In response to a recent letter about the word 'puthered' for feeling overheated, readers have shared their own regional terms for extreme temperatures. Claire Whatley from Berwick St James, Wiltshire, recalled that in the 1950s and 1960s, her parents used the word 'shrammed' to describe feeling intensely cold after coming indoors. She wondered if the term is now obsolete due to climate change.
Regional Terms for Heat and Cold
Jan Davinson from Beetham, Cumbria, noted that in County Durham, people say they are 'scumfished' by the hot weather. Ian Arnott from Peterborough added that in north-east Scotland, the phrase 'I'm fair puggled' is used to express exhaustion from heat or exertion.
Other Reader Contributions
Ben Entwistle from Crewe, Cheshire, praised Jonathan Jones's five-star review of the Constable exhibition at Ipswich, calling it a 'perfect, ekphrastic prose-poem' that moved him to tears. Alan Green from London recalled being described as 'diminutive but nippy' in a 1960s Times football report, adding that he is now less nimble but 'more dim.' Bernard Taylor from Billingham, County Durham, asked how high a labrador can get after a dog was rescued from eating discarded cannabis on Ben Nevis. Tony Mitchell from Worsley, Greater Manchester, humorously wondered if the dog ordered a pizza upon recovery.
