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Ruby2
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« Reply #15 on: 12:24:31, 13-10-2008 » |
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*Piece is the standard word for food taken out of the house for school, work or travel, and by derivation for anything shoved in a roll, bap or between two slices of bread if it isn't called a 'sangwidge'. (cf Northern English 'snap', and 'snap-tin', carried by miners for their breaks.
That's interesting Ron. I had always wondered about the derivations for the many and varied regional terms for packed lunch, especially "snap" but in that context it actually makes sense!  |
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"Two wrongs don't make a right. But three rights do make a left." - Rohan Candappa
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Mary Chambers
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« Reply #16 on: 12:26:19, 13-10-2008 » |
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My brother once had a girlfriend from a Scottish village, who used to talk about "jeely pieces" (sp?), which meant bread and jam.
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IgnorantRockFan
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« Reply #17 on: 12:28:52, 13-10-2008 » |
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*Piece is the standard word for food taken out of the house for school, work or travel, and by derivation for anything shoved in a roll, bap or between two slices of bread if it isn't called a 'sangwidge'. (cf Northern English 'snap', and 'snap-tin', carried by miners for their breaks.
That's interesting. In my family, a "piecie" was a sandwich -- I have no idea why we called it that but I think it was from my father (who wasn't Scottish and had probably never visitied Scotland... although his father had spent a time there). I know "snap" as a black-country term (so possibly from miners, again?) |
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Allegro, ma non tanto
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Morticia
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« Reply #18 on: 13:54:53, 13-10-2008 » |
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I will happily move this non-porridge post elsewhere , but talk of regional variations has reminded me about 'scran' (if that's the right spelling) referring to food generally. I've only ever heard it used by Geordies. Just wondered how it originated.
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Peter Grimes
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« Reply #19 on: 14:24:07, 13-10-2008 » |
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Does anyone have a spurtle?
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"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog."
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IgnorantRockFan
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« Reply #20 on: 14:46:10, 13-10-2008 » |
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From the ever-enlightening Michael Quinion: The first recorded sense of scran, from the early eighteenth century, actually refers to a reckoning at a tavern. By the early 1800s the word was being used almost exclusively in relation to food. The implications seemed always to be that it was inferior or scrappy food, odds-and-ends, leftovers, and the like. It might be a scratch meal taken by a labourer into the field, or perhaps some miscellaneous items for a holiday excursion or picnic, as well as those soldiers’ and seamen’s rations.
It was widely used in London in the nineteenth century. An example appears in a letter by the Victorian social writer Henry Mayhew that was published in the Morning Chronicle in November 1849: “Others beg ‘scran’ (broken victuals) of the servants at respectable houses, and bring it home to the lodging-house, where they sell it.” If you were out on the scran, you were begging food; you might have a scran bag to hold your gleanings. There’s also the Anglo-Irish bad scran to you, an imprecation that curses you with ill luck, literally wishing bad food on you. And scran bag has long been used in the Royal Navy for the place where confiscated personal possessions or lost property were kept until retrieved or sold.
Unfortunately, as often is the case, we have no good idea where the word comes from. I've only ever heard it used by Geordies, who Mr. Quinion neglects to mention  |
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Allegro, ma non tanto
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #21 on: 14:50:00, 13-10-2008 » |
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Not I, PG: as mentioned elsewhere, I use either a slottted bamboo spatula purchased from a local oriental supermarket, or sometimes a wire whisk, depending on the grade of oatmeal used - the whisk for fine. (I don't consider myself to have achieved competition standard yet, btw.  ) |
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stuart macrae
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« Reply #22 on: 14:50:59, 13-10-2008 » |
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I've heard 'scran' in Scotland, Mort - in fact I'm sure I've used it myself on many occasions! The person I think I learned it from is from Inverness like me, but has a mother from Troon and a father from Uist, so I don't know where he heard it (I'm not sure it's a common term in Inverness). As far as porridge is concerned, I often soak it overnight (either oatmeal or rolled oats - the former is tastier, the latter smoother) then cook it on the hob with a little added milk. I put salt in it, then just a sprinkling of white sugar and milk on top. My family seems to have a tradition of something called 'brose' which isn't actually the same as the official Atholl Brose or Peas brose. Most people in Scotland seem to associate the term with the latter two dishes, but in my extended family it's always been as follows: put dry fine oatmeal in a bowl with a little butter and salt, and then gradually mix in freshly boiled water with a metal spoon until the desired consistency is achieved (a paste somewhat thicker than porridge). Then we add quite a bit of muscovado sugar on top (because it's yummy, presumably...), then milk. It's very tasty but you have to make sure the oatmeal is fine, and the water very hot otherwise it doesn't work. |
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Andy D
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« Reply #23 on: 14:52:10, 13-10-2008 » |
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I used to make porridge with water and salt, but in the microwave, as you might expect However this winter I are be mostly eating a banana for breakfast.  |
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HtoHe
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« Reply #24 on: 15:24:32, 13-10-2008 » |
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From the ever-enlightening Michael Quinion: The first recorded sense of scran, from the early eighteenth century, actually refers to a reckoning at a tavern. By the early 1800s the word was being used almost exclusively in relation to food. The implications seemed always to be that it was inferior or scrappy food, odds-and-ends, leftovers, and the like. It might be a scratch meal taken by a labourer into the field, or perhaps some miscellaneous items for a holiday excursion or picnic, as well as those soldiers’ and seamen’s rations.
It was widely used in London in the nineteenth century. An example appears in a letter by the Victorian social writer Henry Mayhew that was published in the Morning Chronicle in November 1849: “Others beg ‘scran’ (broken victuals) of the servants at respectable houses, and bring it home to the lodging-house, where they sell it.” If you were out on the scran, you were begging food; you might have a scran bag to hold your gleanings. There’s also the Anglo-Irish bad scran to you, an imprecation that curses you with ill luck, literally wishing bad food on you. And scran bag has long been used in the Royal Navy for the place where confiscated personal possessions or lost property were kept until retrieved or sold.
Unfortunately, as often is the case, we have no good idea where the word comes from. I've only ever heard it used by Geordies, who Mr. Quinion neglects to mention The word was very popular in Liverpool a few years ago, but I haven't heard it for a while. I don't recall any implication that it referred to inferior food; rather, it was just food in general as Mort suggests. I got the impression that it was more applicable to prepared food than to provisions but that impression might be mistaken. |
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Morticia
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« Reply #25 on: 15:33:47, 13-10-2008 » |
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Thanks everyone for the 'scran' input :)Like HtoHe, I have only heard it used to refer to prepared food e.g. 'We had great scran' or 'Eat your scran' (that was a favourite with one of the cooks at work, as opposed to left-overs and bits and bobs. I suppose bubble and squeak could fit the scran bill. Maybe  |
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Mary Chambers
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« Reply #26 on: 17:27:35, 13-10-2008 » |
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The word was very popular in Liverpool a few years ago
Was it? I've never heard it there, or anywhere. |
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HtoHe
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« Reply #27 on: 18:54:25, 13-10-2008 » |
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The word was very popular in Liverpool a few years ago
Was it? I've never heard it there, or anywhere. It might just be one you've missed, Mary. As I said, I don't hear it much these days. It obviously has - or had - enough currency for this person to include it in his glossary: http://www.spinchat.com/forum/msg?c=575/12f24 |
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Mary Chambers
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« Reply #28 on: 21:39:40, 13-10-2008 » |
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I know some of the words on that list, though there are plenty I don't. I'm sure some of them aren't specifically scouse - big girl's blouse, biddy (meaning a woman, usually "old biddy"). Another non-porridge post  |
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Andy D
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« Reply #29 on: 01:52:41, 18-10-2008 » |
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I'd never heard of the word "scran" before I read this thread but it appeared in Friday's Guardian crossword as 19 across:
Cast an eye over the food right away (4)
The answer is "scan" which is "scran" without the r(ight)
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