Springing a leak over the tike

A theory expounded by Nancy Gallacher in yesterday’s column concerning the usage in the Dundee area of the word “tike” finds at least one other city OAP in concurrence.

Jim Green emails to say: “I am 87 years of age and when I was a bairn, three or four of a family would sleep in a double bed as they would only have two rooms to stay in – with the toilet in the close or outside stair.

“Most mornings the bed would be soaked as somebody had wet the tike, or the mattress as it (is) nowadays known.”