proper trailtengs’. I think Heckle is a spinning term.

“When I was young you could tell the difference between people from Clayton, Thornton and Denholme, by the way they spoke. One expression peculiar to Bradford was: ‘Things tha as to do to keep keep band int nick’. It’s a weaving expression, to ‘make things run smooth’.

“Another expression was ‘She were as threng as Throp’s wife, when she henged hersen wi t’ dish claht’ . I have no idea who Throp was.”

Nicholas Bielby recalls: “When my brother grew into a tall, thin teenager, my grandfather said: “Ee, tha’s nobbut twa yards of pump watter. Tha could climb t’drainpipe and show thi a*se at every oil.” When it was raining heavily, my father would say, “It’s fair siling down.” Friends would ask, “ Are you coming to laik cricket in t’ park?”

Sue Preston writes: “I was brought up in Pudsey. My mum used to say she was ‘sluffened’ or ‘sloughened’ if badly disappointed, and if you were dirty you were ‘clarted’.’

Frank Healy says: “At the funeral of my wife’s uncle the vicar told how he first met him. He came across George, a farmer, mending one of his fences and said good morning. George replied: ‘Morning - Thal bi’t new vicar’ and they stood talking. Those were the only words the vicar understood of George’s strong Yorkshire accent.

“I know people who still use such words and I probably do myself. Our youngest who has returned from working in the USA said people often asked him to translate what he was saying.”

We had a lively response on Facebook, including the T&A’s We Grew Up in Bradford page.Here’s a selection: Peter Ohara: ‘I like to read it and speak it. But outcumdens get fair flummoxed if tha speaks to em , cos they dun’t understand what thas on abart .

Lynn Crookes: ‘My grandmother’s family were miners. Spoke the old Yorkshire all the time. When we visited as kids it was funny. I still use a lot of the sayings.

Joyce Gill: ‘If tha’ duz owt fa nawt du it fa thisen’.

Mandy Simmons: ‘I still use put t,wood int ole.’

Jackie Atkinson: ‘My Nana Martha used to say Nahthenthen!’

Angela McAusland: ‘It’s a language on its own. I’m from Bradford, left a long ago, still love to hear the Yorkshire sayings of old.”

Says Dave Welbourne: “I’ve been inundated with responses. One lady from Bradford told me when she went to Norway she was amazed by how many words were similar to those spoken in Yorkshire.This prompted me to research the Norse influence.”

* See next week for Dave’s article on the local ‘Viking’ dialect.