Under ‘hing’, Dictionaries of the Scots Language defines hingin’ mince as: “(a) a non-existent thing, an absurdity for which persons are sent on fool’s errands” and “(b) humorous, sausages”.
An example (from 1958) of the first meaning comes from an Aberdonian correspondent: “I sent ‘im on a gowk’s eeran’ till ‘e butcher’s tae buy a pun’ o’ hingin’ mince”.
Unfortunately, I cannot find any reference to sausages (the usage I remember from my youth), but I did find other figurative references referring humorously to messy things.
For example, the following comes from the Aberdeen Press and Journal of October (1994) in the form of a plea: “I’m finishing this week with an appeal on behalf of a Donside reader, who is distraught to find that her favourite hairdresser has moved to a new salon without telling her and she cannot track him down. ‘My hair is like hinging mince’, she writes”.
Also from the Press and Journal (August 1990), and continuing with hair and appearance themes, is this: “Virginia stole a quick glance at Babbie’s coiffure and the uncharitable phrase ‘hinging mince’ flashed through her mind. Babbie rarely visits the hairdresser and it shows”.
More recently, the term has become a misogynistic term of abuse, and the best we can say about this sense is that it refers to something that disgusts or revolts.
This, from The Dundee Book (Billy Kay, 1990), probably references the latter: “my two favourite expressions of derision are, ‘Aye Dougie’ from Paisley and, ‘Eh [aye], hinging mince’ from Dundee”.
Scots Word of the Week is written by Pauline Cairns Speitel, Dictionaries of the Scots Language https://dsl.ac.uk.
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