Today’s Wovember Word comes courtesy of Louise Spong of South Downs Yarn, about the counting words used by Sussex shepherds. The following extract comes from Shepherds of Sussex by Barclay Wills (originally published in 1938), who regales the following story:
He [the farmer] told me that one job was ‘telling’ the sheep. The sheep were allowed to run through a hurdle, two at a time, and, as the boy, he had to stand there and count them, keeping time with the shepherd, thus:
One-erum
Two-erum
Cockerum
Shu-erum
Shitherum
Wine-berry
Wagtail
Tarrydiddle
Den
—that ‘Den’ meaning a score, or twenty sheep through the hurdle.”
Recording of shep scores on”tally sticks” was once usual in Sussex, and specific instances have beennoted. Although I have not been lucky enough to find any specimens, some of the shepherds I have met have ysed them. One man referred to them, and said: “Most timesI used my crook-stick to cut notches in, so I never lost my count. ‘Tis a handy way if you beant much of a scholard. Pencil an’ paper be good in their way too, but not as good as a stick an’ a knife; the notches us allus to hand, an’ easy to remember.”
