A hort consultant John Wilton says it's been caused by two things.

Probably most of the homes had "hort yards" and gardens.

One of the ferry hands not understanding, called to the stranger, "Hoot mon, ye maunna hort oor dawg."

You'd need a hord hort in the repossession business, but I'd swear JP's actually enjoying making these little kids cry.

See also a paper by this observer read before the International Hort.