Rory Stewart came across these numerals, apparently still used to count sheep by Cumbrian farmers. They trot off the tongue like spring lambs, skippety, hoppity, gambol and stop:
‘yan, tan, tethera, methera, pimp, sethera, lethera, hovera, dovera, dick, yan-a-dick, methera, bamfit, gigot’. Â
The last one is reminiscent of the French version of roast lamb, ‘gigot d’agneau’.
Source: Rory Stewart, The Marches: Border Walks with my Father (London: Vintage, 2017), p. 154
Photo credit: 1899441 at pixabay
I have the same counting words up to yan-a-dick but my list continues
tyan-a-dick tethera-dick methera-dick bumfit
yan-a-bumfit tyan-a-bumfit tethera-bumfit methera-bumfit gigot or possibly gissot
I copied these from a very old Cumbria magazine I can’t remember the name, but there used to be one on Yorkshire as well. Maybe some of your older readers will know the one.
Many thanks for sharing this, it adds another layer to an intriguing set of numbers. Best wishes, Beatrice