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While paying for something the other day, I saw a notice that said: We do not except American Express. I drew this to the attention of the young woman on the till and she had no idea what I was talking about.

And then this from my local newspaper: I cannot imagine how a lovely town could determinate into such a horrible environment.
I can't imagine either.

jigjag
What you paid for your apple pie wouldn't buy you a coffee in Oxford, and probably not tea either. I've given up eating out!

I have just come back from a week in Pembrokeshire; had to smile at parking charges. I think £1 a hour. Here £7.99 minimum charge, Sundays, for 2 hours

I'm sure I asked before, do you go to Birkenhead market? I'd love to buy coloured Cheshire there once more but am not returning to the place for any reason!

Rosalind

Lovely to hear from you. I have never been to Birkenhead market, even when I was at school up there. If I go there, I will certainly look out for the coloured Cheshire. I had red Cheshire once, cant remember where, but I prefer the original.

The best parking here is in Ellesmere Port, 70p for 2 hours.

I was at New Brighton 2 weeks ago. Fort Perch Rock has been developed and looks good, but I did not go in.

I was thinking of recent postings here while I was watching the Ladies match at my cricket club yesterday. I noticed that our team were fielding with ten men, and I asked Pat Batt, our opening batsman, about it in the bar afterwards.
“One of the girls couldn’t make it, so we were a man short. We haven’t fielded with ten men before, so we did away with the third man, and it worked well” she explained.
“I’m glad you use the normal language of the game” I replied.
“Yes, we don’t talk of batters and the like.”
“That reminds me.” I said. “Are you still working in the chip shop?”
“Yes, I have been promoted. I do the battering of the fish, sausages etc. Much better than wrapping chips.” she replied.
“I suppose that makes you a batterer” I suggested.
“Battereress, actually” she chuckled, “It’s a word widely accepted in the fish-and-chip industry. Just like actress, and temptress which was in the Times crossword today.”
That may be so, but I cannot see the Style Guide recommending the word.

Jigjag, I hope you enjoyed the match itself as much as seeing the correct terminology used? It was a shame to hear that the inelegant 'batteress' is widely used in the fish and chip industry.

I might reward myself with fish and chips tonight as I have a day of drudgery lined up. I've to wait in this morning for various repairs to be done. There's a plumberess coming to fix a leaking tap, a joineress is going to rehang a couple of doors, and a carpenteress is coming to give me a quote for building a small bookcase to fit in a corner of the upstairs landing.
My afternoon will be equally 'exciting' as I have a lot of shopping to do. I am hoping the butcheress will have some nice chops and that the bakeress has some fresh apple pies. I'd wondered about having a word with the candlestick-makeress, but her place seems to have vanished from the High Street. The cobbleress and the watchmakeress are no more too, a real shame.

Although I used to dislike many of the words you and Grunger favoured, I hope this latest post shows you that people can change, I am a reformed characteress now.

Nice one, jigjag @674.

I hope malone @675 did not deliberately omit that lovely extra er in battereress.

I think temptress is unusual in that there isn't really its male equivalent of tempter in the same sense. It's hard to think of similar examples. Perhaps it tells us something about human sexual mores.

Thanks, Paul. I don't know if the 'er' omission was deliberate or accidental - I remember jijgjag musing on the two versions the other day. And yes, I too have pondered about 'temptress', never having seen a male equivalent.

Maybe there isn't a male version of temptress because of Eve? I thought it was temptor, but it isn't.
Is there a male version of seamstress? Tailor, tailoress. My spell checker doesn't like tailoress.

Rosalind, 'seamster' is in Chambers - 'a person who sews'. Although a woman can obviously be a 'person', we also have 'seamstress', a woman who sews.

PaulH@676, perhaps I can offer another example…

A psaltress is a women who plays the psaltery (a medieval stringed instrument). There appears to be no male equivalent for such a player.