Coastal Dialect - Sealife
Sea Birds
Collected by Ada Radford of Darlington
(including material from W. Shiels, boat owner, of Seahouses)
Tommy noddy – puffin
Sea pheasant – long-tailed duck
Sea pigeon – black guillemot
Wulliemot – guillemot
Cuddy – eider
Tearn – sandwich tern
Pickle peck head – arctic tern
Roach – little awk
Mully mac – fulmer
Gormer – cormorant
Sea pie – oyster catcher
Go west – pintail duck
Wore goose – brent goose
Teddelum – wader
Crabs, Lobsters, Shellfish etc.
from The Dialect of Staithes by A, Stanley Umpleby (1930s):
Badger - Starfish.
Checkers - Periwinkles. (Thoo's browt checkers like mice een.)
Doggers - Green crabs.
Flithers - Limpets
Peellers - Tiny young crabs with immature shell that can he peeled off. Used for bait.
Sookers - Sea anemones.
Softies - Tiny crabs before shell appears.
Crab Cart - Empty shell of crab.
Cuyvins - Periwinkles.
Miffy - Lobster without large claws.
Nannycocks - Undersized lobsters. ('Pawks' and 'linties' at Whitby.)
Thoorns - Thorns (starfish).
Fish
from The Dialect of Staithes by A, Stanley Umpleby (1930s):
Brat - Turbot.
Dot Bo'ds - Dotteril.
Go'nets - Gurnets.
Kelk - Codfish spawn.
Leeat - Small coal-fish.
Orgin - Young codling.
Skeeat - Skate (fish).
Smeears - Fish spawn.
Squids - Small herrings.
Wrangham - Odd lots of miscellaneous under-sized fish.
Blast, Gurnet Blast - Gurnet's bladder.
Mops - Small codlings.
Sprag - Codlings.
Thorn Ears - Large dog fish.
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