Bob- you lug things by the lugs (ears) on the jug.
SallyE


on 21/9/02 1:34 pm, Bob Cooper at [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Hi Arthur,
> Thanks for the information about the use of the word “heft” where you live!
> It’s always interesting to discover regional language treasures – and “heft”
> is one of them!
> I guess the way it’s used by shepherd’s in the Dales to describe
> characteristics of their sheep must have originated centuries ago – perhaps
> when the word may have been used differently again! It’s only my fancy that
> makes me say this but I guess the original Dales shepherds must have had to
> borrow words from other disciplines to describe things (like computer
> operatives have to do in our day). Words, like the guidelines of grammar,
> get stolen, or mutate or evolve. Or it might even be that the Shepherd’s
> “heft” is a different word altogether – that’s spelt the same! (Oh, I often
> pity the poor scribes that first had to write words down. If they came from
> elsewhere how could the spell what they were hearing for the first time?).
> I guess the word I initially noticed in the North East was “canny” (which
> has an almost opposite meaning to how it’s used in Scotland). I assume the
> word’s are closely related, share the same origins, but different meanings
> emerged in different cultures.
> And I realised, a few weeks ago, that the verb “cleave” seems to have
> opposite meanings, too. It can be used to mean cling but it also can be used
> to mean to split or break apart.
> But heft (and the phrases you record in how it’s used) are now in my word
> hoard.
> And I guess "lug" is two words! Lug is something I've always used instead of
> ear... and lug also means something like tug or pull or carry.
> Bob
> 
> 
> 
>> From: arthur seeley <[log in to unmask]>
>> Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Heft
>> Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 17:42:06 +0100
>> 
>> Not to labour the point to much but I have been thinking how I hear it
>> used.
>> I have to admit not every day for a start. But usage such as:
>> 'This has a good heft to it.'
>> 'Give us a heft with this'.
>> are more common where the word is not quite a verb its more a quality or a
>> noun. Nevertheless I have heard folk say
>> 'I was hefting this suitcase up on to the luggage rack and........'
>> or 'Nay, I have enough on hefting ( also lugging) all this shopping.'
>> Interesting that though 'lugging', don't you think? .especially when one
>> considers 'luggage' and a 'lugger'.
>> And just to really get off the subject I heard a lady ask for her boiled
>> ham
>> cutting ' as thick as bull's lug' only yesterday morning and the butcher
>> did
>> so without batting an eye or raising an eyebrow.Regards Arthur.-----
>> Original Message -----
>> From: "Bob Cooper" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2002 4:54 PM
>> Subject: Re: Heft
>> 
>> 
>>> Yeh, Arthur, the word "hefty" is used fairly commonly (and, in relation
>> to
>>> fines, could probably get mentioned even by the BBC newsreaders and
>>> commentators!) but when the last letter's knocked off, when it ain't an
>>> adjective, it becomes rather rare. The "y" letter on the end changes the
>> use
>>> of the word (changes the word!).
>>> And "hefted sheep" is fascinating! The words that link with "heft" (by
>>> adding letters to the word) probably have other almost lost (and
>> altogether
>>> lost) uses hidden behind them.
>>> Using words in ways they ain't used no more is, I think, the issue here.
>>> Grasshopper says she uses "hefting" and I suspect I may have heard (and
>>> never questioned the meaning of that word) and you now illustrate a
>> point
>> by
>>> saying "hefty" (and I recognise that word, accept that word) but is
>> "heft"
>>> (the four letter word with nothing added) used? I mean, are you quoting
>> a
>>> Pennine saying when you say: "how can you know if you do not heft it?"
>> (I'm
>>> saying it in mock-Pennine in my head as I write...
>>> "How-can-yeh-know-if-y-dunt-heft-it") and it "sounds" believable, it
>> feels
>>> as if it still belongs to the contemporary world.
>>> Bob
>>> 
>>>> From: arthur seeley <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>> Subject: Re: Heft
>>>> Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 15:47:49 +0100
>>>> 
>>>> I am puzzled that this word worries folk. Is it so rarely heard. Have
>> you
>>>> heard of people paying a hefty fine, or something being hefty in
>> weight,
>>>> how can you know if you do not heft it ?? Clearly it derives from heavy
>> and
>>>> heaved, etc. I would not have thought it would cause so much trouble.
>>>> Incidentally there are in the Lakes and Northern Dales, 'hefted '
>> flocks
>> of
>>>> sheep, such flocks do not wander and if a shepherd requires to see a
>> sheep
>>>> of hefted stock he will return to its birthplace and find it within 150
>>>> yards of the spot. An ewe of hefted stock will return to its
>> birth[place
>> to
>>>> bear its young. Unfortunately this rare and wondrous breed was
>> dreadfully
>>>> decimated by the Foot and Mouth outbreak and it is feared that the
>> instinct
>>>> might be lost altogether. The word hefted as used here bears little
>>>> relationship as far as I can see to my use of the word.
>>>> Just a useless piece of Dales' Lore to wile away the hours. Regards
>> Arthur.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _________________________________________________________________
>>> MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
>>> http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
> Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.
> http://www.hotmail.com