Canny lass

Fair Point Maggie. Didn't think of that.

OE (700-1100) verb amasod (past participle = amazed): in the beginning it meant to stun (now obsolete). Later it meant to bewilder and at some time in the 16th century took on the meaning to overwhelm with wonder. By the ME period amasod had changed it's form to amased. On the other hand, there was a word 'maze', with the meaning to stupefy or daze, which is dialectal but has been found in the English language since the 8th Century. At first it was only used in past-participles but it could have various prefixes, as in bimased and amased. By the 15th century its meaning had changed to 'bewilder'. Just when the derivative noun, 'mazer', came into being doesn't appear to be documented..(Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology) However, I wonder if it is 'our' word, Maggie. I worked at the Royal Infirmary in Doncaster a number of years and this word 'mazer' was in common use in the area, especially among older folks. Have you heard it in your area and if so has it the same meaning?

Definitely a YES from me! All-male sports clubs - especially golf - are a gift from the Almighty to the members of the female gender. I think it's so convenient to be able to drop off my other half at one of these establishments before going shopping or to the gym (mixed of course) and picking him up on the way home, safe in the knowledge that he's been playing a round and not playing around. Long may they live!! Funny how these all-male golf clubs usually have female bar-staff (except the manager, naturally) and cleaners. And no, I don't know why this is written in bold style, underlined italics!

I Think Nurse Dunbar went on to become the 'dickie nurse' who visited schools in the Bedlington area. As I understood it Rothbury was used when Mona Taylor was fully booked.

Nice to be back Maggie. Right arm's a beggared now though. Off to bed.

Why the photos have been relegated to the loos I can not imagine!

I heard many, many years ago that a submarine crew from the Blyth base were celebrating Xmas day in the pub, sometime in the early 40's. One of them won a bottle of whisky in a raffle but as he was about to go to sea he asked the landlord to keep it for him until he returned. Sadly he never returned, the sub was destroyed, but the bottle was kept for him and as far as I know it's still there today.

Things are just starting to get back to normal for me Vic after a series of broken arms and ribs. I haven't been able to use a computer for several months. It's still not easy but at least it's possible now.

My sentiments exactly! Have a goodun Micky

Claggy and cjek (as in stotty cjek) are two of my favourites.

Same goes for me! Give it six nowt Malcolm & Adam.

I remeber those. You pressed out a circle in the middle to open the bottle. We used to make pom-poms with them by placing two tops together and wrapping wool around them through the hole in the middle. When the hole was filled you cut around the outside edge, between the two tops and tied a piece of wool around the centre Before tearing away the bottle tops.

Not only the bottle tops were used Paul. I've worked in many hospitals where money for Xmas decorations was always a problem. We used to cadge the off cuts from the dairy. You could get rolls of foil, about 2 inches wide, with circles cut ot (the milk bottle tops). If you folded the foil in half lengthways you got strings of "icicles". Very pretty but you cut your fingers to ribbons making them.

It only took a minute!

So it is!

I can manage 3 Keith: Bette Davis, Peter Sellers and Jimmy Stewart

It appears that the expression 'pay on the nail' isn't peculiar to Bedlington and doesn't have anything to do with nail production. It was in general use in the English language as early as the 16th century and has been noted as early as the 14th century in Anglo-Norman 'payer sur le ungle' - literally translated ' to pay on the nail'. The nail in question appears to have been a nothing more than a finger nail. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cash-on-the-nail.html

Keith 2 and Merc, go for it!

Absolutely not ignoring John's supposition - just adding an alternative supposition.

Wouldn't that make it eligible as a market cross?

Is there some specific connection between the market cross and nail production?

It was also a common practice to mark out a place for exchange and sale of goods - a market place, hence the 'market cross'. This marker didn't always take the form of a cross. I've read somewhere that these market places were usually beside the church but for the life of me I can't find a reference just now. A market cross, according to Wikipedia, is a structure used to mark a market square in market towns. They are often elaborately carved and can be found in most market towns in Britain. They are not, however, all elaborately carved. Wikipedia informs us that: "These structures range from carved stone spires, obelisks or crosses, common to small market towns such as that in Stalbridge, Dorset to large, ornate covered structures, such as the Chichester Cross†The word obelisk, which comes from the Greek language, is particularly interesting for me. Liddell and Scott (1940), still a valid work of reference today, say this; á½€bελ-ίσκος , á½, Dim. of á½€bελός I, A. small spit, skewer, Ar.Ach. 1007, Nu.178, V.354, Av.388, 672, Sotad. Com.1.10, X.HG3.3.7, Arist.Pol.1324b19, PEleph.5.2 (iii B. C.), etc. 2. pl., spits used as money, Plu.Lys.17, Fab.27 ; cf. á½€bολός fin. 3. nail, IG12.313.141 (prob.), 11(2).148.70 (Delos, iii B. C., pl.). 4. = subula, Gloss. 5. window bar, ib. (pl.). II. anything shaped like a spit : the blade of a two-edged sword, Plb.6.23.7 ; the iron head of the Roman pilum, D.H.5.46. III. obelisk, D.S.1.46, Str.17.1.27, Plin.HN36.64. IV. drainage-conduit, "οἱ á¼Î½ τοῖς τείχεσιν á½€.†D.S.19.45, cf. IG 9(1).692.14 (Corc., ii B. C.) ; so perh. πεÏὶ τοῦ πιλῶνος (= πυλῶνος) κaὶ τοá½bιλίσκου (= τοῦ á½€bελίσκου) PLond.2.391.2 (vi A. D.) ; cf. "á½€bολίσκος†1. Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940. http://www.perseus.t...04.0057:entry=o)beli%2Fskos Look at 3 - á½€bελ-ίσκος (obelisk) would appear to be synonymous with 'nail'. There's no doubt that our nail is an obelisk it fulfills all criteria – tall, four sided, tapering with a pyramid shaped top. Nail is just another name for this structure. Anybody know how long it's been referred to as the 'nail'.

Not yet Malcolm but looking forward to it.

I think it's called supplementary street lighting.