Bidey-in.
In Scotland if you are – as my mother would have put it – living in sin with someone, then they are described as being your bidey-in. I really like this wee phrase as it describes the relationship perfectly and it is the same whether it is a man or a woman. They are the person that you stay in with, rather than just someone that you go out with.
I don’t like this modern thing nowadays where everyone is described as someone’s ‘partner’. I’ve even heard the ‘p’ word being used to describe wives and husbands, which I really can’t understand. I wouldn’t be at all chuffed to be described in that way, seeing that we went to the bother of actually getting married and paying £7.50 for the marriage licence.
We had a family meal out last night and our youngest son and his lovely ‘bidey-in’ managed to come through from Dundee for it, but I’ve got a horrible feeling that they describe themselves as partners on Facebook.
It would be great if everyone would adopt that lovely non-sexist term of bidey-in. It just sounds so homely to me.
I’m scunnered by partners. They should all have their bahoukies skelped, and become bidey-ins.
Bidey-in sounds so much less judgemental than living in sin and is somehow less coarse than shacked up. Plus it sums up the relationship perfectly.
Yes, I think bidey-in is one which should definitely be adopted by everyone, if only to save us from ‘partner’. It always sounds as though it should have a ‘howdy’ in front of it.
[...] had a comment on my Scottish words post, bidey-in, from someone called Mickey. He commented, “a rose by any other name is still the [...]