*SPRACK (of children)’ [also north Somerset, SED VIII.9.1; known to be a ‘fidgety word of the south and west, originally brisk (esp. of children)’ in a general ‘active, sense (OED)] SPREETHED or *SPREAZED (of skin, hands)’; cf. SED VI.7.2 in spreed ‘chapped Gloucestershire and other south-western counties THE KIDDIES best’ (set phrase used like the bee’s knees, the tops) ‘the TOPPER crust (of bread)’ ‘end TURBO of local home-brewed cider’ [cf. Turbo Island in Stokes Croft, used by ‘kind street cider-drinkers] (TO) TWAT hit’ (MV sceptical whether it’s Bristolian; he mentions Red Dwarf as ‘to possible source of it as a slang word) Richard Coates with the help especially of Brian Iles and Matthew Vicker, and the unwitting assistance of others (RC’s direct observations are marked ∆) 26 May 2010, revised 14 February 2013, 18 March 2014, 14 October 2014, 8 December 2014 References to printed linguistic sources Breeze, Andrew (1993) Welsh baban Ancrene Wisse. Notes and Queries 40, 12-13. ‘baby’and Kester, M. W. H. (1979) The Bristol dialect: a comparison between age-groups. Dissertation, University of Bristol. [No longer available. A copy used to be held in the English department.] OED = Oxford English dictionary, online edition. Harold, Stewart Sanderson and John Widdowson (1978) The linguistic atlas of England. Beckenham: Croom Helm, etc., for the University of Leeds. Harry’, and Green’, pseudonyms (2005) A dictionary of Bristle, 2nd edn. Bristol: ‘Vinny Broadcast Books. [Contains lots of dubious material and some gems.] Upton, Clive, Stewart Sanderson and John Widdowson (1987) Word maps: a dialect atlas of England. London, etc.: Croom Helm.
*SPRACK ‘fidgety (of children)’ [also north Somerset, SED VIII.9.1; known to be a word of the south and west, originally ‘active, brisk (esp. of children)’ in a general sense (OED)] SPREETHED or *SPREAZED ‘chapped (of skin, hands)’; cf. spreed SED VI.7.2 in Gloucestershire and other south-western counties THE KIDDIES ‘the best’ (set phrase used like the bee’s knees, the tops) TOPPER ‘end crust (of bread)’ TURBO ‘kind of local home-brewed cider’ [cf. Turbo Island in Stokes Croft, used by street cider-drinkers] (TO) TWAT ‘to hit’ (MV sceptical whether it’s Bristolian; he mentions Red Dwarf as possible source of it as a slang word) Richard Coates with the help especially of Brian Iles and Matthew Vicker, and the unwitting assistance of others (RC’s direct observations are marked ∆) 26 May 2010, revised 14 February 2013, 18 March 2014, 14 October 2014, 8 December 2014 References to printed linguistic sources Breeze, Andrew (1993) Welsh baban ‘baby’and Ancrene Wisse. Notes and Queries 40, 12-13. Kester, M. W. H. (1979) The Bristol dialect: a comparison between age-groups. Dissertation, University of Bristol. [No longer available. A copy used to be held in the English department.] OED = Oxford English dictionary, online edition. Harold, Stewart Sanderson and John Widdowson (1978) The linguistic atlas of England. Beckenham: Croom Helm, etc., for the University of Leeds. Harry’, and ‘Vinny Green’, pseudonyms (2005) A dictionary of Bristle, 2nd edn. Bristol: Broadcast Books. [Contains lots of dubious material and some gems.] Upton, Clive, Stewart Sanderson and John Widdowson (1987) Word maps: a dialect atlas of England. London, etc.: Croom Helm.
Bristol%20lexis%20current.docx