Learn How To Speak Scottish…
Listening to a native Scotsman speak English should give us all a newfound appreciation for the might of the Roman Empire. That Hadrian’s Wall could prevent the spread of the English language north is a true tribute to the ingenuity and skill of those Roman craftsmen. Even today some of Scotland still speaks a significantly different language to English. Some of the Western Isles speak Gaelic yet, and on the East Coast Doric still has a few strongholds left.
Scotland has not only different words for things, but different pronunciations for words that English speakers from around the world may not be familiar with.
Pronunciation
The most common pronunciation problem people visiting Scotland have is with the soft ‘ch’, as in loch. The English, especially, have difficulty with this. The correct sound is not made by the vocal chords, but is basically just a noisy breath, like a cat hiss. Once this basic is commanded then the rest of the quirks are easily mastered. The ‘r’ is normally rolled at the front of the mouth so ‘car’ is pronounced as carrrr, not as the Anglified ka. Some words are shortened, losing bits that slow their roll off the tongue, so ‘awfully’ becomes offy and ‘cannot’ becomes canny.
The List
Here are some of the more common words that may be heard when visiting Scotland. Some of the words are normally considered taboo1 in polite society, but who among us doesn’t curse from time to time?
Please bear in mind that for most of these words have never been written down, so spelling is done phonetically.
| A is fer Aye | |
|---|---|
| Ale | An Aberdonian term for fizzy juice such as ‘bru. |
| A’ll hae a troch ‘o roch, un a puck ‘o richy peg | I would like a pint of export ale and a packet of smokey bacon crisps please. |
| Am gonna redup noo an’gaw fera bevvy | It’s 5pm on Friday, and I’m going to clear my desk and get to the pub pronto. |
| Are you real? | A term which means, “do you have any idea what you are talking about?” |
| Auxters | Arm pits. |
| Aye | Yes. |
| B is fer Blutered | |
| Bairn | Child. |
| Bampot | Idiot. |
| Barry | Splendid. |
| Bassa or bas | B*****d. |
| Bevvy | Drink, alcoholic. |
| Biddie | A woman, normally old or infirm. |
| Bidey in | Aberdonian for one half of an unmarried, but living together, couple. |
| Blutered | Drunk. |
| Boggin’ | Filthy, revolting. |
| Bonnie | Nice or pretty. |
| Bosey | Aberdonian for cuddle or hug. |
| Bothy | A house or hut up in the hills, normally no modern conveniences. |
| Boughin’ | Filthy, revolting, ugly, vomit inducing. |
| Braw | Good. |
| Breenge | To move in a rapid, devil-may-care fashion, esp while drunk or intoxicated with your own self-importance. |
| ‘Bru | Irn Bru, Scotland’s favourite soft drink. |
| Burach | Gaelic for mess, can be used as a verb or adjective. |
| Burn | A small stream or river. |
| But and ben | A holiday cottage, normally dug slightly into the hill. |
| Buttery | An Aberdonian snack. Like a flattened a croissant, but with a more savoury flavour. |
| Byre | Barn or cowshed. |
| C is fer Ceilidh | |
| Caliach | Gaelic for old woman. Normally used in front of the woman’s name i.e. Caliach Stewart. |
| Ceilidh | A dance, normally with Scottish country dancing, lots of beer and lots of fun. |
| Chankin | Cold. |
| Chuffed | Proud, normally of oneself. |
| Clagged in | Trapped on the hill by low cloud, or fog. |
| Cleg | The Highland, Giant, Vampiric Horsefly. |
| Cloot | Cloth. |
| Coorse | Coarse, filthy, rude, when talking about language. |
| Crabit | Irritable. |
| Cullach | Gaelic for cockerel. |
| D is fer Droothy | |
| Dee ye ken? | Do you understand? |
| Dicht | Wipe. |
| Dour | Miserable, glum, never smiling, when talking about somebody. |
| Down South | England. |
| Druth | Thirst. |
| Dug | Dog. |
| E is fer Eighty | |
| Edjit | Idiot. |
| Eighty | Short for eighty shilling, a type of alcoholic beverage, slightly better than export. |
| Englandshire | A colloquial term for England, normally used when England has a different bank holiday and everything is closed, but you need to speak to someone urgently. |
| Erse | Arse. |
| Export | A type of alchoholic beverage, similar to a bitter. |
| F is fer Fusty | |
| Fair | Quite. |
| Fank | A corral, normally on the hill, to keep sheep during shearing and dipping. |
| Fistle | Noise made by sweetie wrappers, packets of crisps, especially in a cinema. |
| Fit? | Pardon? (Aberdonian) |
| Fit like? | How are you? (Aberdonian) |
| Foos yer Doos? | How are you doing? |
| Fusty | Dusty, smelling of mould, unclean. |
| G is fer Gubbed. | |
| Gadgee | Person. |
| Galoot | Clumsy or idiot (or both). |
| Gantingt | Not very nice. |
| Gassed | Broken. |
| Gie dreich | It?s a bit grim and drizzly outside. |
| Gie it Laldy | To go mental, to go for it in a big way. |
| Ginger | Someone with red hair ora Glaswegian term for fizzy juice such as ‘bru. |
| Glen | River valley. |
| Gubbed | Broken, drunk, badly lost (a competition or fight). |
| Gurne | Sulk, so a sulky person is gurnie. |
| Gutted | A severe emotional blow. |
| Guttered | Drunk. |
| Gutties | Plimsoles, old style, black school slip-ons. |
| H is fer Hammered | |
| Hammered | Drunk. |
| Haver | Speak nonsense, normally assosiated with senility. |
| He’s goat short airums an’ long pockets. | He never buys a round. |
| Hoachin’ | Lots of people, busy. |
| Houghin’ | Filthy, revolting, ugly, vomit inducing. |
| Hosed | Badly broken. |
| I is fer Invershnecky | |
| I dunnae ken | I do not understand. |
| I’ll jus weech that fer ye | I will take that away for you. |
| I’m on the bru. | I’m on the dole (unemployed). |
| Invershnecky | Another name for Inverness. |
| K is fer Keech | |
| Keech | S**te. |
| Kelpie | An evil spirit, lives in particular lochs, normally takes the form of a horse and once mounted rides into the loch and kills the rider. |
| Ken | Understand. |
| Kirk | Church or parish. |
| L is fer Lum | |
| Ley di oh | An Aberdeonian game, much like hide and seek. |
| Loon | A male person from Aberdeen. |
| Lum | Chimney. |
| M is fer Mingin’ | |
| Mannie | A man. |
| Marly | Marble. |
| May yer lums reek lang and weil | May your chimneys produce a great profusion of smoke2. |
| Messages | The shopping, normally food shopping. |
| Mingin’ | Filthy, stinking, revolting, ugly or drunk. |
| Minky | A bit smelly (in reference to a person). |
| Mouthie | A mouth organ. |
| Murnie | Wasn’t. |
| N is fer Numpty | |
| Nay or nee or nar | Not. |
| Nuh-hing (Invernesian) | Nothing. |
| Numpty | Idiot. |
| O is fer Och | |
| Och | Oh. |
| Oot | Out. |
| P is fer Puss | |
| Pish | P**s. |
| Poppy | Money. |
| Pol-iss (Glasgoweigan) | Police. |
| Puss | Mouth. |
| Q is fer Queenie | |
| Queenie | Scallop. |
| Quine | A female person from Aberdeen. |
| R is fer Rubbered | |
| Radge | Crazy or a madman. |
| Rocking horse shite | Something rare, or hard to find. |
| Rubbered | Drunk. |
| S is fer Shooglie | |
| Sassanak | Technically lowlander Scots, but now meaning anyone from ‘down south’. |
| Scran | Food. |
| Seventy | Short for seventy shilling, an alcoholic beverage similar to export. |
| Sheiling | A hut a shepherd or cowherd uses on the hill, during summer grazing. |
| S**te | S**t. |
| Shooglie | Loose or wobbly. |
| Shuftey | Technically an Arabic word but in widespread use, meaning to look. |
| Shunky | Toilet. |
| Simmet | Vest, used in Ayrshire. |
| Skite | Skid or tumble out of control. |
| Skrechin | A shreik or unpleasant noise or sounding like a seagull. |
| Slange | Cheers mate! |
| Sleekit | Sly or cunning. |
| Snow yoor round, sma round | You bought the last round, I’ll get this one in. |
| Sounds like a seagull skrechin on a wire | Going on and on about something, or butchering a perfectly good song. |
| Stoockie | A plaster cast for a broken limb. |
| Swally | Drink, alcoholic. |
| T is fer Teuchtar | |
| Tad | A small bit. |
| Tattie | Potato. |
| Tattyboggler | Aberdonian for scarecrow. |
| Teuchtar | Country person, especially from the west coast. |
| W is fer Weeched | |
| Watergaws | Rainbow, from Ayrshire. |
| Wee free | Member of the Free Presbeterian Church. |
| Weegee | Some one from Glasgow. |
| Whins | Gorse bushes. |
| Whit are ye wantin? | What’s your tipple? |
| Weech | Take something or move suddenly. |
| Wheesht | Sharp command to be quiet. |
| Wifey | Woman. |
| Wind-ee or wind-ay | Window. |
| Y is fer Yer | |
| Yer erse is oot the windae | You are unlikely to achieve the desired result with that kind of behaviour. |
| Yer piece | Your lunch or sandwich. |
1 Read curse words.
2 This is a general good luck statement.Source: BBC
Haha, this is brilliant! Seeing as I don’t read (or write) Scottish much at all, it took me a while to catch the meanings of some of the words
There are some I’ve never heard before, mostly from Aberdeen ^^
i`d subscribe to your RSS feed, but i`m pretty sure that is how the scottish spell bum lol.
[...] http://www.robbymacbeath.com/2009/06/learn-how-to-speak-scottish/ [...]
Ha Ha! had a good laugh reading this.
aye,
this has helped me alot, thankyou.
i feel sleekit..
i hope people look at this page (useful)
bye x