Sussex Sayings
Here are listings of common Sussex sayings. A lot of them have fallen out of use but many can still be heard.
Abouten: Just about to.........I was abouten to go out
Adle: (pronounced ardle) Stupid.......... He's an adle-headed fellow.
Anywhen: At any time.
Atween: between.
Bait: Afternoon refreshment, when strong beer is given, in the hay and harvest field.
Balderdash: Nonsense..............He talks a lot of balderdash.
Bannick: To beat...........I'll give you a good bannicking if you don't let up.
Beat the devil round the gooseberry bush: To tell a long story without much point.
Beazled: Completely tired out.
Behopes: Let us hope........Behopes you'll get there in time.
Bettermost: Superior, above average. Generally qualified by the word rather.........They seem rather bettermost sort of folks.
Bishop Barnaby: a ladybird
Blanket pudding: A long round pudding made of flour and jam. Sometimes called a bolster pudding.
Blobtit or Blobtongue: A blab, a telltale.
Borns: Days of ones life...........All my borns
Bout: A day's work
Bread and cheese friend: A true friend
Bunt: To rock a cradle with the foot. To push or butt
Called over: Scolded..........You'll get called over if you do that
Cantankerous: A source of ill-feeling
Certain sure: the superlative of certainly
Chance-born: An illegitimate child
Chiping: Moaning
Chouse or Chowse: A fraud. One who cheats in money matters......... He choused me out of three shillings.
Codger: A miser. A stingy old fellow.
Danes: used to threaten children. Refers to the Danes who invaded England......... I'll set the Danes on yer if yer don't do as I tell yer!
Dursn't: Dare not.
Faggot-above-a-load: Rather too much of a good thing.
Flit milk: Skimmed milk
Force: Point........... I can't see the force of it.
Frail: A woven, flexible basket worn over the shoulder by shepherds and other farm workers to carry food and bottles milkless tea.
Furriner: Anyone outside the county of Sussex
Gridgen: Grudging
Happen or hap: Perhaps
Hisself: Himself
Jaunce: A weary journey
Justly:Exactly, rightly
Leathering: A beating
Middlin': This word has many different meanings which are expressed by the tone of voice in which it is said. It may mean very much, tolerably well or very bad.
Misagreement: disagreement
Nabble: To chatter. To gossip. To idle about
Perramble: Corruption of preamble.
Persoom: Presume
Pull: Influence, standing
Rookery: A distbance. A fuss and chattering.
Shorn bugs and flit milk: A beetle. To eat shorn bugs for dinner is an expression for the extremity of poverty.
Shucky or shuckish: Unsettled. Applied to the weather.
Sockhead: A stupid person. Usually applied to a male.
Spanelling: To make dirty footmarks about a floor, as a spaniel dog does.
Start: An excitement, a fuss
Still: Quiet, respectable......... He was a nice, still man.
Summat: Something
Swap my bob!: A kind of affirmative oath. A euphemistic rendering of 'So help me God'
Swymy: (swimmy) Giddy, faint
Tip-tongued: To talk tip-tongued is to talk in an affected manner.
Top-of-the-house: A person who has lost his temper
Whips of berries: Quantities. Same meaning as lashings.
Windshaken: Thin, puny, weak. Also said of timber that develops longitudinal cracks when sawn.
Womenated: Being fussed over by women.
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