Accents and dialect raise a lot of controversy. A northern headteacher made the national press when she issued guidelines to parents encouraging them to check that their children avoided certain expressions.
I think, though, that her campaign was against slovenly, ungrammatical speech rather than dialect.
Accent, the way you pronounce words, is not the same as dialect, which has its own language. Over the years, accent has become linked with class and social status. Originally, it merely indicated the region where you lived.
Sir Tatton Sykes, the wealthy fourth baronet of Sledmere, spoke with a strong Wolds accent. Similarly, Lord Derby, magnate of the Liverpool area, spoke unselfconsciously with a marked Lancashire accent.
Some accents are looked down upon. A Hull accent is not highly rated but I always find that correct English spoken with a northern accent sounds reassuring. JB Priestley and Harold Wilson were both effective speakers with northern accents. BBC correspondent Richard Bilton also retains attractive echoes of his northern upbringing.
Dialect is an emotive subject. It usually has its roots in a rural past and it's the memories it stirs that arouse nostalgia, reminding you of the last time you heard that word or phrase and the person who spoke it. Dialect can be far more powerful than standard English. I think "back end" is a graphic way of describing autumn. And what could be more appropriate for sticky mud than "clarty"?
To refresh my memory of words that I had mostly forgotten I have been looking at a vocabulary of local dialect. One problem is that it is a spoken, not written, language. Seeing dialect words in print in a form that attempts to imitate their sound can be confusing. "Lahtle" (little) looks like nothing on earth until you say it aloud. Equally odd is the broad Yorkshire version of cake, "keeak".
Some words may once have been common in the countryside but "flaycreak" (scarecrow) and "flittermoose" (bat) are new to me. I understand "gallasses", though I can't recall anyone referring to braces by this vigorous expression.
Occasionally, I have heard "chimley" for chimney and still spoken, though largely in fun, is "chizzack" for our own Yorkshire speciality, cheesecake. Telling someone to "fettle" or "frame" usually needs no explanation. Nor does "gormless", a blunt, merciless adjective applied to those who do not display the required degree of mental agility.
"Lingy" is the perfect description of anyone who is athletic, while "dowly" (not much used these days) is a more meaningful way of saying dull or miserable. The letter H often causes problems, leading to some attaching it to the wrong words in their nervousness to get it right. Expressions you do not usually see in print are "awlus" (always) and "aud" (old). After the war Germans prisoners were kept in this country working on the land, I remember one who had picked up his English from local people, not books. It sounded strange when he said "summat" instead of something.
A very local usage, not I think understood elsewhere, is "to set" – to go part of the way with someone returning home.
Dialect can be dangerous. In standard English "while" means during. Here it often means until. If you see a notice, Do not cross while the lights are flashing, you are warned to wait, not make a premature crossing.
