Nowt is a dialect variant of ‘nought’ i.e. ‘nothing’.
There's nowt sae queer as folk, Old saying.
[1905 English Dialect Dict. IV. 304]
I trust you‥find plenty of interest in people & their doings. Really ‘there is nowt so funny as folk’.
[1939 J. Wood Letter 30 May in J. Chambers Letters (1979) 186]
There is the infinite charm and variety of human nature itself: ‘there's nowt so queer as folk.’
[1955 R. E. Megarry Miscellany-at-Law i. 72]
‘You never really know anything about people. As LJ sometimes says, “There's nowt so strange as folk.” It's not like you can work people out on a chessboard.’
[1993 B. D'amato Hard Women xxi. 243]
‥and his creed that everyone is good copy. Or, as they would put it up North, that there's nowt so queer as folk.
[2002 Oldie Apr. 57]
Related to: idiosyncrasy
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
