Preserving a Roman fort in Cumbria

[Duncan Head]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/10/country-diary-an-unlikely-job-for-a-farmer-preserving-a-roman-fort

[Imperial Dave]

I love the word class...use it myself (meself)

[Erpingham]

I love the word class...use it myself (meself)

Were you intending to reference the word "clag" in the article here?

[Imperial Dave]

Erm...indeed...

Autocorrect failure 

[Erpingham]

While I'm sure I've heard fog described as clag, not sure about mist.

[Keraunos]

I have always thought of clag as being the heavy clay mud that clings around ones boots and won't let go, not as being mist or fog.  Clearly (or unclearly) I have become separated from my Cumbrian roots linguistically.

[Imperial Dave]

Clag has always meant the stuff that clings to mountains....a bit if etymology might be in order 

[Jim Webster]

I have always thought of clag as being the heavy clay mud that clings around ones boots and won't let go, not as being mist or fog.  Clearly (or unclearly) I have become separated from my Cumbrian roots linguistically.

Cumbria was never really a unified area, linguistically or otherwise
The south has a different accent/dialect. The East again is different, and the west and north aren't all that similar either 
To me, in the south, clag is more likely to be used for mud than mist of fog

[Imperial Dave]

Clag is possibly Scandinavian in origin giving the eventual word clay for one apparently

Although I also like the RAF version clown low aircraft grounded meaning 

[Martin Smith]

Although I also like the RAF version clown low aircraft grounded meaning 

Or possibly a Krusty layer ? 😁🤡

[Keraunos]

Clag has always meant the stuff that clings to mountains....a bit if etymology might be in order 

So a mountaineer who has slipped and is clinging to the mountain for dear life is clag? 

[Erpingham]

Clag is possibly Scandinavian in origin giving the eventual word clay for one apparently

Must admit this is what I have thought - clag meaning clinging mud being the primary meaning. I'd guess cloy is also related, though I don't think it has a noun form.

[Andreas Johansson]

I'd guess cloy is also related, though I don't think it has a noun form.

"Cloy" is a wholly unrelated Romance loan, actually.

Dubiously interesting factlet of the day: klägg, the Swedish equivalent of "clag", basically means "gunk", but in my student days it was also used to mean a pastry or soft biscuit, especially one sold at the student co-op café.

[Imperial Dave]

Clag is possibly Scandinavian in origin giving the eventual word clay for one apparently

Although I also like the RAF version cloud low aircraft grounded meaning 

[Sharur]

Dubiously interesting factlet of the day: klägg, the Swedish equivalent of "clag", basically means "gunk", but in my student days it was also used to mean a pastry or soft biscuit, especially one sold at the student co-op café.

Interesting, as my late father (born in N Yorks) always called the malted fruit loaf marketed in the UK as "Soreen" "clag", although from my own experience, "clag" was more typically used in NE England as meaning heavy mud. Not entirely dissimilar either way though .