Word-Brickle

In William Howitt’s Madam Dorrington of the Dene, a character named Vincent says, “Don’t let my father be fearful of me. I will be as ravenously ambitious, and as gigantically work-brickle […] as he can desire.” Grant has the goods on the dialect expression work-brittle or work brickle, which means “energetic” or “industrious.” This is part of a complete episode.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More from this show

Add Oil!

In Hong Kong English, Add oil! means something like “Go on!” or “Go for it!” A recent addition to the Oxford English Dictionary, this expression of encouragement comes from Cantonese (加油 or gā yáu; rendered as jiāyóu from Mandarin) and draws on the...

Recent posts