When I was growing up, my mum always used to say 'You've got more (insert item here) than Soft Mick!' For years I have wondered about this Soft Mick character and how he came to acquire so many things!
According to Wikipedia:
Soft Mick is a name used to describe an extravagance in East Lancashire and West Yorkshire
Soft Mick is seemingly used more in Accrington in conjunction with shoes "More shoes than Soft Mick" Leading some to believe that Soft Mick may have been a Irish shoe peddler working around Accrington, East Lancs, in the early 1900s
I can breathe easy now I know a little more about him. I always imagined that Soft Mick looked like this:
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Here's a coincidence! I was having a jokey conversation (about who was "soft Mick" anyway?) with my partner. I laughingly Googled "Soft Mick", and the 7th item, on page 1, was this blog. Of all the people in the world... Hello Jenny, I'm Nonie, friend of your Dad, your brother and mother of Sonia. World Wide Web? Pah. It's obviously no bigger than a village.
ReplyDeleteYour blog's great :-)
Wow Nonie, this is amazing, I know exactly who you are! Glad you enjoyed the blog, I must get back to it, been slacking on my entries lately!
ReplyDeleteI lived in East Lancashire all my life and said the phrase 'more than soft mick' many times, still do! I too,think it came from Lancs about an Irish person before political correctness as they used to call the Irish 'Mick' cos most were named Michael. Even if they were named something else they still got 'Mick'! And, Mick, not to be left out of any pub bragging or boasting during a conversation at the bar would 'pipe up' - (more expressions from Lancashire)'yeah, I've got ..... which was a number more than the last person boasted to have. Hope this sheds some light.
ReplyDeleteThat explains it but y soft mick y not just mick although I use this phrase still just wonder where the soft comes from xx
ReplyDeletei always thought that it was soft because soft means stupid/retarded and you would be stupid to buy so many things?
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