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Who remembers the "Miskin Men"?

Speedy23

Speedy23

master brummie
My Mom still calls the dustbin a "miskin" and the bin-collectors "miskin men". Is the word still in common use in Brum? I understand it's a really old term dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, being used to describe a dung-heap as early as the 900s. "Miskin men" were night-soil collectors - not a job I fancy!

Anybody still use it?
 
I remember the term Miskin Jumping when kids jumped in the bin to make room for more rubbish. It may have been the term too for the bin in which vegetable peelings were put for the pigs; more commonly known as the pig bin.
 
My nan used to call them the Miskin men and I have a photo of her neighbor somewhere by the side of hers in Franchise street. Will go take a look Speedy.
 
Hi I still use the term fortnightly when the Miskin Men collect the rubbish.
As a hobby I also write songs and one is called "Here comes the Miskin Men"
I was born in 1944

Xmas 54
 
I will try again Jean

Here comes the Miskin Men
Picking up the bins again
When will I fall in love?
Here comes the rocking horse
Prancing wildly in the hall
When will I fall in love?

more to follow Jean if this works?
 
The song is only part written and hopefully will be part of the musical I am trying to write "Gas"
The notes are as follows:
Here(Ds)--comes(Cs)--the(B)--Miskin(Cs/Ds)--Men(B)
Picking(BB)--up(As)--the(Gs)--bins(As)--again(Fs/As)
When(As)--will(Gs)--I(Fs)--fall(Gs)--in(As)--love(Fs)
repeated
A middle class(or more) man is lying in bed pondering over his fractured love life when he hears the
Miskin Men approaching. The song is not about the rubbish boys but gives me a chance to get an old Brummie
expression into the plot. I still use it when my bins are collected. Long may it live!
Hope you get this Jean
Roger
 
Jean last bit---as I`m on a roll here!!
The song is written in the key of B Major(rarely used)--but I may change this.
bye
Roger
 
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