The final piece of advice is especially galling - If you ever do something for nothing then do it for yourself. This is very much at odds with my experience of my fellow Yorkshire folk. If anything, they tend to be charitable and kind - not looking out for number one all the time. Of course, I realise that in saying that I am also in danger of falling into the stereotyping trap.
Nobody seems to know who came up with the lines in the first place but I very much doubt that it was a Yorkshireman or Yorkshirewoman. They are a crude attempt at caricature but the more I think about those words , the more I think - they are not funny and they are not right either.
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In other news... In spite of COVID-19 restrictions, The Laughing Horse Blogging Awards for 2020 will still go ahead as this challenging year draws to a close. The judging committee have been conversing via "Zoom" and following heated discussions the winners have already been chosen. The much anticipated award announcements will be made on New Year's Eve. Unfortunately, there will be no party. No drunken frolics and no joyful assembly of bloggers from around the world. Don't blame The Laughing Horse Awards Committee, blame The Virus! Watch this space.
Ey up cocker. Ta-rah.
ReplyDeleteGie or, ya daft apporth.
DeleteIt had to be a Yorkshire person. No Lancastrian could possibly have imitated the dialect.
ReplyDeleteIt might, of course have been a Lancastrian who said 'You can always tell a Yorkshireman, but you can't tell him much'.
Oddly I read a bit about the War of the Roses recently. I took little notice of it at School if I'm honest but apparently the Yorkists were largely from the South and the Lancastrians from the North. At one time the main base of the Lancastrians was in York. Go figure.
You see all these petty squabbles are really silly. Why can't we all just get on without petty squabbling (after all at least we're not Southerners now).
As John Lennon sang almost fifty years ago..."All You Need is Love".
DeleteI suppose there have always been stereotypes attributed to all regions of the UK. I have certainly seem more than my fair share of offensive ones aimed at my fellow southerners. Those of us who know otherwise can just ignore those ignorant enough to perpetuate them can't we?
ReplyDeleteShame about the lack of a party. I was quite looking forward to my port and lemon and sausages on sticks.
And you would have met Northsider too! Lord Peregrine and Mrs Northsider would never have got to know what transpired in the hotel.
DeleteNow see- if I did not read your blog I would never have truly realized how very separate different parts of GB are. I suppose it's a bit like the US where we have stereotypes of the people in various areas. And as I am sure you know by now, many of them are quite false but...with some truths behind them. In a million years I would not hang a Confederate flag but I certainly am proud of our cuisine.
ReplyDeleteStereotypes are usually obstacles to proper understanding. Best to relate to individuals as you find them - not through some lens that filters the light.
DeleteStereotypes seem to be to be excuses for laziness. It saves us from having to get to know people if we can simply strike them off our list as people not worth getting to know.
DeletePennsylvanians know a real cheesesteak when they taste it.
DeleteEr... This would not be true of me. I have actually never had one.
DeleteThat's not what Google told me!
DeleteSame here in Germany, there are characteristics that have been assigned to the people of each region, which is simply impossible to be true. Not even in one single family can we say they all have this or that character trait. My sister and I were raised by the same parents and are only 14 months apart in age, and yet we are very different in character, outlook, interests and even looks.
ReplyDeleteThe Laughing Horse Awards will be watched with much anticipation over here - OK will have to wait for me to join our own New Year‘s Eve celebration until it‘s over.
Oh Lord - how much sparkling wine you consumed at past Laughing Horse Awards parties! Your thirst is legendary!
DeleteI think in the past, people were more separated, less connected and when we are separate we like to believe that we're different, except we're not of course. People are pretty much the same everywhere, mostly good, sometimes unkind, often scared and then we transfer that fear onto others. We're a messy bunch.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to the awards and have already purchased a crate of wine for the event.
Only one crate? You must be cutting back on your wine intake Lily.
DeletePrior to meeting you, Neil, I always thought of Yorkshire people in terms of the book The Secret Garden. Down to earth, plain speaking, kind folk. Have you ever read that book? Or read it to your children? It's one of my childhood favorites.
ReplyDeleteI'll be grabbing a bottle of bubbly for the Laughing Horse Awards! Too bad we can't gather this year.....
Yes I have read "The Secret Garden" and I have seen the film of it made in 1993. I have not seen the 2020 film version. We all need secret gardens - metaphorically speaking.
DeleteI'm not sure what the Laughing Horse thing is all about. It sounds like an excuse to get riotous and rowdy. Just what I would have expected from a Yorkshireman.
ReplyDelete*superior sniff*
Not everyone can be as cultured and sophisticated as you are Debby!
DeleteI would never have even understood those lines without your "translations"! I always associate Yorkshire with James Herriot, who seemed like a very upstanding guy -- but apparently he was actually born in Sunderland!
ReplyDeleteHe may have been born in Sunderland but his character was formed in North Yorkshire.
DeleteThat kind of prejudices and mockery has probably always existed between groups of people. I have an old Swedish reader/school book from 1910 that belonged to my grandfather (born 1904). It includes a variety of texts, including some that try to pin down characteristics of the inhabitants of different provinces of Sweden (not unlike that card, but sounding more seriously meant). Today, 110 years later, I think some of those prejudices still live on - but should anyone try to put them in a modern schoolbook I'm sure it would cause national outrage and censoring. The "pay nawt" thing immediately made me think of one of those texts - and my guess is that most people my age or older and having lived all their life in Sweden would probably know what province I'm thinking of, whether they ever read their grandparents' school books or not. And much the same thing is also still being said about the inhabitants of the city where I live now, which has been a commercial/trading city since the 1600s.
ReplyDeleteInteresting and informative reflections DT. Thank you.
DeleteThere are metrics that can prove or disprove stereotypes (such as charitable donations compared to household income, for example). But I find in general I'd rather get to know individuals than rely on broad characterizations.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you're going ahead with the awards despite COVID.
Yes. The crown you have worn since this time last year is soon to be passed to someone else. Your reign is almost over Queen Jenny.
DeleteNow just imagine your readers joined the presentation via zoom.
ReplyDeleteNow that would be something wouldn't it? Mind you - there's something quite nice about being people we only really "know" through the words we write and the pictures we post.
DeleteSurprisingly I understood what was written. I know little of Yorkshire and its character, aside from moors and James Heriot. My niece's new partner comes from Stockton on Tees, almost Yorkshire.
ReplyDeleteStockton is on the north bank of the Tees so it is in County Durham - looking enviously across the river to Yorkshire.
DeleteI think most groups get ribbed about characteristics in fun. However as you say some of these are stereotypes and they're not funny. I like to see the language on the post card. I hear some of it here.
ReplyDelete"Ee Keith, tha's a lazy bugger. Gerrup off tha fart arse an ger outside t' shovel t'snow!"
DeleteA question, if I may. When we travel between our home near Perth, Scotland to visit our son in Cheltenham we generally break the journey with sort of mid-way overnight stays, and have done so in many places between and including the Lake District and Birmingham. So is Sheffield an interesting place to maybe spend an evening and a morning? We have not driven through the Peak District either, so could incorporate that, I suppose; but we do find most new towns and cities worth a visit. Recommendations for Sheffield? (or perhaps a "Steely" stay away ye Scots!?).
ReplyDeleteThe delight of visiting new places has been much reduced by COVID restrictions.
DeleteI guess you would be coming down via the A1, M1 then later on to Cheltenham via the M42 and M5. The Peak District is a little awkward to access from either the M1 or the M6 and I don't know when you would be coming down.
However for a little taste of The Peak, I would suggest Castleton or Bakewell. Castleton sits at the head of The Hope Valley and there are certainly rooms in the pub-hotels there. Bakewell probably has more rooms and makes a good base but is arguably less scenic than Castleton. Tideswell is also a special place - it is where my daughter was married - and there are usually rooms in The George for example.
You might also think about Matlock.
Thanks for the suggestions. We are currently not allowed across the border [some English-folk may be glad :)], but our next trip will be after restrictions lift enough for us to be allowed out and restaurants and cafes are fully open. Myself and my wife had The Covid recently (not nice but we got off lightly) so we should really be given licence to roam!?
DeleteHappy to hear that you and your wife have both survived COVID. I hope that neither of you are suffering from on-going effects. It will be nice for you to visit The Peak District in the spring or summertime. Why not give yourselves a couple of days? Many visitors like to see Chatsworth House which is close to Bakewell.
Delete