Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Animal names

Yesterday, for some reason, the word "snig" came to me as I was driving to work.

I immediately emailed my Dad, who used this word when I was a child, to ask him what it referred to. I had a memory that it meant snail, but I wasn't sure. He informed me that it meant a worm, but he hadn't used it for years either.

A quick Google search didn't produce much, but the Cheshire dialect glossary, which I linked to in my last post, has an entry on page 193 for snig meaning an eel!
http://www.archive.org/stream/glossaryofwordsu00leigrich#page/192/mode/2up

This got me thinking about other animal names used in the dialect.

I have always been interested in birds. As a child I would go bird-spotting with my Dad along the Sankey - St Helens canal. A regular sight on the flooded area of land between the canal and Sankey Brook, underneath the footbridge, were Moorhens. These Moorhens (Gallinula tenebrosa) were referred to by several names:
  1. Moorhen
  2. Marsh hen
  3. Water hen (or Waggies pronounced with the same vowel as in water
A quick look in the Cheshire glossary revealed that a Moorhen was referred to as a Dabchick.
http://www.archive.org/stream/glossaryofwordsu00leigrich#page/56/mode/2up

I found this surprising as I have always known Dabchick as an alternative name for a Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Grebe another species that frequented the same flooded area of land between the waterways.

Another species we used to watch on the fields next to the American airbase (they all seem to be housing estates nowadays) was the Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus). The Lapwing has various names depending on which part of the country you are from (see Wakelin. M, Discovering English Dialects. 1978, page 39). To me the Lapwing was referred to as:

  1. Peewit
  2. Lapwing
  3. Green Plover
Usually my Dad would call them Peewits and I would do the same.

Does anyone have similar memories or names for animals?

2 comments:

  1. Ive not heard the word snig for ages.We always used it to mean worm.I didnt get out of town much to see much wildlife,but have made up for it as an adult with many country walks and now know the Lapwing as Peewit or Lapwing.
    As a child I remember Tiddlers.Very small brown fish living in Orford Park pond.
    Also flecks,another name for a flee.These lived in a lot of peoples old clothes!

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  2. Another name came from the depths of my memory while I was sat in the back yard having a cuppa. I remember Dad saying to me "Oooh look at that its a Tomtit.You wont see many o them in town" I think it was a Blue tit from what I remember.

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