Re: Soft Mick.
 

its either "summat or nowt"............:D

Re: Soft Mick.
 

yandeed - was another= yes indeed.me grandad again lol

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Thanks guys, I really have enjoyed this thread. "Not to beat a dead horse:) " but one of my mom's favorite expressions was "Dear Guzzy's Hat?" That's one my mom used to say alot just like the "bless my cotton socks" expression. Just wasn't sure if was a Lancashire or a Yorkshire saying.

My Mom used to talk about when her grandmother and some of her uncles would visit her dad up in Providence, Rhode Island. They'd get to talking while playing cards. My mom couldn't understand half of what they said. She asked what language they were talking and her Dad would say it's Lancashire ya bloody fool (in a nice way I'm sure).

My mom has been kinda losing her mind (she's 78). I've copied many of the Lancashire sayings to see if they jog her memory. Thanks!

Brian

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Somebody takin' me name in vain again !!!

Its a good job it don't upset me or I'd end up "scriikin"

Re: Soft Mick.
 

That is a lovely thought Brian, sure some of her memory cells will be jogged by these. Glad everybody could help here.

Not sure if we have had 'gormless': clueless, dim-witted. Just read an explanation and comes from 'gome' , circa AD1200 for 'to take heed' Amazing.

Was amused at the explanation of 'scrubber' :analogy is to animals that inhabit scrub ... hmmm. I never been in the scrub .. too cold, so everybody wrong about me then :p :D (don't mention this to yer mom though.. might be offended)

'begger this for a bunch 'o soldiers' seems one vowel had been changed in the first word, but better than swearing I suppose.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Nah, wouldn't 'take the mickey' mick. :rolleyes:

Re: Soft Mick.
 

"'begger this for a bunch 'o soldiers' seems one vowel had been changed in the first word, but better than swearing I suppose."

Oh oh, is "Bugga em" considered a swear? My mom uses that expression alot!

Brian

Re: Soft Mick.
 

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
QUOTE,,,,Also...She used to talk about "Fred Fernackerpan" (sp?) dunno who he was!.....QUOTE
.................................................. ..................................................
Lady Jane if youve heard of The Haughten Weavers ,they sing a wonderful comic song about Fred Fernackerpan,,,,,,,,,,,,,I think the meaning is meant to be some youth who is very gormless,,,,,,,,

Re: Soft Mick.
 

dad used to grow chrysants......and always used coddy muck......:eek:

when I was young I decided to get a crew cut........comment from Mum....."I,ve seen better hair on bacon".......:(

Re: Soft Mick.
 

"Not sure if we have had 'gormless': clueless, dim-witted. Just read an explanation and comes from 'gome' , circa AD1200 for 'to take heed' Amazing"

That makes sense, I was always told to "tek no gorm" of people trying to take the mick (soft or otherwise)

Re: Soft Mick.
 

I always thought that it was "marred" not "mard", meaning spoiled. One of my mum's was/is "He's marred while he stinks"- usually one of my mates who she considered especially spoilt

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Not sure if this is the right thread, but who else says 'skrike', or however it's written, meaning cry?

I was going to post in another thread I was having 'a good skrike', as it's a word we use in our family, but then I thought perhaps no one else uses it, or wouldn't inderstand what I meant.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Thanks for confirming it is indeed a real, used word. I've also just found it listed on this Lancashire dialect site, as well as a few other crackers. Like 'cack handed'. That always makes me smile, wondering about it's origins, or perhaps it's just I'm mucky mind, and it's nothing at all to do with visiting the privvy.:D


http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/lan...-dialects.html

Re: Soft Mick.
 

I used to, my family always used it "stop skriking!" Now I just say I was having a girly moment :o .... my last girly moment was because my pc died and I lost all my music

Re: Soft Mick.
 

don't know if i've come into this too late but i found this:

soft mick
Encyclopedia : S : SO : SOF : soft mick


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Soft Mick is a name used to describe an extravagance in East Lancashire and West Yorkshire

The phrase to have more than Soft Mick means to posess an extravagant quantity of that thing.

Soft Mick is seemingly used more in Accrington in conjunction with shoes "More shoes than Soft Mick" Leading some to believe that Soft Mick may have been a Irish shoe peddler working around Accrington, East Lancs, in the early 1900s

dunno if it helps?


*thinkin about it i used to know a guy from sheffield way who used the phrase "am stood ere lik soft mick"*
along the lines of stood ere like cheese at fourpence(just another variation i suppose)

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Another one I've heard used (thanks Mum,) along the lines of cheese at fourpence, is 'stood/stuck here like a wet lettuce'.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Very common in Lancs. that one Garinda .. always thought that a wet lettuce would be fresher . :rolleyes:

This is one form of language ... similies (sp) ? I find myself saying things like this, starting with summat and then petering out because I can never think quick enough of what the first bit is like ... :confused: Hope ya' ged it.

If you listen to Corrie the writers give characters like Eileen some wonderful ones ... try to remember them, but never can.

'Not on your Nellie' confused me .. just wondered where my Nellie was ? :D

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Love it.

It's so easy to forget these phrases, and they may well die out in the future, but they are fascinating.

Who was Nellie, and why on earth would people go on her?:D

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Just looked this up Garinda (never gonna' get me ironing done at this rate!).

Seems should really be 'Not on your Nellie Duff' rhyming slang to 'not on your puff' (not personal ... tee hee), meaning 'not on your life' Still no explanation though to the personage of Nellie Duff, just made up I guess as most rhyming slang.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Like 'cack handed' Does this mean left handed? not 100% sure why I think that but something in the back of my mind seems to think so.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

yep we said it too,,,i think i put it on this thread at the first or second page,,,i must have cried a lot as a child ,because i kept being told that i was a skrike arse,,, ooh the indignity of it :mellow8:

Re: Soft Mick.
 

We used to say skrike a lot in our family too.
Excellent thread, brought back loads of memories!
Cack handed, we used to say that meaning left handers.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

i still say skrike, didnt realise people dont use it much, one we used to use i dont hear now is (shes knickers for curtains.) where the hell did that come from?:)

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Never heard that one before!

What does it mean?

Ones I do know for showy women are 'she's all fur coat and no knickers' or 'look at her, up and down like Lady Docker'.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

means not the full shilling, or a bit dotty.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

I've heard the fur coat and no knickers one but not the other one.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

thats probably cos you aint an owd fart like me.:D

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Found this about Lady Docker.

When asked why the seats were done in zebra skin, Lady Docker famously replied, “Because mink is too hot to sit on.” :D

http://web.mac.com/mwstorer/iWeb/Per...C0D19721B.html

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Soft Mick, the person with everything in abundance. Also a phrase used in Halifax generally to describe having lots of things - shoes, toys, kids, money, blokes, women etc etc. But always more than Soft Mick.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

I used a term the other day which caused a couple of odd looks , I told some friends kids who were visiting , not to bring any "slutch" into the house from the garden, guess it's one of those Lancashire words which isn't used anywhere else .
:D :D :D

checked my OED (small edition) and its not listed there

Re: Soft Mick.
 

I was just answering a pm from LancYorkYankee, were I called him a clever clogs.

Clever clogs?

Where does that come from?

Clogs that were clever, and walked themselves to the mill?

Did anyone have more clever clogs than Soft Mick?:D

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Ummm "clever clogs".. a very common saying, while we are at it what is a "clever dick" ????

Re: Soft Mick.
 

i still use that word, but agree never heard it outside lancs.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Just a random guess.. I'd say a stick would have a higher IQ than a clog.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

..and my sod, beats both your stick and clogs.:D

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Soft Mick was routine speak in Colne when I was a boy (early sixties), and still is. It's an interesting blog but we have not cracked it yet. more suggestions please.
About localising; do Barlickers (people from Barnoldswick) use Soft Mick? If so it probably means your roots are Lancastrian in spite of the coming and going.
By the way, Barmy Mick did the Nelson Markets as well.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Another one I remember from childhood, which would certainly result in a race relations claim, was 'dirty Arab'.

As in, 'stop scratching down there, you dirty Arab!':D

Re: Soft Mick.
 

also not PC to say you have been "jewed" anymore :rolleyes:

Re: Soft Mick.
 

I'm from Colne too and was gunna say that we use it.... u got there first lol

Re: Soft Mick.
 

What about Bobby Dazzler, anyone remember him :D
Used when you put new clothes on, they'd say "ya look a reight Bobby dazzler I' them"

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Anyone who was "a sandwich short of a picnic" in pre-decimal days was only tenpence/shilling - or even "pots for bluebells" - but I lived in Rishton !

Re: Soft Mick.
 

hehehe my bros used to get that one off me mum when they put their best clothes on .
lol I always seemed to be the dirty arab cus i was such a tom boy .. (and no not for any rude reasons lol) purely cus i was always getting mucky .:hidewall::p

Re: Soft Mick.
 

yeh i got "dirty arab" frequently.:D

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Going back to the title of the thread, according to Mrs MTB, Soft Mick was very big in Bolton, apparently everyone talked about over here too!

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Other slang words.
Tha talks like Billy's weekly liar.
Aif eten syrup butty.
Powfagged, as in worn out.
Skorrick, as thas nod left a skorrick.

Retlaw

Re: Soft Mick.
 

I know the phrase "soft mick" well from when I was a kid, my mother and her siblings used it in context of "she's had more illness than soft mick" etc etc. but they're not from Accrington - they grew up in Fallowfield/Crumpsall areas both around central MCR. their parents were Welsh mother and Irish father. just thought I'd add my tuppence worth as this kind of thing I find fascinating!

BTW I'm not right festered is one phrase I remember from Lancashire youth that I haven't heard since , meaning I'm not really bothered!!

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Trouble at mill, lancashire,dialect,recipes

There are quite a few on that link
some had me flummocksed

Re: Soft Mick.
 

There's some good ones on here as well.

Lanky talk

I particularly like this one.:p

Muck midden pride - a carriage weddin' an' a wheelbarrow flittin'.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Hi guys n guyesses,
just joined and had to go straight to this thread.

Absolute class ...memories come a flooding back like a sackful of black puddings

Mard was always pertaining to soft or chicken ...As in "Don't be so Mard and stop Scrikin' ....correct spelling of Scriking ?
Agate ...my Mam! ...used it all the time eg..."She's agate ..."sod off" ...and he's agate ..."I will then!" ...as in She was saying or doing..... But ...so I am led to believe ....here we go..
Lots of towns have streets or areas named Petersgate ...or hillgate or billingsgate ...although they had no gates!! ... apparently gate refers to ... "The WAy to or walk to ....so hillgate is the 'walk up' or walk to' the hill, and is a direct transposition from Gait ...or way of walking/ stance. ...so imagine someone describing the way that charlie chaplin walks...with a bandy legged impersonation...and saying ..."Charlie was agate .." ...it all seems to make sense ish :)
My parents often said ether "soft as Mick" .. as in very wimpy.... AND used the phrases like "More money than soft Mick" ...are these 2 related?? dunno

Layores for meddlers .. I feel might refer to 'Lures for Meddlers' as in Traps for meddlers (cheats, interferers or burglars) ...things set in motion that people should not know about...'less said' etc.

'Skenn Eyed git' ...always remember that after missing an open goal!
"
"Christ church up Heaton Norris" (instead of uttering just 'Christ') probably a Stockport reference there!

Also if you drank like a fish ...you were a 'slutch pump' I assume something like a dredger ...pumping slutch from a river ??
and why when we were suprised ...did we go to the 'foot of our stairs' ?

Re: Soft Mick.
 

oh ...and I forgot ....who was Mrs Bocking???
as in my mother always used to say -if something was out of the ordinary ...
..."Shocking, Mrs Bocking"

Re: Soft Mick.
 

This thread made me giggle, even more so when I just called my daughter a "gormless mornin" Where did that come from? My dad was very broad and I seem to have picked it up from him. My son speaks the same way now and he's only 20. My grandma (from Rishton) used to say people were "pots for rags" this is another one I still come out with lol.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

That reminds me of another thing I used to hear, 'pots for bluebells', meaning someone was daft.

They both probably come from rag and bone men, though getting new pots for a bunch of bluebells seems a good deal.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

I have loved reading this thread, as with others here it brought back loads of memories.
I am originally from Eccles in Manchester and we used most of the terms that have been remembered here. As well as Soft Mick, we have Soft Ned, we used skrike, like crying her/his eyes out. Mardy meant somebody who cried all the time. Put t'wood int'h t'hole was always used. Dimp was a cigarette end that you 'pecked' and put in your pocket! "Dad have you got any dimps?" We also had Argie Bargie, and we all know thats an argument or loud discussion.
There are millions of them, but the most popular one in our house was, Put kettle on mother! regardless of who you were asking to make a cuppa.
Bonny x

Re: Soft Mick.
 

A fast-declining dialect, more's the pity.

I once got told off by my mother for saying "I was agate" at home. It was not acceptable in our house but my dad used to say "Making Layo'ers for medlars" in response to "What are you doing, dad?". As explained in another thread, some time ago, I believe it refers to nets laid over medlar pears.

"Mard" was a word we used and, amongst my friends, the expression "Pots for jamjars" was used for an idiot and we all knew what "skriking" meant.

The bad-tempered were referred to as being "crammed" or "nowty" and our elderly next-door neighbour would call anyone whose honesty was a bit suspect an "ill 'un".

Re: Soft Mick.
 

what did " I'm reet fair clemmed" mean ?, did it mean you were hungry, or you were cold , can't remember :confused:
thanks

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Clammed, well that's how I heared it pronounced, with an 'a', means very hungry.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Just found this, so you are right.

In the Black Country clammed means hungry or cold.

God knows where it's derived from, as clam chowdrer isn't a typical Lancastrian, or Brumie fare.:D


BBC - Black Country Features - Black Country dialect

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Yep gallant.. I recall "skeen eyed" i took it as "bog eyed".. anyone heard of "kack handed" I think the slang is meaning the person is useless with both hands ?..

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Everyone I knew in Atherton used "Soft Mick", and most of us were Irish. Usually it was something like, "He's got more money than "Soft Mick" There was also a pub in Tyldesley (forget the name now) but all the adults called it Skenning Bob's, or, Skenny-eyed Bob's, and Bob was cross-eyed.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Theres a row of terraced houses in Arrod (Gt. Harwood ) locally known as Skenning Row , think its Railway Terrace, from the front all looks normal , but you open the front door and all the lobbies and rooms are about 10/15° off center to the left , all the rooms are like parallelograms, a strange situation to be in after a few drinks .

(and before Cashy or South Aussie chip in , yep I know us Arroders have a reputation for being a bit strange) :D :D

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Used to go in Skenning Bob's, my other half lives in Tyldesley

Re: Soft Mick.
 

A bit strange:D:D

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Ged away wy thi its skenning Martha.
Retlaw.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Being mard is acting like a crybaby.
as in Mard Appeth.

Retlaw.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Kack handed is one mon who carned mek out wi is ands, or arse abeaut faced.

If I axed me dad wads thad fur, "ids a winwong tu wind moon up wi.

Retlaw.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

I always understood "Kack handed" to be a left handed person - raps over the knuckles from teacher. However, sometimes the grey cells desert me or play tricks on me.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

My Dad called me kack-handed for being left-handed and also a key- podder - but don't know how that's spelt !

Re: Soft Mick.
 

The expression "Soft Mick" "Soft Lad" often figured in conversations over Liverpool way, the "soft" generally equated to stupid, therefore making Mick a generic figure of derision.

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Would be used pretty regular then Dave?:D

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Did the Bizzizz feel your collar too Dave:D

Re: Soft Mick.
 

Yep, you could say that Cashy ! (but it certainly wasn't in my direction :D ) & Jay, I was far too well behaved (most of the time :D) or had a pretty good Alibi !

Re: Soft Mick.
 

You'll tell us out Dave:D

Re: Soft Mick.
 

"Not by a long Chalk" anyone any idea where this cam from??

Re: Soft Mick.
 

came from!!

Re: Soft Mick.
 

I think it might have something to do with another expression 'by long chalks' which means 'by far' and it originates from the use of chalk to mark scores in games.
I'm sure Retlaw will know