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helenwyler
02-Sep-07, 15:29
Anyone remember 'gumption'?

I remember my mum frequently asking me "Where's your gumption?!" ...a perplexing question for a young child:eek:! Never did know...

For some reason the word came back to me this morning...I think I'll try it out on my teenagers[lol]!

What disused and dusty words/expressions do you remember from your younger days?

Helen

Ricco
02-Sep-07, 15:32
Whey, Helen. I'm still looking for my gumption. Dad never told me what it looked like and so I am not sure I'll ever recognise it. :(

Angela
02-Sep-07, 15:45
Hi, Ricco, I think you need to find your initiative first...and your "get up and go" then maybe you'll find your gumption! ;)

They look rather similar really! [lol]

Margaret M.
02-Sep-07, 15:45
Gumption is a great word, I still use it. These expressions are still used too but I always remember mum saying: "If conceit was consumption, she would have been dead long ago" and "You can take a goat around the world but when it comes back it is still a goat".

golach
02-Sep-07, 15:49
The use of Gumption has fallen into decline.....I blame Bill Gates and Google[lol]

Max
02-Sep-07, 16:16
I have spent my whole life looking for "a round tooit"! :)

changilass
02-Sep-07, 16:23
LOL my wee man bought one for a friend a couple of weeks ago

helenwyler
02-Sep-07, 16:39
LOL my wee man bought one for a friend a couple of weeks ago

Now I'm just guessing changilass, but we may be talking about different things here...

From Collins Dictionary:

gumption n. Informal 1. common sense or resourcefulness. 2.

karia
02-Sep-07, 16:42
Hi helen,

I always liked the word 'nouse' for practical knowledge and know how.

It's such an unpretentious wee word!:)

Karia

changilass
02-Sep-07, 16:43
Helen I was talking about the round tuit

helenwyler
02-Sep-07, 16:47
LOL my wee man bought one for a friend a couple of weeks ago

Did he buy gumption or "a round tooit" changiless, I'm confused:eek:!

percy toboggan
02-Sep-07, 16:48
ask the average child today what
'elbow grease' means and they might appear baffled.
Strangely though, I read last week that some people are spraying WD40 onto the surface of arthritic joints!!
It's not just words which are slipping out of our lives. I feel common sense might also be assuming cult status.

Bobinovich
02-Sep-07, 17:19
LOL my wee man bought one for a friend a couple of weeks ago

T'was something akin to this which the wee man got me...

http://www.tobar.co.uk/i/e2893-lrg.jpg

...and it's taken it's place in ma office so when I've got a cuppa I remember to get around til drinkin' it!

badger
02-Sep-07, 17:25
I'm sure I remember my mother having a tin of Gumption so I Googled it and it does still exist - multi-purpose cleaner. Nothing to do with gumption, which I apparently lacked as a child. Round tuits are very useful things we used to exchange with friends but not sure how much they worked.

Thumper
02-Sep-07, 17:51
this definatel brings me back lol1My Nana used to use gumption and also used to say "at een ere hez no gumption2 when I was little i felt sorry for the poor wifie who didn't have gumption to clean with :D Now round tuits you may not know but they used to sell them in the Last House in JOG don't know if they still do but it really made a lot of people stop saying"I will do it when I get a round tuit" cos all of a sudden thay all got one lol!They used to sell half cups of coffee as well.....never really understood why people asked for half a cup in the first place :rolleyes: x

angela5
02-Sep-07, 18:05
They used to sell half cups of coffee as well.....never really understood why people asked for half a cup in the first place :rolleyes: x

Bladder problems! you know what like the public toilets are here....[lol]

Thumper
02-Sep-07, 18:15
LMAO nice one Angela5 just what I needed to cheer up this dismal day x

Sporran
02-Sep-07, 19:18
Anyone remember 'gumption'?

I remember my mum frequently asking me "Where's your gumption?!" ...a perplexing question for a young child! Never did know...

For some reason the word came back to me this morning...I think I'll try it out on my teenagers!

What disused and dusty words/expressions do you remember from your younger days?

Helen

Thanks for reminding me of that wonderful word, Helen! :D It was well used in our family too, when I was growing up! "Use yer gumption!"

I think I'll try that out on my sons, who are both young men living at home. I can't wait to see the expression on their faces when I ask them if they've used their gumption today! :lol:

Then there's "Dinna fash yersel!" That's a good 'un too! :-)

gleeber
02-Sep-07, 19:56
It sounds like a substance you could buy in the ironmongers.
I think most people have it but some have it more than others.

Anne x
02-Sep-07, 20:58
My mother always used the word Gumption in the context ie

He or She had no gumption about her or him I find myself saying it sometimes

helenwyler
02-Sep-07, 21:04
That's what I meant too Anne!!

...then all these cleaning liquids and beer mats started appearing:eek:!!

The mysterious and wonderful life of a thread;)!

Apparently 'gumption' is an 18th century Scottish word...of course!

Anne x
02-Sep-07, 21:19
Helen
was there not a strange pink substance (paste like ) in a blue tin for cleaning the bathroom etc in the late 60s called gumption or similar !!!

helenwyler
02-Sep-07, 21:30
Hi Anne

I think there must have been!

Cleanimng the bathroom was one of my weekend jobs as a child but Mum always gave me Vim or Ajax ...power scouring with added "elbow grease"[evil]!

Anne x
02-Sep-07, 21:33
I mind it from what they now call home economics !!!! sure my memory serves me well mind ajax and vim though

Angela
02-Sep-07, 21:41
We certainly had "gumption"...well, in the tin, that is!

This is pretty much unrelated -but I suddenly remembered how my Mum used to say "I'll just give her a cup in her hand"...meaning if someone was coming for tea, we wouldn't set the table, but would just hand round the tea and scones etc. Although sometimes the cake stand would be brought out! :eek:

Maybe this is just me, but it always seemed such an odd thing to say....

karia
02-Sep-07, 23:29
We certainly had "gumption"...well, in the tin, that is!

This is pretty much unrelated -but I suddenly remembered how my Mum used to say "I'll just give her a cup in her hand"...meaning if someone was coming for tea, we wouldn't set the table, but would just hand round the tea and scones etc. Although sometimes the cake stand would be brought out! :eek:

Maybe this is just me, but it always seemed such an odd thing to say....

Hi Angela,

I suspect that may be along the lines of the infamous Scots (non) greeting that goes....

.....'You'll have had your tea':D

karia

Lolabelle
02-Sep-07, 23:35
Whey, Helen. I'm still looking for my gumption. Dad never told me what it looked like and so I am not sure I'll ever recognise it. :(

Here (http://www.mygroceryshop.com.au/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=11159&zenid=354d1597cdb85bc156309b6f48369149) it is, you just had to go to the shops and get some. I use it all the time over here, you can borrow mine if you like, till you get some of your own. [lol]

karia
02-Sep-07, 23:38
Ah Lolabelle,

Now that we all have access to 'gumption' ...what will our excuses be?;)

Karia

trinkie
03-Sep-07, 07:09
I love that word too and use it often.

How about this one - SKUTCH.... isn't that a wonderful sounding word? ( and I've got plenty! )

''That wifie hes the skutch o' the devil !!''

Trinkie

helenwyler
03-Sep-07, 09:25
I love that word too and use it often.

How about this one - SKUTCH.... isn't that a wonderful sounding word? ( and I've got plenty! )

''That wifie hes the skutch o' the devil !!''

Trinkie

Hi Trinkie

Skutch....does that rhyme with 'clutch' or 'butch'?

I looked it up and only came up with perhaps more modern usages:eek:...

Our very own www.caithness.org/dialect (http://www.caithness.org/dialect) gives its meaning as 'fast-moving'.

Can you translate "the skutch of the devil" for the uninitiated?

Angela
03-Sep-07, 10:14
Two favourites that I've not heard for quite some time, but I still use -they sound SO descriptive to me, and are really satisfying to say - are "puggelt" (Scots dict def. "exhuasted, done in") and "trochelt".

As in "Ah'm fair puggelt...." :(

I've not found a definition for "trochelt", maybe it's more a dialect word....it means much the same.

Today I feel both trochelt AND puggelt....;)

golach
03-Sep-07, 10:29
Angela, could this be the word your looking for

Trachlit, Tra(u)chled, Truiched, p.p. and ppl. adj. [Gael. treachailte, Ir. treacailte, trocailte loosed, spent, tired.

Angela
03-Sep-07, 11:11
Angela, could this be the word your looking for

Trachlit, Tra(u)chled, Truiched, p.p. and ppl. adj. [Gael. treachailte, Ir. treacailte, trocailte loosed, spent, tired.

It is, golach, thanks :D

I'm sure I always thought "trauchled" was the spelling....so I don't know why I was looking for something different....Brain -where are you???

However, now that I've had two good cups of coffee, I'm feeling neither trauchled nor puggelt! ;)

Ricco
03-Sep-07, 14:27
Hi helen,

I always liked the word 'nouse' for practical knowledge and know how.

It's such an unpretentious wee word!:)

Karia

Karia,

As a kid I always questioned the plural 'nice mice' yielding a singular 'nouse mouse'. :lol:

trinkie
03-Sep-07, 17:45
' Skutch ' rhymes with Clutch.

Skutch o' the devil....... imagine a person hurrying and scurrying all over the place.
I sometimes play a little game as I'm sitting in the car waiting...... some
folk get a + for Skutch...... others get zero for no skutch - sloth if you prefer !

trinkie +

johno
03-Sep-07, 18:19
O Boy, i wish my old Gran was still around, she used all of these words and she used them all, at the right time with the right timing. how i miss her. :~(