_The Phrase "and tye."_--The clerk in a parish in the north-west part of
Sussex frequently makes use of an expression which I cannot
understand,--nay more, he is unable to explain it himself! The
expression is used by several of the old men in the parish, though by
none of them so often as by the clerk. "Well, master, how are ye
to-day?" He answers, "Middling, thanky'e _and tye_." He brings these two
words in at the end of most sentences. If you ask him whether there are
many people in the church, he will say, "Fairish number _and tye_;" or,
"No, not many _and tye_."
Can any of your correspondents say if they have heard it elsewhere, or
tell the meaning of it?