A Coronation Street fan i often find references given there are incomprehensible, such as when Mike Baldwin yesterday was talking about a dog he had as a young nipper - "it was one of those Heinz 57 dogs"

i'm guessing this means Dauchshund and it this term still used? Thanks again for a stupid enquiry. Just curious.

It means that it's a mongrel. 57 varieties--get it??

Otherwise known as a Bitzer - bits o' this, bits o' that.

yes of course now - that it was a dauchshund because of bean with hot dogs in them maybe. I quite like that term as you explain it.

They say that in the US too, Bob.
As a child in the South, I heard a Heinz 57 was just a mutt.

Never heard that in my Ohio life - maybe a southern term or a term that was used before i became aware - archaic? Interesting though that we also use it.

That's funny, because while I've heard that term many times in the U.S. (Pennsylvania being Heinz territory), I've never heard anyone say it in the UK.

I've heard it all my life - in CA and other places.

I hear it all the time in IL, then again I volunteer at a shelter.

I've heard it used in Ohio, but it was in southern Ohio. I liked the Bitzer name.

jeez... my family we refer to our bloodlines as Heinz57.

I like Bitzer though ... its cute!

That is what we commonly called our dogs that were of a "mixed" breed. It is used all the time here in the center of the USA. Not unusual at all.

My sister had a dog called Deefer.

Deefer Dog

I must live in a linguistic time warp - seems perhaps a more common phrase in the US than UK!

Heinz from Pitts but have been sold widely in UK for decades.

Yes, I've heard that term all my life when referring to questionable lineage. My dad used to call our dog an Irish Canardly, meaning you "can hardly" tell what he was supposed to be.

"I've got a car, it's a Rolls Canardly - it rolls down a hill and can 'ardly get up the next"

Beano circa 1947

I grew up in the countryside of Southwestern Ohio, and we got a lot of stray dogs (usually ready to drop puppies) that were dumped off near our home. We always called these very mixed varieties -- Heinz 57 dogs.

I wonder since Heinz 57 has fallen off the radar screen pretty much for younger folk if this reference is mainly used by older folks - perhaps those older than I.

Mike Baldwin who uttered it last night is in last stages of Alzheimer's and may have used a phrase that doesn't have currency in the UK today much, though Heinz 57 is muchmore prominent on store shelves there it seems than now here.

Few younger Americans i believe would know what the 57 refers to.

There is a word used on Coronation Street that is peculiar to that area of Britain....It is the word "mithering"....Can anyone tell me what this word means....I know that there are lots of fans scattered all over...For example a Canadian friend seemed to know all the characters....His mum is a fan in Canada,and he gets to know everyone in it....So can anyone tell me the meaning of this word?

I believe it means going on and on about something...