ECHO readers have turned word sleuths to help solve the mystery of Mackem.
As we reported last week, editors at the Oxford English Dictionary are trying to trace the origins of the word. Their first recorded use of it is in 1991.
But many of you have come up with examples of it being bandied about way before that.
Our let
ters page yesterday contained several mackem anecdotes from decades past.
Among others who have written to us is Robin Auld, of Ashwood Terrace, Sunderland, who included an excerpt from Sunderland Rugby Club's centenary programme, published in 1973.
An article looking back at the 100 years of the club concludes with the stirring paragraph: "Team spirit, then – a priceless asset – is Sunderland's forte. We still 'tak'em and mak'em and ye canna whack 'em!"
Mr Auld adds: "Though Sunderland born and bred, I did not hear or see this term used until 1973.
But Robert Hammond, of Peebles Road, Plains Farm, can go one better than that, although he doesn't have written evidence.
When he worked in the shipyards at the end of the 1960s, he remembers talking to an old chap about the derivation of the word.
Mr Hammond writes: "His explanation of the words mackem and tackem was: 'We make the ships and they take the ships' – they being the shipowners."
Timothy Ellis, of Woodside Grove, East Herrington, has come up with an even earlier use of the word – and possibly the most logical explanation.
As a teenager, Mr Ellis served in the Merchant Navy during World War Two, and he recalls men from various shipbuilding areas talking about their home towns.
"We used to say: 'We come from the biggest shipbuilding town in the world, and we mack'em and tack'em,' meaning we build the ships and we take them to sea, we sail them."
It is thought that this proud boast was turned against Sunderland shipyard workers when it was heard by their rivals on Tyneside, who used Mackem in an insulting manner.
If you have further evidence on the derivation and first use of Mackem, we'd love to hear from you.
You can also contribute to BBC2's Wordhunt Project by logging on bbc.co.uk/wordhunt.The project is supplying information to the Oxford English Dictionary, which is trying to track down the earliest usage of mackem and 49 other words and phrases. The findings will be included in a BBC2 series to be screened next year.
