Lancashire Sheep farmers can only count to 20
Looking at the traditional rhyming counting system used by northern English sheep farmers
Walking around the remote parts of the Trough of Bowland you might be fortunate to hear the counting of sheep.Though I imagine you’re thinking:
“this isn’t on my things to do before I die list, if I wanted to see someone counting I’d just go back to school”.
Well you’d be wrong, this way of counting sheep doesn’t use our bland number pronunciation, they use a traditional rhyming system.
Yain is one
Tain is two
Eddera is three
Peddera is four
Pit is 5
Tayter is 6
Layter is 7
Overa is 8
Covera is 9
Dix is 10.
It then goes Yain-a-dix, Tain-a-dix, Eddera-a-dix, Peddera-a-dix, Bumfit (for 15, which usually produces a few giggles), Yain-a-bumfit, Tain-a-bumfit, Eddera-bumfit, Peddera-a-bumfit and lastly Jiggit.
Once the sheep farmer reaches 20 (if he owns more than 20 sheep) he picks up a stone, places it in his pocket and starts again. Five stones for a 100 and so on. Now this is the Bowland pronunciation, it differs from place to place, region to region. In Kirkby Lonsdale they said Boon, buom, buum (probably where Basil the Fox originated from) for 15 and Buom’fit buum’fit for 20 (among other noticeable changes).
If you are fortunate to discover one of these rare species of farmer, you should approach them and see how much Lancashian they still speak. Traditional Lancashire (and many parts of the North West) originated from three main languages. The oldest being Celtic (known as Cymric in the North-west), spoken before the Romans invaded. Cymric was spoken in Lancashire until the seventh century. Not much of this language survived afterwards (other than place names), due to its assassination by Anglo-Saxon in the seventh century (also forming the basis for modern English, not just Lancashire).
The last influence on our North-West dialect comes from the region that brought classics such as The Bridge (2011), The Killing (2007) & The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009). These Scandinavian settlers spoke Old Norse during their stay here, leaving not only thousands of place names but also numerous dialect words and pronunciations. Old Norse was believed to be spoken in the Lake District until the thirteenth century. Undeniably explaining our liking for their dramas. All together, this amalgamation of Celtic, Saxon and Norse helped create our Lancashire dialect as we know it.
If you decide to embark on a Lancashire dialect adventure of your own, and someone tells you’re not speaking correct English you can say “yoa dent knaw owt, yoa fergetten haw auld Lanky is. We had a reet gawndy language until the BBC radio cam’ alang”. Then proceed to show them all the stones you have in your pocket and impress them with your counting abilities.
