Goozlegogs

Introduction

This is from a Seven Days In post from 2020 and it was fairly short so I will add a lot of observations in the intro and conclusion.

I am currently suffering from 'flu' (the only word I know that is doubly contracted, start and end) so have not been very present on social media, but this was getting some attention on the blog so I thought that my Vocal friends might be interested.

I know this is essentially about an amusing word for gooseberries but that is the fun of how language evolves. William Shakespeare made up (or should that be created) many words and phrases that are still in use today, and if he hadn't there are many wordsmiths out there who are adding to our language.

When I read Polly Jean Harvey's amazing book "Orlam", I learned a lot of Dorset words for things. The book also inspired me to create many Vocal Stories which you can find here:

There is a fourteen page glossay of Dorset terms and this is the first book written in Dorset dialect for decades.

These are a few favourites:

Twiddick - A Small Twig

Vlittermouse - A Bat

Twanketen - Melancholy

Thick As Inkle Weavers - Close as in friendship. From Inkle, a kind of tape for a very narrow loomat which the weavers sat close, side by side.

Chattermag - Magpie

Dumbledore - Bumble Bee

Gawl, Gawly - An opening. An empty place, a bare patch: Empty, Hollow

Gnang - To mock by half-clear sounds, wagging the jaw with a grin

Goozlegogs

I'm rereading "Coldheart Canyon" by Clive Barker and it is a lot more interesting than I remembered, though I am down to the last hundred pages now, and don't have a clue how it is going to finally end.

I'm quite surprised it's a week since my last post, although I've kept to my promise to post less this year than I did last year, and I think I may end up with around two hundred posts.

Though I've lived in Fenham for twenty years , there's still lots of places I've never visited and one is the Moorside Allotments Association shop , who sell gardening related stuff and other things and I finally visited them this Sunday morning past, and bought three jars of their home made jam, one of which was Gooseberry which I have not had for years, and certainly not homemade. I think my great, but sadly missed friend Chris used to call Gooseberries Goozlegogs, which I think is a great word, though it generally seems to be Goosegogs on the internet.

If you live in or near Fenham it's well worth a visit , though it is only open Saturday and Sunday ten til twelve.

So I've been listening to a lot of music this week as always and am wondering what to share with you, I would like something gooseberry or jam related and I suppose a gooseberry is the one that makes it a crowd so for some reason the song that has sprung out at me is "The Uninvited Guest" by Marillion, which is a wonderful song and a good one to share as Friday draws ever closer.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading and I hope you have enjoyed the words that I have shared. I am not sure how often Seven Days In will keep throwing up these stories for me to share with you, but there are over two and half thousand posts on there, so still more than my Vocal Stories, but probably not for long.