LAST week, we told of the downfall of a Barnard Castle “yacca”, by which we meant farmer, who was diddled out of his substantial market day takings 150 years ago by a couple of callous Darlington tricksters. The D&S of 1872 rather mocked the country bumpkin who was taken for a ride by the big town conmen.

“I was intrigued by your use of the word ‘yacca’,” writes David Oliver. “I was a child in the 1950s and we used to use this word a lot, together with a lot of other long forgotten dialect words. It meant to us a horny-handed clodhopping son of the soil unused to us wise (or so we thought) Darlingtonians.

“I don’t recall hearing the word since. I’ve just googled it and nothing has turned up. I’ve asked my two sons in their thirties and they have no idea what it means, so I’m pleased to see the word isn’t obsolete.”

Read more: How a Barnard Castle farmer was swindled on market day in Darlington

When Looking Back had the great joy to turn out for Barnard Castle Cricket Club in the early 1990s, the team was a fascinating mix of students, prison workers, Glaxo workers, a wet fish shop keeper, an accountant and several farmers who were referred to as ‘yaccas’. It was rarely said to their faces as there was an unspoken inference that it was very rude, although it was meant fondly – one of the yaccas was the captain who could carry the rest of us with his batting or bowling.

Is it just a Teesdale word or does it have wider meaning, and how rude is it to be called a yacca?