[from A Vocabulary of the Anglo-Manx Dialect, 1924]

A VOCABULARY OF THE ANGLO-MANX DIALECT

NOTE—
B. The Rev. T. E. Brown.
C. Miss Josephine Kermode (‘ Cushag ‘).

O

OABBYR [] (Mx.), hopper.
Take the child to the mill and put her in the oabbyr and the shakin she'll get there will cure the chincough for her.

OALSUM [] (Mx.), ' halse', a rope to tie an animal's head to its leg.
We'll have to put the oalsum on that thief of a cow. We'll put the oalsum on thee, my lad, we'll tie thee head to thee heels.

OARN [] (Mx.), barley.
At Chrissamis time we'd be dhrinkin soo-ny-h-oarn (juice of the barley, i. e. ale).

OASHYRYN, OIRYN [] (Mx.), stockings.
In their keeir-lheeah (grey-brown) oashyryn and stout linsey. The men was in them times weerin oiryn bunny (Mx. oashyryn boynnee), stockins without feet, ye know.

OAYLL [] (Mx.), a haunt, place of resort.
The geese is like the sheep, they have their oayll.

OBLIGATIONS [], compulsion.
They're puttin obligations on the childher now that they mus' go to school whether or not.

OBLIGEMENT [] (also Sc. Irel.), a kindness, obligingness.
I navar seen no obligement with yandher one, all for herself she was.

OBSTHROPOLOUS [], 'obstreperous', refractory, unmanageable.
The hoss become obsthropolous, and kicked and laped lek seven divils.
The boy is that obsthropolous there's no houlin him. He's hopsthroppilus beyon' all.

ODDS [], matter, difference; Oddfellows.
There's odds of women and odds of men (B.). Tha's no odds, i. e. it does not matter.
The Totallers is havin their sarvice nex' Sunday and the Odds the Sunday afther.

OF []. The word 'of' when stressed is pronounced like ' off'; when unstressed it is pronounced ' ov' before a vowel and 'o' [a] before a consonant.
He died covered of debt. You see, of a rule, a fellow doesn like to look like a fool (B.).
To meet together of a Sunday. Agate o' the teethin (B.).

OFF [], from.
Be dasent for all as becomin one comin off Ballacown.
The woman had a style that was off the common (B.), i. e. more than common.

OGH, AUGH [] (Mx. ugh), oh, an exclamation of regret or sorrow.
Ogh ! I navar seen the lek, navar.
Ogh ! the chree was cryin fit to break her heart, all I could get out of her was, ' Ogh ! Ogh ! lave me alone.'
Augh ! the stupit ye are that ye can't undherstan' a birro' Manx.
Augh-haugh! the way the priddas hev tuk the disaise !

OGHAN-NEE [] (Mx. ughanee), alas.
Oghan-nee, oghan-a-nee !
My lil brown jug, how I love thee. (Song.)
Ugh-cha-nee! for the best of men.

OGHE [] (Mx.), the corn that a set of reapers cut at once through a field [CR gives 'oght' or 'ught' - oghe = oven ?]'
When we were reaping with sickles we were beginning at one end of the field and ending when we got right through, and that was an oghe.
Baieyn Ogh.-When the men were fishing in small boats, Baie yn ogh was on their way and they would be fishing there as for a rest on their road home.[? Baie yn ooig - bay of the cave ]

OIE [] (Mx.), night.
And so, oie vie (B.).
Oie vie noght, babban boght, i. e. good night, to-night, poor babe.
'Oie'l Thomase Doo' (Black Thomas' Eve), 21 December, was reckoned the first night of the Christmas holidays, the spinning-wheel must be put aside, the making ofjeebin (net) must cease, and no work be done until after Laayn-giense (Day of the Feast, Twelfth Day.
'Oie'l Vian' (Matthew's Eve), 21 September, was the night of the destruction of the herring fleet in Douglas Bay in the year 1787.
Navar since then do the boats go out to the herrins on Oie'l Vian.
Oul' Mother Coffee was born on Eel Vie-in, the very night of the loss o' the herrin boats and she lived to be clawss (close) on a hundherd.

OIE'L VERREE, OIE'LL VERRY, AIL VAREY [il veri] (Mx. Oie'l Vavree), Eve of Mary, Christmas Eve, and specially the Christmas Eve Church service with carols sung in Manx.
D'you min' them oul' Oie'll Verrys with the hollan all in berries ? Carvelsof coorse-again the Ail Varey (B.).
At an Oie'l Verree in Maughold Church, the carol singing of Billy-HomNick (Billy son of Tom son of Nicholas) seemed likely to go on all night, so the Parson closed the service. Billy-Hom-Nick got on the steps of the dial by the Church gate, and as the Parson went by, Billy bawled out, ' Hims that denies himself before God, hims will I deny before my Father in Heaven.' Then he continued his interrupted carval singing till somewhere in the small hours of the morning.
Billy Hom Nick at the foot of Barrule,
In the parish of Maghal near the new school,
A cooper by trade he made tubs and barrels,
And at Christmas times he sung Manx carols.

OLE [], owl.
I've gorra ole's nes' in yandher big three. Is it a owl's nes' ye're manin ? Yiss, a howl's nes'.
In the same way that 'owl' is pronounced 'ole', 'fowl' is sometimes pronounced 'fole'. A smart young country woman had in a basket some fowls for sale. She called on a lady, asking, ' Do you want any foles ? I've got some nice ones here.' ' Foals!' exclaimed the lady in astonishment, looking up and down the street for a sight of the foals, ' Foals! where ? 'Aw, they're here in me basket', said the girl, lifting the lid and pulling out a pair of fowls.

OLLICK [olak, ülak] (Mx. Nodlick, Nullick, N'Ollick, Yn Ullick), Christmas.
Aw, there was jough yn Ollick (Christmas drink) goin, plenty of it.

OMMIDHAN [omadan] (Mx. ommmdan), fool.
And that big ommidhan of a thing navar to give a bit of help, but starin his two eyes urrov him at the bother I had gerrin urril the ditch. I navar seen such a set of toots and ommidhans as yandher ones.

OMMIJAGH [omadgax] (Mx. ommidjaght), foolishness. Did ye avar hear such ommijagh !

ON [on]. 'On' is used in several idioms derived from the Manx language.
John is the name on me, i. e. my name is John.
What was there doin on her ? i, e. what was the matter with her ?
Wha's come on you at all, at all? I couldn on it, i. e. I could not. I'm thinkin on (of) her night and day.
Wharr are ye thinkin on (of) ? I'm thinkin on (upon) my seat, tha's wharr I'm thinkin on, if ye want to know.
There's no hurry on you, i. e. you need not hurry.
And the go (ado) that was on our Thobm. I passed him without puttin the time of day on him, i. e. without greeting.
The childher is for avar playin on the sthreet and larnin wickadness.
Were ye far on the country to-day ?
She was rared at me an' me daughter's chile, an' married on Dicky-the-win'.
The carvels goin a singin on the night.
Well, the man on the Church (i. e. the Parson) was good enough.
That woman is on the Church, i. e. she receives parish relief.
I've hard wrong things put on (imputed to) people before to-day.
Have you any money on you ?
When he died the money was divided on the children, i. e. the money was divided between the children.
The door was shut on me (i. e. I was shut outside).
The bird flew in on (through) the winda.
Is it comin' on me ye(r) are? (i. e. alluding to).
They had a terrible houl on together (i. e. argument).
I couldn' put the lock on the door (i. e. to lock).
He put wonder on them (i. e. to amaze).
He tuk on ter'ble when the wife died (i. e. lamented).
If she'll take on herself to do it, she'll do it (i. e. attempt, undertake).
Don't let on that I'm here (i. e. pretend).
They set on him (i. e. attacked). They followed on me for miles.

ONE, WAN [won]. Usually 'one' is applied to woman; 'chap' or 'fellow' to a man, but in the plural for both sexes.
Not the one of us knew, i. e. none of us knew.
And the one of us hadn a thing on our head (B.).
Our ones is all well, i. e. all of our family are well.
I've nothin to say to them ones. Kelly's ones is ter'ble to talk. Aw dear! the ones tha's now! (B.), i. e. such people as are now.
Church wans and Chapel wans too.
Come here, you one! Houl' on, one, for all, an' wait a minute. I hevn
been in the fair yet, wan. That one is putting airs on herself. Yondhar fella I was telling ye about.

ONE-ERY [won aril, used in children's counting-out rhymes. ' One-ery, two-ery, dickory Davy,
Hollabo, crackabo, tannery lady, Spin, spon, must be gone, Hollabo, crackabo, twenty-one.'
' One-ery, two-ery, dickory Davey, Hollabrook, crackaboo pender lavey, Pin, pan, musko Dan,
Humble-um, tumble-um, twenty-one.'

ONE-EYED STEAK, a herring.

ONE-SIDY [won seifli], 'one-sided', lopsided.
Her dhress is hangin all one-sidy, and inches longer on the one side till the other. Stan' it up sthrite and don't have it all one-sidy like that.
And drawin a one side (B.), i. e. aside.

ONE-TIME [], once (also Yks. Oxf. Som.).
I knew him one-time. I remember tellin him one-time. When I was a chile one-time, I could sing like a thrush.

OOIG [], a cave in the rocks, or a pit in the ground.
And did ye see the big it was, the Ooig d Goordham ? (This is the name of a cave at Gordan Strand, Kirk Patrick).

OOILLEY [] (Mx.), all.
That man is ' ooilley mee-hene' (all myself), i. e. an egotist.
With the help of the Ooilley-niartal (Almighty) I'll mayvee pull through. By the Ooilley-niartal tha's the very thing we'll thry.
He's a good man ' ooilley as ass' (out and out) is lil Billy ' cam' (crooked).

OOIR [] (Mx.), earth, soil.
They were usin ' ooir ny three cagleeyn' (earth of the three boundaries) for a charm agains' the evil eye. At a place in Dalby where three boundaries meet there used to be a hole as big as the box of a cart where the ooir was
carried away to sprinkle on people. The ooir had to be brought to the house afther the stars was gone and before the sun was come, i. e. in the early dawn.

OORILTAGH [] (Mx.), refreshment, used ironically for a beating.
I'll give you ooriltagh, i. e. I will clout you.

ORCHARD [], a patch of trees.
There was lil orchards of firs grown here and there on the side of the mountain.

ORTCH [o(r)tf], 'orts', refuse, litter, fodder wasted or rejected by cattle; a term of contempt for a woman.
There's far to much straw goin to the cattle for they're ortchin it. They have ortched all the hay.
That dirty ortch of a one. I thought Tom had more sense than to be seen walkin with an ortch like yandher.

ORROV, OURRO' [], 'out of'.
She was freckened urrov massy (mercy). Gerr ourro' me sight.

OSHUS [], 'odious', nauseous.
The smell of it was oshus, feer sickenin it was. An him goin about that stinkin and oshus, aw, put through the dolly-tub is what him and his clothes too is wantin.

OULD, OUL [], 'old'.
' Ould Bags', a name for the wind :-Give me the little gel (boat) that'll kiss Ould Bags in his teeth and spin on her heel (B.).
' Oul' Christmas', Christmas Day Old Style:
Well then, there was a man and his wife had a quarrel one-time about keepin the Christmas. The wife said the oul' Christmas was the right day, and the man he said it was the new Christmas; so to show that he was master, the man dressed himself and went to church that day, and he told his wife to have ' broish phidher' (pease porridge) ready for him when he got home. The wife was determined to keep the oul' Christmas, and so she went and got her queeyl (spinning-wheel) out-that was the greatest indignity she could put on the day, for the queeyl is always put away at Christmas time. And when the man got back from church he found the wife spinning, and priddas and herrin was all he got for his dinner-if he was master she was mistress.

OUT [out], in the expression :
' Out of the new', anew :-So he begun it out of the new. She unripped the half of the stockin and knit it again out o' the new.

OUW [ou] (Mx.), the Marsh Pennywort, Hydrocotyle vulgaris. If sheep'll ate yn ouw they'll die if it's a twelvemonth afther.

OVERLY [ ], very, too. I'm not overly fond of that sort.

OXTHER [ ], oxter', armpit (also N.Ir. Dublin. Wxfd).
And the tiller with only their oxther to't (B.).
The chile tuk a swellin undher the oxther. An oxther full is as much as he brought. Rams it undher his oxthar.