If Manchester University is to be believed, last year saw a creeping advance of effete southern language into the gritty north. Roll, for example, is more widely accepted as the name of a little loaf of bread.
Certainly I remember 40 years ago asking in a Manchester baker’s for some rolls. The shop assistant genuinely didn’t understand what I wanted. I soon discovered that for crispy-crusted little round rolls I should ask for cobs, or for larger, flatter, softer rolls, I should say barm cakes.
In a survey of 1,400 people between Moray and Cornwall, the School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures at Manchester found that only 5 per cent say cob, and 14 per cent barm. In its summary of findings, barm cake is not mentioned. This seemed odd to me, since barm means literally yeast.
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