Friendly chat

Hello, Although revived in the fifties & sixties, the word Bird, to describe a young lady, was a Cockney expression that was in use during the middle ages. It was also classed as a possessive pronoun, which suggested that the lady belonged to someone. "My Bird", maybe. Can anyone help on this, please.

I guess it depends on who you are with then !

Pigeon? or possibly Turkey.

Argon, 'Mate' comes to my mind here in OZ. Although everyone is called Mate all the world over I reckon.

Apparently, it's Scottish not Cockney, and it's spelt "burd".

Belushi - that makes perfect sense. A lot of Scottish words - like "kirk" for church come straight from Scandinavian - presumably Viking - languages. "Brud" is Norwegian for bride. It wouldn't be unusual to speak of "my bride" referring to your girlfriend or wife.

Hmmmm.... now this gets interesting! Those winged things we love to see above us are, of course, birds..... but that word was corrupted by the effect of "metathesis", which tends to swap the middle letters of a word. What is now a bird was once a "brid". The same corruption caused our own St. John's bridges to be known as "burges" (and Yorkshire's "thirdings" to be known as "th'ridings"). So, with Johnnie's fascinating "brud" for bride - did that corrupt in the same way, I wonder, giving rise to our rather 70's expression of "burds" or "birds" for girls?

The internet gives various possibilities as to the origin but nothing cast iron. As with the Scottish burd/brud, there was an old English word burde meaning noble woman or young woman (used for the Virgin Mary too) but apparently there isn't an unbroken link to the present. It pops up in 1915 but doesn't seem to be common until the 60s and 70s. It possibly comes from the increasingly colourful clothing after the war and connects to brightly coloured birds, although it could also be a reference to bird brained, which has a fairly unbroken link to the distant past. As with many words it can be used affectionately or as an insult.

A little Googling has enlightened me to the word "biddy", which is the female version of a "geezer". A biddy, though, is an annoying old lady, which is the opposite of a bird.

So it looks like I am an old Biddy now. Who on earth started this topic in the first place?

Hello, I've opened a new topic title today. Memories, or holidays planned, disappointing holidays, whatever. Anything to share? Looking at past photos of holiday venues, it's hard to imagine that a bloke wearing a suit could be sat in a deckchair, sometimes wearing a tie, but supposed to be a holiday. What do we think?

The holidays I've taken were never still for very long. Even when on a beach I had to be building a sandcastle or hunting for shells. Most holidays were in search of views, so if there was something lumpy I'd end up at the top of it... transport permitting. I've never seen the appeal of mountaineering, but boats, chairlifts, cable cars and railways have transported me to some fantastic locations. Museums, tick. Old buildings, tick. Coventry's highlights, tick.

Now here's the thing. I have been longing to air this one. Holiday Camps. I won't name it as it may still be in existence. Very popular in the late 50's. Arriving with my friend and her parents we had travelled by bus and I just had to go to the Ladies. I quickly left the bus and saw the Lad.....sign half hidden by the landcaping of bushes and trees so off I scampered and as soon as I went in found what was obviously the Laddies. Instead of course the Lassies which were round the other side. I came out as quick as a rabbit and it took all the weeks holiday to live it down.

Some of you know although I love Cov - I also love Italy so we're hoping to be returning to our happy place back to Lake Garda during the summer hols...............

I used to suffer from insomnia, mainly because my brain wouldn't shut up. Even when I wasn't worrying or excited about something, it would find something to chat about. At a very low point I discovered the value of 'comforting witter'. I started quietly playing mild comedy drama (esp Radio 4) on auto play and now can get to sleep no trouble 99.9% of the time and fall back to sleep again if I wake. No pills necessary. Not only does the thing drown out my busy brain, it overrides the noises all houses make as they cool, that tended to make me wake up, thinking I was being burgled. It has to be something funny enough to keep part of me listening but not so interesting it keeps me awake. These are comedies I've been listening to most of my life, so the voices are familiar, like relatives and their oft told stories. I just have to listen to something different on long car drives!