According to an 1875 dictionary of the Sussex dialect from southeastern England, January butter means “mud.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Don’t Track That January Butter in the House!”
Here’s another of my favorite terms from that 1875 dictionary of the Sussex dialect.
January butter. Snow? No, not snow. The dirty, the dirty grime that you track in the house on your boots? Yes. January butter is mud, and the book says it is considered lucky to bring mud into the house in January. I can’t imagine that. I guess if you’re upright, you’re lucky.
Instead of being down with the sads, right? The seasonal depression because of the cold. I hadn’t thought about that. I was thinking of the person who has to clean it up. I don’t think.
Right. Yeah, they’re not lucky. I wouldn’t make them feel lucky.
But maybe it’s luck because you’ve brought in, you know, you’ve brought in wild game or food from the barn or something.
Oh, that’s true.
Or maybe the snow’s starting to melt.
I don’t know.
Anyway, I love that term January butter for mud.
January butter.
That’s fantastic.
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