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Growing Up In Feltwell in the 1950s & 60s – Part – 10. Learning to Talk
It was quite possible in the 1950s to be summoned to Methwold Magistrates for using foul language in public – the sort of words which leaders of political parties might now claim to be “cool” to use. I recall several occasions when a group of us might be hanging around workmen when one might say quietly: “Steady now Fred – there are children about, there are children about!” By the time I had heard such expletives I was 9 years old, by which time I was old enough to know never to use them in parents’ hearing. Now, children much younger than 9 use such language. In fact, when my youngest son was 6 I caught him listening to a rap song with that common 4 letter word in it and I gave him a little lecture and he gave me one back: that 4 letter word was nowhere near as bad as a word he had heard me use (eh?). My word? “Bloody!” His mates declared it had to be one of the worst swear words of all ….because only adults used it!
Language evolves: oaths like “Zounds!” (by God’s wounds) and “Strewth!” (by God’s truth) were once strong swear words but now archaic, they are considered harmless. Some substituted “safe” words while still making their meaning clear. Thus “Oh fudge!” if parents or children were in earshot, or “Oh sugar!” And there were words used which didn’t raise an eyebrow even back then (“you daft bugg*r!”) probably because people were not aware of their derivation. One of the least offensive for me to include here was the expression of irritation: “oh he gets on my wick!” which was very common but probably few understood it was cockney rhyming slang. Mother used expressions like “I’m all behind like a cow’s tail today” and being Welsh she spoke words a little differently from everyone else. Unlike my mates, I never noticed her Welsh accent – she was just my mum (our Norfolk-Welsh connection had begun with the previous generation and ended with my brother marrying a Welsh girl) – but expressions like “Come yur now!” and “Be silly!” (“Don’t be so silly!”) do stick in my mind. Others included “Oh that’s just a sprat to catch a mackerel..” and “Talk about mutton dressed up like lamb!” Perhaps they have faded from use as sprats, mackerel and mutton have ceased to be placed in shopping baskets. Upholstery or shirt collars which were showing signs of wear were all “going home.” Another expression mother used was “there’s no getting off it!” which meant (I think) “there’s no getting away from it.” In return, our language has obtained really useful words like “So!” (to be used before anyone responds to a radio or TV presenter’s question) and of course “Oh absolutely!” Given the great changes in the media over the past 60 years it is unsurprising that what we say and the way we speak has changed too. On BBC 1950s recordings people sound clear and precise but also stilted and strange. Not everyone spoke with BBC cut-glass accents but neither did they speak like people in those Antipodean soaps which encouraged the modern style of raising the voice at the end of a sentence. (I bemoan the use of the word “regularly” when what is really meant is “frequently” or “often”!).
So! Can I safely state that the Norfolk accent in Feltwell was much stronger in the 1950s & 60s, than now? Oh absolutely! There was little actual Norfolk dialect still spoken then: you would hear bishy-barney-bee (ladybird); “mawther” (girl); “having a right ol’ barney” (a loud argument) “dussent” (dare not), “frit” (frightened) and “Bor” (boy or mate). I learned dodman (snail) at school but never heard it spoken in context. A strong Norfolk accent however was common: Feltwell resonated with it – notably the flat pronunciation of words like “tube” (toob not tchewb) or “human” (hooman not hewman) and “beauty” (booty not bewty). When all other traces of a Norfolk accent have gone, pronunciation of those words often persists. The Norfolk accent back then might have changed “He should have scored!” to “He should ha’ scored!” but never would it be said “He should of scored…!”. After all, there is no such verb as “to of”! (And on the subject of accents, just east of King’s Lynn Norfolk people still call boots “boats” and the game of bowls is called “bowels”!). “Dockey” was the farm worker’s packed lunch and “bread and pullet” was just bread (with possibly dripping) - but often used just to express a very meagre choice from a depleted pantry.
Young people generally lead the way in finding new words and in the 1950s the “beatniks” (forerunners of the 60s’ “hippies”) had a weird speak of their own. They called the older generation “squares”. On the other hand any “cool” adult could be called “daddy-oh”. If something was good and a bit unconventional it was “gone” - or more emphatically, “really gone!” (and probably just an extension of the more common expression “far out”?). Thus Elvis Presley was really gone for a lot of fans long before he died (you dig?). I could find no reference to that use of “gone” on the internet but a joke I recall involved a lady serving in a students’ cafeteria when a beatnik walks in and asks for a doughnut. “The doughnuts are all gone” she replies. “Oh crazy man” (sic) replies the beatnik, “I’ll have two then!”
Until the early 1960s when washed hair became the choice of most popstars and especially the Beatles, hair cream was favoured by males of all ages and small napkin-like pieces of cloth called “antimacassars” were commonly draped over the backs of upholstered chairs to protect them from hair grease. Elvis Presley’s early hair style owed much to grease: it allowed the hair at the back to be combed into the centre and turned up. Universally known as a “DA”, it mimicked a duck’s backside and was loved by “Teddy Boys” of the 1950s. From 1960 the “beehive” was the style for ladies. Hair was back-combed into a tall conical shape which actresses and stars like Helen Shapiro and celebrities like Jacqueline Kennedy, all sported.
Nearly every male wore ties at some time back then and a garish but stylish tie might be described by the older generation as very “snazzy”. In the 60s we called our “hip” clothes “gear”. But the 2 words that resonated most during the 1960s were “cool” and “groovy”. They meant much the same thing: good, perfect, fashionable etc. The former came back in the 1990s but use of the word groovy after the 1960s was a sure way of showing your age. When I once used “groovy” light heartedly in front of one of my young sons he said simply: “Dad, you shouldn’t use words like that – it’s so old fashioned....and sounds so uncool!
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