Do you know your hobbly gobbles from your hulva, home done saace and rot-gut? How to celebrate Christmas - Suffolk style
It may be Christmas with a difference this year but it's still that time of year when we decorate our homes with hulva, keep our eye on the chimbly before tucking into hobbly gobbles and saace, right?
Or at least that's according to the Museum of East Anglian Life (MEAL) which has been helping with a project to compile a database of traditional dialects from across England.
MEAL in Stowmarket has linked up with researchers from the University of Leeds who are working on the project after receiving more than £500,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
A website featuring the regional and local dialects is due to go live next year and series of events are planned to help engage communities across the country.
MEAL is now on the lookout for an engagement officer to join them for the project and which will also help build a 'pop-up dialect kit' the university is producing, and carry out further research.
We asked staff at the museum why they felt preserving Suffolk dialect was important and if they had any Christmas words and phrases to share.
How many do you know?
Christmas: Holly or evergreens collected for festive decorations in home or churches.
Hobbly Gobbles: Turkey cocks
Chimbly: Chimney
Meat in the Main: Roasted meat under done.
Home Done: Sufficiently cooked through
Snewtin(g): Snowing
Frawn: Frozen
Slivva: A sliver of cake
Snap-dragon: A winter-time party game
Hulva/hulver: Holly
Tayters: Potatoes
Saace: Sauce
Rot-gut: Poor quality ale
Kate Knowlden, curator at the Museum of East Anglian, life, said: "It's a fascinating project and we are hoping out new engagement office will help spread the word and also help us add to the database by speaking to local people.
"It’s interesting to see where certain words and phrases come from and why – dialect tells us stories about the way people used to live.
"With people moving from rural areas to bigger cities, and across the country, local dialect is disappearing so it’s important we preserve this for generations to come."
Here's a few more we found that could be used at Christmas, or any time of year...
Words
Waddledickie: Donkey
Chaites: Left over food
Cupla three: More than two
Bor: Friend
Blabber: Can't keep a secret
On the drag: Late
Jiggered: Surprised
Rum: Odd
Ewe: Owed
Phrases
That tree is sloightly on the huh: The tree is at an angle.
How yer gittin' on?: How is everyone?
That ole mawther git roight on my wick: That woman really irritates me
That hooly snew last noight: We had a lot of snow last night.
A rum ol' mawther: A remarkable woman
He git on ma wick: He really annoys me
Oi hint never sin nuth'n loike that: I've never seen anything like that
Sorry I'm on the drag: My apologies for being late
Can you add to the list?
If so, please use our comment section below.
Read more: All the latest news from Stowmarket
Read more: All the latest news from Suffolk
