Messages
Groceries; shopping. Always plural. 'Going for the messages' or 'doing the messages' is going to the shop for the weekly food. Used freely across Ireland and Scotland; almost unintelligible elsewhere in the form.
Etymology
From the older English sense of 'message' as an errand or task to be done. Standard English narrowed 'message' to its communicative sense (= a sent communication), while Hiberno-English and Scots preserved the older 'errand' sense and pluralised it to mean the basket of shopping that errands produce. The OED documents the regional use in Irish, Scots, and Northern English. An Alan Warner 1995 novel: 'wash my soily hands before touching her messages.'
In a sentence
"I'm running out for the messages - we're out of milk and tea-bags."
Historical notes
Messages is one of the everyday Hiberno-English words that confuses visitors most. The standard English speaker hears 'I'm just going for the messages' and waits patiently for the explanation that doesn't come. The phrase is in continuous current use in Irish households and shops; supermarket loyalty schemes have been marketed under names like 'Messages' on the assumption that everyone knows what they mean. Heard everywhere from grandparents to parish-newsletter writers.
Sources
- Oxford English Dictionary, entry message n. (errand sense, especially in plural for groceries; chiefly Irish/Scots/Northern). · dictionary