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Thanks, Paulhabershon. It was great to see that again. I really enjoyed it... until I got to the end, of course. It always jars with me - what on earth are 's cones'?

Talking of -ess words, I came across ‘psaltress’, a women who plays the psaltery (a medieval stringed instrument). Curiously, there doesn’t seem to be a male (or gender neutral) equivalent. I can’t think of another musical instrument with distinct nouns for male and female players (generally they end -ist or -er). Although there is ‘pianiste’, from the French, which is feminine.

mathprof

Yes it is used here for old unmarried women. Unmarried friends just refer to themselves as single.

malone

I loved your piece, a clever vignette! I didnt realise there were so many -ette words in English.

jono

I like psaltress, that will go on my list. At school the music teacher called the trumpet players trumpetresses. We did not have drums, but I think drumress would be inelegant.

Rosalind

No problem for me getting Cheshire cheese, living on the edge of the county. Never had it with jam, I just pile it onto crackers (no butter). Delicious.

Malone @2132: Brilliant!

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/words-that-end-in-ette

Thanks, MPF (if I may be so bold?)

That was an interesting list, but I enjoyed probing the deepest, darkest corners of my mind to see how many -ettes I could retrieve!

Mathprofrockstar - I'm more likely to get your full name correct! Sorry about the earlier approximation of an abbreviation.

I'd missed your 16.39 comment. Glad you (and Grunger and Rossim) liked my -ette snippet, snippette.

Grunger

If you have the banns read in an Anglican church for three several weeks before you get married, the wording is, or at least used to be, along the lines of

"I publish the banns of marriage between X, bachelor of the parish of Y and Z, spinster of this parish. This is the first time of asking. If any of you know any cause " etc

My guess is these spinsters are not usually old! Just unmarried. I used to think it meant something to do with spinning, which I suppose might be the origin.

Rosalind, the information on the banns was interesting, though it sounds wonderfully archaic with 'bachelor' and 'spinster'! I don't think I've heard either word used in normal conversation, and I'd be quite happy for them to remain in relative obscurity. The Chambers definition of 'spinster' confirms this for me - 'an unmarried woman; an old maid; a woman fit for the spinning house.' And as you said, the spinning lead to the word.