This book combines dialect vocabulary and literature as a way to explain the North Sea coast and its social development a history-by-vocabulary approach. Fishing and Folk is the only book to bring together subjects as challenging as the coast itself; scenery, weather, wildlife, boats and fishing traditions, smuggling, communities and people. Bill Griffiths, the foremost scholar of northern English dialect was a genuine polymath. A former Hells Angel who spent some time at Brixton Prison he trained as a classical pianist; had a History degree; a doctorate in Saxon literature; was a member of the Society of Archivists and an internationally acclaimed poet. This rich background gave him an ear for the rhythm of language, a deep etymological range, a strong sense of time and place plus a fastidious attitude to accuracy. His range of skills and enormous enthusiasm for the language of ordinary northerners is clearly evident in Northumbria University Press successful Wor Language series, which includes the books Stotty n Spice Cake and Pitmatic: The Talk of the North East Coalfield.