kenticisms

line drawing illustration of an Ospringe hop garden in June taken from an old book and coloured. Two young children walk alongside the garden on an unmade road. In the background is a church.

kenticisms will be taking a summer break. I have not been able to interact with this account in the way I would wish as I'm busy with other projects. Hopefully I can return to the account with more time and attention in a few months.

Black and white photograph of a row of oast houses. The base of the oast houses are brick built and there is a hung tile conical roof, topped off with white painted wooden cowls which rotate in the wind.

The TONGUE was the projecting part of the COW or COWL of an OAST, which caused it to turn round when acted on by the wind.

AN ex-teacher reader has sent in the dialect word "tanted," used in a school note "Please excuse Kate from from school as she "tanted' this morning." "Tanted" meant fainted, but was occasionally used to describe childish tantrums. "She had her 'tants' over it," i.e., lost her temper or was stubborn and naughty.

I came across a word in a 1960s Kent newspaper, which I hadn't seen before. TANT or TANTED meant 'faint, fainted' or sometimes 'tantrum'.

An old bicycle might have been known as a GRID IRON, GRIT IRON, OLD GRID, OLD GRIT or a RATTLE-TRAP. Said to be from likening an old rickety cycle to a griddle-iron, used in cooking over open fire, meaning that one might get along riding on a griddle-iron just as well and as comfortably.

A Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect says that a short man might have been referred to as ONE OF KING JOHN'S MEN.
"He's one of King John's men, six score to the hundred."
Six score, 120, was the old hundred, or long-hundred.

Details from the front page of an old book written by John Taylor reading; To the Most Famous, Infamous, High and Mighty Feeder, Nicholas Wood, Great and Grand Gurmandizer of Harrisom [Harrietsham] in the County of Kent.

Nicholas Wood (c1585-1630), the GREAT EATER OF KENT was born in Hollingbourne before becoming a farmer in Harrietsham. John Taylor wrote a small book detailing his feats, including "..did eat a whole sheep, of 16 shillings price, and raw at that, at one meal. Another time he eat 30 dozen of pigeons"

An old hand coloured illustration of a willow warbler or willow wren. A small brown backed bird, with a white front and a brown stripe around the eye, it is sitting on the twig of an oak tree, against a green foliage background.

The Field Naturalist (1833) says that the willow warbler also known as the willow wren "are partial to some kinds of fruit, but they will not touch cherries, although they are very commonly known in many parts of Kent and Surrey by the provincial name CHERRY CHOPPERS.

The Chathamites. A Song. TUNE - Nancy Dawson. Of all the spots on Britain's shore, Examine ev'ry country o'er Sure ne'er was seen the like before The well-known town of Chatham. Proud Rochester and Strood may talk Of pavements smooth, and roads of chalk, For those who chuse to ride or walk : Not so the folks of Chatham. Contented in their dirty hole, They hobble on with meaner soul, Contriving how to save the cole ; Who would not live at Chatham?

First published in The Kentish Gazette in 1771 "The Chathamites" paints a very unflattering portrait of 18C Chatham
Starting with the town's uniqueness before denigrating the locals morals, religions and military, finally a comparison to other Medway Towns, here are the first & last couple of verses

Fred Sanders of Chatham was a great collector and recorder of Kent dialect in the middle of the last century. When he wrote to the Kentish Express in 1957on the subject of UFOs he felt compelled to throw in some Kentish dialect; "There bi'-ant no such queer things as floi-ing sarcers!"

In Kentish dialect CHOG seems to have been used for a number of different things, from an apple core to a lump of rough wood. Also in hop cultivation a CHOG was a grubbed-out hop hill and CHOGS were the cuttings of the hop plants when the plants were dressed in the spring.

So far as the county of Kent is concerned, the mile was certainly longer than the statute mile, and was officially recognized as longer. In 1633 the Mayor and Jurate of Dover Wrote to Sir Edward Dering, Lieutenant of Dover Castle and the Cinque Ports, complaining of the extra charges exacted by the postmen, saying that the hackneymen of Dover and Canterbury had measured the highway between those two places, and had set up posts at every mile end, and expressed the same to be fifteen miles and & quarter, since which time they demand 3s. 1d. for every horse hire, which is 9d, more than the ordinary rate (State Papers, Domestic, Charles I.' vol, ccxsxviii., May 13, 1633). Sir Edward Dering, in forwarding the complaint to William Trumbull, the Clerk of the Council, explains that, Kentish miles being longer than in some places, the allowance has been 3d. per mile, although in some other places but 2 1/2d. (ibid, voL ccxxxix., May 24). In fact, I have seen on an old map of Kent three scales: one geographical miles, one Kentish miles, and one common miles.

An old rhyme is taken to indicate Kentish miles were longer than the statute mile;
Essex stiles, Kentish miles,
Norfolk wiles, many men beguiles
One theory was the bad state of Kentish roads meant miles seemed longer for travellers. However Notes & Queries (1895) suggests Kentish miles were longer;

A photograph of the flower of the Stinking Iris (Iris foetidissima), mostly white petals with blue-purple veins, pictured against a background of green foliage. Image from wikipedia.

The Stinking Iris (Iris foetidissima) was known in Kent as DRAGON'S TONGUE. Its said to be found in woodland on the North Downs, especially around Boxley.

A WASH-WAY was a narrow path cut in the woods to make the CANTS [portions] of a WOODFALL [part to be cut]. A fall of 10 acres would probably have been washed into 6 or 7 cants.
"You've no call to follow the main-track; keep down this here wash-way for about ten rods and you'll come right agin him."

Kentish Dialect LURRY is a word seldom heard at the present time, but it used to be commonly used throughout the county. It means to speak so rapidly that the listener would have difficulty in following what was said.

A Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect has LERRY, LORRY, LURRY as a "jingling rhyme' spoken by mummers in their folk plays. However this cutting from a 1950s newspaper suggests that it had been extended to any fast speech which was intended to cause difficulty in being understood by others listening in

Following on from the boat known as a FOLKESTONE COCKTAIL In the additions to Pegge's Alphabet of Kenticisms the Rev W. Scott Robertson notes that a small boat was known as a COCK. He says that "The word appears repeatedly in the Queenborough Town Records" on the Isle of Sheppey.

Joseph Mallord William Turner, 'Folkestone from the Sea' c.1822-4 (J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours) | Tate Matthew Imms July 2016

FOLKESTONE COCKTAILS were boats used to bring in kegs of spirits sunk by smugglers close to the Varne sandbank about 9 miles offshore. 'Cocktail' smuggling did not last long as the boats were seized by excise officers.
JMW Turner was familiar with this smuggling, more information at

Joseph Mallord William Turner, 'Folkestone from the Sea' c.1822-4 (J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours) | Tate Matthew Imms July 2016

FOLKESTONE COCKTAILS were boats used to bring in kegs of spirits sunk by smugglers close to the Varne sandbank about 9 miles offshore. 'Cocktail' smuggling did not last long as the boats were seized by excise officers.
JMW Turner was familiar with this smuggling, more information at

There was a vale [whale] came down the flood ; Folsteners (Folkstone men) couldn't catch un, but Doverers dud.

I found a couplet in 'English Folk-Rhymes' (1892) suggesting a friendly rivalry between Folkestone and Dover fisherman.
This old spelling of Folkestone, without the middle 'e' was used to further tease locals pointing out that this was an anagram of KENT FOOLS.

CHOATY and CHUFF are words recorded as Kentish dialect for chubby or broad faced.
"He's a choaty boy."
And CHUFFER was used for eating a large amount of food or being a hearty eater.
"By Golly! Our young Willum (William) can't half chuffer, he'll eat us out of house and home"

Photograph of the White Hart pub in Canterbury, a red brick building with a hung tile and white painted frontage.

In the Kentish dialect poem 'Dick and Sal at Canterbury Fair' the White Hart ALUS or ALIS - alehouse, is mentioned;

An den we turn’d about agen,
An see an alis stan.

Sal thought it was de goat or hine,
I diden know fer my part;
But when we look’t apan de sign,
De readin was de White Hart.

Kentish Dialect If not generally used in these days, Kentish school boys of the past were painfully aware of the meaning of bannicking. "I got into trouble and father gave me a good bannicking" indicated that the culprit had received a sound thrashing. The word is not often heard outside Kent.

A BANNICKING or BANNOCKING was a thrashing or beating - to give someone a "good hiding", as shown in this example from this 1950s newspaper snippet.

Some recorded Kentish names for the common earwig are PINCHERWIG or PINCHYWIG and TWINGE. Although earwigs eat pests such as aphids, they can also attack young plants and shoots. CAXES or CECKSIES - dry hollow plant stalks e.g. bean or elder were used to catch earwigs, especially around fruit trees.

Old colour illustration of Glebionis segetum (previously known as Chrysanthemum segutum), common name Corn Marigold. A plant with yellow flowers and jagged leaves.

Dialect dictionaries record the Corn Marigold (Chrysanthemum segetum, Glebionis segetum) being known in Kent as a YELLOW BOTTLE. I also found a reference in The Complete Farmer (1807) of these flowers growing in the sandy soils around Sandwich also being known as BUDDLE and GOLDS.

A Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect defines BODILY-ILL as a person ill with bronchitis, fever, shingles, however this would not be used for someone who had hurt his hand, sprained his ankle, or broken his leg, they would say: "Oh, he's not, as you may say, bodily-ill."

Kentish Dialect A reader who lived in Kent for 70 years has a word of dialect that will probably be new to most people. It is "bly." How or why it was ever coined is surely a mystery: Actually it means like and is used in this connection: "You are not the bly of me" - signifying you are not like me.

A 1950s newspaper column mentions the dialect word BLY, meaning a likeness to someone. Although its origin is said to be a mystery it's actually recorded in The Dialect of Kent in the 14th Century as a look or feature, "This man has the bly of his brother".
Said to be from Old Frisian blie or bli.

'The Dialect of Kent in the 14th Century' by Richard Morris records some of the language spoken in Kent at that time, much of the evidence for this is from the 'Ayenbite of Inwyt' written in 1340.
Some examples are AGHTEND - eighth; BALD - bold; BERK - bark; ZYEALD - sold; ZIDEN - sides; ZENNE - sin

In the chalk quarries. about Gravesend the echinoderms of the genus cidaris are known as "nipple-rings," and the spines of the same as "files." The teeth of the Cretaceous sharks and rays are called "larks' tongues," and the fossil remains of annelids are known to the men as "worms."

Spiny cidaris fossil pictured against a black background.

An 1877 edition of Notes & Queries records some local names for fossils and shark teeth found in the chalk pits around Gravesend - NIPPLE-RINGS, FILES, LARKS' TONGUES and WORMS.
An example of the cidaris fossil is pictured below (image from wikipedia).

A Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect records BRUT as a noun - the shoots or buds, especially of potatoes;
"My taturs be brutted pretty much dis year."
But also as a verb when those shoots are broken off;
"I've been going, over those old potatoes and brutting them."

A MAY-DAY CAROL.- Speaking of old customs still kept up in some of our Kentish villages, especially in the Loose Valley. Mr. Moul says: "One of the prettiest of these in the celebration of May-day, when the children of the village visit the various houser in a procession, earring long poles decorated with branches of the early blossoming fruit trees, and long garlands made with primroses and other early spring flowers. As it comes to a door the procession halts. and sings the following old English May-day carol, in the hope of getting pennies as a reward: This in the day, the first of May. Please to remember the Maybough: The garland, the garland, Please to remember the garland. A bunch of May I have brought you. And at your door I stand: It in the work of our Lord's hand, So hip ! hip! hurrah!* Another band sings the same song, but instead of the last four lines substitutes the following triplet, "First come buttercups, then come daisies, Then come gentle-folks, then come ladies, So we pass the time away."

This article from a 1900 edition of the Maidstone Journal has a description of May Day celebrations in the Loose Valley, near Maidstone, including the words to the May Day Carol.

PALMING was used for covering up or covering over something.
“Don’t come palming those things all over the table.”
And so PALMED meant covered.
“They palmed newspapers all over their windows because they could not afford to buy curtains.”