# Kitchen Filth



## slick

From the Daily Telegraph Friday 4th. August 2006 Letters.
Sir,
We are now more than half way through the BBC's excellent series "TRAWLERMEN" and yet, despite unbelievable battles with mother nature, what she throws at them and what she surrenders in the terms of harvest, I have not yet heard a single swear word.
The captains and crew demonstrate a camaraderie and cheerfulness that is a salutary lesson to us all. What a comparison, and indeed example, to those foul-mouthed yobs we are shown working in their warm, cosy and stable kitchens in the so-called haute cuisine programme.
Gerald Fisher
Kettering, Northants

Yours aye,
Slick (Applause)


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## muldonaich

i fully agree nothing like catering staff at sea put ramsey in a galley at sea and he would not last five minutes the crowd would give him a taste of the deep six regards kev.


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## treeve

Better chuck Ramsey over the side, people like that make me sick.
Pompous nothing that he is. Respect is something given to someone 
who deserves it but never asks ..... Those men on "Trawlermen" and
others like them all around Britain get all my respect. Real men in
real situations, and who provide a vital, well, service. (Applause)


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## John Tremelling

Did any of you realise that the Navy Cooks Course is the most difficult at sea?

No-one has EVER passed it!!!!

John Trem


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## Pat McCardle

Gordon Ramsey? We welcome you aboard. (Thumb)


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## treeve

Gordon Ramsey; Cordon Bleughhhh!!


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## nzmatt

lol i agree he wont last 5 mins ramsey wont,i have worked in galleys ashore i hate them,i been to sea on a trawler did 2 trips i enjoyed it,that was 5 years ago if i had to do it all over again i would.still work as a chef though.


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## dom

*dom*

please, who is gorden ramsey?


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## vampteq

dom said:


> please, who is gorden ramsey?


a celebrity British chef

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Ramsey


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## nzmatt

yes thats right he made hells kitchen and the f word tv series cooking shows,man i cant understand the way he speaks to his staff,i wouldnt even work for the ****head anyway,even if i did i would stand up to him,but i would mind having his cooking knowledge...but mines good for now


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## Frank P

dom said:


> please, who is gorden ramsey?



Gordon Ramsey is a foul mouthed t0sser (rich) who makes his money by swearing on TV programes here in the UK.

Frank


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## steve Coombs

I agree with all of you, he is a foul mouthed idiot. Throw him over the side


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## treeve

And eaten by a shark!!
The only good meal he would make .... (*))


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## Gavin Gait

I have laughed my way thru the whole series , not because its not been great TV , it has , but because I know almost all of the men on the 5 boats featured and the extreme lack of swearing is just not truthfull lol. Believe me when I say that the language onboard 95% of the fleet would make Gordon Ramsay blush ( even he would learn a few dozen new swear words lol ). I felt sorry for Ryan ( the young guy on the Ryanwood in the last 2 episodes ) as i've been there with sea sickness / dehydration ( thats why he had sore heads , dizzyness ) and the skits. I've lost 1.5st in 5 days at the pair in the middle of winter fishing north of Shetland so at least he didn't have bad weather or he might have had to be put ashore.

I've recorded the entire series , about time the british people saw just how the fish they eat gets to them ,shows them the true price of fish.

Davie


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## John Tremelling

I am sure that all of us realise that the language was tempered for the benefit of the cameras Davie, and that is the difference. Those men had the decency to temper it rather than use it to try to shock or impress.

John Trem


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## Mad Landsman

Some years ago, maybe in the late 60s, there was a series of posters in Fried fish shops.
It depicted wild scenes of various fishing vessels going about their business, the common caption was something like: "Fish, the food that men still go out and hunt" 
and it's still true I think, apart from farmed salmon maybe.

On the subject of the job title 'Chef'. I was once stood in a busy Galley and someone used that word, He was shouted down by all present: "There are no Chefs of a British ship, we are Cooks, Chefs are French"


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## danube4

Just a little snipit from the News of the World newspaper today, by one of there television critics, Charlie Catchpole, : TRAWLER BIT POINTLESS. Turn offs: Some days they catch there quota of prawns in Trawlermen. Other days they do'nt. And sometimes the sea is a bit rough. So? I wander if he's ever done a days work in his life, or been to sea.? I bet he's happy to eat fish though. Pitty they can't send him for a nice little trip on a trawler.
Barney.


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## trotterdotpom

On Grimsby trawlers it was a no-no to urinate in the toilet (waste of water, I suppose) - it was done out on deck. Number two's were acceptable but the toilet door had to be left open - closing it resulted in accusations of all sorts of dastardly behaviour! A benefit of leaving the door open was that you could chat to the cook who was next door in the galley - unhygenic but congenial. 

John T.


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## Gavin Gait

John Tremelling said:


> I am sure that all of us realise that the language was tempered for the benefit of the cameras Davie, and that is the difference. Those men had the decency to temper it rather than use it to try to shock or impress.
> 
> John Trem


Yes John that is the one thing with all seamen I guess , when they're in the prescence of reporters or cameramen they do they're best not to look like foul mouthed idiots. They're not , never have been. Just because a lot of them have no formal qualifications doesn't mean they're not intelligent. The fishing industry is a specialised way of life with a lot of the jobs needing quite a long time to learn to do them right ( just ask any rigger how long it takes to learn how to splice 6 or 7 strand steel wire , aint easy in the least but very easy to get it wrond which makes the splice pull out or weaken the main wire ) , net mending is a skill that quite a few fishermen never manage to master either. As for the safe navigation of the vessel well even with all the modern equipment most fishermen could get themselves home if they lost all electrical power , i'd like to see most RYA qualified sailer's do the same lol.

Davie


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## grahamtowa

Did anyone else notice the occasional use of subtitles?Must have thought that some of us English wouldn't understand the Scots Doric dialect..


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## vampteq

the Doric accent is really only native to Aberdeen, not all Scotland ... it's like saying everyone in England speaks with a cockney or geordie accent.


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## Gavin Gait

vampteq said:


> the Doric accent is really only native to Aberdeen, not all Scotland ... it's like saying everyone in England speaks with a cockney or geordie accent.


Sorry but you couldn't be more wrong. Doric and slight variations is spoken from Wick to Edinburgh. True the broad spoken Doric is in the NE but that is ALL of Grampian region not just Aberdeen. There was only a few times when anyone not from the NE would have struggled to understand what the men were saying, but , you must realise that they did their level best to stop swearing and to speak as clearly as possible. I can assure you that broad spoken Doric would need subtitles not for a little bit but for the entire program. 

I do think that it was necessary to subtitle the series so that the rest of the country could understand what was being said , however , I really think that the BBC should start subtitling some of the programs from England that have heavy regional accents as we can't understand some of the things they say !!!

Davie


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## grahamtowa

vampteq said:


> the Doric accent is really only native to Aberdeen, not all Scotland ... it's like saying everyone in England speaks with a cockney or geordie accent.


The programme was based in Peterhead, not all of Scotland, and as far as I am aware, that is a Doric accent spoken there.


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## treeve

My mother was Scillonian, my father was of a Devon family, who went to Salford, and came to Cornwall; I could understand every word that was said in the series.


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## OAK LEAF

I'm sorry but you are getting mixed up with accents and spoken languages.
Cockney, geordie etc. are all English language spoken with regional accents.
Doric is a spoken language with its own words. The skippers in the film were speaking English for the arranged scenes but when they had to give important orders to the crews they spoke in doric so the crew could understand them, thence requiring subtitles.
If you think doric is an accent,then you will know the meaning of the following words, loon, quine,slammach,didi, gow, puell,scurry etc.


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## Gavin Gait

OAK LEAF said:


> I'm sorry but you are getting mixed up with accents and spoken languages.
> Cockney, geordie etc. are all English language spoken with regional accents.
> Doric is a spoken language with its own words. The skippers in the film were speaking English for the arranged scenes but when they had to give important orders to the crews they spoke in doric so the crew could understand them, thence requiring subtitles.
> If you think doric is an accent,then you will know the meaning of the following words, loon, quine,slammach,didi, gow, puell,scurry etc.


loon = man / boy
quine = girl / woman
slammach = ( this is the problem wae doric some areas have words that we dinnae use so I dinnae ken fit at means lol )
didi = dunderheid
gow , puell , scurry = seagull of various types

Doric is a wonderfully diverse language , the farmers Doric is different from the town Doric which is different again from the fishermens Doric. Sometimes even the different villages have different versions of Doric ( the older generation from Cairnbulg/Inverallocy speak a very fast version of Doric that I , living only a mile away , can barely follow lol !! )

Davie


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## treeve

All thanks to Margaret Atheling - Queen of Scots c1066.
It *is* an old and diverse language. I think it is wonderful
how it has been cherished ( along with The Gaelic ).


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## grahamtowa

I think slammach is to eat messily, drivel or slaver...?
I still see Doric as a dialect, not as a language, I'm unconvinced. 
For instance, here in Berwick, we speak English, but still use words that are uncommon elsewhere. Examples are, manishee, barry, mahagah, screev, muskies and panny. Can you tell me the meanings, Oak Leaf? Even if you can't, I'm sure that no-one in Berwick would claim that we had our own language, just a regional dialect. (Thumb)


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## OAK LEAF

grahamtowa said:


> I think slammach is to eat messily, drivel or slaver...?
> I still see Doric as a dialect, not as a language, I'm unconvinced.
> For instance, here in Berwick, we speak English, but still use words that are uncommon elsewhere. Examples are, manishee, barry, mahagah, screev, muskies and panny. Can you tell me the meanings, Oak Leaf? Even if you can't, I'm sure that no-one in Berwick would claim that we had our own language, just a regional dialect. (Thumb)



Graham
that words you have quoted were used by travelling scots storytellers many of whom settled in the border lands, and were the equivalent of modern gypsies.
Manishee- woman, barry- good, pannie-water.
Slammach is the gosamer like stuff that comes from the willow herb I think, and sticks to your face in autumn as it floats on the wind.In the right conditions it can be felt on board inshore fishing boats. Is there an English word for this?


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## grahamtowa

Yeah, you're right, Berwick slang does have a lot of gypsy words, but I have no idea why. Mahaagah means my friend, screev is a car, and muskies are police.I don't know if these words have gypsy roots?
I know the stuff that you mean from the willow herb,but have no idea of a name for it, it can float for miles..... a bit like this topic, which originally started off with The Trawlermen (*))


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## John Tremelling

Oakleaf, Whilst my only experience of Scots dialects is in trying to understand my son in law (from Falkirk currently living in Bannockburn), anyone who has served with Laskar crews, or read Kipling, will know that 'panni' is also Pushtie and Urdu for water.


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## trotterdotpom

OAK LEAF said:


> Slammach is the gosamer like stuff that comes from the willow herb I think, and sticks to your face in autumn as it floats on the wind.In the right conditions it can be felt on board inshore fishing boats. Is there an English word for this?


In English I think we call that "snot".

I recall a Filipino 3rd mate with Oldendorff asking me what the English word for the black stuff that appears when you rub sweaty skin was. I said: "We haven't got a word for it, I just call it "sh*te." He said in the Philippines it was known as "baglee" (not sure about spelling). Intrigued I asked the German Electrician what it was called in German. He said: "We haven't really got a word for it, I always call it "baglee"."

What a coincidence, meeting the only two people in the world who ever discussed that stuff, from opposite ends of the earth and on the same ship!

John T.


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## dom

*dom*

getting a wee bit further away from the topic re,gypsy words, like other words from the english language they are borrowed,at horse fairs trading places, where gypsys met with ordinary people, these words became commonplace,and i use the word ordinary people in no disrepectful way,just like rhyming slang they become everyday words,and while we are on the subject,please do not confuse new age travellers with, gypsy', romanys,or travellers,i have never eaten a hedgehog, stole chickens ,or stole children,yes i have sold cup saucers,carpets scrap tyres and had a full life at sea and i would do it all over again


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## Peter Fielding

I believe that there were rather indignant protests (I think from a Scottish MP), about the use of subtitles in the programmes. He seemed to think that this was some kind of slur on the accent or language of the trawlermen. Personally, I was glad of them-a combination of background noise in some of the scenes, and my now less than perfect hearing meant that I would have missed some of the dialogue without them.


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## King Ratt

Many years ago the local river pilot at Kirkcudbright boarded a coastal tanker for passage to the dock. He had piloted this vessel on many occasions and was always brought a sumptuous breakfast by the cook or, perhaps chef, who was a foreigner. On this particular occasion a different cook appeared and on enquiring of the ship's Master as to where the "old" cook was the also foreign Master replied " I sack him - he called me a Count".


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## K urgess

I haven't watched the Trawlermen series yet so I have a treat to come judging from this thread.
While at college a lot of my mates only went as far as a PMG special ticket so they could sail on trawlers as quickly as possible. A lot of them went away during the summer hols - couldn't keep away from them. I never fancied it at all and even less after helping a mate to join one in Hull fish dock.
Now I'm researching my family history I reckon my lack of enthusiasm for fishing vessels is genetic. My great grandfather sailed on Humber fishing smacks of about 40 tons from about 1862 onwards. They're very similar to Brixham sailing trawlers, in fact that's where most of 'em came from. When the hoipoloi discovered Scarboro and wanted their fish and chips in the 1840s some enterprising Brixham skipper followed 'em. Before that North Sea cod was caught on lines like they do on the Grand Banks.
Not a good life spending up to 8 weeks in the North Sea 100 miles off Spurn in a boat the size of some lifeboats. Captains had been known to throw apprentices overboard or just plain beat 'em to death for no good reason. There were a few scandals in Hull in the 1800s regarding cruelty on fishing vessels. 
Cable knit fishermen's jerseys were all different so that the body could be identified when it was washed up on the beach.
Food must've been lousy. I don't think they came with a galley so Mr Ramsay would been totally spare and used for bait anyway.
Brave men to this day. In Hull the powder blue suit with the back belt on the jacket was worn with pride. Plus I don't remember a lot of swearing when they were on Hessle Road on a Saturday night with the missus or the bird.
Will someone please do a saluting smilie or tell me where to find one! (Applause) is about the most appropriate.


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## Gavin Gait

The skipper of the Amity that was featured in the series has started a Blog if anyone wants to keep intouch with whats happening. Go to www.seafish.org and click on the "at sea" link and select fishermens blogs.

Davie


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