Grandmas old sayings

[d bottoms]

What does leet geen as a posser yed mean? My gran always said it and everyone just used to humour her.

[Quizmonster]

A posser is an old device, consisting of a wooden handle with a perforated metal plate on the bottom, for agitating clothes in a tub whilst washing them. 'Geen' and 'yed' are archaic/dialect - basically Northern - for 'gone' and 'went'. 'Leet' is a bit of a problem, as it might represent a noun (water-course), verb (let), adjective (little) etc. Whatever it means, we've now got: "...?...gone as a laundry-stirrer went'.

Perhaps if you provide an account of the circumstances in which your grandmother used to say this, we could work it out exactly. Might it suggest something pounding and repetitive? (The horrifying thing is that I can actually well remember the days when laundry was done this way!)

[templeman]

My guess is she was saying "you've gone like a posser" meaning 'you're daft as a brush', probably said when she thought you were joking or fooling with her.