LL-L 'Etymology' 2006.11.02 (02) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 02 November 2006 * Volume 02
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From: Doug Wilson
Subject: Re: LL-L 'Etymology' 2006.10.30 (04) [E]

>In Lancashire when children used to ask questions that adults were
>unwilling (or
>unable) to answer, they had a standard reply: 'Layors for meddlers!' For
>example
>the child would ask: 'What is in that parcel?' The adult would answer: 'Layors
>for meddlers!' The child would know that no further information would be
>forthcoming! Now, _meddler_ is of course a noun from the verb _to
>meddle_, i.e.
>'to interfere', 'to be over curious' [at least I presume that is the word
>and not
>the word _medlar_ , the name of a fruit], but what on earth are _layors_
>?! The
>pronunciation, by the way, was ['leijo:rz].
>
>And secondly, do any other Lowlanders recall such phrases that formed
>retorts to
>children delving into matters that didn't concern them? I feel sure that there
>must have been many such phrases in the different languages.

This is recorded with "layors" from 1888 (in OED), but I think it's more
usually written with "layovers". Still more-or-less nonsense, I guess. The
earliest instance of which I'm aware, however, has "lareovers for meddlers"
(1785) with the same application. "Lare-over" is old slang (1690 or
earlier), apparently once used like "blank" or "expletive deleted" to
replace an indecent word. Some say "lare-over" (also spelled "layer-over"
etc.) is an alteration of "layover", presumably something which was "laid
over" something (to conceal it). I think this etymology is only a
speculation, however.

Here are a few of these expressions in English, including "layovers":

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-whi1.htm

-- Doug Wilson




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