I was born, bred and buttered (har, har) in Scotland.
I love this country; green fields, endless amounts of sheep, cows and other farm animals dotted across the land scape. And with animals comes their manure. And the smell of that manure in the air every year the farmers decide to spray the fields. From childhood the smells of Scotland were wood burning and wet leaves, soaked from the rain. The sounds of Scotland were of course the bagpipes bursting out in their almost tuneless notes across Princes Street.
The sights, well the sights of Scotland are so much harder to describe. Hence why I took a lot of pictures growing up and wanted a camera as soon as I could get one.
It never ceases to stun me that so many people visiting Scotland have a lot of lovely things to say about this country that's my home. And it didn't surprise me that when I lived in London that I was very homesick. I missed families poking fun at each other to the point of viciousness (it's just our way of saying "I love you"), I missed the smell of grease floating from the chippies placed on nearly every street corner, I missed chippie sauce (and I still do!), I missed banter, I missed the accent, my parents, my family and my friends.
I remember a phone call to my Dad where I broke down and admitted just how homesick I was. His reply? "Oh Cara, it doesn't matter where in the World you live, in your heart you'll always be a Scottish lassie." And yes, he did use those words. Oh yeah and in case you've been living under a rock lassie means girl.
I don't use a lot of Scottish slang, and there are so many different dialects that it's hard to keep up with all the slang words, but I thought it would be fun to write down a few slang words commonly used.
Aye - Yes. This is probably used the most. I even use it. Nearly every day.
Naw/Nut - No. Again, very heavily used.
Laddie - Boy. When I was in High School I used to use this nearly every day, now it's rare when I use it. I usually say it when I'm not thinking about what I'm saying as I think it sounds a little corny and Brigadoon-ish.
Cludgie - Toilet.
Egit - Idiot. Heavily used by me ;).
Jobbie - Poo. Ha. Yeah this one is used by EVERYONE. When I was in labour the midwife instructed me to "push down really hard, like you're doing a big massive jobbie." Haha. We use this word every single day. I rarely ever say poo or poop.
Tatties - Potato.
Tatty scone - Potato scone.
Sybies - Spring Onion/Green Onion. I have only heard a handful of people (usually West Coast of Scotland) say this one.
Ya - You
Wee - Small. Trust me when I say that this is an all purpose kind of word. I recently got an Amazon £20 voucher and I exclaimed "Ya wee beauty!" - in short, this phrase means YABBA DABBA DO. Or you know, YAY! But yay doesn't cut it in Scotland, you need something with more effect. Wee is also used as a measurement of time in Scotland. As in "I'm going to be a wee minute." Or as a measurement; "Just give me a wee bit of that cake."
Tink, mink, scaff - someone unclean/poor. If someone does something rank (is rank a Scottish word, too?) then you might hear a Scottish someone saying "Ya wee mink!"
Bum/Arse/Bahookie - Butt/Behind. I love that we have such a strong need for toilet humour in this country.
Gonnae - Going to. Pronounced: go-nay.
Leathered - A beating. As in: "Am gonnae leather you after school!"
Braw - Good. I actually find this word very charming. "Aye it's pure braw!" Haha. We also might add "pure" on the start of the braw to emphasise the greatness of something.
Ma - My and Mother.
Ned - Stands for Non Educated Delinquent.
I'm suddenly stuck thinking of words and all I can now think of is rude Scottish words. So, I present to you a little snippet of my accent - sidenote: when my Sister in Law arrived in Scotland she found it hard to understand a lot of what I said, so I asked her, in the slowest voice I could muster; "do you find it hard to understand my accent?" She looked a lot confused and said; "whose Max Cent?" hahaha.
Enjoy:
P.S: I have this picture rested on my windowsill in the living room and Roman spent a good time yesterday pointing from my Gran (his great Gran) to himself, laughing and cooing at it. Then he pulled it down and started stroking the picture.
P.P.S: Remember I am doing a kick arse ;) give away! HERE.
