Dialect writing - Summer bulletin reprints

Yorkshire Speyks from JOHN HARTLEY, WALTER HAMPSON and others Selected by R.W. HORNSEY (1959)

Brass taen aart o yan’s pocket is mair than hauf spent.
Money taken out of one’s pocket is more than half spent

Gettin wed’s like buyin a second-hand car; it’s bahn to cost yo afoor yo’ve finished wi it.
Getting married is like buying a second-hand car, it’s bound to cost you before you’ve finished with it.

T’laadest sharters often hasn’t mich on their stalls.
The loudest shouters often don’t have much to sell.

It’s better to fettle an shaht abaht it nor nivver to fettle at all.
It’s better to do something and shout about it than never to do it at all.

A rubber appron on t’knee’s worth a dozen in t’drawer.
A rubber apron on the knee is worth a dozen in the drawer.

Monny a chap gets credit for wisdom becoss he wears specs an keeps his mahth shut.
Many a man gets credited as being wise because he wears spectacles and keeps his mouth shut.

Eawivver hooamly lukkin a chap may be, he can casole hissen wi thinkin ther wor a time when he wor th’ bonniest babby at ivver wor born.
However homely looking a man may be, he can console himself with thinking there was a time when he was the bonniest baby that was ever born.

It’s easier to finnd a fault nor to loise one.
It is easier to find a fault than to lose one.

If a man think’s he’s weel off, he’s weel off.
If a man thinks he’s well off, he is well off.

Th’ world nivver luks cleean to a chap at weears mucky glasses.
The world never looks clean to a man that wears dirty glasses.

If yo want to be happy wi yor wife, allus tell her what yo want her to do, an then let her pleease hersen.
If you want to be happy with your wife, always tell her what you want her to do, and then let her please herself.

When a chap’s nowt else to do he falls i love, an if he falls deep enuff, he’ll finnd wark enuff to fit him for t’rest of his days.
When a man has nothing else to do he falls in love, and if he falls deep enough, he’ll find enough work to occupy him for the rest of his days.

It strikes me as bein queer at fowk at’s allus buyin bargains dooan’t get rich hawf as fast as them at sell em.
It strikes me as odd that people that are always buying bargains don’t get rich half as fast as those that sell them.

It’s wer Christian duty to mak best o things – even husbands.
It’s our Christian duty to make the best of things – even husbands (have to).

When a chap booasts he’s made a fortun bi his pluck, he nivver says who he pluckt.
When a man boasts he’s made a fortune by his pluck (courage), he never says who he plucked (picked).

Muck goas to t’middin an it’s reight place for it.
Dirt goes to the dunghill and that’s the right place for it.

When a chap sets aht to leearn all it’s possible to knaw abaht wimmin afoor he gets wed, it’s a sovereign to a hayseed he dees single.
When a man sets out to learn all it is possible to know about women before he gets married, it’s a sovereign to a hayseed that he will die single.

Thar’s nowt maks a woman as mad as to have a saycret at nubdy wants to knaw.
There’s nothing that makes a woman so mad as to have a secret that nobody wants to know.