Gransnet today....Just my opinion.

"The title was something like "Manners for Nice People who sometimes say F**k". I'm one of those"

thatbags - that made me laugh. I am one of those too. People who think I am nice (and I am, generally,) are often shocked that I use some of the words I do when ranting. Most of my x-rated stuff is in frustration at myself, I should add! I can turn the air blue in the kitchen.

Not only that, some people think that over 60s are either miserable old bags or saintly pillars of the community. I find that strange. We are products of the years in which we've lived. My Mum used "ruddy well" when she was annoyed and any other 'bad' word was strictly forbidden at home. Nice girls didn't swear (or 'cuss' as she called it.)

I don't like unnecessary bad language in polite company, ever, feeling I have a wide enough vocabulary to avoid it, but I suspect that even my grown children imagine I am a bit of a prude because I am their mother. If only they knew - not just the language I am capable of using, but the erm..fruity adventures I've had too. It would make their hair curl!

DH is from Glasgow originally. "Messages" is one of several different terms he has used over the years. I tend to wait for him to finish speaking so I can determine whether I can get the gist. He does come in handy to translate Billy Connolly for me!

I went for messages and chapped the door. I also signed (sp?) a cup under the tap. It means to rinse.
Anyway to answer the OP. I don't find GN today to be bland. In fact I think it is more inclusive than it was with lots of new names appearing in posts. I joined a couple of years ago and to begin with I thought that threads were being manipulated by puzzling posts which alternated between being nice and nasty without any discernible reason. I began to wonder if two people were posting under the same name. I couldn't be bothered with that.
We are all big enough and ugly enough ( as my OH would say) to start new posts and hope that others find them interesting. If they sink like stones, then heyho! Try again.

Yes 'messages' is, or was used for shopping in Geordieland. In the part where I lived anyway.

Never heard of eerins. But it reminds of a patient who came to see my OH and he asked him if his urine was OK. The patient replied - Yes, I can hear fine! It was in Herefordshire!

Think that 'messages' may be central belt/north of England term, I certainly used it in my Edinburgh childhood. Where I live now uses the Doric dialect and the word 'eerins' is used for shopping

I wonder if this is based on the fact that in the old days women who could afford it never actually carried the shopping. My Great Gran went to the shops and placed an order with each of them, the goods were then delivered by the errand boy on a bike. So she was in fact leaving 'messages' with each of the shops. She was feeding 14 children so needed to shop every day.

I agree with gilly, going for the messages was always used in our house and DH says it was the only word used for shopping in his home too.

confusion all round!

It does but she didn't know that!

The word chap, or rather, chapping, is used in the game of dominoes. Known it with that use all my childhood in northern England. It's from a Middle English word.

meaning a loo visit? I always thought the word meant crying.

It's like the word 'greeting'

An English friend who went to work in Glasgow told me this story. She was working in an office and asked a colleague where another worker was, and the response was ‘she’s in the back greeting’. She was confused and imagined her colleague was continually saying ‘hello’ and waving into thin air' until the penny dropped.

Jane what a fabulous job- you could do it so easily as could I!

Re 'chap': this caused a bit of trouble in our local (Scottish) court. The defendent said " There came a chap to the door", meaning a knock on the door. However, the posh English advocate then asked, "And who was this chap?". Confusion all round!
I enjoyed my time as an official interpreter, supposedly helping communication with people with learning disabilities in court but in reality translating colloquial Scots for posh lawyers!

Yes, it means knock. In dominoes people sometimes say 'I'm chappin'' meaning they're knocking.

Think it comes from the word 'chop'

"Getting the messages" is a Geordie saying too. My dad still says it. "I'm going down town to get a few messages"

Question for Scottish grans;

When I was a kid (18 my first flat) I lived close by to an elderly lady originally from Glasgow who loved to walk to the bus stop with me and my baby (I was going to work) she just wanted the company I think and maybe looking back, so did I . She always used the expression "I"ll gi ya a chap tomorrow" or "listen oot for me chap" am I right in assuming "chap" means knock? I wonder where it comes from?

My South African SiL was completely flummoxed the first time DD told him she was off to get the messages. He thought somehow she was going to the post office for some reason to collect telegrams! He kens noo!

(When I say "with us only as a whisper", I mean her presence. She is so very frail).

I'm also accustomed to messages being used in that context - via my Scottish MIL: "I'm away to do my messages".

I miss her as I write this, she is still with us, but only as a whisper. She has advanced Alzheimer's and so I haven't heard her voice in 10 years.

I used to get sent on messages when I was a little girl, or rather a wee lass. Must be 60 years since I heard that expression Elegran but it was so embedded in my subconscious I didn't even think twice about others not understanding it.

Lovely to hear it again.

I call it errands.

The hassle factor can't do much for peace and love either. There is the prescription then - get rid of the car and do away with osteoporosis and irritability. Simples!