There has been a rumpus over Rupert Maas, who used the phrase Shropshire ankles on tv to describe thick ones
There used to be a swelling called Derbyshire neck – in fact a goitre caused by lack of iodine in the water. Cerebos used to sell Table Salt in a special iodised form which was always used in our family
It seems to have disappeared entirely from the market now – I expect even ordinary Table Salt is banned now anyway
But where, I wonder, do we get our iodine from?
Perhaps Shropshire ankles indicated a similar local lack of a particular trace element which led to dropsy, poor circulation & swollen ankles
