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From pixabay.com<\/a> \/ \u00a9 Dimitris Vetsikas<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Today, November 30th<\/sup>, is Saint Andrew\u2019s Day, the national day of Scotland.\u00a0 Also, I\u2019m in the middle of reading Douglas Stuart\u2019s 2022 novel Young<\/em> Mungo<\/em><\/a>, which is set in Glasgow during the 1990s and is choc-a-bloc with cherishable Scots vocabulary: bevvy<\/em>, chib<\/em>, doo<\/em>, midden<\/em>, schemie<\/em>, sook<\/em>, smirr<\/em>, tattie<\/em>–bogle<\/em>, wean<\/em>, winchin\u2019<\/em>\u2026\u00a0 Thus, this seems an opportune time to post the latest instalment of my attempt to catalogue my favourite words from the Scots language.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Patter <\/strong>(n) \u2013 A long time ago, I remember Iain Jenkins, my English teacher at Peebles High School, trying to explain to my class why William Shakespeare placed Mercutio\u2019s monologue about Queen Mab<\/a> in the middle of Act 1, Scene 4 of Romeo<\/em> and<\/em> Juliet<\/em>.\u00a0 After all, the monologue didn\u2019t have any bearing on the plot that came before or after it.\u00a0 It was merely Shakespeare showing off his own verbal flamboyance and inventiveness.\u00a0 Eventually, Jenkins exclaimed, \u201cPatter<\/em>!\u00a0 It\u2019s just patter<\/em>!\u00a0 It\u2019s Mercutio indulging in a bit of patter<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Patter<\/em>, then, is smooth talk, smart talk or funny talk \u2013 often delivered by someone, like a politician or a salesman, who\u2019s trying to sell you something.\u00a0 The word crops in phrases like, \u201cI gave her the auld patter<\/em>,\u201d or \u201cEnough ay yer patter!<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0And a person who comes out with it a lot is called a patter<\/strong>–merchant<\/strong>.\u00a0 The city of Glasgow seems full of patter<\/em>–merchants<\/em>, surprisingly enough.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pawkie<\/strong> (adj) \u2013 used to describe a person possessed of a dry and quietly mocking sense of humour.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pech<\/strong> (v) \u2013 to gasp or wheeze breathlessly.\u00a0 In Robert Louis Stevenson’s short supernatural story Thrawn<\/em> Janet<\/em>, you get the line: \u201cEven the auld folk cuist the covers frae their beds an\u2019 lay pechin\u2019 for their breath<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a9 Kypros Press<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Peely-wally <\/strong>(adj) \u2013 looking pale and sick-looking.\u00a0 That\u2019s why in Solo<\/em> (2013), the James Bond \u2018continuity\u2019 novel written by William Boyd, there\u2019s a bit where an injured Bond is scolded by May, his formidable old Scottish housekeeper, for looking \u2018awfy peely-wally<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019d assumed this was derived from \u2018peeling wall\u2019, something that obviously doesn\u2019t look healthy.\u00a0 But I’ve recently learnt that peely<\/em> comes from an early 19th<\/sup> century word peelie<\/em>, meaning \u2018a gaunt, pale person\u2019.\u00a0 And wally<\/em> is a Scots word meaning \u2018made of china\u2019.\u00a0 Even now, people refer to an ornamental china dog as a wally<\/strong> dug<\/strong> and to false teeth (once made of porcelain) as wallies<\/strong>.\u00a0 So peely<\/em>–wally<\/em> really means \u2018as pale as china\u2019.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Peep<\/strong> (n) \u2013 the lowest level at which you can set a gas flame before it goes out.\u00a0 To \u2018put someone\u2019s gas at a peep<\/em>\u2019 is to seriously knock them out of their stride or deprive them of their vigour.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Peewit<\/strong> (n) \u2013 a lapwing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pieces<\/strong> (n) \u2013 sandwiches.\u00a0 Years ago, while I was living with my Dad, I got a job at a local warehouse.\u00a0 I needed to make myself a packed lunch every morning, to eat during the short break I got in the middle of the day.\u00a0 My Dad would always inquire before I left the house if I\u2019d remembered to get my pieces<\/em> together.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pisht<\/strong> (adj) \u2013 drunk.\u00a0 Just as the Eskimos are said to have a hundred words for snow, there must be at least a hundred words in Scots for being inebriated.\u00a0 See also arsed<\/strong>, bevied<\/strong>, bleezin\u2019<\/strong>, blootered<\/strong>, buckled<\/strong>, fou\u2019<\/strong>, gubbered<\/strong>, hingin\u2019<\/strong>, minced<\/strong>, mingin\u2019<\/strong>, miraculous<\/strong>, miracked<\/strong>, mortal<\/strong>, reekin\u2019<\/strong>, reelin\u2019<\/strong>, steamboats<\/strong>, steamin\u2019<\/strong>, stocious<\/strong>, wellied<\/strong>, etc.\u00a0 This, of course, is a tragic reflection on the state of the Scottish psyche\u2026\u00a0 I wrote, whilst sipping a large whisky.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n From pixabay.com<\/a> \/ \u00a9 rebcenter-moscow<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Plook<\/strong> (n) \u2013 the curse of many a Scottish person\u2019s adolescence,\u00a0 plooks<\/em> are pus-filled pimples.\u00a0 It was rumoured at my school that every time you ate a Mars Bar, you got a plook<\/em>.\u00a0 The adjective is plooky<\/strong> and, predictably, this figured in countless playground insults: \u201cYe<\/em> plooky<\/em> bastart<\/em>, ye<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Plump <\/strong>(n) \u2013 as in \u2018a plump ay rain\u2019<\/em>, i.e., a sudden downpour.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Poke<\/strong> (n) \u2013 a small paper bag.\u00a0 I suspect this word is most commonly heard in Scotland\u2019s chippies, where people request \u2018a poke ay chips<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Poultice<\/strong> (n) \u2013 an arsehole.\u00a0 For example, \u201cThon Boris Johnson is a right poultice, so he is<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Puddock <\/strong>(n) \u2013 a frog.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pure<\/strong> (adv) \u2013 popularised by the actress Elaine C. Smith, whose character in the Glasgow-set comedy TV show City<\/em> Lights<\/em> (1984-1991) used the catchphrase, \u201cPure deid brilliant!<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Placed before adjectives to amplify their meaning to the nth degree, it crops up in phrases like \u2018pure<\/em> mental\u2019<\/em>, \u2018pure<\/em> radge\u2019<\/em> and \u2018pure<\/em> sleekit\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Puggled<\/strong> (adj) \u2013 exhausted.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Quaich<\/strong> (n) \u2013 in the words of the Meriam-Webster dictionary, ‘a small shallow drinking vessel with ears for use as handles.’\u00a0 These days, ornate quaichs<\/em> are often used as pint-sized trophies at Scottish sports events.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Quine <\/strong>(n) \u2013 a girl or young woman.\u00a0 This is commonly used in Scotland\u2019s North-East, where boys and young men are also described as loons<\/strong>, so you hear a lot about quines an\u2019 loons<\/em>.\u00a0 In the early 1990s, a group of Scottish feminists, including the journalist Lesley Riddich, started up a magazine called Harpies and Quines \u2013 harpy<\/strong> being a word commonly used in Scotland to describe a grumpy, ill-tempered and mean-minded woman.\u00a0 The famous high-society magazine Harpers and Queen failed to see the joke and attempted to sue them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a9 Channel Four Films \/ Polygram Filmed Entertainment<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Radge<\/strong> (adj) \u2013 violently wild and crazy.\u00a0 Used as a noun, it refers to a mad hooligan.\u00a0 It had humble beginnings in Eastern Scotland, where it may have come from a Romany word with a similar meaning, \u2018raj\u2019<\/em>, but radge<\/em> was for a while a trendy term used the length and breadth of Britain.\u00a0 This was because of its copious use in Danny Boyle\u2019s hit movie Trainspotting<\/em> (1996), where it was associated with Robert Carlyle\u2019s ultra-violent character Frank Begbie.\u00a0 I seem to remember the author Irvine Welsh, on whose novel the film was based, remarking disgustedly that he\u2019d heard Hooray Henrys using the word radge<\/em> in London wine bars.\u00a0 And I also remember Q magazine running an interview with Robert Carlyle under the memorable headline RADGE AGAINST THE MACHINE.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Rammy<\/strong> (n) \u2013 a fight or brawl.\u00a0 A stairheid rammy <\/strong>is a brawl that breaks out among the womenfolk in the staircases and on the landings of Scotland\u2019s urban tenement buildings.\u00a0 During the run-up to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, a heated television debate between then-SNP deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon and then-Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont was described afterwards by journalist Ruth Wishart as \u201ca right good stairheid rammy<\/em>\u201d that \u201cmade strong men avert their eyes<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Randan<\/strong> (n) \u2013 a drunken knees-up, as in \u201cHe\u2019s away oot on the randan!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rector<\/strong> (n) \u2013 the Scottish term for headmaster.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Redd<\/strong> (v) \u2013 to tidy up.\u00a0 I\u2019ve rarely heard this verb used in Scotland, or at least in the parts of it I\u2019ve inhabited.\u00a0 But I frequently heard it during my childhood in Northern Ireland, where a good number of the people are descended from Scots.\u00a0 My Mum would frequently explain, \u201cGet this room redd up!<\/em>\u201d or \u201cGive that place a wee redd!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Riddy<\/strong> (n) \u2013 an embarrassment.\u00a0 As in: \u201cLiz Truss!\u00a0 What an absolute riddy!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Right<\/strong> (adj) \u2013 uttered with the appropriate intonation, right<\/em> becomes a contemptuous response, dismissing something that another person has just said.\u00a0 Though for maximum impact, use the phrase Aye<\/strong>, right<\/strong>.\u00a0 \u201cMaggie Thatcher wis the best prime minister since Churchill?<\/em>\u00a0 Aye<\/em>, right<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 And indeed, Glasgow\u2019s annual book festival is called Aye Write<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a9 Glasgow Life<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rone<\/strong> (n) \u2013 the length of guttering along the edge of a roof for collecting and removing rainwater.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s all for now.\u00a0 More Scots words, and more example-sentences that insult famous Conservative Party politicians, will come shortly\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From pixabay.com \/ \u00a9 Dimitris Vetsikas Today, November 30th, is Saint Andrew\u2019s Day, the national day of Scotland.\u00a0 Also, I\u2019m in the middle of reading Douglas Stuart\u2019s 2022 novel Young Mungo, which is set in Glasgow during the 1990s and is choc-a-bloc with cherishable Scots vocabulary: bevvy, chib, doo, midden, schemie, sook, smirr, … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bloodandporridge.co.uk\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/TJ-by-RLS.jpeg\")
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