Dry Rot
Well-Known Member
Fascinating stuff on the 'what do you call a slice (etc) of hay' thread!
Farming terms are interesting because they are so local and often steeped in history. I suspect some names go back hundreds of years to the times when hay was stacked loose in a rick and slices cut off with a hay knife, then the slices forked into a cart. The different names might sometimes refer to the quantity of hay carried on the fork. Anyone still remember that? My uncle used to borrow his neighbour's labourer to get him to thatch the hay stacks because he made such a good job of it!
So, what do you call a two pronged hay fork? And can you give your approximate location (e.g. county) if/when you reply as that would be relevant too? Some terms will have been exported with emigrants.
I've heard prang, prong, pike, two-toed-fork, etc. for a hay fork.
A long handled shovel with a diamond shaped blade, used for building Devon banks, is an "eevall" (heave all?). I think there are names for a four pronged manure fork, but I can't remember what!
In Somerset, a fellow worker said, "Yere, gi us thick theer pike buy" when I was a farm student. "Hand me that hay fork over there, boy". I love it! Living history. Any more?
Farming terms are interesting because they are so local and often steeped in history. I suspect some names go back hundreds of years to the times when hay was stacked loose in a rick and slices cut off with a hay knife, then the slices forked into a cart. The different names might sometimes refer to the quantity of hay carried on the fork. Anyone still remember that? My uncle used to borrow his neighbour's labourer to get him to thatch the hay stacks because he made such a good job of it!
So, what do you call a two pronged hay fork? And can you give your approximate location (e.g. county) if/when you reply as that would be relevant too? Some terms will have been exported with emigrants.
I've heard prang, prong, pike, two-toed-fork, etc. for a hay fork.
A long handled shovel with a diamond shaped blade, used for building Devon banks, is an "eevall" (heave all?). I think there are names for a four pronged manure fork, but I can't remember what!
In Somerset, a fellow worker said, "Yere, gi us thick theer pike buy" when I was a farm student. "Hand me that hay fork over there, boy". I love it! Living history. Any more?
