Farm Sayings

eeeee

He/she is the two ends of an eegit.

kerryjack

Better to be born lucky than to be born rich. I wasn't born rich but I was certainly born lucky in the woman I met and my kids are all healthy and happy. E

Danzy

There are only 2 bolloxes in this village and you are both of them.

popa smurf

Not really farm saying but some I use in a daily basis
Be a warrior not a worrier. I always have the battle face on have to working in construction
And another one by the great Roy Keane fail to prepare, prepare to fail that's one that should be written up in every kids bedroom wall.

monseiur

An old neighbour of mine had a saying about a person lacking in intelligence / simple minded or may have slight mental issues ' That fella is not the full schilling'
Another version I heard is 'That fella is a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

patsy_mccabe

Better to light a candle, than curse the dark.

Bass Reeves

It takes a b@llox to know a b@llox and a bigger one at that

NcdJd

A grafter. Locally it's used to refer to someone that keeps the head down, works hard and gets the job done. "He's a grafter"

Was looking up the word on the internet there and there's various meanings including a thief and someone who grafts fruit trees.

Don't know how it got to mean what we meant it to mean locally but there ya go.

The Continental Op

NcdJd wrote: »

A grafter. Locally it's used to refer to someone that keeps the head down, works hard and gets the job done. "He's a grafter"

Was looking up the word on the internet there and there's various meanings including a thief and someone who grafts fruit trees.

Don't know how it got to mean what we meant it to mean locally but there ya go.

I've also used the term for a very strong often steel handled spade used for digging holes for gate posts etc. Also know as a Graft.

Hard graft = hard work.

jc bamford

Go mbeirimid beo ar an am seo arís.
Broadly translates: May we live to see this time next year. Used to hear it said as we sat down to the goose on Christmas day or the first meal of new potatoes in the end of June

Lime Tree Farm

Had a laugh with my sister in the UK when she heard I was after consuming a few glasses of wine, "Well the devil mend you". It was an expression used by our father when we did something wrong.

john9876

NcdJd wrote: »

A grafter. Locally it's used to refer to someone that keeps the head down, works hard and gets the job done. "He's a grafter"

Was looking up the word on the internet there and there's various meanings including a thief and someone who grafts fruit trees.

Don't know how it got to mean what we meant it to mean locally but there ya go.

Speaking about how we use some words differently.
Where I come from a ditch is a physical barrier made of stones and/or soil. A dike is an open channel dug alongside a ditch to drain away rainwater etc.
I believe in other parts including the UK and Holland the words are used the other way around, ie a dike is a physical structure and a ditch is an open channel used to drain rainwater etc.

The Continental Op

john9876 wrote: »

Speaking about how we use some words differently.
Where I come from a ditch is a physical barrier made of stones and/or soil. A dike is an open channel dug alongside a ditch to drain away rainwater etc.
I believe in other parts including the UK and Holland the words are used the other way around, ie a dike is a physical structure and a ditch is an open channel used to drain rainwater etc.

Thats right the "ditch" thing is bloody confusing.

If I use the word in the English sense I add the word open or drainage. So I'd talk about an open ditch or a drainage ditch to make it sound more like something dug out.

I think the word ditch originally referred to both the dug out part and the spoil thrown up from it.

NcdJd

In my local area ditch refers to a dug out drain that drains water either all year round or in winter. Usually there is a hedge one side of it which usually is the boundary, eg I have boundaries with my neighbour, the ditches are on our side but the hedge on his side and that's the boundary. Soil at the side of the ditch is called a bank here as are embankments (would be rare, just thinking there are not too many fields around here that don't have a ditch going all the way round them). Never heard of dyke being used around here. Drains we'd use to describe underground pipes draining water out of a field into the ditch

kerryjack

You have to be careful if you are using the word dike as it has another meaning as well, its slang for leisbian. So if you tell your American friends I was clearing out the dikes today they would look at you a bit funny.

NcdJd

Wire away - go ahead

eeeee

Lamp on - same, go ahead.

Jb1989

eeeee wrote: »

Lamp on - same, go ahead.

Plough on

vincenzolorenzo

NcdJd wrote: »

In my local area ditch refers to a dug out drain that drains water either all year round or in winter. Usually there is a hedge one side of it which usually is the boundary, eg I have boundaries with my neighbour, the ditches are on our side but the hedge on his side and that's the boundary. Soil at the side of the ditch is called a bank here as are embankments (would be rare, just thinking there are not too many fields around here that don't have a ditch going all the way round them). Never heard of dyke being used around here. Drains we'd use to describe underground pipes draining water out of a field into the ditch

Same here in N Kildare. For a long long time I could never understand the phrase 'hurler on the ditch' Why would he be down in a wet hole?!

stoneill

NcdJd wrote: »

In my local area ditch refers to a dug out drain that drains water either all year round or in winter. Usually there is a hedge one side of it which usually is the boundary, eg I have boundaries with my neighbour, the ditches are on our side but the hedge on his side and that's the boundary. Soil at the side of the ditch is called a bank here as are embankments (would be rare, just thinking there are not too many fields around here that don't have a ditch going all the way round them). Never heard of dyke being used around here. Drains we'd use to describe underground pipes draining water out of a field into the ditch

Ditch to drain water out, Dyke is a barrier to keep water out, or a lady in flat shoes.

Lime Tree Farm

Open trenches on field boundary, filled with water from field drains. Water in trenches flows down to river. Earth banks created with the soil from the trench, usually has hedging on top.

_Brian

It’s interesting how different terminology is so prevalent on a small island.

Here trench of water here can be ditch, gripe or siuc (not sure of the spelling on that)

Siuc also lends itself to the saying “I was full as a siuc last night” obviously referring to having a nip too much.

Above them you’ll find your planted ditch or hedge.

Note* ditch is interchangeable depending on who your talking to and is a sort of general term to a boundary.

I’ve never ever heard the term dike/dyke used by a farmer.

In our area the boundary responsibility for stock proofing lies on the hedge side of the water, if the hedge is on your side then you must keep it stock proof, if it’s on mine it’s up to me. I’m not sure how widespread that notion is.

joe35

Had an uncle home from Scotland a few years ago. He was telling me he remembered himself and my father building the 'dyke' in the far field.

I didn't know what he was talking about, he has a very strong accent. Only after me asking him about 5 times did I realise that he was on about building the ditch. It's the only time I ever heard the word dyke. I thought it was just his pronunciation.

It was a stone wall.

NcdJd

_Brian wrote: »

It’s interesting how different terminology is so prevalent on a small island.

Here trench of water here can be ditch, gripe or siuc (not sure of the spelling on that)

Siuc also lends itself to the saying “I was full as a siuc last night” obviously referring to having a nip too much.

Above them you’ll find your planted ditch or hedge.

Note* ditch is interchangeable depending on who your talking to and is a sort of general term to a boundary.

I’ve never ever heard the term dike/dyke used by a farmer.

In our area the boundary responsibility for stock proofing lies on the hedge side of the water, if the hedge is on your side then you must keep it stock proof, if it’s on mine it’s up to me. I’m not sure how widespread that notion is.

Never heard of gripe or siuc. The boundary thing would be the same here. We have another name for a ditch here but for the life of me can't remember it. Would not be used much now but a man locally used it a couple of months ago.

It will pop into my head at some stage.

The Continental Op

Gripe another very farming term I'm familiar with but not afaik in Ireland. In Yorkshire a gripe is a muck fork often the short handled variety with T or Y handle. So depending where you are you can fall into a gripe or muck out with one.

gozunda

The Continental Op wrote: »

Thats right the "ditch" thing is bloody confusing.

If I use the word in the English sense I add the word open or drainage. So I'd talk about an open ditch or a drainage ditch to make it sound more like something dug out.

I think the word ditch originally referred to both the dug out part and the spoil thrown up from it.

I think you're right. I was told that years ago when men were employed to "dig a ditch" they did so and what came out of the hole being dug- became the 'ditch' and the hole itself which was left behind was later called a drain or dike. Makes perfect sense if you think about it.

That said a dike would be more correct for a drain coming off a river or standing by itself

It confuses the hell out of English visitors though

But not to confuse things further - there are also double banks - these are very wide banks which were sometimes used as a passage across low lying land. Some double banks could be up to 6 feet or more in height from the level of the field.

Most of these double banks had double ditches to drain water (one on each side) and were formidable obstacles for riders with horses - as the horse had to jump the water filled ditch up onto the top of the double bank and then jump of again over the one on the opposite site. Not for the faint hearted.

john9876

I used the word dyke instead of dike to describe a channel used to drain water so apologies to any lady farmers... who like other lady farmers (although the Collins English dictionary says dyke can be used for a water channel or ladies who like ladies... so I'll let myself off this time).

hillbillygirl

That lads so mean he’d peal an orange in his pocket

Dakota Dan

hillbillygirl wrote: »

That lads so mean he’d peal an orange in his pocket

Or as Niall Tobin used to say Cavan men were so mean that they eat their dinner out of a drawer if someone called they could close the drawer fast.

Jjameson

Gripe is definitely the term in these parts. The man on the ditch side has the firewood and the responsibility of the fence.