Afoor, Afwore, Afore

Gud morning agaan fra West Cummerland, Today am gaan to tell yers a laal bit aboot -

Afoor - (C) before; in front of; in preference to.

Afwore - (E, N, SW) before; in front of; in preference to.

Afore - (N) before; in front of; in preference to.

a laal example - "it'll rain afoor neet"

and we also have Affoorhan - (C) beforehand.

Up'til present, I've nut telt yer much aboot how our dialect changes from region to region. Many of the wuds and phrases in m'dictionaries have a laal letter after the entry to tell yer which area of the county it is spoken.

Dialect has no real geographical boundaries. So t'help yer understand mearr aboot this I've copied and peasst'd the readers notes fra m'big dictionary below.

ANYONE who has studied Cumberland dialect will be aware that many words often vary considerably in their pronunciation, spelling and even meaning as we move from district to district across the county. Mr Dickinson reflected these geographic variations by adding a key letter to an entry where it had particular regional significance.
Basically he believed that the county could be divided virtually horizontally into three distinct zones. The italic letter C following a word or phrase refers to the central area, essentially that part of the county lying between Aspatria in the north and Egremont in the south. Above this zone is the northern area, denoted by the letter N. Likewise the region to the south is referred to by the letter S.
Sometimes further variations occur across one of these three main areas and are indicated by using key letters such as SW and NE, which obviously refer to the South West or North East and so on. As the Borrowdale area has many of its own unique words or phrases, the letter B is used to highlight these entries. Where no italic letter follows an entry, that particular word or phrase is (or once was) in general widespread use across the county. The letter G is also used to indicate a general entry where appropriate.
Dialect however, has really no clearly definded boundaries and will often shade into and blend with its immediate neighbours. This occurs not only regionally, but also further afield. To the south of Cumberland, the words and the mode of pronunciation and expression gradually merges into those of the old counties of Lancashire and Westmorland. To the north into the Scottish regions of Dumfries and Liddlesdale and to the North East into the distinctive Northumbrian dialect .

Blog to yer agaan tommorrow - WD