Old sayings (From Gazette & Herald)

Old sayings

THE folklore about the cuckoo seems to be about endless, all tied up with weather, and oats and barley crops, as well as adultery.

Turn your money, sell your cow, buy your sheep or sow your corn, and to a North Yorkshire proverb which includes, 'In April, cuckoo sings her lay; In May she sings both night and day'. Which brings me to a call I had from Vera Goodwill, who at 94 will remember many of the old adages, and who rang to tell me that her niece at Hopperton, near Knaresborough, had heard the cuckoo on April 25.

Vera really rang me to add another expression to words of yesteryear, asking me if I'd heard the words 'bistling crud', which I suspect is the phonetic way of saying 'beastling crud'. In any event, I await someone putting us all wise. This relates to the first milking of a cow after it had calved. The tradition in days gone by was for the farmer to send some to his neighbours in a jug, who, in turn, would take the jug back, unwashed, but with a small quantity of salt having been put in it. There's more to this one than meets the eye, and I look forward to learning more.

Updated: 08:33 Monday, May 24, 2004