Reading and Language 17 Oct 2005 03:41 pm
thoil
There’s a handy Yorkshire expression “to thoil”, a tight little parcel of verb meaning to be able to afford an object, but to feel guilty spending the money. “I don’t dislike that candlewick bedspread,” a Leeds woman might say, “but I couldn’t thoil to pay that price.”
– Alan Bennett, “Going Round”
I’d like “thoil” as part of my own working vocabulary. For more on Yorkshire dialect, consider A Survey of Yorkshire Dialect on the Internet. Rifle around there a while and you’ll find such words as “snooac” (to smell in a snuffing manner) and “nithered” (perishing with cold). I think “wazistheart” may be old Yorkshire dialect for “bummer”.
on 17 Oct 2005 at 6:20 pm 1.Mia said …
I could see “dhoil” and “nithored” becoming necessary parts of my vocabulary. I’d have to work on getting the accent right, though.
on 17 Oct 2005 at 10:32 pm 2.Grouchy Chris said …
The definition given and the quote don’t jibe. If the Yorkshirewoman means that she could afford the bedspread but would feel guilty about the cost, why would she say that she couldn’t thole it to pay the price, instead of saying that she does thole it?
If the quote is an accurate representation of usage, it sounds to me like “thole” is a broad synonym for “bear,” with connotations of “for reasons of guilt,” and with a semantic range focused on buying things.
on 17 Oct 2005 at 10:44 pm 3.Cam Sculpin said …
You get the silver star, Chris. That’s why I quoted the whole passage; it had me going “Eh?” as well as “Thoil! Cool!” (Plus I find the “don’t dislike” construction to be charming and faintly exotic.)
From poking around elsewhere, I think the usage is accurately represented there. And I’d further guess that it’s a word about unclenching a tight fist and shelling out money, not just about buying things; there was a reference to a fellow who “can’t thoil to lend a penny”.
on 18 Oct 2005 at 12:22 am 4.Grouchy Chris said …
My silver star is tarnished by the fact that I read “thoil” and wrote “thole,” which seems like it might be a real word, but certainaly not the same word.
on 18 Oct 2005 at 12:46 am 5.Cam Sculpin said …
Josh and I have been amusing ourselves by making up spurious definitions for “snooac”.
…And I forget what else.
on 03 Mar 2006 at 3:22 am 6.Gerald England said …
Just found this page having used the word in a description at
http://www.geraldengland.co.uk/cr/crj002.htm
in the same sense as described above.
The Survey of YD page linked to above is mine but will be disappearing soon as I’ve moved my website to a new domain. Anyhow the YDS now have their own website at
http://ydsociety.org.uk/
thoil is an expressive word that doesn’t have a ready equivalent in standard english and I use it quite a lot.
sithe nah
on 11 May 2006 at 4:37 am 7.olli said …
nice to see a decent definition of the word, i doubt anybody would ever say “i can’t thoil to pay the price” though.
thoil by definition infers you’re talking about the price, people round here (leeds) just say “can’t thoil it” – leading southerners to assume it’s a synonym for “afford” when of course it’s far more expressive than that.
on 12 Sep 2007 at 10:15 am 8.Steve Goodlad said …
both uses of thoil would be ok and maybe even another halfway between the two examples.
You might say ‘I can’t thoil ‘t’ money.
Which means exactly that you have the money but cant really justify the expense. You were tempted and you really like the object but on reflection you will save the money for another day
on 23 Sep 2007 at 7:21 am 9.Jules Jackson said …
yes indeed, thoil is one of my favourite words (and of my mother, and her mother, and… etc). “I can’t thoil it” most usually refers to a financial outlay, where the would-be purchaser can well afford it but cannot stomach the ludicrous price asked (as when my father said “Ten shillings??? For a BUTTON?” 50p of course can be thoiled whereas ten shillings most definitely cannot) but in less frequent circumstances also refers to other commodities, eg time: “Ah cun’t [and there's another one, often shocking to sensitive southern ears] stay another minute listening to that; ah just cun’t thoil it”.
I am committed to making this word (thoil, not the other rather more tricky verb) a national treasure; indeed, my husband and I have an agreement that it will feature at least once in our respective working days. Well, that’ll cheer up the worlds of senior management and clinical psychology, won’t it?
Get ready world, thoil is about to be launched…
on 27 Sep 2007 at 9:03 am 10.M.P.R.Stephenson said …
Mr Bennett as usual, spot on, or very nearly. I remember the word frequently being used in the 1940s and 50s mainly by old people. Besides the ‘feeling guilty about spending the money,’ there was also an element of ‘does it represent good value for money’ in its meaning and use. I can’t think of another word that does the same job.
on 26 Oct 2007 at 10:36 am 11.Arthur Poole said …
Jules Jackson’s first example of “thoil” is the on that best fits the way the word was used in our Bradford home in the nineteeen-thirties, i.e. to be able to afford something but be unwilling to pay the asking price. I have just looked up “thoil” in the online Oxford English Dictionary and am surprised to find that it isn’t there. Action needed?
on 29 Sep 2010 at 9:50 am 12.us art galleries said …
The definition given and the quote don’t jibe. If the Yorkshirewoman means that she could afford the bedspread but would feel guilty about the cost, why would she say that she couldn’t thole it to pay the price, instead of saying that she does thole it?
If the quote is an accurate representation of usage, it sounds to me like “thole” is a broad synonym for “bear,” with connotations of “for reasons of guilt,” and with a semantic range focused on buying things.