During my recent absence whilst I have been, er..., in prison, I have had time to produce this glossary which contains many of the lesser known ringing terms not found in the standard works. The entries describe common situations which occur during ringing sessions and provide names for them. The source of the names is the extensive collection of words which are usually only found lying around the Derbyshire countryside painted on bits of wood.

Ashbourne (noun): Any ringer who has broken at least 20 stays.

Ashford in the Water (noun): The ringer who is fortunate enough to be showered with water, pigeon mess and oil when ringing after the bells are left up in wet weather.

Ashover (verb): In order not to discourage him, to tell the ashbourne (q.v.) that the stay he has just broken must have already been badly cracked even though you only replaced it 10 minutes ago following his previous demolition job.

Brough (adjective): Describes the conductor who growls calls and admonishments at low pitch and low volume thus ensuring that nobody can hear him and thereby causing maximum irritation to himself.

Burbage (noun): Any advice given by guesswork during a peal, usually incorrectly telling someone who isn't actually lost (yet) what to do. Usually there are several "conductors" producing burbage at any one time.

Crich (exclamation): The high pitched cry let out by a gentleman ringer after not taking due care and attention about where the rope hits him following his backstroke.

Cross O'th Hands (verb): To spontaneously protect oneself following severe kelstedge (q.v.) and usually accompanied by criches (q.v.).

Cuscas (noun, plural): Ringers who make stern noises and grimaces of disapproval when someone else makes a mistake. Cuscas consider it amusing when they make a mistake themselves.

Dinting (verb): The action of nodding the head, sucking in the cheeks, stamping the feet or throwing the rope made by ringers who consider themselves to be experienced and want to advertise this fact. Ringers guilty of dinting are usually king sterndales (q.v.).

Earl Sterndale (noun): A ringer who resolutely stares at the floor or the centre of the circle. An earl sterndale has reached a level of ability whereby intensive adherence to ropesight is not required and simply wishes to listen to the music (c.f. King Sterndale).

Foolow (noun): Any ringing master who asks a visitor what they can ring only to find out later that the visitor was Rod Pipe.

Fourlane Ends (noun): The point in a peal, just before the end, where the blue lines of several ringers converge.

Glapwell (noun): A bottle buried in a cupboard in a ringing room which contains a noxious slime, or "glap". Some ringers rub glap onto their hands in the (ludicrous) belief that this somehow improves their grip without destroying the bell rope.

Heage (noun): The sickening sensation experienced when calling a peal and you casually watch the next calling position go by without making any actual call. Unfortunately you previously told several ringers what the composition was, thus removing any possibility that nobody would notice.

Hognaston (noun): The young male ringer who thinks it impressive to ring the tenor (badly) to every touch at a District Meeting.

Holloway (noun): The sort of ringer who turns up and makes empty but hopefully impressive claims to be able to ring anything that you can. When asked to ring some 8-spliced the holloway, having been caught out, will decline on the basis that maybe he hasn't rung that for a long time after all.

Ible (verb): To hover around the middle of the change when completely lost in the hope that nobody will notice. Ibling is usually accompanied by attempts to make it look as if the bell has developed a mind of its own, a point that the ringer will repeatedly make clear after the peal has finally fired up.

Kelstedge (noun, medical): Ropeslap. The tail end of the rope slaps against the thighs etc. and inflicts great pain to the nether end (q.v.). The victim often criches (q.v.).

King Sterndale (noun): A king sterndale is any ringer who has not yet reached the level of ability to allow him to ring without looking but yet does so nevertheless in the belief that it looks impressive. King sterndales are necessarily prone to becoming cuscas (q.v.) and ticknalls (q.v.), and often try (and fail) to disguise this by dinting (q.v.) and issuing burbage (q.v.).

Lullington (noun): When ringing call changes with learners, the period of calm which is completely shattered when the conductor inadvisably shouts "2 to 3" This invariably results in a protracted shottle (q.v.).

Mugginton (noun): Any ringer who always and only ever looks up a method immediately before ringing it thereby enabling the ringing to be of sufficiently low quality.

Nether End (anatomical): That part of the body most likely to be affected by kelstedge (q.v.).

Nether Padley (medical): Protective device worn to prevent the worst effects of kelstedge (q.v.).

Old Brampton (noun): Any 80 year old, almost dead man called Bert in charge of a tower who complains that he has no ringers but won't resign.

Old Tupton (noun): Any 80 year old, almost dead man called Bert who has rung the tenor behind since 1937 and still hasn't quite got the hang of it.

Over End: The folding back by a tall ringer of a very long tail end which makes the rope three strands thick and which inceases the pain of kelstedge (q.v.) and the pitch of the criches (q.v.).

Shottle (noun): The conversation which accompanies the ringing of call changes by learners. It follows a standard format:

conductor: "2 to 3"

ringer of 2nd: "Who do I follow?"

conductor: "3, believe it or not"

ringer of 3rd: "I must be following 2"

conductor: "You were following 2 before the call so how the hell can you still be?"

ringer of 4th: "'2 to 3' means that I'm leading!"

conductor: "Not really, but if you slow down a bit you might well end up doing so!"

conductor to ringer of 2nd (who is now unaccountably following the 5th):

                "Why are you following the 5th?"

ringer of 2nd: "You called "2 to 3""

conductor: "But that means you are following the 3rd!!"

ringer of 2nd: "That's what I thought!"

conductor's thoughts: "^&%$$%%&$£$%^&"£$".

Ticknall (noun): Any ringer who always blames others for their own mistakes.

Upper End (noun): The actual end of a bell rope which, no matter how many tucks are used, always comes free near the start of a peal but not near enough to stop, tuck it in properly and start again.

Wadshelf (noun): The position where the striking competition cup is usually displayed but isn't there at the moment because you have "let someone else win it this year".

Windley (noun): The interminable conversation of any ringer who thinks that his ringing career is the slightest bit interesting to anyone else.

Winster (noun): Any ringer who, when asked to ring in the next touch, always objects or wastes time in the (mistaken) belief that this will endear him to the ringing master.

Back to the Gudgeon Pynn index.