THE annual Christmas Crack of the Yorkshire Dialect Society takes place tomorrow, at 2pm in the Skell Building of St John’s College, York. Everyone is welcome.

The event will consist of readings and talks in and about the dialects of this massive county and I shall be there to wave the flag for the North Riding/North Yorkshire.

It is a coincidence, therefore, that shortly before compiling these notes, I received a letter from a reader living near Skipton in Craven. It concerned one of my contributions to The Yorkshire Dalesman where I mentioned the word “capped” as meaning pleased or surprised. My correspondent tells me that she understood that “fair capped” also means very pleased or delighted.

It seems that my correspondent’s understanding of these meanings for “capped” and “fair capped”

have been questioned by readers of the Craven Herald because some people wrote to the paper to say that “capped” really means “surprised”. My correspondent has written to me for clarification.

My own opinion is that the correspondents of the Craven Herald are not totally accurate because “capped” has several meanings in different parts of Yorkshire. Certainly, it can mean to be pleased or thrilled, and it can also mean surprised. In my home area of the North York Moors, capped always meant to be delighted or pleased about something.

There are several dialect dictionaries to support this – Arnold Kellett’s Yorkshire Dictionary says “cap means to surprise, astonish, to beat, surpass” while Sir Alfred Pease in his Dictionary of the North Riding dialect says “cap” is to excel, surpass, to be astonished, to out-do, to suit, to be pleased, to put a finishing stroke or touch to – and he gives examples such as “That caps owt”, “Ah was fair capped” and so on.

When I had a new fireplace fitted in my previous cottage, a local man came and saw it, saying: “By, that’s capped it”, and if our cricketers play for their county or country they are rewarded with a cap. Thus they are capped, and I am sure they are very pleased to be honoured in this way.

Richard Blakeborough’s Yorkshire Wit, Character, Folklore and Customs is rather brief, but it says that “cap” is to fix a piece of leather over the toe of a boot, but also to surprise, bewilder or excel. He adds that “a capper” is something that surpasses all others, and “caps all” means to exceed in everything.

It does seem that the word has different meanings in different parts of Yorkshire, but in the Moors where I live, fair capped means to be very pleased or thrilled, eg “Ah’s fair capped aboot it.” I felt my correspondent should write to the paper and point out the variations to her critics. That’ll cap ’em!

CONTINUING the topic of dialect words with several interpretations, perhaps one of the most useful of our words is fettle.

It can almost mean anything you want it to mean and if someone asks you “What fettle today?” it means they are asking about your health or state of well-being.

“Out of fettle” means poorly (dowly) or slightly off-colour, but the word is also used to describe the state of other things such as the land, animals, the weather and almost anything else.

If the ground is in good fettle, it is well-cultivated and productive, while a car in good fettle means it is going very well; animals can be in good fettle, and even one’s accounts can be in good fettle if the business or household is well managed.

Fettle can also mean to fix things, repair them, adapt them for other purposes or to deal with something.

“Ah’ve fettled yon leaking tap” means it has been made to stop leaking. Fettling a meal means to prepare it, fettling the garden means to tidy it or dig it over where necessary, and even a person who has been attended by a doctor or nurse might be said to be fettled once they have been treated or even bandaged.

In this case, fettle can refer to care and attention to another’s needs There are many other local words that have different meanings. One simple example is “fell”. In the Pennine Dales bordering the Lake District, a fell is a stretch of high land, but the term is not used to indicate high land in either the Wolds of the East Riding or the loftier parts of the North York Moors.

Many Yorkshire folk instinctively know that when fells are mentioned, they refer to the western edge of the county, or the hills of West Durham and, of course, those in the Lake District.

A fellmonger, however, was not someone who worked especially in the fells. In this sense, fell meant the raw hide or pelt of an animal, particularly sheep, and a fellmonger was the person who dealt in such commodities.

Many fellmongers belonged to a guild and I believe one continues to exist at Richmond.

The word prefix “fell” in this instance refers to the raw or undressed hide – fell and meat meant skin and flesh, while fell and bone meant skin and bone. There is also a sewing term – run and fell – which is a type of seam. REPORTS that a pine marten has been photographed in woodland on the North York Moors have helped to support long-term rumours of the presence of this very rare animal. For several years, rumours have persisted to the effect that pine martens, said to be the country’s second-rarest carnivores, have made their home in the North York Moors, but such reports have not been confirmed.

Even the photograph that appeared in this paper on November 15 cannot be confirmed as a pine marten, although experts believe it is highly likely.

To support the belief that this beautiful but rare creature has adapted to the woodlands of the North York Moors will continue to intrigue us, but the report on November 15 did remind us that the carcass of a pine marten was found beside a road in 1993, having apparently been struck by a car.

These creatures are difficult to see because they are mainly nocturnal and shy away from populated areas.

In medieval times, pine martens were so numerous in the North York Moors that they were persecuted as pests. People who trapped or killed them were paid a bounty by the church wardens of each parish, and some of their records still exist. The martens were classed as vermin and persecution persisted through Victorian and Edwardian times with gamekeepers destroying them until they were thought extinct.

In spite of these attacks, the pine martens survived, probably by moving into even more remote areas, and by 1971 they were known to exist in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and isolated parts of Northern England.

It is an extremely handsome creature, being a relation of polecats, ferrets, stoats and weasels. With rich dark brown fur, a cream breast, cream ears and about the size of a domestic cat with a long bushy tail it is most distinctive.

But very elusive!