British Fish and Chips

[ginger1981 0]

Well knowing that now I would absolutely HATE to have the first name Beverley!

My ancestors came from Pembrokeshire in Wales...of course the grandma from Beverley (I paid attention!), and a great great grandfather from London who at 13 hopped on board a ship as a stow away and ended up in Texas...and had a town named after him there. Haven't been able to trace the Irish family as much...seems like the records have been hard to come by but I did find some family coming over during the famine and settling in Des Moines of all places. Apparently he painted portraits and eventually become a photographer.

I have some Czech roots as well, but that is for a different forum

Yes the brits are a mixed lot. Lots of Viking and Norman in the mix. A lot of Irish too...but even then the Irish are a mixed bunch.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Norman French (barratt)

Alan, just curious here. My ex-husband's grandmother (with whom I was very close until her death some years back) was a Barratt. The other spelling of Barratt -- Barrett -- is so much more common that this piqued my interest. I *think* her family was from North Yorkshire. I know that her father was Newton Barratt, who was a food scientist at the turn of the 20th century and is responsible for the dye added to margarine to make it yellow instead of gray! He also developed a strain of apples much like the Orange Pippin that are fantastic.

Totally, totally off topic, sorry.

[Captain Oates 910]

My dad's dad is commemorated in Beverley cathedral

Killed in action at Oppy wood on Thursday 3rd May 1917 while serving with the East Yorkshire Regiment

He was not an East Yorkshireman but they were sending people to far flung regiments (50miles) to stop the loss of whole towns full of men, by spreading them around the army

He left a wife and 5 small children and there was no social security, so she took in washing from the whole village and did it by hand

As soon as she raised my dad they sent him to the jungles of Burma to fight the Japanese and he was never the same

To say we are anti-war is an understatement, and all this flag waving and glorification of war is nauseating

I went out with a German lady for a while, and spent time over there, and they are more anti war than anyone

If it ever really came to the US civilian population instead of other civilian populations, then the US would soon change it's mind about how necessary and glorious it all is

The average losses at Arras/Oppy wood were 4,600 per day, every day for 42 days.

That is, 150% of 9-11 every day for 6 weeks - but who has heard of Oppy Wood ?

There are a third of a million unrecovered bodies still laid in that region - and thats just the Brits

Hey - Getting a town named after you is impressive !

So life is short and in the hands of your government - so eat as much fish and chips as possible

[Captain Oates 910]

Norman French (barratt)

Alan, just curious here. My ex-husband's grandmother (with whom I was very close until her death some years back) was a Barratt. The other spelling of Barratt -- Barrett -- is so much more common that this piqued my interest. I *think* her family was from North Yorkshire. I know that her father was Newton Barratt, who was a food scientist at the turn of the 20th century and is responsible for the dye added to margarine to make it yellow instead of gray! He also developed a strain of apples much like the Orange Pippin that are fantastic.

Totally, totally off topic, sorry.

Hi there !

They are confused about how to spell their names but yes Barrett seems to be the one they used mostly.

My mother's dad

He went to australia as a gold miner and returned to open - a FISH SHOP !

He ended up as a nightwatchman in a brick yard where he fell asleep and the ovens set fire to his pants

He was an inventor I suppose as he invented 'keyholing'. He was too soft to drown the unwanted kittens so he tied a string noose round their necks, pushed it through the keyhole, and then went outside, closed the door and pulled on the string !

Not something you could patent

Sounds like Norman French ingenuity to me

Edited September 8, 2008 by saywhat

[ginger1981 0]

I love the family stories...pants set on fire in ovens, the dude that invented the dye that makes margarine appear more palatable.

I always laugh at this picture...one of my Welsh ancestors...with sheep

[Captain Oates 910]

I love the family stories...pants set on fire in ovens, the dude that invented the dye that makes margarine appear more palatable.

I always laugh at this picture...one of my Welsh ancestors...with sheep

There's a guy who worked hard and didnt have a lot of processed food and had a waist ! Those braces (suspenders) had a function in those days

Here is my grandad 3 months before he was killed and thats my dad sat on his knee

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

'Don' is old celtic British for 'hill' - the language that exists more than 2000 years ago before the Romans arrived

So Americans who talk about tennis at 'Wimbleton' (90%), only get it wrong because they dont know the origins of the language...

Near where I lived I could see 3 hills not far off

Rawdon

Baildon

Yeadon

The suffix 'by' is viking for 'town' - this word is current in modern danish as are most yorkshire words like 'lug' for 'ear' and 'laking' (playing) - which most people think are just slang

Within 10 miles of where I lived was the town of Huby (Hugh's town) and this was in the ancient Danish lands - the Danelaw

From there to the east coast there are literally hundreds of town names ending in 'by'

- whitby, selby, Derby etc

But where I lived a few miles away and to the west and south there was a line on the map and zero town names ending in 'by' as this was saxon land

Here endeth the language history lesson - just an aside

what this has to do with fish and chips escapes me

Sorry to bring back up the language portion of the evening, but in Irish Dún (doon) means fort, usually on a hill or a cliff, perhaps related to don? We also use it in plenty of place names, Dún Laoghaire being one of the best known.

Also in modern Irish we use lug for ear, funny, I didn't realise they used it elsewhere

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Speaking of families and war - my grandmother-in-law's first memory is being held in her mother's arms in Dover watching her 19 year old father being shipped out to fight in WW1. He broke rank and ran over to give them a good bye kiss. That was the last time she saw him.

[ginger1981 0]

Here is my grandad 3 months before he was killed and thats my dad sat on his knee

Forgive me if you have mentioned it already, but do you happen to know what battle he died in?

[NickyMcMillan 0]

Scarborough/whitby/nothumberland as it is stright out of the north sea or has been kept on ice (not frozen) from icelandic waters and is excellent as you say - but they do leave the skin on at the seaside towns and leave the bones in too very often

Maybe they do that in the seaside towns in Yorkshire? As I have not come across skin & bones in fish in Northumberland. My hometown of Berwick Upon Tweed, I haven't come across that at all. The best fish n chips I know if is in Seahouses.

Will have to try that place in Bradford next year. My mum lives in Halifax now.

This is making me crave fish n chips now!

[ginger1981 0]

Scarborough/whitby/nothumberland as it is stright out of the north sea or has been kept on ice (not frozen) from icelandic waters and is excellent as you say - but they do leave the skin on at the seaside towns and leave the bones in too very often

Maybe they do that in the seaside towns in Yorkshire? As I have not come across skin & bones in fish in Northumberland. My hometown of Berwick Upon Tweed, I haven't come across that at all. The best fish n chips I know if is in Seahouses.

Will have to try that place in Bradford next year. My mum lives in Halifax now.

This is making me crave fish n chips now!

If the weather wasn't so ####### I'd say we should head over to the fish keg since it is my day off running.

Thanks dear...I never recalled seeing the skin on up in your area before! I was almost thinking you knew what NOT to order or something...

[NickyMcMillan 0]

Reading online articles, it seems like leaving on the skin is a southern thing. I'll recommend that Bradford place to my folks in Halifax, as my mum says she has yet to find anywhere there that does decent fish suppers.

I love how they do fish suppers in Edinburgh with brown sauce..

Though right now, I fancy a good old fried pan pizza sandwich.

[pandora 0]

Reading online articles, it seems like leaving on the skin is a southern thing. I'll recommend that Bradford place to my folks in Halifax, as my mum says she has yet to find anywhere there that does decent fish suppers.

I love how they do fish suppers in Edinburgh with brown sauce..

Though right now, I fancy a good old fried pan pizza sandwich.

not seeming to be dumb but that is this - good old fried pan pizza sandwich. dont think we had those in the midlands but sound interesting

[Captain Oates 910]

'Don' is old celtic British for 'hill' - the language that exists more than 2000 years ago before the Romans arrived

So Americans who talk about tennis at 'Wimbleton' (90%), only get it wrong because they dont know the origins of the language...

Near where I lived I could see 3 hills not far off

Rawdon

Baildon

Yeadon

The suffix 'by' is viking for 'town' - this word is current in modern danish as are most yorkshire words like 'lug' for 'ear' and 'laking' (playing) - which most people think are just slang

Within 10 miles of where I lived was the town of Huby (Hugh's town) and this was in the ancient Danish lands - the Danelaw

From there to the east coast there are literally hundreds of town names ending in 'by'

- whitby, selby, Derby etc

But where I lived a few miles away and to the west and south there was a line on the map and zero town names ending in 'by' as this was saxon land

Here endeth the language history lesson - just an aside

what this has to do with fish and chips escapes me

Sorry to bring back up the language portion of the evening, but in Irish Dún (doon) means fort, usually on a hill or a cliff, perhaps related to don? We also use it in plenty of place names, Dún Laoghaire being one of the best known.

Also in modern Irish we use lug for ear, funny, I didn't realise they used it elsewhere

Absolutely - Irish/Welsh/Breton (Brittany)/Cornish are very similar and use the basic celtic language that was all over the british isles before Claudius and them other dang italians turned up in ad 43 and gave us two words for every one...

Yorkshire is awash with viking/german words but it's held in the slang vocabulary mostly - I love finding slang words that are not slang - they are ancient:

lanky --- german 'schlang'

ligged out like lettuce - german liegen to lay down

The Welsh know that they and the other Celts were forced out of England by the saxons and form a long line to resent the English. I was called a 'saxon' in a pub in Wales and they said if I went to swansea, i would be in trouble

They said I looked like one

In a 100 years from now the English will be brown and moslem, but the present majority ethnic group will not hold a grudge - or will they ? Perhaps they will move to Wales and Ireland or Washington State - or perhaps it will be different this time and everyone will be pals. If the history of any country at any time where this has happened is a guide to the future, I wouldn't bet on it being all smiles.

At least the Welsh and Irish and Scots won't have reason to resent the english any more so something good will have come out of it for sure

[Captain Oates 910]

Reading online articles, it seems like leaving on the skin is a southern thing. I'll recommend that Bradford place to my folks in Halifax, as my mum says she has yet to find anywhere there that does decent fish suppers.

I love how they do fish suppers in Edinburgh with brown sauce..

Though right now, I fancy a good old fried pan pizza sandwich.

East coast of yorkshire they leave the skin on

whitby scarborough flamborough etc