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Jennings, James

"The Dialect of the West of England; Particularly Somersetshire"

The lines you desire are these:
Bread and cheese 'e' have a had,
That 'e' had 'e' have a eat,
More 'ch wou'd 'e' had it.
Sounds which, from association no doubt, carry with them to my ear
the idea of great vulgarity: but which might have a very different
effect on that of an unprejudiced hearer, when dignified by an
Anglo-Saxon pedigree. The Scotch dialect, now become _quite
classical_ with us, might, perhaps, labour under the same
disadvantage amongst those who hear it spoken by the vulgar only.
Although I am a native of Somersetshire, I have resided very
little in that county since my childhood, and, in my occasional
visits since, have had little intercourse with the
_aborigines_. I recollect, however, two or three words, which
you might not, perhaps, have met with. One of them of which I have
traditionary knowledge, being, I believe, now quite obsolete.
_Pitisanquint_ was used in reply to an inquiry after the
health of a person, and was, I understand, equivalent to _pretty
well_, or _so so_.


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