Are maidens or horses unreasonable words?

[Northernlassie27]

My son has moved to uni from the NW to the NE. He told his housemates he's after a maiden as he doesn't have one. They were perplexed then once he had explained told him he should be looking for a horse instead.
Is it unreasonable to use such words nowadays or is it now outdated?

We've always had the ceiling pulley type in every house, originally with the trade name Sheila but amended to Sharon for some reason, so all our family use Sharon to describe a clothes airer.

Just wait until he and his housemates get onto names for small round bread products, hours of fun! Then there's names for narrow paths between houses.

Then there's names for narrow paths between houses.

That's a ginnel innit

horse.

kids look at me gone out.

@nokidshere

Then there's names for narrow paths between houses.

That's a ginnel innit

Nope, it's a snicket 🤣🤣

Well, I thought your DS wanted a girlfriend.

I've heard "maiden" in Liverpool so it's definitely a NW thing at least. I grew up in London and we called it a clothes horse.

Clothes horse. I'm in Yorkshire. Have never heard them called a maiden.

we call it an airer. I could not think what you meant though I have heard both words used.

I could just about stretch to someone saying they were looking for a maiden rather.than a girlfriend but was about to flame you to hell for thinking " horse" was a nice way to put it!!

Just plain airer here.

I’d call it an airer - the first post confused the hell out of me as I thought OP meant a girlfriend!!

You need to use the word "clothes" before it, to make sense. We call it a clothes horse in this house, most people call it a clothes airer/rack.

@40weekswithno2

No one else call it a clothes dolly then?

A dolly is a thing for laundry, you use it to wash clothes

@supersplodge

A maiden hangs from the ceiling and a horse is a floor standing airer.

DS needs to get his technical terms right or he may be arrested....!

Nope, a maiden does not hang from the ceiling in Lancashire and is never prefaced with ‘clothes’.

@Laiste

Londoner - wooden zig zag expanding thing = clothes horse plastic openy up thing = airer

never heard of maiden.

Same here, except I’m from the north-east.

Interesting comments so far although thinking to use the preface Clothes just never occurred in this household. The other bit of my DS's question to housemates that got me was saying 'I am after'. Again perfectly normal phrase to imply you want something but a bit weird when you think about it too much.

Wait until they get on to what they all call a bread roll.

Nope, a maiden does not hang from the ceiling in Lancashire

Do they not have chandeliers in Lancashire then ?

It's an "airer" here (SE) but I've heard all 3 used before. "Maiden" I've heard/seen the least though. Thread title perplexed me, I forgot about clothes drying!

My mum is from the NE and also says airer/occasionally says horse but usually says "clothes horse" in the context of someone who wears their clothes well and has the sort of figure that can wear anything.

This came up at work the other day-can't remember why. In Sussex where I am it's definitely horse or airer but in Lancashire where I'm from it was always 'maiden'. However I left there in the 80s so don't know if it's still durrent usage.

@purpleme12

Why didn't you put clothes in front of the words? I only knew what you were talking about because of the reply after

^ this - and are you (and your son) so flaky that you have to ask a question like this on here? (MN can we PLEASE have an eye-rolling emoji?)

I'm from the SE and have heard of maiden or clothes horse, but say airer myself.

@EmmaGrundyForPM

I'm.from East Anglia and it's a clothes horse here, although I tend to call it an fairer.

Son's girlfriend calls it a maiden, and doesn't preface it with "clothes".

My friend has one that comes down from the ceiling and calls it a "Sheila". No idea if she made that up though!

Also from East Anglia and have always called it a clothes horse (and my DM grew up on the South coast so I assume it was used there, too).

I have always referred to the pulley type as a Sheila maid - I didn't realise it was a particular brand!

Of course it's not unreasonable to use a word you've been brought up with as long as it's not offensive to anyone.

Your son is learning about regional variations and that there's no right or wrong. I'm sure we all use words that other people don't understand at times.

I thought this was about racehorses too - and thought OP's DS had an expensive hobby

Clothes horse here (and snicket)