A weird phrase I only ever see on Mumsnet.

[Pinksalamanda]

I'm really curious if anyone else has noticed this.

I keep seeing, only on Mumsnet, people using the phrase "stays" instead of "lives".

For example on a currently active post, the OP says "he stays in a city near by". And I see this a lot.

In all the scenarios I have seen it, they are definitely not talking about a temporary situation, holiday, etc.

I don't know if it's right or wrong (and don't massively care), but I've just noticed it increasingly being used on here recently and I wonder if anyone else has?

I think it might be a bit of an Americanism, but I don't see it being used elsewhere.

I always read those threads and assumed they were staying away from their home for some reason haha. Good to see an explanation!

Put something on the side = table or work surface is definitely a common phrase in the East Mids.

My mum does and my gran did. I presume side comes from sideboard, where people might more commonly leave something at a time when older kitchens were often unfitted and didn’t really have lots of counters or work surfaces just for placing things on, and has just come to mean “a flat surface.”

Don't know if it's regional, but I'm in the home counties and people use "side" in that way here.

It’s a colloquial thing.

This is one I use everyday, but could originate with my mum who's from the North. There are lots of words I think are perfectly normal, but I'm the only one who uses them here in SE, where I have lived almost all my life 🤣

That makes sense, actually -- thanks. I was always looking at it on here when I started noticed it, years back and thinking 'the side of what??'

@KrazyKatty -- that's interesting because I lived in the East Midlands for eight years and don't ever remembering coming across it!

It took me a minute to parse the question because to me ‘side’ is so normal to be used in that way that I can imagine what other term you’d use!

‘Have you seen the keys?’
‘yeah they’re just on the side in the kitchen’

‘where shall I put this’ ‘just stick it on the side’

What would you say otherwise? On the worktop? Island? (We don’t have one!) We really only use it to mean the flat surface above kitchen cupboards or, as we have a similar surface in our main bathroom we would use it about that as well - ‘I’ve put the new toothpaste on the side in the bathroom’.

Im in the North West.

Scots, not Scotts.

And if you’re unfamiliar with the answer:

“Far aboots is that?”

Ah this is interesting, I say this and spent part of my childhood in the East Mids. Although I had a Scottish mother, so perhaps it’s come from her.

She didn’t say “stay” though, perhaps because she left Scotland when she was young? I don’t recall my Fife grandparents saying it either though, perhaps it’s more Glasgow and Highlands?

Scousers don't say it.

We do say "put it on the side" though.

Yeah it's Scottish. They don't say they live somewhere. It's seems to nearly always be 'stay'.

I'd say worktop if I meant the worksurfaces around the walls, or I'd specify the the island if that's where I'd last seen the keys.

I'm happy too to know what Scots will also use 'stay' to mean they are temporarily staying somewhere!

Yes, it's Scottish and means to "live" somewhere. When I was much younger a Scottish colleague used to talk about her parents and how they "stay" in Aberdeen. As they always seemed to be "staying" in Aberdeen I wondered why they didn't just buy a place and live there. Took me a few years to twig. She also used to say outwith which is the Scottish equivalent of outside.

Dh is Scottish and he says stay for live. I like it.
He and his brother will also say "my mum" when talking about their mum to each other, everyone else I know would just say "mum", I don't know if that is Scottish or just them. (eg "I'm going to see my mum," says DH to his brother who has the same mum)

Putting something on (or to) the side means 'Don't dump it in the sink, on top of the clean plates, on the clean hob, behind the microwave until I find it there acquiring sentience some time in October, in the middle of the kitchen floor so I trip over it, blocking the door to the bathroom/back door, moistly sat on top of the toaster, uncovered in the fridge on top of the cucumber/at the back behind the cheese and butter to culture penicillin or precariously balanced on top of an artistic arrangement of plates, glasses and bowls in the style of the Leaning Tower of Pisa so that everything comes clattering down'.

Where is the saying makes my teeth itch

I have never heard anyone say this I don't get what it means but assume its someone saying they are very annoyed

Yep, 'stay' for 'live' is definitely Scottish.

'the side'; I use that. I did spend my later childhood in the East Midlands, but I don't remember if I only started knowing/using this phrase then. I thought it was pretty widespread? Might be wrong though.

Everyone in the west of Scotland says “stays”, never “lives”, which I’ve adopted over the years. Can’t speak for the rest of the UK though!

Met some Scottish on holiday and they said this so guessing it’s regional

My Scottish husband and his brothers do this too and I find it so weird!! I’ve kind of gotten used to it.

Yip very scottish as well. I will say im going to see my mum. Also to add into the mix where yeah fae? As in where were you born. I was born in (place name) but i stay in (place name)

Its kind of interesting. To live somewhere...its like saying you exist somewhere..

Where yeah fae is just an alternative pronunciation of where you from