View source for Scotticism

A '''Scotticism''' is a phrase or word,  used in [[English language|English]], which is characteristic of [[Scots people|Scots]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Oxford English Dictionary|url=http://www.oed.com|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=2008-04-21|quote=An idiom or mode of expression characteristic of Scots; esp. as used by a writer of English.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/scotticism|title=Scotticism definition and meaning &#124; Collins English Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Scotticism|title=Definition of SCOTTICISM|website=www.merriam-webster.com}}</ref>

==Overview==
Scotticisms are generally divided into two types:<ref>Aitken, A. J. "Scottish Accents and Dialects" in Trudgil, P. ''Language in the British Isles''. 1984. p. 105–108</ref> covert Scotticisms, which generally go unnoticed as being particularly [[Scottish people|Scottish]] by those using them, and overt Scotticisms, usually used for stylistic effect, with those using them aware of their Scottish nature.
Perhaps the most common covert Scotticism is the use of ''wee'' (meaning small or unimportant) as in "''I'll just have a wee drink...''". This adjective is used frequently in speech at all levels of society.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_LocalGovernmentandRegenerationCommittee/Inquiries/LGRC_Benchmarking_Seminar_10_September_2012_-_Transcript.pdf|title=Local Government and Regeneration Committee Benchmarking and Performance Measurement Seminar|date=10 September 2012|website=Scottish Parliament}}</ref>

An archetypal example of an overt Scotticism is "''{{lang|sco|Och aye the noo}}''", which translates as "Oh yes, just now". This phrase is often used in parody by non-Scots and although the phrases "''{{lang|sco|Och aye}}''" and "''{{lang|sco|the noo}}''" are in common use by Scots separately, they are rarely used together.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HI6Kxa_WtvYC&q=%22och+aye+the+noo%22&pg=PA94|title=The Concise Dictionary of Scottish Words and Phrase|author=Betty Kirkpatrick|isbn=1-905102-88-7|pages=94|year=2006|publisher=Crombie Jardine|quote=often used humorously by non-Scots}}</ref> Other phrases of this sort include:

* ''[[Hoots Mon|Hoots mon!]]''
* ''{{lang|sco|There's a moose loose aboot this hoose}}'' ("There's a mouse loose about this house"), a standard cliché highlighting [[Scots language|Scots-language]] pronunciation
* ''{{lang|sco|It's a braw, bricht, muinlicht nicht}}''  (a phrase popularised by the music hall entertainer [[Harry Lauder]])
* ''{{lang|sco|Lang may yer lum reek}}'' literally translates to "Long may your chimney smoke!",<ref>Gordon Kenmuir, Scottish National</ref>{{full citation needed|date=June 2020}} signifying "may you live long"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2014/09/scottish-sayings-will-get-through-life|title=25 Scottish Sayings That Will Get You Through Life|first=Fraser|last=McAlpine|website=BBC America}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SOOkpVEwmzcC&q=lang+may+yer+lum+reek+meaning&pg=PT219|title=Dwelling with Architecture|first1=Roderick|last1=Kemsley|first2=Christopher|last2=Platt|date=June 7, 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1136260926|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kt2QDIulsxgC&q=lang+may+yer+lum+reek+meaning&pg=PA311|title=A Season in the Highlands|first1=Jude|last1=Deveraux|first2=Jill|last2=Barnett|first3=Geralyn|last3=Dawson|first4=Pam|last4=Binder|first5=Patricia|last5=Cabot|date=December 28, 2000|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9780743403412|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/16-forgotten-phrases-youll-only-know-if-youre-scotland-543803|title=16 forgotten phrases you'll only know if you're from Scotland|website=www.scotsman.com|date=23 July 2019 }}</ref>
* ''{{lang|sco|Help ma Bob!}}''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/help|title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: help}}</ref><ref name="auto"/> (well known from the comic strip character [[Oor Wullie]])
Many leading figures of the [[Scottish Enlightenment]], particularly [[David Hume]], strove to excise Scotticisms from their writing in an attempt to make their work more accessible to an English and wider European audience. In the following passage, Hume's contemporary [[James Boswell]] pondered upon the reasons why the Scots and the [[English language|English]] were not always mutually intelligible:<ref>F A Pottle (ed.), Boswell In Holland, Heinemann 1952, pp.160-1</ref>

<blockquote>It is thus that has arisen the greatest difference between English and Scots. Half the words are changed only a little, but the result of that is that a Scot is often not understood in England. I do not know the reason for it, but it is a matter of observation that although an Englishman often does not understand a Scot, it is rare that a Scot has trouble in understanding what an Englishman says... It is ridiculous to give the reason for it that a Scot is quicker than an Englishman and consequently cleverer in understanding everything. It is equally ridiculous to say that English is so musical that it charms the ears and lures men to understand it, while Scots shocks and disgusts by its harshness. I agree that English is much more agreeable than Scots, but I do not find that an acceptable solution for what we are trying to expound. The true reason for it is that books and public discourse in Scotland are in the English tongue.</blockquote>

Modern authorities agree that the Scots language was gradually eclipsed after the adoption of the Protestant English Bible during the [[Scottish Reformation]] and as a result of the later institutional dominance of southern English following the [[Union of the Crowns]] in 1603 and the [[Acts of Union 1707|Act of Union]] in 1707.<ref>R McCrum, W Cran, R MacNeil, The Story of English, London 1986, pp.143-4</ref><ref>D Murison, The Guid Scots Tongue, Edinburgh 1977, pp.5-6</ref><ref>B Kay, The Mither Tongue, Collins 1988, Ch.5</ref> [[Scots law|Scots Law]] was a notable exception in retaining much of its traditional terminology such as [[Act of Sederunt]], [[sheriff-substitute]], [[procurator fiscal]], [[sasine]], [[pursuer]], interlocutor (court order) and [[messenger-at-arms]]. There is now a strong move in some quarters to restore the use of Scots.

==Examples==
{{More citations needed|date=September 2017}}
{{example farm|date=August 2023}}
Examples of Scotticisms in everyday use include:

* ''to stay'' or ''{{lang|sco|to bide}}'' to mean "to live" or "to reside"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/stay|title=Stay definition and meaning &#124; Collins English Dictionary}}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|url=https://chambers.co.uk/search/|title=Chambers – Search Chambers}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/stay|title=STAY &#124; English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary}}</ref>
* ''{{lang|sco|to ken}}'', meaning "to know"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ken|title=Ken definition and meaning &#124; Collins English Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ken|title=Definition of KEN|website=www.merriam-webster.com|date=28 April 2024 }}</ref><ref name="auto2"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/ken|title=KEN &#124; English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary}}</ref>
* ''{{lang|sco|to get somebody}}'', for example ''up the road'', meaning "to accompany"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/get_v|title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: get v}}</ref>
* ''{{lang|sco|the messages}}'', meaning "groceries" or "shopping" more generally<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/message|title=Message definition and meaning &#124; Collins English Dictionary}}</ref><ref name="auto2"/>
* ''{{lang|sco|black affronted}}'', meaning ashamed, embarrassed and offended<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/affront_v|title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: affront v}}</ref>
* ''{{lang|sco|droukit}}'', meaning "soaked" (usually from rain)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/drouk|title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: drouk}}</ref>
* ''{{lang|sco|to be ages with somebody}}'', meaning "the same age" <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/snds101|title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: snds101}}</ref>
* ''a shot'', meaning to give temporary usage, to try something out<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/shot_n1_v_interj|title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: shot n1 v interj}}</ref>
* ''{{lang|sco|to flit}}'', meaning to move house<ref name="auto2"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/flit|title=Flit definition and meaning &#124; Collins English Dictionary}}</ref> (cognate to Norwegian ''flytte'', to move [house]){{fact|date=August 2023}}
* ''{{lang|sco|to go one's dinger}}'', meaning "to do something vigorously"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/dinger|title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: dinger}}</ref>
* ''{{lang|sco|blether}}'', meaning "gossip"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/blether|title=Blether definition and meaning &#124; Collins English Dictionary}}</ref><ref name="auto2"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/blether|title=blether &#124; meaning of blether in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English &#124; LDOCE}}</ref>
* ''{{lang|sco|to haver}}'', meaning "talking nonsense"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/haver|title=Haver definition and meaning &#124; Collins English Dictionary}}</ref><ref name="auto2"/>
* to give someone ''{{lang|sco|laldie}}'' meaning scolding, thrashing or punishment; also to ''{{lang|sco|Gie it laldy!}}'' meaning "to do something vigorously"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/laldie|title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: laldie}}</ref>
* ''{{lang|sco|(fair) wabbit}}'' meaning weary or exhausted<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/wabbit|title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: wabbit}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/wabbit|title=Wabbit definition and meaning &#124; Collins English Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/wabbit|title=WABBIT &#124; English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary}}</ref>
* ''(e.g. Monday) {{lang|sco|next}}'' meaning "a week on (Monday)"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/next|title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: next}}</ref>
* ''to be after having done something'', to indicate an action recently completed ''({{lang|sco|I'm just after my tea}})''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/efter_prep_adv_conj|title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: efter prep adv conj}}</ref>
* ''{{lang|sco|shy}}'' meaning [[throw-in]], in football{{fact|date=August 2023}}
* ''{{lang|sco|oxters}}'', meaning "armpits"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/oxter?q=oxters|title=OXTER &#124; English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/oxter|title=Oxter definition and meaning &#124; Collins English Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oxters|title=Definition of OXTERS|website=www.merriam-webster.com}}</ref>
* ''{{lang|sco|to chitter}}'' meaning "to shiver"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/chitter_v_n1|title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: chitter v n1}}</ref>
* ''{{lang|sco|Caw canny}}'' meaning "go easy/don't overdo it"
* ''{{lang|sco|Ye missed yersel last night}}'' meaning "You missed out on a good time last night" (by not being at the event)
* ''{{lang|sco|Dinna fash yersel}}'' meaning "Don't get worked up/fussed" (orig. from French ''{{lang|fr|se fâcher}}'')
* ''{{lang|sco|What (are) ye efter?}}'' meaning "What are you looking for?" or (in pubs) "What will you have to drink?"
* ''{{lang|sco|Aye, right!}}'' meaning "definitely not!" in sarcastic response to a question or to challenge a presumption
* ''{{lang|sco|Gaun'ae no dae that?}}'' is an imperative meaning "Will you not do that!?" in response to receiving a fright, or being annoyed by a person's actions
* ''{{lang|sco|Bye the/fur nou!}}'' meaning "goodbye, literally: 'goodbye for now'" as a way of saying goodbye.

== See also ==

* [[Anti-Scottish sentiment]]
* [[Dictionary of the Scots Language]]
* [[Doric dialect (Scotland)|Doric]]
* [[Lallans]]
* [[Languages in the United Kingdom]]
* [[List of English words of Scots origin]]
* [[Phonological history of the Scots language]]
* [[Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech]]
* [[Scottish English]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Culture of Scotland| ]]
[[Category:Scottish words and phrases| ]]
[[Category:Scottish toponymy| ]]
[[Category:Scottish toponyms| ]]
[[Category:Scots-language writers]]
[[Category:Scottish people]]