I am sure "back road" is a general English language expression used everywhere to donate an alternative route between two places, usually the old meandering and scenic route that the locals still use. To test this I asked my wife whose family have lived in the same part of Herefordshire, England, for over 400 years (yes, I got into a spot of difficulty taking her off to the colonies) what was the name of the old secondary route between Leominster and Ludlow and without hesitation she said "the back road". So I don't think "the back road" is a particular Scottish saying and I am more mindful of "the high road and the low road....................."? Donald Main -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Maisie Egger Sent: 11 January 2011 10:45 To: [email protected]; leonard miller logan Subject: Re: [WIG LIST] Scottish words Len, Your reference: "While on odd words, and sayings, '' the back road '' easily comes to mind, where did it come from? For every major highway in Wigtownshire connecting towns or villages, there is a '' back road, or the old road, in most cases, the original road. If you were to ask the location of a farm and it was off the main highway, you would be directed to go by the back road, rather than go by the B 32 or the A 55. Most of these roads followed the coast and connected with all the coastal villages, and are still widely used today, mostly by tourists and locals travelling to the commercial centres, and in Wigtownshire there is an absolute maze of them, and that is what makes the south of Scotland so unique, I have never heard the phrase used anywhere else, does anyone else know." -------- When I tracked down "far-out" cousins in Auchencairn, Kirkcudbrightshire, they and their neighbours, who were invited in to visit me to see if they knew anything more about my father's forebears, mentioned going "up the back road." As they lived on Main Street, which was the main street of Auchencairn, it was indeed a back road to "somewhere else" or a circuitous route to the main road. We also used the term back road in Glasgow as distinct from a main route to get to one's house. Same applied when some of my relatives lived in Haddington, East Lothian. It would seem, then, that "the back road" is commonly used in various places in Scotland as an aside from the main road. Should we discuss bread? Pan loaf. square/plain loaf, half a loaf,...which it isn't, depending on where you come from? Perhaps not as we are straying a bit, but again, looking at the larger picture of what families ate, the topic of bread is not so far off the scale. The history of Ireland cannot be told if one does not talk about potatoes and the Great Famine. Maisie ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi I'm not sure if this is connected to 'back road' thread but here in Dumfries the layout of streets in the development of the old Burgh followed a common plan. The high street was narrow at each end in wide in the middle. Gates were placed at each end. Animals were kept in the middle part during the night to keep them from straying. Scottish towns did not have town walls, like some of the English cities. Instead, the houses in the high street had yards (yairds) called tenements and the rear wall of the tenement doubled up as the town wall. In Dumfries, one of the first streets to develop outwith the high street area was Loreburn Street which was originally known as 'the back street' and is still referred to as 'the back street' today by locals. It runs parallel to the High street. Incidentally, the name Tenement was transferred to the high occupancy buildings which were originally built on these tenements, especially in the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Best wishes Ian A McClumpha Need help with your Scottish Family History research? Let Imchad Ancestry assist you. Please look at our website: www.imchad.freeola.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of donald main Sent: 11 January 2011 11:07 To: 'Maisie Egger'; [email protected]; 'leonard miller logan' Subject: Re: [WIG LIST] Scottish words I am sure "back road" is a general English language expression used everywhere to donate an alternative route between two places, usually the old meandering and scenic route that the locals still use. To test this I asked my wife whose family have lived in the same part of Herefordshire, England, for over 400 years (yes, I got into a spot of difficulty taking her off to the colonies) what was the name of the old secondary route between Leominster and Ludlow and without hesitation she said "the back road". So I don't think "the back road" is a particular Scottish saying and I am more mindful of "the high road and the low road....................."? Donald Main -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Maisie Egger Sent: 11 January 2011 10:45 To: [email protected]; leonard miller logan Subject: Re: [WIG LIST] Scottish words Len, Your reference: "While on odd words, and sayings, '' the back road '' easily comes to mind, where did it come from? For every major highway in Wigtownshire connecting towns or villages, there is a '' back road, or the old road, in most cases, the original road. If you were to ask the location of a farm and it was off the main highway, you would be directed to go by the back road, rather than go by the B 32 or the A 55. Most of these roads followed the coast and connected with all the coastal villages, and are still widely used today, mostly by tourists and locals travelling to the commercial centres, and in Wigtownshire there is an absolute maze of them, and that is what makes the south of Scotland so unique, I have never heard the phrase used anywhere else, does anyone else know." -------- When I tracked down "far-out" cousins in Auchencairn, Kirkcudbrightshire, they and their neighbours, who were invited in to visit me to see if they knew anything more about my father's forebears, mentioned going "up the back road." As they lived on Main Street, which was the main street of Auchencairn, it was indeed a back road to "somewhere else" or a circuitous route to the main road. We also used the term back road in Glasgow as distinct from a main route to get to one's house. Same applied when some of my relatives lived in Haddington, East Lothian. It would seem, then, that "the back road" is commonly used in various places in Scotland as an aside from the main road. Should we discuss bread? Pan loaf. square/plain loaf, half a loaf,...which it isn't, depending on where you come from? Perhaps not as we are straying a bit, but again, looking at the larger picture of what families ate, the topic of bread is not so far off the scale. The history of Ireland cannot be told if one does not talk about potatoes and the Great Famine. Maisie ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Don, Growing up here in Australia, I had always thought of back road as you have described. There is a tour company here who use that concept: http://www.backroads-touring.com.au/ Your comment about the 'low road' I feel is worthy of some further explanation. I was told that this was a euphemism for the immediate transport of the spirit, (on death), back to the homeland. Hence, the soldier about to die was to get home before his companion traveling above ground. This fits nicely with the fact he was never going to meet up with his true love on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond, but I wonder if this expression of 'low road' was ever in common usage in Scotland, or if it is poetic expression? Regards, Bruce