Sayings from the Old Country

[DanaC]

'Where there's muck there's brass' is probably one of the most famously quintessential Yorkshire phrases. There was a brilliant tv programme years ago called 'Brass', centred on a wealthy Yorkshire family.

'Shaping wooden' is one I have inherited from Ma. If you're faffing about being ineffective: "Come on, you're shapin wooden lass."

Another is: 'stand locking up'. As in "If I don't sort out that bill before it goes red, I stand lockin' up" or, "If I don't get an early night tonight, I stand lockin' up."


I think my favourite though, was the phrase that both mum and dad used to signal bedtime: Come on then, they'd say, 'up tha dances'. For years my infant brain heard that as 'up the dances' and thought that somehow 'the dances' meant the stairs to bed.