“What is a Devonshire (or Devon) dumpling?” you may be asking yourself. It is the name of a pub and restaurant in Torquay, and another pub near Crediton in Mid Devon; also, the name of an online trip adviser; it’s even the name given to a special type of yeasty bun (recipe at end). But none of the aforementioned is what I think of when I hear the term “Devon dumpling”.

I associate it with the Urban Dictionary defintiion:

Devon Dumpling. A member of an ethnic race of subnormal intelligence. A Devonian. “I’m a Devonian born and bred, strong in the arm and thick in the head”

Well, the Urban Dictionary may have taken it a bit far – one might think they were referring to the inhabitants of the Devonian Period in Earth’s history (over 3 million years ago), in which case a true Devonian would have been a fish! However, the latter part of their definition is about right. Of course, a modern Devonian is likely to laugh as he proclaims proudly, “I’m a Devonian born and bred, strong in the arm and thick in the head”, but if you said it first he could well show you the strength of his arm. The term is often used lovingly by newcomers to Devon when they find their Devonshire cousins a tad slow to comprehend something.

For your information, I’m not a Devonshire dumpling (although my dad was born in Devon and I hope I’m still tall enough not to be called dumpy); I’m not any kind of dumpling, hopefully. So why am I writing about Devonshire dumplings?

A little earlier I replied to some of the comments that had come in on my blog. As usual, I removed my email address and had started to write an “S” for Sally when a window dropped down with a choice of names beginning with S. I had to laugh… the third option on the list was “Sue Ett-Dumpling”!

Katie Jamieson