Do you know your pays from your byuns?
- 23rd November 2022
If a time traveler in the Vale of Evesham were to go back 100 years or more, he/she could be forgiven for thinking that they had landed in another country. Many areas had their own dialect but that belonging to the Vale seems to have almost died out and could perhaps even be described as a foreign language.
List of verbs taken from the papers of Frances E. Bomford at Finding No: 899:276 BA13866
Frances E. Bomford, writing in the early twentieth century, seems to have realised what was happening and set out to record the phrases, sayings, nouns and adjectives that people of the Lenches area were using:
- If you wanted to go to market you would travel to Aysham (Evesham) or Pawsha (Pershore) and if you had a good day you might have nunchem (a snack) as fettle (food), come home market peart (drunk) and be inclined to fillarow (merry making). If you are box Harry (mean with money) you may not be sharingthese experiences.
- If you were starved (cold), unked (lonely) and dagged (wet) you would definitely feel middling (in poor health).
- If you are muckered up (surrounded by things) in a yup (heap) your home will be flommacky (untidy) and be full of mullock (rubbish).
- The title of this blog obviously refers to two of the Vales’ most plentiful crops – pays (peas) and byuns (beans).
List of adjectives taken from the papers of Frances E. Bomford at Finding No: 899:276 BA13866
Lots of sayings recorded relate to agricultural practices and give wise advice for fellow countrymen:
- “When Bredon Hill puts on his cap, men of the vale beware of that.” Obviously cloud over Bredon Hill did not bode well for work on a market garden.
- “When the elm leaves are as big as a farthin, It’s time to plant kidney beans in your garden, When the elm leaves are as big as a penny, Plant kidney beans if you mean to have any.”
- “A swarm of bees in May, Is worth a load of hay, A swarm of bees in June , is worth a silver spoon, A swarm of bees in July, Isn’t worth a butterfly”
Advice that would mean little to us today.
It’s important for us to remember these sayings as they would have informed the working lives of many of our ancestors. I’m sure that many other parts of Worcestershire would have had their own specific sayings and dialects, and these should not be forgotten.
Have you a reference copy of ‘Asum Grammar’, by Ben Judd | 17 Nov 2008 (available from Amazon and others)? Have you a link to https://www.badseysociety.uk/village-life/asum-grammar-introduction which also deals with this dialect?
Hi Bill, apologies that we didn’t see your comments sooner. Yes – Asum Grammar by Ben Judd is available in several libraries, including The Hive, Evesham, Pershore and Redditch. The library catalogue can be searched online to check for details and availability. Thanks for sharing the Badsey Society’s wonderful articles on Asum Grammar. We are aware of these, although weren’t involved in their creation.