marra

[thebrokendoll 7139]

right then, marra seems to have become a stick to beat the mackems with, but should it?

my best mate down  here, bleeds black and white is a born and bred blyth lad and fiercely proud of it. uses marra all the time.

I pointed out to him the other day that in messageboard land at least marra is associated with being a mackem. I don't think he was very suited actually and probably our long standing friendship for getting on 4 decades now was what prevented me from having a bleedy nose.

can't remember hearing it as a kid round the sunniside area or for that matter round stanley while working at the ever ready.

research seems to indicate an origin of east durham pit villages but also those from northumberland too.

are we offending huge swathes of our own support??

[Renton 17859]

Durham Mags are the worst marra. 

[Howmanheyman 27113]

38 minutes ago, thebrokendoll said:

right then, marra seems to have become a stick to beat the mackems with, but should it?

my best mate down  here, bleeds black and white is a born and bred blyth lad and fiercely proud of it. uses marra all the time.

I pointed out to him the other day that in messageboard land at least marra is associated with being a mackem. I don't think he was very suited actually and probably our long standing friendship for getting on 4 decades now was what prevented me from having a bleedy nose.

can't remember hearing it as a kid round the sunniside area or for that matter round stanley while working at the ever ready.

research seems to indicate an origin of east durham pit villages but also those from northumberland too.

are we offending huge swathes of our own support??

 

It's an old NE word not exclusively mackem, it's a bit like the pretendy howay = Geordie, haway= Mackem thing. Yes it gets used for mackems now but your mate's right.

[PaddockLad 14665]

According to Dan Jackson, author of this https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/dan-jackson/northumbrians/9781787381940?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=18075688485&cq_con=&cq_med=pla&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsZjMlMnQhQMVuKFQBh2hCQzkEAQYAiABEgLaAPD_BwE#GOR010288790  miners worked in pairs and your marra was literally your partner at the coal face, the person you paired up with to extract as many of the black diamonds as you could. So it’s definitely Pitmatic and that applies to the Northumberland coal field and East Durham  

[Monkeys Fist 38911]

7 minutes ago, PaddockLad said:

According to Dan Jackson, author of this https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/dan-jackson/northumbrians/9781787381940?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=18075688485&cq_con=&cq_med=pla&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsZjMlMnQhQMVuKFQBh2hCQzkEAQYAiABEgLaAPD_BwE#GOR010288790  miners worked in pairs and your marra was literally your partner at the coal face, the person you paired up with to extract as many of the black diamonds as you could. So it’s definitely Pitmatic and that applies to the Northumberland coal field and East Durham  

👍

Aye, my Grandad was a Washington miner and spoke full-on Durham pitmatic, used to call me and my brother his little Marra’s. 
Dad used it too, although to a lesser degree. 
It’s very common to hear it in Eshintin and Bairdlintin and all the weird little villages near there. 
 

The association with the knuckleheads is purely down to their habit of typing in dialect, because they’re desperate have an identity. 

[Renton 17859]

Not a thing I've ever heard before mind. We just say "mate" around here. I think the mackem piss take thing is more directed at the fact they right it down as text in the SMB and it feels a bit forced. 

[Monkeys Fist 38911]

4 minutes ago, Renton said:

Not a thing I've ever heard before mind

A breakfast island in the extended kitchen of a Victorian semi in Whitley Bay. 
 

“ Cressida, Julian, pass daddy the chia seeds please, Marra’s “

 

 

[Howmanheyman 27113]

 

Marrowfat 🤝 Marra fat

 

 

[Howmanheyman 27113]

Arafat.

[Renton 17859]

1 hour ago, Monkeys Fist said:

A breakfast island in the extended kitchen of a Victorian semi in Whitley Bay. 
 

“ Cressida, Julian, pass daddy the chia seeds please, Marra’s “

 

 

 

Whitley fucking Bay? FUCK OFF. 

[Renton 17859]

49 minutes ago, Howmanheyman said:

Marrowfat 

 

 

 

Is that us getting relegated or just drawing a regular run of the mill league game?

Edited April 20 by Renton

[Monkeys Fist 38911]

4 minutes ago, Renton said:

 

Is that us getting relegated or just drawing a regular run of the mill league game? 

It’s when Panda announced they were releasing a new size bottle of Blue pop. 

[Monkeys Fist 38911]

18 minutes ago, Renton said:

 

Whitley fucking Bay? FUCK OFF. 

I say this every time I get a Whitley delivery run. 
If anyone is wondering why it’s impossible to get hold of a plumber, it’s because every fucking one of them is working in Whitley fucking Bay installing bathrooms for cunts. 
 

I delivered a bathroom set yesterday to some mid-30s couple. 
The lad opened the boxes to check for damages, and came upon what looked like a lampshade made of bottle green glass. 
“ What’s this?” he says to Mrs. 

“ The sink”

 

He looked at me, and we had one of those silent conversation with eyebrows 

 

Him- “ Ffs!”

Me - “ You let her pick without looking at it didn’t you?”

Him- “Aye… baaaastard!”

Me - “ Curb your enthusiasm gif” 

 

 

[Renton 17859]

11 minutes ago, Monkeys Fist said:

He looked at me, and we had one of those silent conversation with eyebrows 

 

Brilliant! Aye, other than the location and age, you've described my life to a tee. 

[GrahamTaylor5 653]

I'm worries that this thread is a way of @thebrokendoll coming out as a Mackem. 

 

I am a bit thrown by this.

 

Quick question to find out:

Who founded Athletic Bilbao?

[Renton 17859]

Talking of which, I see that aupaalavas is being a bit obsessive again. 

 

 

I shouldn't knock it as it's for a good cause. As well as a virtual cycle race over the Bay of Biscay, he's wanting to get  sponsored for the world's longest url. 

 

 

[Monkeys Fist 38911]

sunderland to Bilbao, by bike, in 24hrs? 
 

 

Aye, Marra’s 

[GrahamTaylor5 653]

21 minutes ago, Monkeys Fist said:

sunderland to Bilbao, by bike, in 24hrs? 
 

 

Aye, Marra’s 

It sounds far more appealing than from Bilbao to Sunderland. 

[Gemmill 34848]

34 minutes ago, Monkeys Fist said:

sunderland to Bilbao, by bike, in 24hrs? 
 

 

Aye, Marra’s 

 

They must be sitting on them on the ferry to Santander. 

[Tdansmith 2168]

I never once associated "marra" with mackems. 

 I've only ever heard northumberland folk use it regularly. 

 I think rtg have just adopted it. Fuck knows why as just about every other poster on rtg uses it, i just put it down as one of their many comfort blankets.  

[NJS 3986]

I didn't hear it much growing up but I remember my Mam using it occasionally. 

 

We used to drink in the old Black and White pub for a spell, probably in the late 80s and I rember overhearing the owner describing some bother there'd been when we weren't in - he said it kicked off when someone ordered a round and ended the order with "marra" and one of the regulars had shouted "Mackem" and chinned him. 

 

I think now it's a good piss take considering how much they use it on RTG. 

 

I also agree with HMHM about haway/howay - I think that's a manufactured wedge thing. 

[strawb 3680]

For what it’s worth, never heard it growing up in Boro. But my brother used to be a fitter at a factory near newton aycliffe, and he picked it up working there. 

[Dr Gloom 19879]

20 hours ago, thebrokendoll said:

right then, marra seems to have become a stick to beat the mackems with, but should it?

my best mate down  here, bleeds black and white is a born and bred blyth lad and fiercely proud of it. uses marra all the time.

I pointed out to him the other day that in messageboard land at least marra is associated with being a mackem. I don't think he was very suited actually and probably our long standing friendship for getting on 4 decades now was what prevented me from having a bleedy nose.

can't remember hearing it as a kid round the sunniside area or for that matter round stanley while working at the ever ready.

research seems to indicate an origin of east durham pit villages but also those from northumberland too.

are we offending huge swathes of our own support??

Yeah, I noticed that too. An old mate of mine from Gateshead used to always say it. I grew up in Washington and people used to say it there too but Washington is kind of no man’s land with a pretty even mix of Geordies and mackems so fuck knows

[Howmanheyman 27113]

I've heard it through the years, usually not by mackems. Usually by people who were older than me. I doubt my kids will ever hear anyone saying it by the time they're my age. 

[thebrokendoll 7139]

23 hours ago, PaddockLad said:

According to Dan Jackson, author of this https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/dan-jackson/northumbrians/9781787381940?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=18075688485&cq_con=&cq_med=pla&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsZjMlMnQhQMVuKFQBh2hCQzkEAQYAiABEgLaAPD_BwE#GOR010288790  miners worked in pairs and your marra was literally your partner at the coal face, the person you paired up with to extract as many of the black diamonds as you could. So it’s definitely Pitmatic and that applies to the Northumberland coal field and East Durham  

 

I like the term pitmatic.

never worked down the mines meself although I drank with loads of lads who worked at marley hill colliery just outside of sunniside. me old man worked down the pit but not for long, he fucking hated it, found it quite frightening, his dad worked down the mines all his working life, I never met him, he died before I was born of lung disease associated with pit work. I know my old man used to get really passed off with ambulance chasers hassling him to claim compensation on behalf of his dad's 'black lung disease'.

anyway, some 'pitmatic', quite extensive, strange how much I recognise, but I'd imagine younger folk have never heard the majority uttered......

 

baff weekend - then fortnightly pays were the custom, the baff week was when there was no pay.
bait - a packed meal.
baitpoke - a bag to carry the meal in.
bait time - a stop for a meal.
bank - the surface.
barney's bull - anything broken beyond repair was said to be like barney's bull b------d.
bat - to strike a blow with the fi3t or a hammer.
blogged up - a pipe stopped up with dirt.
bonny gan on - serious trouble.
bord - a working place in the pit.
brat - a black inferior sort of coal.
bray - to beat or punish. "you cannot bray him back with a mell" (large hammer) described a pushing inquisitive person.
bump the set - anyone taking unnecessary risks was described as "he'll bump the set some of these times". a set is a number of tubs or trucks pulled along by a rope from a fixed engine.

canch - the stone below the thill or floor of a narrow coal seam that has to be removed as coal-getting proceeds.
cankery water - impure, poisonous water, red in colour.
cant - anything leaning over is said to be "on the cant".
carvinarce - a smooth backed fossil easily dislodged.
catheid - a nodule of iron ore found in coal seams.
cavil - a working place in the mine selected by a draw.
cavilling-day - the day the draw takes place.
chinglees - pieces of coal the size of a marble.
clacks - pump valves.
clag - to stick.
clarts - mud.
cogley - unsteady.
coin - to turn from the straight.
corve - a wicker basket used in coal mines prior to the tub era.
cow - a device attached to the back of a set of tubs to prevent them running back if the rope breaks. crab - a winch used in sinking operations.

dab-hand - a capable or efficient worker.
dad - to hit as, "i'll dad the lug".
daddin - to beat the dirt out of pit clothes.
deputy - an underground official.
deputy's-end - the easy or lightest part of the work.
deputy's kist - the box in which he keeps his tools.
devil - a device for detatching the rope from a set of tubs whilst in motion.
dogs - nails for fastening down tram rails.
dollyshutting - blasting down coal without undercutting.
dreg - a wood or iron stave put between the spokes of a tub wheel to prevent it from turning thereby retarding its progress.
duds - clothes.
dunched - to run into with force as "tubs dunching".

ettle - to arrange beforehand. nb#

fairly - steady.
fash - trouble.
fast jenkin : a bordway driven in the middle of a pillar.
femmer - weak or delicate.
fernenst - opposite to.
fettle - to repair or mend.
fizzle - a faint crackling noise caused by gas escaping from the strata.
fizzled out - the end.
flacker - to flinch or turn back.
flackered - finished, unable to do any more.
flayed - frightened.
flusher - a squip that fails to do its work.
forbye - besides.
for-fairs - no trickery or underhand work.
fullick - a blow with great force.
fullen - full tub.

gar - to make or force anyone to do something.
get-thi-blaw - to rest, to regain the breath.
gis-a-low - give me a light.
glinters - curved sails to guide a rope on to a sheeve.
graithe - to make ready or repair.
grove - a space in a seam from which coal has been taken.

hacky - dirty or filthy.
hedgehog - if a strand of a wire rope works loose and gets fast, it coils in a mass of wire on the rope. this is a hedgehog on the rope.
hinny - a term of endearment.
hitch - a fault in the strata.
hoggers - shorts miners wear in the pit.
howk - to dig or scoup out, or punish.
hoy - to throw.
hunkers - the buttocks. a favourite posture of pitmen is sitting on their hunkers.

inbye - to go from the shaft bottom into the workings
insence - to make someone understand - "insence it into him".

jealoused - anticipated, something would happen.
joley - shakey, unsteady.
jowl - to test the roof in a coal seam by tapping it with the end of a stick, also a threat as "al jowl tha".

keeker : surface foreman who deals with the coal.
kenner - the end of the shift.
kep - to catch.
kep-clack - the foot valve in a pump suction pipe.
keps - props on which the cage rests at bank while the tubs are being changed.
ket - filth or rubbish.
kibble - a large iron bucket used in sinking operations, also a small low tub with open end.
kink - a twist in a coil of rope that would damage it if pulled tight.
kip - the highest point on the rollyway where the tubs are detatched.

laid outs - if a tub of coal contains more than a certain amount of stone it is confiscated, the stones and the hewer's token numbers are laid out for inspection.
limmers - wood shafts with an iron bow and a catdh to clip on to a coal tub carried on the harness of a pit pony.

marra - when two men work together each calls the other his marra, meaning equal.
mell - a large wood or iron hammer.
met - a measurement marked on a stick.
midgey - open fronted naked flame lantern.
mizzled-off - gone away.

nigh-hand-gannen - a shorter way.

onsetter - the man in charge of the cage at the shaft bottom.
outbye - travelling from the face to the shaft.

plote - pluck or bring down.
plunger - the piston in the water end of a pump.
powder-reek - smoke caused by firing a short in the pit.
progley - prickly.

rammel - stone that gets mixed with the coal in the pit.
rid - to clear out or tidy up a place.
rising main - the pump delivery pipes in a shaft.
rive - to tear.
rolleyway - engine plane.
roven - torn.

scapipen - getting coal without blasting.
scrush - crush.
scumfish - to suffocate.
shine a low - shine a light.
skeets - guides for the cages in a pit shaft.
slush hewer - a hard working coal hewer.
smart-money - compensation.
snore holes - holes in the strainer that make a snoring noise when the sump is drained.
spangued out - a prop forced out by pressure.
spelk : a splinter of wood that has stuck into the skin, also a small person.
spigot and faucet - a type of pipe joint.
spiting - storing up loose stone after a place has closed to make a way through.
sprag - a wood or iron stave put between the spokes of a pit tub wheel to retard its progress.
stowbord - an old working place into which refuse is put.
strum - the strainer on the end of a pump suction pipe.
stub and feathers - the stub is a wedge driven in between two tapered wedges in a bore hole to break down stone.
stythe - bad air.
sump - at the bottom of the shaft, a standage for water.
swapes - tub rails bent to go round a turn.
swalley - a dip or hollow on a roadway.

tageing - a hard fatiguing time or job.
tarry towt - a tarry rope.
tewed - fatigued as "it's been a tewing job".
tokens : pitmen's tallies.
tommy hack - a combined hammer and chisel ended pick used by rolleywaymen.
tuemmen : empty tub. usually pronounced chummum.

varney - very near.
viewer - obsolete term for an underground official.

wedger : anything large or outsize.
weeken - lamp wick.
whimsey - a turntable from which a rope is uncoiled.

yard-wand - deputy' s stick measuring one yard.
yebbel - able