Word of the Week Wednesday - A 'mardle' about Broad Norfolk!

Those of you who have been with me for some time will know that I am a Norfolk Girl, born and bred.  I moved to Dorset after university and still miss Norfolk to this day.  I miss many things about Norfolk (previously blogged about here)but most of all I miss the accent and the regional dialect, known as Broad Norfolk.

Broad Norfolk was first noted in the 17th Century and, although still used by many, it is slowly dying out.  I'm sad to say that when I left Norfolk I seem to have left my accent behind too.  I still use the dialect words I grew up with and everytime I go home it only take 5 minutes in the company of my Dad and my accent returns.  

I often get comments about the words I use which are not known here in Dorset so I thought I would add a feature to the blog.......Word of the Week Wednesday.  Each Wednesday I'll post a Norfolk Dialect word....and hopefully together we can help keep this dialect alive.

There can be only one word to start this new feature...........



Mardle; 1. to Gossip, Idle or have a Casual Chat.  2. A village pond.
In use we might say "we had a rare good ol' mardle, he and I"

I love the word mardle, I love how it rolls off the tongue.  

I thought the use of the word mardle for a blog name was perfect.......because lets face it blogging is really just a good ol' chat with friends.  Mardle Made jumped out as the perfect name for my jewellery business because I learn't to silversmith in a group and we'd have a good ol' mardle as we went about our jewellery making.  Mardle Made was born!

Do you have a dialect where you live, or come from?  I'd love to hear about it.  What are your favourite words?