Where else would you like to go in Scotland?
Parliamo Scots?
- Phrases
Here are some phrases, rather than individual words:
- "He looks like a half shut knife" - describing someone who looks depressed.
- "Am Ah right, am Ah wrang" - literally "Am I right or am I wrong" but usually said in a rhetorical fashion which is really expecting agreement.
- "Punny eccy" - used by school children to describe a punishment exercise or written piece of work for wrong-doing in class.
- "Polomint city" - the slang name for East Kilbride, one of the first "new towns" built outside of Glasgow. The planners provided many, many traffic roundabouts - which looked like a well known circular, mint "sweetie"
- "Hameldaeme" - at first sight, not a phrase, but pronounce it more slowly and you will see/hear it stands for "Hame will do me" - once a popular response to the question "where are you going for your summer holidays?" before half of Scotland went to Spain for their holidays (sorry, "vacation").
- "Mak a kirk or a mill o' it" - make a kirk/church or a mill of it, or "the choice is yours".
- "Steps and stairs" - a large family, evenly spaced out, so that when a family photo is taken with the children sequenced by age, they look like a set of stairs.
- "Doon the Dee on a digestive" - this is the Abedonian equivalent of "Do you think I came up the River Clyde on a banana boat?" in other words, do you think I'm daft?
- "Auld claes and cauld porritch" - when you are out of money, particularly after spending a lot on Christmas or a holiday, it's back to basics with "old clothes and cold porridge".
- "Days here and there" - people who could not afford to go away on their summer holiday/vacation would often have odd days here and there.
- "Dinna droon the miller" - don't put too much water in the whisky (the miller being the supplier of the grain which went in the whisky).
- "By-the-way" - Billy Connolly has made this Glaswegian addendum to sentences well known around the world. "That wis a right stupid thing tae dae, by-the-way" or indeed any other comment or observation can have this phrase added to it. So much so that other parts of Scotland sometimes refer to Glaswegians as "By-the-ways."
- "Furryboots are ye fae?" - this is an Aberdonian phrase, by-the-way. Translated, it means "Where abouts are you from?" It is so identified with Aberdeen that Aberdonians have been known to be called "Furryboots."
- "Keep a calm sooch" - the 'ch' in sooch is pronounced as in 'loch' and the word "sooch" means "wind". So the phrase is used to encourage someone to keep calm or hold their tongue.
- "Away in a dwalm" - a 'dwalm' is a daydream so someone who is away in a dwalm is certainly not concentrating on the job in hand!
- "He's awa on the ran-dan" - having a riotous night out on the town.
- "Twa bubbles aff the centre" - derived from the bubbles on a spirit level, someone who is "twa bubbles aff the centre" is regarded as a bit simple or stupid.
- "He wis fairly gaun his dinger" - he lost his temper
- "Ahm spewin' feathers" - I'm very thirsty
- "He's goat mair degrees than a thermometer" - he's very clever (and has the "varsity" or university degrees to prove it)
- "You're at yer auntie's hoose" - help yourself and tuck in
- "Whit are ye mollachin aboot" - why are you wandering about aimlessly? Said to derive in the North-East of Scotland from the mole, the animal whose mole-hills pop up in random places.
- "Haud up yer heid like a thistle" - hold up your head like a thistle - and be a proud Scot!
- "Ah couldnae care a docken" - although a docken (a broad-leaved weed) is useful for reducing the effect of stinging nettles, anything which is "nae worth a docken" is said to be worthless.
- "It's not worth a tinker's curse" is another phrase describing something which is of no value.
- "A tongue that would clip clouts" - literally speech which would leave a cloth in tatters, describes someone who is very abrasive and gives a good account of themselves in an arguement.
- "Awa ye go" - not really telling someone to go away but used to register disbelief.
- "Hale jing bang" - everything, the whole lot.
- "A fly cup of tea" - in this case "fly" means illicit or surreptitious. On the other hand, if you are "fly for" someone, you are too wise to be taken in by them. Occasionally, the word reverts to its meaning as an insect as in "Let that fly stick tae the wa'" - say no more about a topic.
- "There's aye a something" - a phrase which is frequently used in the North-East and indicates an acceptance of adversity. Recount a catalogue of disasters and tragedy to someone in that part of Scotland and a response of "There's aye a something" is quite likely.
Where else would you like to go in Scotland?