Member postings for Ken Humphries 1

Neil Wyatt - Interesting discourse on the origin of "reens". You may be correct, but there is a glaring "contradiction" that jumps out at me. All of the origins you site refer to "that which flows", in one form or another, and that "flowing" is a natural action of Nature. The "reens" I mentioned in the Somerset and Caldicot Levels, all contain NON RUNNING water, and act as drainage ditches to the agricultural land. The only time that water flowed out of them was when sluice gates are opened to release water into the Bristol Channel, which is seldom.

Gordon W. - your "dyke" or "ditch" is also known by yet another name in some parts. Either side of the Bristol channel, there is an area of flat agricultural lands known as the Somerset Levels and the Caldicot Levels. In these parts, they are called "reens".

Although the term "on the scunt" has the Black country as it's origins, it seems that like a pebble thrown into a pond, it's ripples have extended far and wide. I served an engineering apprenticeship in South Wales (commencing 1961), and this term was in use back then to mean "lop sided". Another variation on "a very small amount" was "a gnat's knacker", a temporary resolution was a "lash up", a bad resolution a "cock up", and something poorly assembled was "held together with spit and string". The need to make a part from scratch involved "get a bit of tin, and make one up", and of course anything broken or worn out was "knackered". It is interesting, that even my Worcester born and bred wife knows the term "on the scunt" from working in Cadbury's (Worcester) during the 60's.