yorkshire.

Steve, I like to listen to dialects in my country's languages:
Kannada, Tamil Hindi etc. This one is a Yorkshire dialect which I
thought you would enjoy. Do you like it?

'Why do the sheep on the hills have a red colour on their backs?'
asked Carlos a stocky boy.

'Tha knaas'

'Pardon?' asked Carlos.

'I said tha knaas.'

'Tha knaas?' repeated my colleague appearing flummoxed. He looked
appealingly in my direction. 'Traslate, plees.'

'He is sure you already know,' I replied.

'I'm afraid my friend doesn't know, ' I told the boy 'and for that
matter, I don't either,'

'Gerron wither! Tha does,' chuckled the boy,

'Really,' I laughed. 'I don't know. Is it to tell which Shepperd
they belong to?'

The boy looked at me with a wry smile on face and twinkle in his brown
eyes. He glanced out of the window at the sheep lazily cropping the
grass on the hillside beyond.

'Nay' said the lad. 'They all belong to t'same sheperd. They are ruddled.'

'Ruddled?'

'Aye, in some dales they say "raddled" but up 'ere we says "ruddled."

Carlos looked at me and repeated slowly, 'Ruddled. Interesting.' I
shrugged and turned back to the boy. 'I'm still in the dark,' I told
him.

'Well, tha sees,' began the boy, 'on yer fells yonder in a goodly
number "yows' - them's ewes, female sheep - and one or two "tups,"
which are rams, male sheep. Are tha wi' me so far?'

'I am'

'Reight then. Tha dunt need many tups, Does tha know why?'

'Yes, I'm still with you. Go on.'

'Reight then, t'sheperd puts an 'arness under yer tup's belly, sooart
o' leather strap affair wi' a sooart of big red was crayon in it. It
'angs under 'im. Are tha still wi' me?'

The scales were falling from my eyes. 'Yes, I 've got the picture now.
Thank you very much. I think I can work the rest out for myself.
Shall we have a look at your writing book?'

'Naa then.' The boy carried on regardless. 'When 'e's served a yow,
t'tup leaves 'is mark on 'er back, which means she's ruddled. Does tha
follow mi drift? Cooarse, if there is no colour on 'er back at all,
then tha knaas t 'tup's not been doing what Nature's intended 'im to
do, and 'e needs a bit o' encouragin' like. T' shepher knaas, tha
sees, that she's not been seen to.'

'What language ees thees boy speaking?' asked Carlos, looking
completely dumbfounded, 'I thought my Engleesh was quite good, but I
have not understood a seengle word.'

It's "Yorkshire" a variation of English, I told him. 'Dialect'

'Thees "seen to",' he asked, still with a puzzled expression on his
round face. "could you explain thees "seen to" for me plees?'

'It's rather complicated, ' I told him. 'I'll explain it later.'

--
Have a nice time....