Article 4TX1N Ferntickles or murfles? Survey of England's regional dialects to be revived

Ferntickles or murfles? Survey of England's regional dialects to be revived

by
Mark Brown Arts correspondent
from on (#4TX1N)

University of Leeds researchers to update groundbreaking 1950s language survey

Are you terrified by "harvest men" or "long-legged tailors"? Do you have "ferntickles" or "brunny-spots" on your face? If someone called you "gibble-fisted" would you be affronted or amused?

The words for daddy long-legs, freckles and left-handed are all examples of English regional dialect discovered in the 1950s by a team of fieldworkers in what was the most comprehensive survey of its kind ever undertaken.

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