By Eric Streeton
Punt. Open decked fishing boat (Hastings.)
Raw throat. Sore throat.
Raw. Cold.
Raggedy arse. A Rye man.
Rake. A lot of something.
Rides. Iron gate hinges.
Roader. Tramp.
Rook. Vicar or parson.
Rook. Defraud.
Roons. Mushrooms.
Rooning. Picking mushrooms.
Sart-er-noon. This afternoon.
Screws. Rheumatism.
Scran. Food.
Scollop. Scallop
Set. Obstinate. He’s very set in his ways.
Sewer. Ditch.
Sham lock or locked. A padlock giving the appearance of being locked but in reality it is not.
Shant. Drink of beer.
Sheep treadles. Sheep droppings.
Shite Hawk.Seagull.
Slake. To quench.
Slaughter. Mass termination of employment. (Building trade.)
Slummocky Untidy.
Smorning. This morning Sosseld. Drunk.
Spaddle. Walking on a clean floor, making it dirty.
Spadgers. Sparrows
Sparticles. Glasses
Pea measure. A container filled to capacity.
Slips. Small Soles.
Spile. Fence post.
Spose. Suppose.
Sprog. Child.
Shell. Coffin used by undertakers to collect a corpse immediately after death.
She’s got more now than my ole Grandmother died with. Description of a young lady with ample proportions.
Splines. Prongs on a fork.
Snatch. Undertakers collecting a corpse.
Snatched. Being very cold.
Starter. Baby rabbit.
Stab. Where a doe gives birth, not a borrow, Standing twenty minuets before casting a shadow. A skinny person.
Stalker. Fish to small for market. Strod. A Y junction in young wood. A catapult strod, a clothes line prop.
Stretch it’s neck. To break a Rabbits neck. (To dispatch a rabbit instantly.) Stuffing your kite. Eating.
Stun. A stone in weight, 14 lbs.
Shelve it out or up. To tip something out of a wheel barrow for instance. Shelve it out there.
Shucky. Unsettled weather.
Swimey. Sick or giddy.
Swimmers. Dumplings.
Swapping his turds for a baked potato. Some one who wants something for nothing.
Tin tan. Unsteady – rocking about.#
The channel. The river Brede.
The sun’s casting long shadows now. On set of Autumn.
The love of a good woman , will draw you further than gunpowder will blow you.
The sound of Rye’s Quarter boys, will draw you further than gunpowder will blow you.
Thick of hearing. Slightly deaf. Are you listening to me, or are you a bit thick of hearing.
Thistle spud. Tool for removing thistles.
Trashed. Scared – Frightened.
Tree Rat Squirrel
Truck. Backchat. Don’t put up with any of his ole truck.
Truck. Ferret.
Trucking. Rabbiting with a ferret.
Truss. Part of the tomato plant that the tomatos grow on. (Now called a vine)
Twang. Unpleasant taste.
Twittering on. Relentless chatter. Web. A long net.
Webbing. Rabbiting with a long net. Favored by poachers.
Willockey. Unwell.
Westkit. Waste coat.
Yole. Hello.
Yog. Fire.
You will never have money as long as you have a hole in your back side.
My Father telling me as a young man, that I was a bad manager of money.
Last but not least is this one. I have seen this in print, but my very first employer on leaving school was Bob Collins at Winchelsea and very often quoted this one to me. One boy is a boy. Two boys is half a boy. Three boys is no boy at all.
Foot-note: I got a lot of pleasure putting this little lot together, and will be putting together a small selection of Building Trade Words for a future edition.
“Cinque Ports” April 2016
All articles, photographs, films and drawings on this web site are World Copyright Protected. No reproduction for publication without prior arrangement. © World Copyright 2017 Cinque Ports Magazines Rye Ltd., Guinea Hall Lodge Sellindge TN25 6EG