Going to the shop for the messages or the few messages

[bocketyaulbag]

This makes perfect sense in Ireland but I've heard it can be used in Scotland and maybe even the north of England?

i grew up with my this on the outskirts of Edinburgh, I was also sent to the shops with a line, to get the messages. Which basically means my Mum wrote the list of items, I then went to the butchers, showed them the line, got the meat, went to the grocers, same thing, then the newsagent and was given the cigarettes also 🫣🤣

Still used in Glasgow. When going for the messages you either go to “the Asda” or “Big Tesco” 😁

Yes- my nanny used to say it- Liverpool. Irish origin. "Going to do my messages"

I don't know the origin I'm afraid. In my head, it means going to the shop to get grocery items. Bread, milk, tea etc.

My Dad said his grandparents used this.
I have never heard it used though.
In Nottinghamshire - but his Grandmother was Irish so that might explain it.

The origin of it is that the local grocers would also double as the Post Office or where one would receive telegrams. Therefore, "Messages."

It may also have been thought more polite or educated to say, "I'll be going for the messages" than directly referring to buying food, cleaning products and medicines.

Then there's the concept of the shopping list or message, with which somebody, usually a younger member of the household would be sent out, on an errand, to show to the shopkeeper who might be paid, "On tick."

The origin of, "Living on the tick" comes from ticket or tally or tab, not the tick symbol for good or correct.

Then, whilst we're talking about tickets or small, oblong shaped pieces of thin paper, maybe that's why a cigarette is called a tab in the North East?

It's fascinating but complicated.

When I was a child in Liverpool, I used to go with my nan to get her messages, and when I was older I could get them for her. This would in the late 1960s going into the 1980s
I don't have any recollection of my mum using that term, which is maybe why I don't.

Messages has more than one meaning.

In Irish, 'timire' has a meaning of 'messenger' and 'timireacht' is the act of doing activities a messenger would engage in. The word was also used by roving Conradh na Gaeilge advocates for the revival of the Irish language in the early 20th century, who called themselves 'timiri', the plural of timire.

I suspect there's a link between errands/ moving about as with errands, and messages / messenger based on this specific etymology given that the phrase occurs in Scotland as well as Ireland. A concept was imported and translated from Irish or Gaelic to English, with a meaning that was different from its usual meaning in English. The Northern England use of the phrase can be explained by proximity and travel/ migration between the North and Ireland/ Scotland.

My grandparents were Scottish living in the south west. Brought back many many memories for me hearing " going for the messages" 🙃

Obviously. I was wondering what else it would be meaning in this context. Thanks to @Redheadedstepchild who gave a good explanation above of why messages was used in this context.

I've only heard it in Ireland and Scotland.