Scottish expressions

[BeaverDiva]

My other half is Scottish and I'm getting used to the various strange terms they use for things (bucket = bin, bunker = kitchen counter etc). He recently referred to people who steal off washing-lines as "snowdroppers", which is something I've never heard of. Is this another Scottish expression, something other people use too or does he sometimes just make these things up??? xx

[MarkRae]

> All in common use in my part of Scotland.

Don't be ridiculous, Alex, they can't be! Nobody's ever heard of these expressions... ;-)

[boxtops]

Bunker's what I keep my coal in (when the bath is full, of course)

[ladyalex]

Haven't heard of Brock men where I am.

I believe that bunker for kitchen counter was used because the coal used to be kept under the kitchen counter top ( coal bunker) in tenements. That's what the lady in the Tenement House Museum in Glasgow said anyway. (Well worth a visit if you're in Glasgow, by the way)

[MarkRae]

She's right, Alex - that is indeed the derivation of the term.

[boxtops]

When I lived in a tenement in Glasgow (West Side of course), the coalshed was out the back, not in the building at all.

[karenmac60]

No one said it wasn't used at all Mark, but according to you

in Glasgow, bin men are known as bucket men...
and
15:27 on Sat 19/Jun/10)
Not only in Glasgow, but pretty much all over Scotland

Just because it might be used somewhere doesn't make either of your statements fact

[ladyalex]

Well, they're in common use in our house!

Boxtops, I'm talking a long time ago, in the olden days of tenements...single ends , two ends etc.

[MarkRae]

Fair enough.

[boxtops]

I could set OH's MIL on you, she'd soon put you right, Hamilton born and bred

[mike11111]

In the NE of England when I was a child (50s, 60s) bucket and bin were interchangeable as terms for an indoor rubbish receptacle. Probably because buckets were often used indoors prior to being emptied into the larger bin outside.

[MarkRae]

Yes indeed. Growing up in the Borders in the 60s and 70s, all of my Geordie family and friends said "binmen" and all of my Scottish family and friends said "bucketmen"...

And Oor Wullie aye sat on a bucket...

[FEENBO]

Have heard the term brockbin for pigswill the lorries used to run round glasgow early Monday morning and the stench was unbelievable. Brock over her right enough means badger so I cant see the ie up

[FEENBO]

as about doing the messages

[karenmac60]

I have heard the word brock used to describe something that's awful - that film was brock etc as in rubbish. We always go for the messages and we go to the pictures too feenbo :)

[MarkRae]

Messages for shopping / groceries, definitely.

My late grannie used to get me to "run a wee message" when she needed something from the shop...

[Borrheid]

Has anyone else used the phrase" Aw tae the side like Gourock"?
I used it recently in Gourock and got some strange looks. I've heard it in my family since I was a child in the 60s.

[oscarkim1]

What about the term "scaffie" yet another variation of Bin Man.

[Dris]

haha ^^ -I was just reading through and though-we call them scaffies here-sometimes bin men.Great minds !!