Bits and Bobs
Some favourite village names
- Chipping Sodbury
- Great Snoring
- Ham with Hatch
- Giggleswick
- Great Badminton
- Freaks Ground
- Husbands Bosworth
- Cleobury Mortimer
The Mother Tongue
- Barking (adj) Crazy
- Bob’s your uncle (phrase) Everything is complete
- Dodgy (adj) Evasive; suspicious; doubtful
- Elevenses (n) Morning coffee/tea break
- Fringe (n.) Hair bangs
- Higgledy-piggledy (v.) In disarray
- Jumper (n.) Sweater
- Lollipop lady/man (n.) School crossing guard
- Smellies.(n.) Scented toiletries such as bubble bath and soap
- Tosh (n) Foolish nonsense
Surprising Scotland
- The official animal is the unicorn.
- Population breakdown in 2009: 5, 194,000 people, 7,131,000 sheep.
- The national dish is haggis, normally made with sheep’s ‘pluck’ ( heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal’s stomach for approximately an hour. A piper ushers in the Haggis and all raise a glass of Scotch whiskey and “brrreath a prrayerr for the soul of Rrrobbie Burrrns!” It is then served with “neeps and nips,” mashed turnips and nips of whiskey.
- One of the lesser known events in Highgland games is Maide Leisg: a trial of strength performed by two men sitting on the ground with the soles of their feet pressing against each other. Thus seated, they held a stick between their toes which they pulled against each other till one of them was raised from the ground.
Pardon My Welsh
The most famous Welsh town name is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwilllantysiliogogogogoch. It means “St. Mary’s church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool and the church of St. Tysilio of the red cave.” But the locals call it Llanfair PG for short.
