It has just ocurred to me that the Scottish saying "she's out doing the messages" which I had hitherto interpreted as "out doing the shopping" should actually be translated into the saying that my mother would have used (but I haven't heard for years) "she's out doing the errands".

When I first heard someone tell me that they had been to do the messages, I could only really think of a job which consisted of passing on instructions to people and did not seem consistent with the shopping bag that the person was indicating as *they spoke.

This usage of "message" is claimed for Glasgow here (although I have definitely heard it in Edinburgh):
http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/m.htm
and Dublin here:
http://homepage.tinet.ie/~nobyrne/m.htm

pedants please feel free to substitute he or she for they* and associated grammar at your whim