Tuesday, January 23, 2007

'Nesh'

......Temperature drops a degree or two. Corndon and the Stiperstones are dusted with a hint of snow. And we rush in from a hen-tending dart down the garden, blow on our thumbs, clutch the Aga and pronounce 'OMG it's sooo cold out there'. The other person in the room addresses the shivering wimp thus: 'Don't be so bloody nesh....' You get the picture.

I Googled it:

Being either afraid of the cold or feeling the cold a lot. Used across the Midlands of England and the north.
........"You nesh git, you don't need a coat."

Averse to cold weather; soft, delicate'* 1913:
.........."F-ff-f!" he went, pretending to shudder with cold.
"Goodness, man, don't be such a kid!" said Mrs. Morel. "It's NOT cold."
"Thee strip thysen stark nak'd to wesh thy flesh i' that scullery," said the miner, as he rubbed his hair; "nowt b'r a ice-'ouse!"
"And I shouldn't make that fuss," replied his wife.
"No, tha'd drop down stiff, as dead as a door-knob, wi' thy nesh sides."

— DH Lawrence, Sons and Lovers

(Bit of a pompous speech that last one - but that's DH Lawrence for you. On second thoughts 'self-conscious' would be better) Wikepedia will probably tell you as much about 'nesh' as you need to know.

Anyway, today's been a day for feeling nesh. It's cold. Damned cold. Any daffodil thinking of flowering prematurely should think again.

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