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.

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.

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.

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"

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.

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.

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;

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."

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.

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

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

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"

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.

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.

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."

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

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."

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.”

If you've wondered why the old sailing ship anchorage between the Goodwin Sands and Deal was called THE DOWNS. Treanor in his book "Heroes of the Goodwin Sands" suggests it may be from the French "les Dunes".

The DOWNS off of Deal were of great importance as a safe anchorage for the Royal Navy, the Goodwin Sands formed a natural breakwater. Here their usefulness is stressed in Memorials of the Goodwin Sands (1890)

DOVER SOLE is not peculiar to the Dover area. The flatfish, also known as the common or black sole, is found from Norway to N. Africa, The Dover connection is a result of local fishermen cornering the market for supplying Victorian London. Americans then applied the 'brand name' to a different fish.

A Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect recorded the superstition of GIFTS - white specks on a fingernail which was thought to foretell something coming.

In the past I have found evidence of PITHER being used to mean 'to bother' and PITHERING to mean wandering about aimlessly, also I have seen where PITHERED meant being cramped up with cold. Here is another example from a 1950s newspaper of the use of PITHER, here meaning 'to crumble away'.

Old Country and Farming Words (1880) records FLAWING as a Kentish pronunciation of flowing. Oaks were usually felled when the sap is rising, so that the bark may be easily stripped off. "The oaks are all cut in the flawing season, for the bark of all sizes."

Traditional Kentish Easter Day fare was Pudding Pies and Cherry Beer, and the young folk would go 'pudding pieing' as described in Brand's Popular Antiquities (1905). However "The Dover Road" (1922) bemoaned a decline in the delicacy.

This 1950s newspaper snippet records JOUTERING as a Kentish form of arguing or nagging.

I posted about DENEHOLES last week a name which probably owes its origin to a "dene", a small wooded valley, since some Victorian writers believed that they were found in such locations. Other names which were applied to these shafts were, CHALKWELL, SOUND HOLE, TOLT and CLAPPER.

These phrases have been noted to have been used in Kent for doing one thing in return for another, or 'tit for tat'; QUITEE FOR QUOTTIE, QUITTER FOR QUATTER and WHICKET FOR WHACKET.

Around Romney Marsh MARLED was used to describe to white flecks and streaks of fat within the lean sections of meat. It would be more commonly known as MARBLED today. From Old Country and Farming Words (1880)

A Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect records that a LUBBER HOLE was a place made in a haystack when it is three-parts built, where a man may stand to reach the hay from the men in the wagon, and pitch it up to those on the top of the stack.

This 1950s newspaper clipping translates a sentence that may have been heard in north Kent.

Dog's Mercury (Mercurialis perennis) is a common, but poisonous, woodland plant. The book 'Herbal Simples' (1895) records that it was sometimes called KENTISH BALSAM. Image from wikipedia.

Nearly everyone in Kent has heard of DENEHOLES, a name applied to just about every small hole and hollow. Theories of their origin included use as grain stores, hiding places, habitations and flint mines, but now they are thought to have been sunk solely to obtain chalk to improve farm land.

FERRER’S-END was a corruption of "Furrow’s-End" originating from use in ploughing, but it also became used to mean the end of an argument. Perhaps the end of a ROOKERY - an argument or altercation, sometimes amongst many people. Derived from watching the behaviour of rooks.

The STRICKING PLOW [PLOUGH] was a type of plough peculiar to Kent. Here is a description of the implement in "The Rural Economy of the Southern Counties" (1798).

I'd not come across the word SCAMMIDGY before, this 1950s newspaper snippet says that it meant scarce and poor in quality.

Some phrases collected in Kent associated with being foolish, some may still be familiar. ACT-ABOUT - to play the fool. "He got acting-about, and fell down and broke his leg." ACT-THE-GIDDY-GOAT - to act foolishly. MUCK ABOUT and FIRK AROUND were noted in The Weald in the 1930s

The CANTERBURY SCENE was a group of musicians playing prog rock with influences of free-form jazz and psychedelia around Canterbury. It was rather a loose collection of groups & musicians, some of which claim it wasn't really a scene at all. Bands included Soft Machine, Caravan and National Health.