For some unaccountable reason last night whilst trying unsuccessfully to get to sleep, a phrase from my childhood popped into my head, totally at random.
"Alright, mush?" The equivalent meaning, how are you old chap? (Mush in this instance being pronounced moosh.) Mush was a slang term used where I grew up for both a friend or also a form of contempt, as in the more aggressive "Who do you think you are looking at, mush?"
My overactive brain then went on to consider the word mush and its various meanings, depending on how it is pronounced.
In my childhood, mush (moosh) was also used to mean face, as in "He had chocolate all over his mush".
The alternatives, pronounced to rhyme with hush or lush, are probably the more familiar terms for a mess, a sentimental story or to whip up a dog sled. A verb or a noun or an exclamation.
So many meanings from just one little word.
I remember a young Spanish student who stayed with us whilst studying at an English Language school turning to me in exasperation saying, "English is so hard. There are no proper rules!"
Just a complete mush really.
Hmm.. Mush is a Romany word apparently for an old friend or term of endearment.
ReplyDeleteI have also heard it to describe someone's face: "It was all over their mush".
Mushy peas are a Midlands and Northern English type of cooked peas.
The definition of a Mushroom= School Dinners😊.
Ah, I didn't know that the friend usage came from a Romany word. I wonder how widespread it was in the rest of the UK?
Deletemush in Lincolnshire when we were kids meant mouth. Dialect I suppose - I think most languages have dialect but I have never been any good at all at languages stick to english was always my motto.
ReplyDeleteYes. I hadn't heard those terms used since my childhood so I have no idea why it just popped into my head last night.
DeleteI've never heard of your mush meaning. Yes I agree English is a hard language to learn. So many different ways to pronounce words, so many meanings. But Greek isn't far behind and there you have that darn strange alphabet too.
ReplyDeleteStrange the way things come to mind in the middle and f the night.
I always enjoyed learning languages but I admit to being stumped by Greek.
DeleteJapanese was also a non-starter for me!
How are you doing spadge?
ReplyDeleteA most ungentlemanly and unsavoury remark from Mr Dunham. The Urban Dictionary says this: "Spadge is a term coined in the Scottish kilt hire industry for dried semen on a returned hire kilt".
DeleteHmmm.. the online urban dictionary gives two very different meanings to that word. I hope your usage was the less rude one?
DeleteYou beat me to it YP
DeleteSpadge = sparrow. I know nothing of Scotsmen and their kilts. Is Mr. Pudding secretly more teuchter than Yorkshire.
DeleteNo he is not.
DeleteHa-ha! Interesting reflections on "mush" JayCee... but don't forget mushy peas my old mush!
ReplyDeleteI like mushy peas.
DeleteI like toasted cheese.
DeleteThings that come to mind in the middle of the night explained: my ex reckoned there were only two brain cells, the one on essential life support and the one running the filing system. The one on filing gets regular breaks so it occasionally has to spell the one on essential life support. It's days like that when the filing gets a bit haphazard, cards get strewn all over the deck as he's pedaling with both feet and simultaneously searching for the name of the lead singer of some obscure band that you asked for... Later that night when both are on nightshift and things are quieter, the cards get picked up, sorted and filed again. That's when all the weird shit comes to light.
ReplyDeleteHmm.. so if I am reduced to only one brain cell that would explain the chaos...
DeleteMush as in push is the pronunciation. . We used it. Shut your mush. It was always meant in a friendly way. It is still used here.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard it used since I moved away from home in the late 1970s.
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