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RIP Gerry Marsden.

Indeed mpfs

Rosalind

Lovely to hear from you. My mum always called it hotpot too, she would never cook "scouse". Nice to be reminded of "Yer wot..." followed by wack or la'

My father had no trace of a Liverpool accent though he lived there for most of his life. He always pronounced "book" and "cook" to rhyme with Luke. Was that common?

Mpfs

I liked Gerry and still have a couple of his singles. Sad news.

Paul

Yes I remember you referred to G d'E a few months ago, and an apparent mistake by the setter to include a living person. I suppose that's why they could not use the darts champ, rather than for cultural reasons. I have seen words like "innit" in it. You would not hear that at Frimley Green!

Malone Paul

It was in the Saturday Mail magazine and I have been doing the crossword for a few weeks. Not cryptic, but symmetrical and you have to fill in the blanks. Clues are mostly synonyms, and include "modern" words, so i was surprised when I solved maidservant. There was no reference to the bible or Miss Marple.

The Times quiz yesterday referred to "bachelorette", apparently used in the US. I have not heard of it here, but I disapprove of it like "ladette". What is wrong with the -ess suffix, or the correct word, spinster?

grunger

It was kind of you to jokingly put me up there with Tom Baker and George Melly, I thought TB was the best Doctor Who and he featured in a Miss Marple story the other night (filmed about 10 years ago I think).

A (much younger) work colleague commented to me that David Tenant was the best Doctor. I said that if you meant the reboot, you have a case, although I would go with Matt Smith. However, I told her, the best ever Doctor was Tom Baker. Didn't know he was from Liverpool though.

Grunger, yes bachelorette is widely used over here. Doesn't spinster conjure up the image of an old unmarried lady?

Grunger, Mathprof....

I enjoyed the bachelorette and spinster comments. I dislike both words - the former because it simply looks too manufactured and the latter because it conjures up pictures of sad, lonely women. Grunger, I'm afraid I'd dislike your -ess version, that's due to me disliking most -ess versions. Other than in crosswords, I don't think I've ever needed to use any words, nouns, meaning 'someone who isn't married'.

I'm off to the kitchenette now, to get some serviettes laid out for breakfast. I'll need a towelette too, someone has spilled jelly (jam) on the banquette in the dinette.

Haha, malone, very good!

Jigjag
You're right, it was "hotpot" at home and actually never meatless, though I do remember being sent to buy scrag end of neck! Scouse elsewhere. I always liked the lovely crispy sliced potatoes on top and the delicious, very thin gravy. Never managed to replicate this; I guess it's like wine drunk in beautiful places abroad. Not the same at home, even if it's the identical wine.

The same is true of book and cook rhyming with Luke. Not at home, otherwise definitely.

Recently managed to find some coloured Cheshire in Oxford covered market and revive memories of that wonderful crumbly texture. Eaten with damson jam, of course, though I'm not sure that was standard.