Word up for bostin' competition

The origins of 20 Black Country words have been revealed as part of a competition held at libraries across Walsall.

Wendy Gibbs, of Armitage, in Rugeley, won Walsall Library's Werd Yo' Cum From? competition.

Mrs Gibbs, a regular visitor at The Local History Centre, scooped two tickets to the Black Country Living Museum after her name was picked out of a prize draw.

Entrants were challenged to find the meaning of words and phrases such as tode (told), wum (home), blart (to cry), ligger (liar), ginnel (narrow entry/passage) and "e wudn't gie yow 'is nail cuttings" (he's very mean).

Other words under investigation were cut (canal), clack (noisy chatter), Humpshire (Willenhall), kaggy-handed (left handed) and firk (probe, delve or search). Research carried out using Local History Centre resources also revealed the word Pleck is used to describe a wasteland or open space, mucker means to worry about or create a mess, trankliments refers to trappings and ornaments, while 'iz fairther wo be jed so long as 'e's alive" means he looks just like his father.

The competition was launched in October last year and coincided with the National Year of Reading.

Mrs Gibbs, who was born in Walsall but now lives in Rugeley, said: "I knew some of the words already. The ones I didn't know, I went to the Local History Centre and looked on the internet to find out." Husband Bernard joined her to pick up her prize. As part of the competition, she was asked to come up with a new Black Country word of her own and conjured up "scagging off", meaning to go off without telling anyone.

Councillor Louise Harrison, cabinet member for Walsall Council, said: "We're proud of our heritage here in Walsall and the competition was a fun way to celebrate our unique dialect. Many of us can recall words and phrases that our parents used when we were children that often were unique and unfamiliar to other families.

"And it's often amusing in our later years to remember how these expressions came about."

Cath Yates, local studies librarian at the Local History Centre, in Essex Street, thanked everybody who took part in the competition.