Diction Hairy of Reeve Eyes Deaf Finnish Huns

The spell checker approved the title, but it should be ‘Dictionary of Revised Definitions’.


Continuing the long and slightly dubious history of new and revised word redefinitions and daffynitions, in a short but similar vein to works such as ‘The Devil’s Dictionary’ by Ambrose Bierce, the ‘Uxbridge English Dictionary’ #UED from the BBC radio panel game ‘I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue’ #ISIHAC and ‘Wickedictionary’ by Derek Abbott.

I have written most of the definitions listed here, apart from a handful stolen from Twitter acquaintances, although, as many of the definitions are obvious as well as being ridiculous, they may well have been used elsewhere and often.

Click on a group of letters to go to that section:

A B C   D E F   G H I   J K L   M N O   P Q R   S T U   V W X Y Z



A small selection of some of my favourites:


Artichoke (n): creative strangulation
Babylon (n): tough synthetic infant
Cantaloupe (n): incapable of eloping
Diphthong (n): very small swimwear
Esplanade (n): Spanish lemonade
Felon (v): to trip over a thief
Ganache (n): action of teeth on chocolate
Gigolo (n): a fee-male
Hindsight (n): effect of hotpants
Impeccable (n): to protect from woodpeckers
Jamaica (n): person who makes fruit preserves
Kindred (n): fear of relatives
Legendary (n): famous milkman
Mascara (n): Brazilian traffic jam
Negligent (n): negligee for men
Noncustodial (n): a pudding without custard
Onomatopoeia (n): sound made by a tomato
Orifice (n): a hole created in an office
Palindrome (n): dromedary with humps that look the same way in either direction
Pirate (n): pie classification system
Procrastinate (n): to delay the playing of castanets
Quintessence (n): the aroma of five babies
Raucous (n): unprepared couscous
Scherzo (n): swift-moving Italian sausage
Stalemate (n): musty friend
Sycophant (n): poorly elephant
Tachycardia (n): distasteful cardigan
Toboggan (n): winter transportation for tobacco
Unison (n): child of unisex
Voluminous (n): fluorescent vole
Wiggle (v): movement of a wig
Xerox (n): duplicate ox
Yacht (v): unexpected sneeze
Zucchini (n): Italian zookeeper trousers



Copyright © 2011 – 2012 Roy Manterfield

Disclaimer
This dictionary is for entertainment only. Whereas the entertainment value is subjective, the content is not accurate and is not intended to be used in place of an actual dictionary.


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Even More MumblingNerd Quips


I’m not getting on very well with this keyboard; it’s just not my type.

I only asked for a leg of lamb from our butcher, but he’s given me the cold shoulder.

While I was waiting at the airport recently I heard a Scottish dating advert; “Free Wife, Aye”

I’m feeling rubbish today; this always happens when I put the trash out.

An Australian friend asked me if I thought his bad eye would see better with glasses, so I said ‘Good eye might’.

I should’ve picked the cactus up with my left hand, now I feel a right prick.

Does the phrase; ‘two daft male cattle’ contain more than one silly bull?

I’d always wanted to win a pastry throwing competition, but it was just pie in the sky.

I have more silent drum kits than you can shake a stick at… ah, just realised where I’m going wrong.

I have a yen to visit Tokyo.

LMAO… damn, now where am I going to sit?

The jockey who is always first past the post must be the reining champion.

Blood is thicker than water, although that’s irrelevant even when mixing fruit cordials for relatives.

The writing is on the wall for graffiti.

I’ve been involved in a dispute about sharpening tree felling tools, but then I did have an axe to grind.

Horse meat was once sold in a lot of British butcher shops, but they were flogging a dead horse.

I’ve been burning the candle at both ends and now I’m at my wicks end.

I’m so angry after being hit in the face by a fake Chinese vase; I’m faux Ming at the mouth.

I had a dream about two countries ruled by pets; it was reigning cats and dogs.

William Tell’s son was the apple of his eye.

I started to look out the window to see what the weather was up to, but decided to give it a rain check.

Pheasants, turkeys, geese, partridges, chickens & ducks! Not only a poultry list, but also fowl language.

I’m absolutely and utterly infatuated and totally LOVE hyperbole!

If you’re responsible for ripping a dollar in half then don’t pass the buck.

If Egyptians renounced the use of ketchup, would that be the sauce of denial?

I managed to buy twelve rare collectable postcards for only 10 US cents, but then found out they were a dime a dozen.

I can’t decide if I like this variable temperature hair dryer; I’m blowing hot and cold.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, unless the two in the bush are sought after by collectors.

A friend of ours works as a hairdresser for the police, but it wasn’t his first brush with the law.

Went to get food at a takeaway, but changed my mind because the owner had a chip on his shoulder.

Milliners are very irritable; they can get angry at the drop of a hat.

My work is piling up because of this tree trunk on my shoulders, although it’s only a small back log.

Never thought I’d figure out what this gateau was; but it was a piece of cake in the end.

I’m trapped in a tiny gap next to the wall; I got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning.

If a priest kept making the sign of the cross at a fancy dress party, would it be a blessing in disguise?

Avoid tabloid journalists; hack shuns speak louder than words.

I tried backing up my PC, but I had to stop when I got to the wall.

Is there any truth in the old saying “Absinthe makes the fart grow longer”?

Amputations cost an arm and a leg these days.

The vet suggested I try the carrot and stick approach with our cat, but sellotape won’t stick to the carrot.

Using chopsticks on rice goes against the grain.

If doctor’s self medicate, do they get a taste of their own medicine?

Don’t worry about ferry crossings; we’re all in the same boat.

Take some proper topiary lessons and stop beating about the bush.

A fool and his money are easily parted; that’s why so many clowns fall for email scams.

Computers made from the outer layers of a tree are all bark and no byte.

Chocolate’s a good thing isn’t it? So how come you can have too much of a good thing?

Is YO! Sushi the derivation of the phrase ‘what goes around, comes around’?

‘The ability of one compound to dissolve in another compound’ ~ Surely there has to be a solution here?

Don’t repair timepieces; you’ll always be working against the clock.

The sponge is good, but the frosting is the icing on the cake.

If wind is gusting, when it ceases, is it disgusting?

Presumably McDonald’s car park ‘Reverse with care’ notice is a back-up sign?

British Waterways are encouraging canal users to change their locks regularly.

I bumped into our local Domino’s Pizza recently; if it had fallen down, would it have taken all the other Domino’s with it?

I’ve been online for hours today; so now all the washing is hanging up to dry I can get back to the internet.

My blog has a new ‘subscriber’; he’s a calligrapher and he paints signs on submarines.

I owned an abacus when I was an art student; I was part of the counter-culture.

I used to mix up ‘follicular’ and ‘funicular’, which led to some very hairy train rides.

In a recent poll 1 in 10 single men would rather have an iPad than a new partner; gives a whole new meaning to “Coming back to my pad?”

Queen Elizabeth has been in Wales on the ‘second leg’ of her Diamond Jubilee tour; presumably the ‘third leg’ will be the Isle of Man?

I think river valleys are gorgeous.

I’ve always been interested in the history of millinery, but it’s a bit old hat now.

I had to sell all the rabbits and pheasants, because I didn’t want to give the game away.

I’d like the sun to return, but fog will never be mist.

I drove to the supermarket with a tiny carrot; I was in such a hurry I had to take the shortest root.



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More MumblingNerd Quips

I thought I’d post some of my previously unpublished Twitter comments and pointless aphorisms, or ‘witticisms’ as I like to call them:

One of the doctors at our local surgery is getting very angry, he keeps losing his patients.

I’ve been trying to persuade people to become enthusiastic organ donors, but they won’t put their heart into it.

I recently bought some very expensive perfume as a gift; I’ve no common scents.

In our living room the curtains are drawn, but the rest of the furniture is real.

You can now buy lactose free milk if you’re intolerant; if my feet lacked toes I’d be intolerant.

Once when I was camping there was a terrible fire; the heat was in tents.

I just had a great idea for a pencil with erasers at both ends, but what would be the point?

When you empty cesspits, are you taking the piss?

A bottle of coke just fell out of the fridge onto my foot, it’s a good job it was a soft drink.

My friend’s wedding was very emotional, even the cake was in tiers.

Someone in the geometry lesson had their rubber bands confiscated; they were classed as weapons of math disruption.

I brought some Toulouse sausages today, now I can’t find them; they must have been too easy Toulouse.

My local garden centre won’t swap my old Christmas tree for a bush, but I suppose a fir exchange is no shrubbery.

Our best friend bakes bread, so we’ve signed over the deeds to our house; a friend in knead is a friend in deed.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing; I just tripped over a very small encyclopaedia.

I used far too much water to extinguish two fires, but a man’s got too dowse what a man’s got two dowse.

I fancy hurling a jug onto the beach; surely a pitcher is worth a throw sand-wards.

After much personal abuse, I got hold of an adorable painting of someone’s jaw; if you can’t stand the hate get art of the cute chin.

A yarn about a creepy shop that kept a tally of floors of buildings it sold would be a scary storey score store story. (Was that worth the effort; it wasn’t was it?)

I nearly got a book out of the library called ‘HOW to HUG’, but then realised that it was volume seven of an encyclopaedia.

I don’t think whoever coined the phrase ‘quiet as a mouse’ has ever stepped on one.

I usually manage to do a few exercises very early in the morning; before my brain works out that I’m not fetching chocolate.

I just suggested to our cat that he does something useful, but all he’d say was ‘Me, how?’

I used to have lots of Velcro cable grips, but I can’t find any now. I must be losing my grip.

If I climb up inside a church tower, would I be inspired?

I couldn’t drive out of a parking space today, but I had a back up plan.

Freudian slip: clothing worn under a see-through blouse.

Nuclear physics is much better than the old, cloudy physics.

Stealing a talking bird is a mynah offence.

My neighbour removed two panels and a post from our boundary; he must have taken a fence after something I said.

Parisian taxis are liable to drive you in Seine.

Where can I get a hollow victory? I have a substantial one, but it’s too heavy.

I ate a really good Thali recently, but there wasn’t any otter in the Tarka Dal.

Egyptian boatmen are in denial.

There’s a bottle in the fridge that says it’s ‘still water’; I’ll check again tomorrow to see if anything changes.

I don’t see the point of pocket calculators; who has that many pockets?

I’ve been struggling to find a new role; then I remembered two wholemeal ones in the freezer.

A friend thought I wouldn’t want a mention in their poem, but I’m not a verse to it.

If a pig gets laryngitis, would it be disgruntled?

Perfume use is widespread, because it’s scent everywhere.

If all is not lost, where is it?

1848 ~ Horse drawn buses appeared in Nottingham, although they were inept, as the horses couldn’t hold the pencil properly.

I have one of those memory foam cushions, but I can’t remember where I put it.

After problems with my browser I had to disable some cookies; now my keyboard is clogged with crumbs.

I’m getting irritated with email & spam; simultaneously reading mail & opening a can of meat is multi-tasking.

I tried to use a chat-room while I was at the library, but they kept shushing me.

Does anyone else have problems with instant messaging? My post-its won’t stick to the monitor.

Will someone tell me how to use a spam filter? I’ve made a hell of a mess with the last can.

I’ve been trying to save a progressive JPEG in a reactionary format, but my PC is too liberal.

This sentence has absolutely no odour whatsoever. In other words, it’s complete non scents.

I saw a huge new funeral parlour opening today; it was quite an undertaking.

Where did Noah keep the woodworm, termites and woodpeckers?

Stationery traffic has been blamed on the huge number of vehicles delivering envelopes & writing paper.

The situation is posterous, although beforehand it was preposterous.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, if you throw it hard enough.

The only thing you have to fear is fear itself… & bugs, & the dark, & strangers, & hairs in food, & pigeons, & door knobs…

People first arrived in North America by crossing from Russia to Alaska; they’d got lost & couldn’t get their Bering Strait.

The letters A, E, and U are making me very tetchy today; apparently I’m suffering from irritable vowel syndrome.

A local police officer was bribed with just a few coins, but change is as good as arrest.

I enjoy ironing as much as oral surgery and appreciate that I very rarely have to iron, but I don’t appreciate the irony.

I dropped some very unripe stone fruit in the ocean once; just to plum the depths of tastelessness.

As a designer, am I facing in the right direction? Anyway, back to the drawing board.

In art class we had to sketch drinking straws; I drew the short straw.

Our pet chicken constantly runs up and down stairs, so we changed her name to Stephen.

The face painter at the local fête said they couldn’t paint teddies, but that’s just a bear faced lie.

Sometimes elevators get me down, but other times they’re quite uplifting.

What happens if you meet someone online, but you don’t click?

I’ve been trying very hard to sketch with correcting fluid, but I’m drawing a blank.

I’ve tried everything to end a disagreement; oak twigs, chestnut sticks, haven’t tried an olive branch yet.

I have a great bee and beef pie recipe, if anyone feels like eating hum bull pie?

If you helped a one-eyed person whose artificial glass one was in back to front, would you be turning a blind eye?

It’s really hard to persuade someone to wear two slices of bread for an art project; perhaps I should have buttered them up first?

Just had an argument about someone’s clavicle; it’s obviously going to be a bone of contention

Parents are choosing Spanish/Scandinavian names for their babies; there’s Juan Bjorn every minute.

I’ve been playing chess on the floor instead of the table; I really need to raise my game.



Do a couple of those look familiar to you? I thought so. Here am I thinking I’m being original and creative and I’m probably inadvertently copying them from somewhere else. Never mind; they’re probably the funniest ones.
:^)



For other stuff in this blog, click on these links:


Daft stuff; humour, jokes, quips and gags

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Quotations



MumblingNerd Quips

I recently listed some favourite one-liners by the hilarious Tim Vine, so I thought I’d post some of my own quips and word-play:


I entered a competition with a paint catapult and won with flying colours.

My doctor told me to cut down on sodium, but I’m taking his advice with a pinch of salt.

There’s an author named Amber Greene with a novel called ‘Traffic Signal Sequence’ Has anyone read Amber Greene?

Are exits on the way out?

If exits are on the way out, are bathroom scales on the weigh in?

Impotence just means no hard feelings.

I followed a trail of pencil graphite right to the end of our yard; I think I’ve been lead up the garden path.

Our cat Max really hates climbing; he’s always been a bit of an anti-climb Max.

I took up brewing because I like draught beer, but in the end, I bottled it.

Honey seems to be all the rage at the moment; I blame the powers that bee.

I visited the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals office; it’s so small there’s not enough room to swing a cat.

I’ve just realised that worrying does work; 90% of the things I worry about have never happened.

Hermit crabs don’t like having to shell out for a new home.

I saw someone play a violin on children’s TV today; I thought they weren’t allowed to depict violins in children’s programs?

I was going to follow Nick Clegg and Vince Cable on Twitter, but I can’t ad-lib.

Zoos in North America get rid of their lions at the end of each summer; determining that pride goes before a fall.

I’m very good at startling ducks and chickens, but I wouldn’t say boo to a goose.

I was just about to leave the office when I spilt hot chocolate all over my out tray; still, it’s all in a day’s work.

The council may build a library in the middle of the tracks at the local railway station; well, reading between the lines.

I ate a delicious creamy gooseberry fool today; it gave me indigestion, but I do suffer fools gladly.

An old bylaw inflicts a financial penalty on anyone carrying salmon in a boiling pot; that’s a fine kettle of fish.

Ironically, I looked ridiculous sitting part way up a tree; I should have satire.

I’ve been told that I make terrible wine because I’m using my own vine fruit, but it’s probably just sour grapes.

The nuns that embroidered either end of the 230 feet long Bayeux tapestry never met; sew near and yet sew far.

This obsession with appearance is getting out of control; I’ve just found these letters wearing toupees: ã ĩ ñ.

In the juice bar today I tried to grab something to drink my orange through, but I was just clutching at straws.

The guys delivering a load of sand to me say it’s been delayed, ah well, the best late plans of my sand men.

I found a great site that sells sausages online; but the link’s broken.

Only older people seem to be queuing in the hordes at the theatre; but I suppose every crowd has a silver line in.

Future alien visitors may well appear in strange forms, but that’s just the shape of things to come.

Genetically modified flowers are fashionable; the Fuchsia’s bright, the Fuchsia’s orange.

A local brass band is recruiting musicians, but I’m reluctant to blow my own trumpet.

I’ve got chocolate all over my earphones; still, I always wanted to be a chocolatier.

Our milkman is legend dairy.

I’m going to a local shop for the first time; I’ve no idea what’s in store.

I really feel in shape today; it’s just a pity it’s the wrong shape

Took me ages to remove the food stains from the doctor’s invoice, but at last I have a clean bill of health.

I have pony spittle all down my arm and that’s straight from the horse’s mouth.

Brought my wife a pocket calculator in the shape of a castle; don’t think she’ll like it, but it’s the fort that counts.

I’ve ordered some German food off the internet; the sauerkraut has arrived but the wurst is yet to come.



For other stuff in this blog, click on these links:


Daft stuff; humour, jokes, quips and gags

Puns and word-play

Quotations



Nottingham YMCA Fencing Club

The Nottingham YMCA has been serving the city since 1871 and has just set up a 140th Anniversary website. I fenced at the YMCA in the 1970s, so I uploaded a short article and photograph to the site (no longer there).

Having moved to Nottingham in 1974 to work, I took up fencing the following year at night school and fenced at the YMCA fencing club between 1976 and sometime around 1981. I would never have made a great fencer, but really enjoyed the sport and the great group of people in the club at the time.

The social side of the club was brilliant; we fenced at other local clubs and in competitions and held quite a few social events and trips. Normally the fencing took place on Friday evenings and we usually went over to The Dolphin pub on North Church Street for a drink afterwards. The Dolphin is no longer there, having been demolished to make way for shops and a car park.

Geoff Dawson was our fencing coach during this period; Geoff is shown (with glasses and moustache) in the centre of this photograph of twelve of the club members, taken in June 1979.

Memories of the club are particularly poignant for me, as I met my wonderful partner and wife Sue there. Sue is next to Geoff Dawson in the photograph, with her hand on her elbow. I’m standing on the far left of the picture (curly hair and glasses) having just dashed back to the line up after setting the camera’s shutter delay.

Nottingham YMCA Fencing Club (June 1979)

Nottingham YMCA Fencing Club (June 1979)

White van rant… okay; mumbling semi-rant


I just commented on someone’s blog post about drivers of white vans, which is unusual for me, so I thought I might as well add it to my ramblings on here for a change:

While I was regularly catching the bus into the city centre a few months back, I couldn’t help noticing the relatively dangerous activities of passing drivers, particularly drivers of white vans; although what I really don’t understand is why is it so prevalently white vans? Rationally it can’t be all drivers of white vans; perhaps you notice white vans more because they’re bright?

Anyway, bearing in mind that the bus stop is just after a very sharp blind bend in the road, I regularly observed ‘White Van Man’ swerving around the corner reading newspapers and talking on their mobile phones.

Even worse, some were simultaneously drinking from coffee mugs or from cans, lighting cigarettes and even counting money from a wallet while STEERING WITH THEIR ELBOWS.

I saw one man steering with the left hand and holding an unsecured cupboard onto the roof through the window with the right hand.

Senseless! How can they not consider risk and consequence?

Hmm… I don’t often rant, I just mumble or grumble, but, even though this semi-rant was moderate and unexpletive, it was also quite therapeutic. Perish the thought of me even attempting to make a serious comment, but I might try it again sometime.

:^)

…cut into chunks, weighed and wrapped

Legion Stores, Birstall

Legion Stores, 13 Front Street, Birstall (c1954)

Legion Stores, 13 Front Street, Birstall (c1954)

We owned a small local shop in the 1950s; Legion Stores at 13 Front Street, in Birstall, just north of Leicester in the English East Midlands.

The shop was in the oldest part of Birstall, quite close to the River Soar and opposite the very old St. James Church; relics of a Saxon window were found during major restoration works in the 19th century. The peel of church bells always takes me back to childhood Sunday mornings, either in the old shop, or at number 5, an old cottage we’d later rented, just down the road.

For the first few years that we had the shop food was still rationed and Mum used to bone and slice the bacon and measure out all the rationed portions of cheese and meat.

Mum and Grandma did most of the serving in the shop because Grandad didn’t like working behind the counter; he didn’t have much patience and always said he couldn’t put up with the ‘chatting women’.

Nellie and Betty Manterfield serving in the shop (1954)

Nellie and Betty Manterfield serving in the shop (1954)

Almost everything had to be weighed and measured out by hand, hardly anything came pre-packed. Things like sugar came in big bags and were measured into small bags for the customer, bacon was sliced by hand and parcelled up, cheese, lard and butter had to be cut into chunks, weighed and wrapped.

In the kitchen at the back of the shop we had a small butter churn, like a small wooden barrel with a turning handle that we used to make our own butter. I don’t actually remember if we churned the butter that was sold in the shop, although I do remember my Mum and Grandma patting the measured chunks of butter into blocks with wooden paddles and wrapping them in paper.

Betty Manterfield in Legion Stores (c1950)

Betty Manterfield in Legion Stores (c1950)

Particular delights for me were the rows of jars full of sweets, unfortunately out of my reach. Something I could actually reach were the eggs, dozens of them in stacks of trays. My mother told me that one day I picked up some of the eggs and when she told me to put them down, I just dropped them on the floor. I bet the cane that she kept behind the bread board came out that time.

One of my favourite parts of the shop were the rows of little wooden drawers behind the counter and below the shelves of sweet jars, tins and jams. These drawers were full of various dry goods, such as salt, with small metal scoops used to measure the contents into bags. The drawer I liked most of all contained lots of button badges, these must have been given out by the suppliers, because I seem to remember them advertising things like Saxa salt.

The shop did steady business and just about paid its way for a few years, but self-serve food stores started to become popular in the 1950s, gradually turning into the chains of supermarkets that most of us buy our food from today.

5 Front Street, Birstall (c1955)

5 Front Street, Birstall (c1955)

By the late 1950s the old shop on Front Street wasn’t doing very well, loosing customers to the newer shops in the village at Sibson’s Corner, so when Mum and Dad moved in 1959, to a new house on a new estate off Greengate Lane, Grandma and Grandad Manterfield gave the shop up and moved into the old cottage that we’d rented at 5 Front Street.

So that was the end of our little retail experiment, but it left me with many happy memories of a quieter time in a small corner of a very old village.



If it smells okay and there are no unsightly slimy bits…

Betty, Dennis and Roy Manterfield by Legion Stores (1953)

Betty, Dennis and Roy Manterfield by Legion Stores (1953)

Nellie Manterfield in Legion Stores (c1950)

Nellie Manterfield in Legion Stores (c1950)

Twitter lists

My lists for some of the things I’m interested in

There are quite a few Twitter links for Nottingham people, places and organisations at the bottom of the page.

Click on the images to link to the lists.

Chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate

Humour - Well, they amuse me anyway

Humour

Humour










National and international news

National and international news

National and international news

Twitter stuff – Applications and information

Twitter stuff

Twitter stuff

IT stuff – Web, software and applications

IT stuff

IT stuff








Quotations – Quote unquote
Quotations

Quotations

Twit-fiction – Writers of fiction, short stories and poetry

Fiction, short stories and poetry

Fiction, short stories and poetry








Nottingham


News and media tweets about Nottingham

Nottingham news

Nottingham news

Arts, culture and entertainment in Nottingham

Nottingham arts and culture

Nottingham arts and culture

Restaurants, cafes and pubs in Nottingham

Nottingham food and drink

Nottingham food and drink








Musicians, groups and music venues in Nottingham

Nottingham music and venues

Nottingham music and venues

Companies, business and commerce in Nottingham

Nottingham Commerce

Nottingham Commerce

Tweets from and about Nottingham City Council and partners

Nottingham City Council

Nottingham City Council







Organisations, groups and societies in Nottingham

Organisations in Nottingham

Organisations in Nottingham







If it smells okay and there are no unsightly slimy bits…

A conversation at work recently reminded me how differently we treat food these days, compared to fifty, or so, years ago.

Someone was sniffing and scrutinising the milk, prior to making a hot drink, and decided it was time to part company, because the milk wasn’t quite as fresh and youthful as it had been (I know the feeling) and it reminded me of how we stored and used milk before we had fridges.

(Gripping stuff, are you sure you don’t have anything better to do; clip your toenails, put the cat out?)

When I started to think back I was quite surprised at how much our shopping, cooking and eating habits have changed since the 1950s. In fact before long I might also use it as an excuse to blather on about the local stores that we had before supermarkets arrived on the scene.

(Incidentally, why is the cat on fire?)

Anyway, back to milk. Before the widespread appearance of supermarkets in the late 1950s and early 1960s, most people had fresh milk delivered daily and, without a fridge, it was kept in the coolest place in the kitchen, pantry or cellar. We sometimes also had bottles of sterilized milk, which kept longer unopened, but didn’t taste as good as the fresh stuff.

Fridges didn’t become very widespread in British homes until the 1960s and 70s, so milk was normally used the day it was delivered, but if it happened to hang around a little longer, particularly in hot weather, it would start turn a little too sour for regular use.

Now I don’t know about most families at the time, but ours didn’t often throw it out. We kept it in a cool place until it had thickened up; I think Mum used to mix something like a little lemon juice in to curdle it. Then it was poured (well, perhaps glopped would be a better description) onto a piece of muslin, which was gathered up with the ends tied together, then hung over a bowl to allow the liquid to drain off. Once it stopped dripping it had a consistency between cream cheese and cottage cheese and was ready for use. At some point it was mixed with salt to improve the flavour and keep it fresh for longer, but I can’t remember if the salt was added at the end or before it was strained through the muslin.

The storage and shelf life of fresh food has altered a lot; food didn’t have ‘sell by’ or ‘use by’ dates until the 1970s, and then it was a bit sporadic. We used to pick up and examine our food; if it smelled okay and there are no unsightly slimy bits, then we would just eat it. If the cheese had a bit of mould growing on the outside, we would cut a layer off. If the bread was getting stale it was made into bread pudding, stale cake was made into trifle and so on.

I’m loath to trot out the customary ‘it never did me any harm’, but I do think we waste too much food. It would be more practical to inspect our food carefully and cook it thoroughly and with care, instead of just chucking it out for what sometimes seems to be an arbitrary date that depends on too many variables to be completely accurate.

We used to store some fruit and vegetables for months. Onions, for example, were cleaned up and kept dry, tied together and hung from hooks in the shed. When we wanted one, it was pulled or snipped one from the bunch and with luck they would keep all winter, or even longer.

Apples, as long as they were fresh and undamaged, would keep for months stored in a cool, dark place with a good air circulation. Similarly, we stored clean, dry, undamaged potatoes for a long time in paper or hessian sacks kept in cool, dry and dark conditions.

Anyway, you get the idea, before this turns into an episode of Gardener’s Question Time.

Another pre-fridge piece of equipment we used was a meat safe fixed to the wall outside, on the north facing side of the house, to keep it cool and out of the sun. The meat safe was a small metal cupboard with mesh covered holes to allow air circulation, but keep flies and vermin out, and we kept dairy produce, joints of meat, sausages, dripping and potted meat in it, particularly in cooler months.

Legion Stores, 13 Front St, Birstall (early 1950s)

Legion Stores, 13 Front St, Birstall (early 1950s)

In an old village shop we once managed, we had a cool and damp cellar that often served as a fridge. Mum made a trifle for a party and stored it in the cellar; it may have been for my birthday, but I don’t remember that. What I do remember is that when she went down to collect the trifle, there was a large frog sitting, apparently quite comfortably, in the centre. I don’t think we ate the trifle, although Dad wasn’t so fussy and probably scooped out the contaminated bits and scoffed the rest.

Since I first owned a fridge, I don’t ever remember finding a frog in any desserts. Although I do know how to tell if there are elephants in the refrigerator…




More on Legion Stores …cut into chunks, weighed and wrapped


Blog Meme; It’s all about me me me


Well, it’s two me’s and without the space.

I copied this list/meme quite a while ago, but it’s just been sitting in a folder, relaxing, for months and I can’t remember where I copied it from now.

The intro text said: ”Create a new post, copy and paste this message, delete my answers and type in yours. Then tag 10 good friends and family including the person who tagged you. The theory is that you will learn one new thing about each of your friends.”

But, even though I’m very nosy, I mean interested, I don’t wish to intrude or impose on friends and family, so I’m just going to fill in my answers and leave it to anyone who might or might not be passing to read/complete/ignore as they/you see fit.

It’s not easy, well, its not easy in our affluent portion of this beautiful, flawed and unequal world, to choose just three things; how do you put a tripartite limit on an infinite and fascinating variety of food, drink, music and places to visit?

Anyway, I’ve learnt some things about myself; I like Fridays, chocolate and checking .

:^)

Three names I go by:

1. Roy (mostly)

2. MumblingNerd (online)

3. Dandy (but not for about 50 years)

Three jobs I have had:

1. Graphic Designer (now)

2. Corporate Design Co-ordinator

3. Publicity Assistant (Nottingham City Transport)

Three places I have lived:

1. Nottingham, UK (now)

2. Leeds, UK

3. Leicester, UK

Three TV shows that I watch:

1. QI (Quite Interesting)

2. Star Trek

3. South Park, Dr Who, Coronation Street, Big Bang Theory… (there are far too many to choose from)

Three favourite channels:

1. BBC1

2. BBC2

3. Comedy Central (UK)

Three places I want to go:

1. Melbourne, Australia

2. Singapore

3. Toronto, Canada

Three of my favourite foods:

1. Chocolate

2. Nuts

3. Fruit

Things I am looking forward to:

1. Friday (I don’t work on Fridays)

2. Holidays/travelling

3. Memory chip neural implants

Three favourite bands/singers:

1. Ian Dury and the Blockheads

2. Rolling Stones

3. Sinéad O’Connor

Three favourite sports to watch:

1. Tennis

2. Tennis

3. Tennis (I don’t really watch sport, apart from Wimbledon, and that’s Sue’s fault)

Three favourite drinks:

1. Water

2. Coffee

3. Red wine

Three favourite hang outs:

1. Home office/computer room

2. Nottingham city centre

3. New York

Three things you must do daily:

1. Check Twitter :^)

2. Feed Max the cat :^)

3. Shave :^(

Three ‘F’s:

1. Family

2. Food

3. Funny

3.1 Flippancy

3.2 Frogs

3.3 Fortitude

3.4 Flagellate

3.5 Formaldehyde

3.6 Frangipane

3.7 For crying out loud…

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