Has anyone else heard this?

Rife in the South West. I think it’s universal and universally uncomplimentary.

I have definitely heard ‘old biddy’

Ah yes, my Grandma used to try to avoid the old biddies when shopping.. She'd drag me into the nearest shop to avoid them. Old cronies as well.

‘Silly old Buggers,’ is another one. There is actually a club for older men here called that !

Common term where I live in the North.
Usually Gen X would use it.
Never heard the young generation use it nowadays.
Personally I would call an ‘old person’ an older person, just think it sounds better

REKA

Ah yes, my Grandma used to try to avoid the old biddies when shopping.. She'd drag me into the nearest shop to avoid them. Old cronies as well.

Or ‘coffin dodgers’

Graphite

Biddy is a very old word for a chicken or hen. It appears in Twelfth Night.

Its use to describe fussy old women dates from the early 19C OED An old woman, esp. one regarded as fussy or interfering. Frequently in old biddy.

It’s also a pet form of the name Bridget which used to be used in the US for Irish domestic servants.

I suspect the version we know now has developed from hens clucking and flapping.

Hen is used colloquially in Scotland and parts of Northern England as a form of address for a girl or woman, typically as a term of affection or endearment.

I'm from the south of England where biddy can still be heard quite often to describe a fussy old woman.

You would hear of that ‘nosey old biddy’
Next door!

Old biddies - yes definitely used here in the North West.

My grandmother used it here in the US!

I also called my chickens biddie birds when I had them.

i am from glasgow and old biddies is a polite term for old folk, i have heard worse.

You could quite easily go through life as a bird of some sort-
chicks and birds for the young , a greedy gannet or wise owl.
A mother hen needing the eyes of a hawk! A bit of a magpie when it comes to collecting or simply enjoy swanning around

keepcalmandcavachon

You could quite easily go through life as a bird of some sort-
chicks and birds for the young , a greedy gannet or wise owl.
A mother hen needing the eyes of a hawk! A bit of a magpie when it comes to collecting or simply enjoy swanning around

Don’t forget the pecking order.

My mother affectionately referred to the women at the old people’s day centre as old biddies, that was in Surrey.

Yes, commonly used phrase. Usually relating to old women.

Talking of birds I hope I am not “a silly old bird” or even “a silly old coot”.

I have heard it quite a lot in childhood - in Yorkshire, Lancashire... Midlands too.

Not heard it in any positive light and always about women.

I presumed everyone knew the phrases old biddies and old duffers. Both used all the time in East Yorkshire.

Definitely ‘old biddy ’ heard as a child in Sussex. The old lady just down the road always called me ‘duck’. The little devil in me always wanted to say ‘quack’!

It's patronising, rude and misogynistic used by the sort of person who thinks they're somehow better than the individual they're casting the slurs at. In the same vein as, old bag, old hag, old crone and a myriad of other insults levied at older women.

County Durham - we used to always say old biddies.

nexus63

i am from glasgow and old biddies is a polite term for old folk, i have heard worse.

As in "yon auld besom"

welbeck

It's a derogatory term for an older woman.

It's a term I use and have never thought it was the least bit derogatory and certainly not meant that way by me. I think it's a gentle, mild sort of name for an older person and would not be offended if I was called that.



when I have used

Oh yes, old biddies in Northants.

It must be definitely used during our mother’s age as my mother also used to refer to old people,’old buddies’ and she was born in Eire.

Lol.I'm a southener..and have heard this description.My husband uses it a lot.He is a southerner too.