On 2/6/05 4:25 pm, in article , "Mike Lyle"
wrote:

Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Judith Lea wrote:
In article , Nick Maclaren
writes
This shows the difference between the sexes. We males wear
splatchers, especially when cooking so, when the soup boils over,
we needn't do anything until we have finished our beer.

What are splatchers?

Snowshoes for mud :-)

It appears not to be in the OED, which is definitely not right.

Right, here we go on an Arthur Ransome trip. It was in one of the
ones away from the Lake District and the Broads, no? They kept
finding these mysterious prints in the mud at low water, and had
begun to theorize that there was a brontosaurus or something in the
vicinity (sounds like Titty's thought-processes to me), until they
met the local boy who used them. I had the impression that the word
had been invented for the book.

But, if not Ransome, perhaps Aubrey de Selincourt or some other boaty
children's writer?

The Arthur Ransome society in the USA says it can get hold of 'splatchers'
for those wanting them and refers to them as mud-shoes. So you were right
first time.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)