h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Any other Scots know "bunker" for kitchen work surface? Might be a Fife thing.

Beans = Bones

As in "Watch oot; that bit fish his beans 'n it" (North-East)

Also,

Spurtle, Spurkle = stirring stick, used for agitating porrige or broth while cooking.

Fit = What
Fa = Who
Fan = When
Far = Where

as in, on hearing news of a recent death:

Fit? Fa? Fan? Far? (North-East/Buchan dialect)

Also,
How? = Why? (Aberdeen... I find that one particularly irritating. You tell a small child to go away, and it will reply "How?")

"Sassanak : Technically lowlander Scots, but now meaning anyone from 'down south'. "

This is a disappointment to me. I had deduced that it meant "English" and shared a root with the Welsh "Saesneg".

Spear = Ask (North-East)

Wid that no be "speir" Peet? As in "Fit's yon loon speirin' at?"

Is a spear no' sumthin' for chuckin ower Hadrian's wa' at aa thae funny lot doon therr ?

Me? Ah live a few yards tae the south o Hadrian's wa'. Aye wunnert if a wid dig up a Roman sodger wi ma tatties. Never did tho

Here's tae us
Wha's like us?
Dam few, an' most o them's deid

Hmm,

| Sassanak : Technically lowlander Scots, but now meaning anyone
| from 'down south'. "

This is garbage, and its Sassenach (ends -ch as in loch, not an anglicised k)

| This is a disappointment to me. I had deduced that it meant
| "English" and shared a root with the Welsh "Saesneg".

It does, Sassunn = English (Saxon) in Gaelic.

to quote the OED
' The name given by the Gaelic inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland to their ‘Saxon’ or English neighbours. (Sometimes attributed to Welsh speakers: the corresponding Welsh form is Seisnig.)'

I dont know where people get this idea that it means 'a lowlander'

It should also be noted, that its not a 'friendly' or positive epithet when used by a Scot nowadays to describe anyone from England.

Sassenach
"It should also be noted, that its not a 'friendly' or positive epithet when used by a Scot nowadays to describe anyone from England."

I didn't think it ever had been "friendly", not with all that hissing and throat clearing.

I lived in Scotland for a couple of years..(too darn cold..shiver....to stay any longer)..i was called a sassenach..mostly by friends..didn't bother me at all..it was quite nice to have a 'special' name....

Emmily

What about some more Scots words, this time from Dundonian....

mercat (as in mercat cross)- market
cundie- drain

"Sassenach" is actually quite often used by Scots as a term of grudging endearment towards folks from down south. It is used like this usually when they find that they actually quite like the E****sh person but don't quite know how to cope with the concept because outright hostility is clamouring to leap out of their brain-stem wielding dirty great Claymores while yelling "Freedom!".

I think "Cundie" maybe comes from the Fench "Conduit".

Om

Make that French. Not Fench.

I am having trouble with my 'r's.

Must dash!

Om

Yes it is from the French conduit, allegedly, when the Black Watch came back from fighting in the trenches of WWI, they brought back a bit of french, they called the drains cundies, and the word has been incorperated into the dialect since.

OM,

Sorry to hear about your 'r's, perhaps this will help .
Hope it's better before Christmas.

Amongst the Bo'ness Iron Co moulders "cundies" are known as "Gundies"

(Perhaps the French of Linlithgow palace was a little more gutteral.)

When you see one of them wandering around looking downwards in a new place it's not to find a lost saxpence, it's to see if any of the drains or manhole covers bear the legend Bo'ness Iron Co. You'll find them over most of central Scotland and some of the decorative lampstands in the Mall are also from Bo'ness.

Yep I have seen that Bo'ness thing on the manhole covers somewhere. Must check around Dundee to see if it is here too.

Another French one which I heard my gran use (she was from Hamilton) was "asshet" for a dish or plate. Probs from french "assiette".

Anyone know where "fleg" for fright comes from?

(Oh, and thanks Plaguesville. Much better now!)

Om

I'm a wee bit late in joining this conversation!

For those with an interest in Doric, dialect of the north-east, I can recommend "a doric dictionary" by Douglas Kynoch.

He's also responsible for "Teach Yourself Doric:A Course for Beginners" and Doric for Swots:A Course for Advanced Students", both of which are brilliant and mak me affa hamesick - seein' as I'm stuck doon here in Englandshire.

Fit wye?

Or as the wifie on the bus said to her bairn - dinna say eh, say fit!

Fit wye fit?