I thought cushty was from Romany, don't know why. And, a long way back up the thread, I saw reference to catty corners meaning diagonal - Sussex dialect has caterways fro the same thing, apparently related.

There's a lot of variation in placename pronunciation around here (Southern England), and some of it has to do with class. My parents lived in Rolvenden for a while, and were told the "correct" way to say it was Rovinden. This only works in an upper crust accent, not the broad country accent of the ordinary people. And we have Wrotham - root'm, Trottiscliffe - Trosley, Shipbourne - Shibburn. These follow a rule of being the easiest way to say a long word in the local accent. Bob Hope fogot this on a return visit to his birthplace at Eltham - elt'm. (Caution for Americans not wanting to be laughed at by the natives - ham on the end of names is usually 'm - on Tory candidate sunk himself in Streatham by pronouncing every letter, so crossing the Thames can be as much of a problem as crossing the Atlantic.) My father has moved to the really difficult one - Cirencester. Full version, Sirensester. Other versions - Sister, Ciceter, Cisister, Ciren (the latter by most locals now). I've chickened out, and use the name in full!

LEJ, we have glow-worms here, not as wonderful as lightning bugs, because they just sit around on twigs, grasses etc, waiting for a mate, and the flying males only glow a teeny bit when disturbed. I saw my first one four years ago, having thought they had all died out years back. I thought someone had left an LED in the woods! There's a reasonable colony hereabouts, but not as many as people remember. Back to colloquialisms - "there used to be so many glow-worms, they were festooned along the banks, we used to be able to put them in a jar and read by the light. Funny, you don't see them nowadays."

Words for chase games can be mapped on Britain, like the words for truce during them - I think the Opies did it, fainites, squits, etc. Something I needed when I started teaching was a lexicon of words for the rubber soled canvas shoes used for physical education lessons, as, if you used the wrong one, you were met with total imcomprehension. I called them plimsolls, but I have also met daps and pumps.