Local Dialect: Gert!

Spray of elderflowers

There's a saying that summer begins when the elder comes into flower and ends when the berries are ripe. So, summer has officially begun! The elderflowers are in bloom and they're beautiful.

As we were wandering along a lane the other day, I noticed them and commented to Andy that the sprays of them are looking well gert this year. Further down the path, Andy pointed out that there were gert loads of them. Gert. It's a word we use a lot! Unless you're from the southern half of England though, especially the West Country, you probably won't really have come across it before.

Gert is a word from middle English apparently, and it basically means big. Sometimes the sounds in words get interchanged (like aks and ask) and it's the same in this case - gert is derived from great.

Elderflowers

So, you might spot some gert big sprays of elderflowers on your daily walk, or you might say the hare you saw was pretty gert or that you saw a well gert yew tree!

If you'd just discovered some tasty wild raspberries and, you're really going for it with the West Country words, you'd describe them as gert lush.

So, there you go - gert ^_^

Your turn - please add comments below with your similar local dialect words. They're always good to hear!