Author Topic: Not a spoiler - Broddle  (Read 1327 times)

blackrockrose

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Not a spoiler - Broddle
« on: June 03, 2019, 01:51:44 PM »
This isn't a spoiler, because the word I want to discuss wasn't accepted at all.

Nor am I suggesting it as a new word.

In today's challenge game (in which I am yet to find the seed word) I confidently played 'broddle', expecting it to be accepted as common. But Chi wanted nothing to do with it, not even accepting it as rare.

To my surprise, further research revealed that it's a Yorkshire dialect word. My husband and I were both born and raised in Yorkshire but haven't lived there since we were 18, and it's 45 years since we left the UK altogether. In all that time we have probably being reinforcing in each other the use of this word which we believed to be standard English (and have probably passed on to our Australian-born children).

It's not a word we would use very regularly - it means to poke something, or pierce it. You might use a length of wire to broddle a small ventilation hole in a machine, to clean out the hole if it had become clogged with grease or dirt, for example.

I'd be interested to know if any other forumites are familiar with the word. I don't think yorkshirerose is a forumite, unfortunately.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2019, 02:08:38 PM by blackrockrose »

Linda

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Re: Not a spoiler - Broddle
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2019, 07:12:28 PM »
Nope, not one I've heard of but knowing the Yorkshire dialect could it perhaps be their way of saying 'bradawl'?

A bradawl is a woodworking hand tool with a blade similar to that of a straight screwdriver and a handle made from wood or plastic.

Just a thought!  >:D

blackrockrose

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Re: Not a spoiler - Broddle
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2019, 09:14:50 PM »
A good thought, Linda. You may very well be right!

mkenuk

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Re: Not a spoiler - Broddle
« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2019, 10:35:30 PM »
Agreed. In County Durham, which is just north of Yorkshire, and where I grew up, the name of this tool was often pronounced 'braddle'.

Not very different from 'broddle'.

cmh

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Re: Not a spoiler - Broddle
« Reply #4 on: June 03, 2019, 11:13:02 PM »
It probably is based on bradawl. In our Yorkshire house hold my joiner Dad said bradawl in relation to work tools but if my parents were remembering childhood rug making they would refer to having to broddle the rags into the hessian.

blackrockrose

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Re: Not a spoiler - Broddle
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2019, 08:45:12 AM »
Oh yes, cmh - broddling a rug. A perfect example, which I'd forgotten about.

birdy

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Re: Not a spoiler - Broddle
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2019, 12:59:39 AM »
Actually, after seeing that some of you are familiar with it, and having Googled the word, I would suggest that it might indeed by a good addition as a rare word.

Alan W

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Re: Not a spoiler - Broddle
« Reply #7 on: July 13, 2019, 02:21:58 PM »
I agree with birdy. Broddle warrants acceptance as a rare word. It's listed in the online Collins Dictionary and in Wiktionary. I'll also add broddled and broddling.

I do like to see some evidence that a word is actually in use, or was in use within living memory. Such evidence is provided of course by the recollections of blackrockrose and cmh. I didn't see too many examples online, but one was from a 1972 publication called The Motor:

Quote
Before balancing the crankshaft it will need de-burring all over including and especially inside the oil drilling. This can be done with a small broddling stick.

And in the book Best Short Plays, 1971:

Quote
They're about t'easiest there are, loads like that, but they're maddening an' all, what wi' t'hole always getting blocked up so that you're forever broddling about wi' t'shovel.

The 2006 novel The Stanford Lasses, by Glenice Crossland:

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She broddled the fire until it blazed, reflecting on the polished brasses in the hearth.
Alan Walker
Creator of Lexigame websites

blackrockrose

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Re: Not a spoiler - Broddle
« Reply #8 on: July 13, 2019, 02:27:19 PM »
Thank you Alan - an unexpected result from my initial enquiry.

And I loved the examples you quoted. I can recall the word being used in all three of those contexts during my childhood.

cmh

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Re: Not a spoiler - Broddle
« Reply #9 on: July 13, 2019, 05:21:20 PM »
Wow!! I have helped to add a word to the Chi list! Seriously though I also remember the fire being broddled etc as in your examples Alan.