In Reply to: cow cabbage posted by spiceloft on November 11, 2010 at 12:44:05:

Yes, I remember her around town in the early to mid-sixties. Didn't she wear a black beret, oilskin coat and short wellies?
And like most of these so-called "town characters" the poor woman was innocent and harmless and the butt of merciless teasing and name-calling by - to my eternal shame - us children. We'd shout "cow cabbage" at her (from a safe distance) in the hope of a brief chase and some verbal abuse. Looking back now however, I wonder was that phrase not a child's distortion of "cauld cabbage" [cold cabbage]?