31 MAY 1997, Page 28

Had away

Sir: Anne McElvoy is a Durham lass but your headline writer betrays non-Geordie origins in 'Howay the lasses!' (17 May). The Tyneside exhortation, 'Ha'away the lads' (i.e. come on, let's go, etc.) is spelt thus: it is a contraction of 'had away'. When we want to be really scornful we say, 'Had away, man', meaning, 'What stuff and non- sense you are talking.' I'm sure Dot Wordsworth, clearly a northerner like her illustrious ancestor, knows this.

Valerie Grove

14 Avenue Road, London N6