Pitmatic


Printed:	2007	Author:
Publisher:	Northumbria University Press	ISBN:
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Paperback 280 pages.

Publisher's blurb:
This is more than just a collection of mining terms. It is an heartfelt attempt to bring together the words spoken by miners of the North East pits and how they relate to the wider language-world of the region and its literature of story and song. Pitmatic brings together pit literature its words, jokes, stories and songs that is fast disappearing and helps attest to the remarkable vitality of the region s dialect and the inventiveness of its speakers. The last major mine in the North East region closed in 2005 and with it went away of life. Through dialect words, humour, stories and songs Pitmatic: The Talk of the North East Coalfield will help you to understand the working and everyday lives of miners. Miners who provided fuel, helped sustain an economy, consolidated communities and created a unique and rich regional culture. Bill Griffiths is the author of the critically acclaimed A Dictionary of North East Dialect and Stotty n Spice Cake: The Story of North East Cooking. Pitmatic is his heartfelt attempt to bring together the words spoken by these miners and their families and how they relate to the wider language-world of the region and its literature of story and song. The welcome arrival of the book Pitmatic captures a unique dialect of Northern coalmining. Pitmatic is a language within a language developed by coal miners as their own form of communication both below and above ground. First noted in the 1870s Pitmatic is, with the closure of the coalfield, fast disappearing. Bill Griffiths has rescued for posterity this distinctive cultural tradition . Bill Lancaster, historian and Director of the Centre for Northern Studies