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(146 Posts)
Esspee Sun 22-May-22 16:22:10

My OH recently came away with the phrase “That cuckoo’s giein it lalday” in the middle of a normal conversation in English and it made me wonder how many of us use our own language as a matter of course.

I tend to use Scots when there is no English word which expresses my feelings well enough so I say e.g. I am scunnered by Boris Johnson, I can’t thole the lies and he’s an eejit.

When faced with the questions on language in the recent census I had to admit that although I understand Scots I can’t carry on a conversation in the language but it does enrich my vocabulary.

Can you carry on a conversation in pure Scots or do you, like me, use it when English doesn’t quite fit the bill?

What words do you use?

Aveline Sun 22-May-22 16:31:21

Lots of wonderful expressive Scots words. I use them as much as possible especially when talking to my grandsons who seem to prefer American thanks to the TV!
I've taken a fair scunner to thon Sturgeon. A tattiebogle would do a better job!

volver Sun 22-May-22 16:35:43

I spik Doric. But I can unnerstan' Scots English an' aa.

Yon Johnson loon's a bam...an' as for the rest o'them...parcel o' rogues.

Guid idea for a threed, Esspee!

paddyann54 Sun 22-May-22 16:38:02

I can and often do speak Scots ,but my daily conversation is often peppered with words I learned as a toddler .
Need to gie that unit a wee dicht wae a cloth its awfy stourie .
My DIL sometimes looks at me as if I'm speaking a foreign tongue which is a real shame .The GC I looked after all use my words too ,including its ben the kitchen or dont eat that its fousty or we've been at the shops and they're hoachin.
We had a member of our staff for over 20 years who sploke broad Scots all the time and it was lovely to hear .
So many people are worried other wont understand them .My granny sopke Gaelic and when my uncle married a Welshwoman she spoke welsh and they carried on conversations between them ..or so they told us .LOL.
Its NOT slang as we were told in school .it IS Scots

volver Sun 22-May-22 16:39:15

Oh, fousty! T'would gar ye cowk!

Septimia Sun 22-May-22 16:40:23

OK, so I'm not Scottish (some of my ancestors were and some of my relatives are). I use words from various languages/dialects if they're apt. So there are a few North-East England ones (not necessarily Geordie), some Orcadian, even Yiddish in my vocabulary. But I have to say that Scots has some really good ones!

Visgir1 Sun 22-May-22 16:46:42

I married a Scot.. My MiL when I first met her used words I had never heard before, not a clue half of the time..I had to ask my soon to be DH for interpretation..
My sister travelled up with me once and asked "who was this Hen woman" ? By then I was getting the hang of it.

Charleygirl5 Sun 22-May-22 17:03:29

I no longer use any Scots words but I do like to read them on GN. I do think scunner is a fabulous word.

grannydarkhair Sun 22-May-22 17:04:54

I regularly use words that end in “it” or “ie”. Glaikit, crabbit, wabbit, drookit, eejit. Also stoorie, plettie, cundie, closie.
But I’m unsure if they’re Scots or just part of the oary Dundonian vernacular, the most well known of which is “twa pehs, a plen bridie an an ingin ain an a”.
I think where you live in Scotland will influence the words you use.

Charleygirl5 Sun 22-May-22 17:10:10

grannydarkhair I was born and brought up in Fife and when I went to work in Dundee for me it was another foreign language. For ages I did not have a clue what people were saying.

grannydarkhair Sun 22-May-22 17:28:12

Charleygirl15 Not helped, I imagine, by the speed at which a lot of Dundonians speak ?
I’d say most Dundonians can speak “proper” English when they want to, but a great many do speak very oary the majority of the time.

Grandmabatty Sun 22-May-22 17:28:14

I did a fair amount of academic research on Scots as a language and its use in everyday actions. It is recognised as a separate language to English with its own specific dialects such as Doric, Orcadian etc. It is also proved that you can engage children more with all languages if their first language is acknowledged and respected. I have taught in Scots and in English, both are beautiful and contain wonderful vocabulary. The sqa higher English paper contains a section on the use of Scots and pupils can write folio pieces in Scots. Many schools actively teach the Scots language. It was said that Scots speak English with their mind and Scots with their heart. I learned many Scots words as a child and use them to this day.

Grandmabatty Sun 22-May-22 17:35:45

If you are on twitter you could follow Lentil pentil/lennysaurus. She's a young Scottish poet who does the Scottish word of the day and puts it in context. There are many Scottish writers who have written children's books in Scots or have translated well known authors into Scots. Matthew Fitt and James Robertson are probably the best known. Matthew has translated Roald Dahl stories.

Aveline Sun 22-May-22 17:40:59

We used to love hearing our posh English head teacher reading from the Scots Bible (the Lorimer?). She sounded so funny. Good effort though. At least she tried it

Cherrytree59 Sun 22-May-22 17:42:20

I miss my grandparents ?
They used all the above in normal conversation .
I now live in England, although I understand the Scots words, it's quite rare that I would use them unless speaking to my Scottish relatives.

However there are some words and phrases that have stuck and I will say something and the other person will give me a quizzical look.
Especially one time when I said to my friend to 'mind the Stank'.

My favourite is 'coorie in '
(Cuddles with my gran)
My granpa was always fair scunnered with politics and government ?

My gran was very wise and remined me to ca' canny.
(Very useful throughout my adult life)
Also to mind take my Gamp as the rains stotting down and I will get drookit.

My Granpa would often go 'ben the lobby'
and talked about the smoke going up the lum.
And also would say I'm wabit oot"

I had a whip and peerie at my gran's house.
My gran showed my how to stott a ball .
She also let me have the ootie (still use this word )when having a jilly piece.

My other grandfather always sang traditional Scottish songs to me on car journeys and talked of one day having a wee But n' Ben.
Sadily he never did get one.

Phew any other GNers have a fight with predictive text when trying to type Scots words ?

Glasgo Sun 22-May-22 17:50:58

Born and brought up near Glasgow. We did use words and phrases such as highheidyin, murder polis, yer like a hauf shut knife, ma heid’s burstin, oot oan the ran dan. I still use them today.

Parsley3 Sun 22-May-22 18:12:37

Whit aboot... the game’s a bogie, the baw’s on the slates and yer bum’s oot the windae? All saying that something has not gone according to plan.

Esspee Sun 22-May-22 18:26:55

As a wee bairn my “party piece” at Halloween was to recite, hands on hips and with an air of anger and indignation, the following poem -

Ah’ll lift ma lines and jine anither Kirk,
Wha can thole sermons fae a man like yon,
Him preach?
He has nae mair gumption than a stirk,
He kin dae nocht but haver, haver on.

It was especially popular with the grandparents delighted to hear a wee one using Scots and the recitation resulted in a few bawbees in my poke to go with the nuts and apples.

Grandmabatty Sun 22-May-22 19:04:19

I love that Espee! I don't know it at all.

varian Sun 22-May-22 19:08:38

Boris Johnson must be the most scunnersome man in the world.

Petera Sun 22-May-22 19:15:16

This is well worth a listen

www.youtube.com/watch?v=am1MCJsEGYA&t=9s

dogsmother Sun 22-May-22 19:16:11

My mum was Scottish, I still say Wednesday pronouncing the D always got teased at school for it….

grannypiper Sun 22-May-22 19:22:03

Still use a lot of Scots, Just today i told me Husband to "yase the spicket ben the hoose" ( use the tap through there) last week i bought twa pun a apels ( 2 pound of apples) Our language is wonderful and must never be lost.

volver Sun 22-May-22 19:23:33

Petera

This is well worth a listen

www.youtube.com/watch?v=am1MCJsEGYA&t=9s

I just love that.

Oh, jalouse. I'm going to use that in a thread sometime soon!

Charleygirl5 Sun 22-May-22 19:27:26

dogsmother so do I.

I spoke to friends about the local police force but used the word polis and they thought I was mad.