Friday, February 2, 2018

The Beauty Of Language




'Gie's a break ya brammer!'


 So I believe we now have a recording of a killer whale saying Hello and One and Two. I think it probably saying something Adamsque like ‘So Long and thanks for all the fish.’ Followed by   ‘We’ll leave you to your Trump, Netflix and StarBucks. We’re off for a swim.’


Meanwhile it might be better if the clever people involved popped over to this part of the world and tried to teach us Hello and  One and Two.

But we’d be black afftontit ( embarrassed).

Aberdeen has its own language called the Doric. Nowadays it’s mixed with English so we all know about Loons and Quines, (lads and lassies). You could say that a pretty lassie was a bonnie haddie. Aye, you have just called her a haddock but in Aberdeen that’s a compliment.

In Aberdeen, this is pretty.

Maybe a quine not graced with fair features would possess a face like a weet dish-cloot, a face like a skelpit airse, a face that wid soor milk.   But  Dinna fash yersel, don’t get too bothered.


Ohhh Bubbly Jock!


Bubbly jock is a great word for a turkey. And it’s common parlance in Scotland to say
Corrie fister when meaning a left hander.

Bidie-in? A great expression for well… having a bidie in. To cohabit, have a partner devoid of matrimony but bidie-in sounds so much more cuddlesome.

Hing on a minty is obviously hang on a minute, or hang on a mo. Remember Glaswegians have a very short life span so they cut words down to save time.

Tatties oer the dyke, means literally potatoes over a wall.  Or water off a ducks back. Snow off a shovel…or other things that begin with S off a shovel!

Are ye needin a hurly? Do you want a lift. Or do you want help with that wheelchair or pram.

Baaldie-heidit, obviously bald headed.

Mony a mickle maks a muckle  errr that means look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.

As peer as a kirk moose- as poor as a church mouse.

Drookit – very wet, very wet indeed.

Minky oxters is to be in possession of stinky armpits. Yes we do have an expression just for that. They might be wanting to borrow this expression in Cape Town soon.

Bolt Ya Rocket, means ‘oh go away and stop being an arse.’

Gie’in It Laldy, to sing loudy or more generally to get battered into something. ‘I did 5000 words today, I was gein that computer laldy!’

‘Did ye, aye?’ I suppose it means, ‘did you, really?’ but said it total deadpan sarcasm as one might respond to the 5000 word comment above.

Spraffing a load of pish is to talk urine—total utter rubbish. And pish means  anything rubbish. ‘See yon 5000 words? I read them- total pish!’

 Mad Wae It equals drunk.

Dinghied to be ignored. I said hello to her in Asda and she dinghied me. Or I got a pure dingy….maybe when saying hello to a man admired from afar.
  good choice of swally



Swally—to sip a drink enthusiastically. Or the drink itself. I’m going to the pub for a swally.

demonstration of swally the verb.

Bawbag …literally that means testicle sack ( in Glasgow it means so much more hence why you hear Crag Robertson use it a lot).  It can be used affectionately ie when seeing a wee troublesome puppy ‘awright bawbag’.  But ‘ya bawbag’ is very defamatory.

Ginger  is any fizzy juice. A red headed person is a ginge of course.

A can of the best ginger

Gaun Yersel means Go on yourself as one would scream in encouragement. Eliza in My Fair Lady would shout this instead of Move Yer Bleedin’ Arse had she been Glaswegian and not cockney!

Away An Bile Yer Heid means  oh boil your head.   A simple go away and don’t bother me with your nonsense.

Glaikit means to appear totally and utterly gormless. A total lack of any intelligence going on behind the eyes. Usually seen in traffic police.

Pure Baltic means cold. Taps Aff means it’s hot so we can take our tops off. It doesn’t happen often.

My editor liked the following in the next book; shoogily as in shakey ‘his career was on a shoogily peg.’, Perjink means neat and natty. And  bampot,  and that means a well, it means a bampot…. One who could benefit from clearer thinking.

Fu’s yer dos?

( Yes I have just asked you a question…)

                                     
Fu's yer dos?
Just fine thanks for asking.....

Caro Ramsay 2/2/2018



7 comments:

  1. Caro, we already have a plague of minky oxters! (Spell checker kept changing that to milky otters - maybe a new expression??)

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    1. milky otter Stan? Some kind of healthy cocktail?

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  2. And I thought I had trouble with Greek. Thank you for the lesson, Caro, and for posting photos of two of my favorite things, IrnBru and an Icelandic bonnie haddie in full swally mode.

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    1. Happy to oblige, your most Jeffness. I see you continue to taunt me with photographs of the sun!!

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    2. A fan’s got to do what a fan’s got to do.

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  3. This is precisely why I have to use subtitles when I watch a film made in Scotland.

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    Replies
    1. We do OK with American drama on TV, but when we watch American reality type stuff...well I confess to having guess most of it!

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