Grockles

[watervole]

waveney and I were discussing grockles this morning. The word is generally recognised around here and is in Brewers Phrase and Fable, but I was surprised to discover that http://dictionary.reference.com/ had never heard of the word.

Wikipaedia did slightly better, though they list it as being Weymouth and Portland in usage (and the definition was correct-ish) and it's found across more of Dorset than that.

So, where do you live, and do you know what a 'grockle' is? The answer is, of course, a tourist. It isn't particularly a derogatory term (though perhaps slightly dismissive), it's just people who come here for their holidays - non-locals.

Comments

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

I knew it, though not from my childhood. Not surprising really, not many tourists in SE London suburbia.

[paranoidangel]

I know what a grockle is, although we always call them groks.

[darth-tigger.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard of the word, and wouldn't have guessed its meaning (though I might have in context). I'm from Derbyshire, went to uni in Manchester, now live in Nottingham. So I know what mardy, cob and twitchell mean, but grockle's a new one on me.

[del-c.livejournal.com]

I know it, but only because my mum now lives in Swanage. I spent Christmas there, and my mum's partner came back from walking the dog on Boxing Day to complain that he came across a coachload of grockles. It's definitely a Dorset word in my mind.

[munchkinstein.livejournal.com]

I have heard the word used by people from Hampshire. My favourite local version is that used by the locals on Arran who refer to tourists as "ferry-loupers". i.e. People who jump off a ferry, cause hassle and then jump back on again.

[djelibeybi-meg.livejournal.com]

The first time I heard the term was when visiting native Paignton-ians referring to tourists. Circa 1985

[alex-holden.livejournal.com]

I've never heard it, but then we don't tend to get tourists in Burnley.

[ladyoflight2004.livejournal.com]

This is the first time I've come across the word - but I grew up in Stepney, East London and now live south of the river in Bexleyheath, Kent. Not a lot of reason to come across grockles in either area. But it's an add-on to my vocabulary, so thanks.

[egyptophile.livejournal.com]

Yes, I live in Sale, but know the word through visits to Devon many years ago.

Three or four years ago it was used in a University Challenge question which asked for the equivalent term in Cornwall.

[dougs.livejournal.com]

I'm familiar with the word. My late wife lived in Weymouth in the 1960s (working in Winfrith), so that would have helped.

Martin Nicholas, a minister who used to be at the United Reformed Church in Weymouth, wrote a wonderful song called "Grockle Rock".

[whotheheckami.livejournal.com]

I grew up in Llandudno and can remember using the work grockles to descibe tourists, especially those who clogged up the roads in the Summer. I can also remember the word "emmets" being used

[dougs.livejournal.com]

Oh, now I've only heard the word "emmets" from a Cornishmen, referring to people not from Cornwall -- independent of any tourism-related activity. So a Cornishman working in Bracknell was "amongst the Emmets".

[frandowdsofa.livejournal.com]

I live in Sheffield now, but I've known the word for years - we spent a lot of childhool holidays in North Devon.

[johnrw.livejournal.com]

I know it mainly from a friend of mine who comes from the Black Country, though it's been occasionally heard around here as well (Cheshire).

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

I'm from the Black Country and I've known it for years. Do you think we know it because we are them?

[(Anonymous)]

I know it, and I would have regarded it as at best at least slightly derogatory, but that's probably because every other local dialect synonym for "tourist" and/or "you're not from around these parts, *are* you?" that I know is at best at least slightly derogatory...

[julesjones]

I could have sworn I was logged in, you know...

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Not a Derbyshire or Yorkshire word at all in my experience.

Gina

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

My family used it further along the coast in Hampshire. I'd say it had a derogatory edge.

[raspberryfool.livejournal.com]

I've known it for a good few years, as a friend of mine is from Kingsbridge in Devon. I've used it ever since to describe tourists, and folk often wonder what i'm on about!

One flatmate has a Devon Dialect ditionary, and this describes a 'grockle' as a visitor to Devon. I thought it was peculiar to Devon, but it's obviously spread along the south coast.