'Ower lang' also appears in 'Hae ye seen owt o' my bonny lad', in such circumstances that no reference to height can reasonably be inferred. That is, of course, not proof of meaning in this case, but like some others I find the laziness explanation both more obvious and more convincing.

The overlap of some phraseology between lowland Scots dialect and the speech of Northumberland and on into North Yorkshire is noticeable, even to a lay person such as me. There is also clear Scandinavian influence in the matter of place-naming. Is there any reason why a vestigial Danish influence should not locally survive the modernisation of which PaulB writes? It certainly appears to me that it did so.

Oh, and to Guest Peter Wray; don't fret too much about a bit of humour going awry, that happens a fair bit here and nobody gets hurt.