BBC - Leicester - Features - Miners dig into their past

People

The miners return to their workplace

Miners dig into their past

Three former Snibston miners talk about their attitudes towards their communities and their "funny" accents.

Leicestershire once hosted a thriving mining industry which generated its own particular language.

Horace Sankey - he talks funny

Three former miners talk about their attitudes towards their communities and accents. Horace Sankey takes pride in his past and his dialect. He said: "I'm intensely proud of it. It would be a dull world if everybody spoke like Angela Rippon.

"I remember when I worked on Leicestershire County Councillor, there was a councillor who said 'Oh my word, don't you talk funny'. I said 'You want to come back where I live, there's about 10,000 that talk the same."

Horace worked at Rawdon mine in Derbyshire and now lives on the county border in Albert Village. He and his colleagues remember the different words used for "lunch". Snaptime is Leicestershire, piecetime in Newcastle and bread in Scotland.

last updated: 15/01/05

Have Your Say

Were you a miner? How does your language reflect that?

Chris Waller
I wasn't a miner but I grew up in Swadlincote, South Derbyshire (near Albert Village), a coal-mining town. My grandmother spoke in the South Derbyshire dialect which retained elements from the days when the area was occupied by the Vikings. She would say '"Yo commen" ("you come") and "yo mekken" ("you make"). She used words such as 'coursey' (the back yard), 'cawf' (calf = a fool), 'goster' (braggart, big-mouth), "morrill" = the double of (someone). Vowel sounds were such that 'green paint' was pronounced as 'grain peent', while 'boiling water' was 'bilin waiter'. 'Wasn't', 'cannot' and 'mustn't' were expressed as 'wonna', 'canna' and 'munna'. "Ahn funnit" = I've found it. "Dunna myther yer sen" = do not worry. "Note do wi may" = it's not my concern. Miners would be heard to say, "Aze a deez" (he is on the day shift) or "aze a nates" (he is on the night shift). The greeting was either "ayup sorry", "ayup ma mon", or "ayup me duck". "Weern yer bin till this hour" = you're late. "Let's wommit" = let's go home, or "Ahm off wom" = I'm going home. "aze okkard" = he's awkward. "Gi' it sum ommer" = apply a little persuasive pressure. The area around Swadlincote and Albert Village was not onyl a centre of caol-mining but also the country's largest concentration of vitrefied drainage-pipe production, the pipeyards having their own 'patois'.

	BBC Homepage England

»	BBC Local Leicester Things to do People & Places Nature History Religion & Ethics Arts and Culture BBC Introducing TV & Radio Sites near Leicester Birmingham Derby Lincolnshire Northampton Nottingham Related BBC Sites England
	Contact Us