If you live in Cumbria, we’re willing to bet a lot of money you’ve heard the words marra, yam and bait.
They’re little language staples for a lot of Cumbrians – but it’s not often we really stop and think about what bigger significance these pieces of dialect actually have.
Just like any part of history, without preservation, dialect can become lost to time, but luckily, there’s a group of people helping to make sure that doesn’t happen.
The Lakeland Dialect Society has been running for around 83 years and aims to promote, preserve and celebrate the Cumberland dialect in all its glory.
It currently has around 250 members from all over the UK and wider world and many of them meet quarterly on Saturday afternoons at venues across Cumbria.
As part of their meetings they annually host dialect competitions where members and newbies alike can compete to perform the most impressive piece of dialect.
There’s no hard or fast rules on what kind of performances can take place and in previous years the society has seen songs, fantasy tales, and grand speeches performed. Many performers also write and perform their own material.
We were invited to watch this year’s competition unfold and get an inside look at why it’s so important to conserve the county’s native dialect.
Taking place on a chilly Saturday morning in Dalston’s Victory Hall, this year’s competition drew in 10 competitors.
Hosted by chairman Donald Angus, of Threlkeld, and honorary secretary Jean Scott-Smith, of Shap, the competition starts with an introduction to the trophy that’s up for grabs.
The trophy is named after the society’s well-loved late vice president, Len Hayton, and members have been competing for it since 2015. It was created by Jimmy Suitor, a member from Stainburn, Workington.
Jean tells us that the aim of the competition is to bring members together to share dialect and have fun and that while they compete every year, it’s not FA cup level of competitive – it’s more for people’s enjoyment.
The scoring system has never been properly established over the years, but the current system sees the performer who gets the biggest and longest round of applause handed the title of winner.
It’s fair to say that while there is some age variation in the room and a good mix of men and women – it’s mostly people from older generations in attendance.
But Jean said that the society is working to change that by collaborating with Young Farmers groups, schoolchildren and sixth formers across Cumbria.
She said: “It’s heartening because we do actually promote it among the Young Farmers clubs and we help them hold their own dialect competitions every year.
“We publish the winning entries and it focuses on a social group who are already exposed to dialect at home. In other words, they’ll have grandparents and parents who use dialect already so that’s one way we’re passing it on to the young ones.
“We also promote it amongst schools where they’re receptive to it and we recently did a project with sixth formers at Kirkbie Kendal School in Kendal about the origins of dialect and it has been very successful.”
Jean has been part of the committee for almost 50 years and her mother was one of the founding members of the society – so she has always known about the society’s existence.
Another member and competition performer, Phillip Gate, of Workington, said he joined the society before the first COVID-19 lockdown.
He said: “I saw one of the events was on and thought I’d have a go at competing and just got involved from there.
“One of the privileges I had at the beginning of the year was to be a judge for the Young Farmers competition and that was great to hear what they were doing.
“Some of the words were ones I hadn’t heard before and had to look up myself and I’d say have you thought about using this word or that and that kind of good stuff, it helps it all keep going.
“There’s a lot of dialect words that I took for granted and thought were standard English words, so things like when it’s a nice crisp morning it’s a bit ‘sleip’ isn’t it or in summer you’re ‘going for a dook’ and that’s your swimming and I just took that as all natural.
“But when you say that to someone from down South they look at you and have no idea what you’re saying. Now I’m getting even more into the dialect I’m trying to learn some of the more obscure words and bring them into normal usage. So that’s words like ‘mislekken’ for if you’ve forgotten something.”
Once everyone is seated, the performances begin and tales and poems on farming, cooking, landscapes, sayings and more are told to a fascinated audience.
The stories mostly revolve around Cumberland history and customs and a lot of it rooted in tradition – with some stories joking about foxhunting and poaching.
Some of the performances cause the audience to erupt in laughter – the jokes and humour of which could easily be completely missed by anyone with an untrained ear.
Cumbrians with a small amount of dialect knowledge may be able to catch a word or two or even the general gist of the stories, but for first timers, including ourselves, it’s easy to be blown away by how difficult it can be to understand what’s being said.
After all the performances come to an end, the competitors names are then read out and they stand as the audience gives them each an applause.
It’s John Hindson, of Colton, who scoops the longest applause and wins with a Cumbrian joke about a farmer and a poem about Eden Beck.
It was John’s first time attending a meeting and competition and he said his unexpected win prompted him to become a member of the society on the spot.
He added that is was a friend who had encouraged him to attend and recite his poem and that he was thrilled and amazed to have won the trophy on his first visit.
Since it was established in 1939, the society has worked to thoroughly document Cumberland dialect words and phrases and comprehensive dictionaries and glossaries have even been created by members.
Jean adds that in many ways, by keeping dialect alive, Cumberland’s culture and history stays alive also for future generations to understand and remember the generations of people living and working here.
She added: “It’s our regional speech form and it links us back to our ancestors and our language’s Celtic and Scandinavian origins. It’s truly part of our identity.”
