Full Transcript
Nicholas Bagnall (Words 21 April) suggests that for us south of the border the word canny has a touch of deviousness about it, a certain lack of openness.
As a north-eastern Englishman can I point out he will have to go a canny way south of the border before the word has any such meaning. This is, of course, using it in one of its north-eastern senses, emphasising quantity. So a canny few means a lot.
But it can be used to mean careful as in gan canny , ie farewell or proceed with care. Then again it can mean cute, pretty when used of a child (“ a canny bairn” ) or even a place. It can mean having a pleasant, engaging personality hence the line in the Tyneside song The Waggoner..My lad’s a canny lad the canniest I see though he’s fair frowsy freckled and he’s blind of an ee
The ultimate accolade in Teesside is to be described as dead canny. No way would we ever describe any devious, artful or cunning person as canny. For us that personality trait would be the exact opposite of canny.
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