Mithering does mean going on and on about something, but generally in a worried or concerned way. Maybe like fretting?

Encarta says it means <b>scolding</b> or <b>nagging</b>.

I had a girlfriend from Preston who used mithering as part of her &quot;native&quot; vocubulary, meaning whinging or whining.

&quot;Stop yer mithering&quot; to anyone complaining.

Squinny is a good Portsmouth term, as a verb or as a person, between squeal and whine.

&quot;He's a reet squinny&quot;

Where I live, they're referred to as Coconut Retrievers.

We had a similar dog. My dad said she was a cross between a Tasmanian Fly Catcher and a Clarke County Possum Hound.

Well she did catch flies and she was tough on possums. That's opossum to you who live outside the USA.

Some snobby lady asked me what kind of dog I had. I told her she was a Brawler.

She said she was not familiar with that breed.

I told that if she ever owned a Brawler, she would not want another one.

At 35 pounds she battled in vain against a male Boxer from across the street who was a skinny 85 pounds. He was all bone and muscle and thought our dog was wanting to play. One day she learned to control him quite by accident: She nipped him just under his stubby tail and got gratifying results. From that day onward poor Brutus spent quite a bit of time sitting when she approached.

So perhaps she was part Nipper as well as Tasmanian Fly Catcher and Possum Hound. And don't ask me why the Tasmanian; my dad was never there in his life. Just a far away place, which is really quite beautiful my friends tell me.

bob brown. Funniest thing I have ever heard. Thanks. Barb

We kept my nephew convinced for about 5 years that our dog is an honorable descendent of noble North American Sockhound stock.

I am a cat person. This thread clears for me why... :S-

PalQ:

It's pretty unusual to hear the term these days: apart from anything else, the &quot;57&quot; isn't on any of the Heinz Beanz tins in our pantry, and I can't remember seeing it used for years.

And it's not just limited to the elderly, as you usually hear it only among the brand-buying classes: the rapidly dwindling of elderly, poorish people who shop in places that are neither dominated by own label (like Tesco or Waitrose) nor by obscure brands no-one's ever heard of (like Aldi and Lidl).

The Heinz brand, in fact, was relatively stronger in Britain than in the US for decades: Heinz were the most consistently committed foreign player here from the 50s to the 80s, and - unlike in the US - put all their energy behind one brand. Indeed in the early 70s their products accounted for the same proportion of Tesco's turnover as Tesco accounted for of theirs (something that these days seems against nature).

Believe it or not, retail buyers back then seriously believed they'd lose sales if they didn't stock Heinz beans, tomato soup and salad cream. It took Heinz a lot longer to realise this was nonsense than it took the buyers, which is why Heinz aren't a major supplier to anyone any more. But their beans remain one of only about half a dozen grocery products a grown up Briton (even Ms F) will pay a premium for over a retailer's own label

PB, I've heard my friends' teen-age kids use the term, so it's not only for us old folks (I'm in my 40s, so not quite ready for the rocking chair). But this was back in Pennsylvania, where Heinz still has a strong presence.

Heinz are the ONLY baked bean. Everything else is an inferior copy. Ditto ketchup.

But you can stick salad cream....

Here's something depressing....

If you go to this website

http://www.britishcornershop.co.uk/

You will see what they seem to think that expat brits miss most of all:

Soreen malt loaf, PG Tips, Kellogs Corn flakes* Heinz baked beans, fray bentos tinned pies, walkers crisps, archers schnapps and teachers scotch.

Are we really a nation of pikeys?

*surely kellogs corn flakes are a septic thing?

&quot;Are we really a nation of pikeys?&quot;

No. Just as we packed all the whingers off to Oz in the 50's, we've now dumped the Walkers Crisp* addicts onto Florida and the Costa del Sawnoff Shotgun.

Leaving the rest of us to get on with the only slightly extortionately priced Sainsbury's Very Bestest organic couscous gnocchi with sundried balsamic truffles.

*Now they're septic. Pepsi bought Walker's a few years back.

We have a store here that has a British specialty area and one of the best stocked items is Heinz Baked Beanz, at about ten times the cost of the no-name brand a few aisles over. And they sell so there must be something special in them English beanz! they also stock Marmite, but those jars gather dust.

One more Corrie reference of last night as long as you all kindly take time to answer:

One of the most mithering of Corrie characters, Ken Barlow's old bag mother-in-law, can't think of her name, said to someone who would not go along with her scheme to boycott the Rovers - telling the other two slightly less mithering old bats &quot;You'd have been a right washout at Greenham Common&quot;

is this a reference to some war or anti-nuclear protest? Rings a bell but please set me straight. thanks. Go Spurs!

How weird...I was watching this episode last night with my 24-year old (a rare treat, home from university for the hols) and when that line was uttered, she turned to me and I explained that it was a nuclear protest, either entirely or predominantly female. But even as I said it I thought I must &quot;google &quot;that at (what I laughlngly refer to as) work, tomorrow, to see if my memory failed me...didn't get the chance yet as I am too busy snooping on Fodors trying to decide if Mr. Dreamer is a troll or not.

Greenham Common was an American nuclear air-base and and in the 80's there was a sizeable women only encampment of protesters.

The implication is that the person is a poor political protester.

Greenham Common was a yank airbase in Cambridgeshire. It was the site of the cruise missiles. A lot of hairy legged ladies in comfortable shoes got in a bit of a tizzy about this and set up the “unmarried wimmins against phallocentric bombs group” and they held protests against the missiles. They also set up a male-free, humour free, parking ability free “peace camp” outside the gates where they lived, scowling at men.

So in short “Greenham common” is shorthand for a hairy legged tennis fan in dungarees and with messy hair and a lot of “effnik” beads etc about their person. Think Andrea Dworkin – only uglier.

Greenham Common was an American base near Newbury in Berkshire, which is only a few feet from Winchester. Doubtless Facere was too preoccupied dozing at the back of the class to notice the outside world.

There's a popular myth (mainly among people who get their information from Tottenham Hotspur fanzines) that the women protesters there against Cruise missiles were Russian women weighlifters who'd failed to make the team because they weren't feminine enough.

They must have gone on an awful lot of makeover shows since, then, as the ones I know are normal, sensible, women. Not a man hater or moustache between them.

The only thing odd about any of them is that quite a few still think their protest was successful and useful. It was, of course, neither.

is Greenham Common in Hampshire? No it is not. Thefore does it really matter where it is, as frankly once you get beyond the boundaries of Gods own little acre its all much of a muchness.

Lakenheath's the one in Cambridge innit? The one they bombed libya (also not in Hampshire therefore unimportant) from.

Those Greenham womyn were beyond the pale. Total termagants, and as you say completely unsucessful.


There was only one woman worth listening to in the 80's and she was avidly pro bomb.

&quot;Newbury in Berkshire, which is only a few feet from Winchester&quot;

For Wintonians Newbury is in the far north, occupied by Swedes, Picts and cannibals.