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Date: 20/10/14
Having Words
Does your family have words?
By that, I don't mean that phenomenon which can be illustrated by a snatch of the overheard like, "I'm not speaking to Uncle Bert after what Auntie Minnie said about our mam at Doreen's funeral!" (a variation of which is the famous 'Scouse Wedding Syndrome', typified by the remark, "I'm not goin' if she's gonna be dere!").
Rather, I mean vocabulary which seems to be peculiar to one's own kith and kin, and which produces a response of total mystification when used in the presence of the know-nothings outside the circle.
I had thought that spench was one, the word referring to the cupboard under the stairs or similar cramped storage space. But when I was at Uni, I took advantage of my access to the OED and found that - although the precise formulation wasn't present; it was spelled spence in there - it was a known word, with a likely derivation from Latin via Old French.
Two which I haven't - even in these days when, it seems, even the most recondite information can be found online - been able to find any other reference to are shobbin and suth.
Shobbin meant 'hair', and was used by my parents before subjecting me to the mild yoke of basic grooming before going out. "Come here and let me comb your shobbin", is the illustrative example which I heard so many times in my ill-kempt childhood.
Suth meant 'chimney', and was oft-times heard in the context of one of our few family pets, the example here being, "Put the guard on the fire. I'm going to let the budgie out, and I don't want him to get sucked up the suth!".
I have never found any usage of these two words outside of my own immediate family nor, unless the OED has them as well, any derivation or provenance for either. Shobbin may have a Welsh origin, and suth may ultimately be derived from - or be a mangling of - 'soot', but beyond that, I don't know.
The thing is, there must be many words like this which have been part of the regular vocabulary of families the length and breadth, and it seems to me a shame that these strange little pebbles on the great beach of language should simply be ground up and washed away into the ocean of hyper-conformist mass culture which is one of the bewildering plagues of our age. We should, therefore, mark and celebrate them while we can.
