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-My favourite Scots word is... -Dreich. -Bumfle. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:09 | |
-Guddle. -Jiggered. -Spoots. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:11 | |
Besom. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:12 | |
He we are again, celebrating the Scots language. | 0:00:12 | 0:00:15 | |
That's right, the Scots don't stop. | 0:00:15 | 0:00:17 | |
We've asked another bunch of well-kent faces to choose | 0:00:17 | 0:00:20 | |
their favourite Scots words, tell us why and celebrate a few others besides. | 0:00:20 | 0:00:24 | |
Foos yer doos. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:29 | |
Crabbit. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:31 | |
Maigaret. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:32 | |
You're scunnered. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:33 | |
-Monie a mickle maks a muckle. -You're nothing but a bunch of chanty wraslers. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:37 | |
SHRIEKS | 0:00:37 | 0:00:38 | |
Well, I suppose my favourite Scots word would be "jiggered". | 0:00:41 | 0:00:47 | |
How you spell it is another matter, because I'm dyslexic, | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
But I think it's | 0:00:50 | 0:00:53 | |
J-I-G-G-E-R-E-D. | 0:00:53 | 0:01:00 | |
Jiggered. That looks like it. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:04 | |
Three-time Formula One champion and all-time motor-racing legend | 0:01:10 | 0:01:15 | |
Sir Jackie Stewart is one of Scotland's best-loved sports personalities. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:19 | |
In my motor-racing days, I'd lose about seven, | 0:01:19 | 0:01:23 | |
maybe sometimes eight pounds in weight just being dehydrated. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:27 | |
Came out of a Formula One car after a race, I'd be jiggered. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
So, Jackie has been more jiggered than most people. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:34 | |
In 1966, whilst giving it laldie at the Belgian Grand Prix, | 0:01:34 | 0:01:38 | |
he came off the track. | 0:01:38 | 0:01:41 | |
Well, I had an accident when it was heavy rain and we had aquaplaning. | 0:01:41 | 0:01:45 | |
That means the water's so thick, the tyres don't go through the water, | 0:01:45 | 0:01:49 | |
they go over the water. | 0:01:49 | 0:01:51 | |
Therefore, the car's no longer in contact with Mother Earth. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
I went off the road and I hit a telegraph pole | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
and a woodcutter's hut. | 0:01:57 | 0:01:58 | |
I broke a collarbone and some ribs and I also had a back injury. | 0:01:58 | 0:02:02 | |
So I was pretty jiggered. | 0:02:02 | 0:02:05 | |
When you are jiggered, you can't do the things you normally do. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:11 | |
You've got to sit down more than you can walk - you're scunnered. | 0:02:11 | 0:02:15 | |
Now, who outside of Scotland would understand the word "scunnered"? | 0:02:17 | 0:02:22 | |
But then again, it's enormously graphic, it's a really strong word. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:26 | |
But it just says how badly you've been affected by something. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
You're scunnered. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:33 | |
So, Jackie won his first Formula One championship in 1969, | 0:02:35 | 0:02:40 | |
but success and fame wasn't always part of his life. | 0:02:40 | 0:02:43 | |
Well, I grew up, of course, in Dumbarton. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:46 | |
I went to the Dumbarton Academy for my schooling, | 0:02:47 | 0:02:50 | |
but unfortunately, I was dyslexic and nobody understood that. | 0:02:50 | 0:02:55 | |
So I was called a dunderheid - | 0:02:55 | 0:02:58 | |
"You're a dunderheid!" - because I couldn't read or write correctly. | 0:02:58 | 0:03:03 | |
It wasn't nice at the time. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
But I suppose that drove me in sport | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
to go and want to reach a higher level. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:10 | |
So, Jackie went on to win an incredible 27 Grand Prix | 0:03:12 | 0:03:18 | |
and received his knighthood in 2001 for services to motor racing. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:22 | |
Suddenly I was good at something. I was no longer a dunderheid. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:26 | |
Good evening, Scotland. | 0:03:35 | 0:03:37 | |
Please welcome your host for the next just under three minutes, | 0:03:37 | 0:03:41 | |
Miss Susan Calman. | 0:03:41 | 0:03:43 | |
My favourite Scots word is "besom". | 0:03:44 | 0:03:48 | |
As a stand-up comedian, I love describing people using language, | 0:03:48 | 0:03:52 | |
and "besom" is one of the best words | 0:03:52 | 0:03:55 | |
to describe a particular type of woman. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
It's not a bad word, | 0:03:57 | 0:04:00 | |
but it describes an uppity kind of woman, the kind of woman that | 0:04:00 | 0:04:03 | |
makes you frustrated, the person who takes your seat on the bus, | 0:04:03 | 0:04:07 | |
the person who annoys you, who talks too loudly on trains. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:10 | |
It is usually paired with the phrase "wee" for people like myself. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:15 | |
I'm 4ft 11, exactly the same height as Kylie Minogue. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:19 | |
LOUD COUGH | 0:04:19 | 0:04:21 | |
That's where the similarity ends. | 0:04:21 | 0:04:23 | |
I have one talent being this short, though. It's pretty outstanding. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:26 | |
I can stand up completely straight in the back of a black cab. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:30 | |
COMEDY DRUM ROLL | 0:04:30 | 0:04:32 | |
AWKWARD SILENCE | 0:04:32 | 0:04:34 | |
It really is one of the most unbelievably fantastic words | 0:04:34 | 0:04:38 | |
in the Scots language, and I'm proud to be one. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:42 | |
Besom. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:43 | |
On stage, Susan uses words and language to make folk laugh | 0:04:46 | 0:04:49 | |
and there are certain Scots words that are particularly funny, | 0:04:49 | 0:04:53 | |
especially when you're talking about the body. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:56 | |
You know, your bits and bobs and that. | 0:04:56 | 0:04:58 | |
Of course, "besom" is not the only descriptive word I like to use. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:05 | |
I'm going to show you some of my favourites, | 0:05:05 | 0:05:07 | |
and to help me out, today I'm joined by my twin sister Maigaret. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:12 | |
Now, I know what you're thinking. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:15 | |
You're thinking, "There's not much of a family resemblance," | 0:05:15 | 0:05:18 | |
but that's because Maigaret here is slightly more peely-wally, | 0:05:18 | 0:05:23 | |
slightly more pale than I am. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:25 | |
She does, however, have a wonderfully proportioned heid | 0:05:25 | 0:05:29 | |
which she has there. | 0:05:29 | 0:05:32 | |
She's also got a smaller pair than I do, which is good, | 0:05:34 | 0:05:37 | |
because then she can listen to me, of lugs. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:41 | |
We have got a very similar nose, however, a very similar neb. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:45 | |
Different shaped mouth. She's more of a Cupid's bow. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:47 | |
Very different shape - geggies - to each other. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:50 | |
We still talk about the same amount. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:52 | |
She's quiet now, she's just shy, that's why she's not saying anything. | 0:05:52 | 0:05:56 | |
One thing we have in common is our oxters. | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
We've got the same armpits. You may think, "How do you know that?" | 0:05:59 | 0:06:02 | |
We're twins. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:03 | |
We differ slightly in her queets, her ankles, | 0:06:03 | 0:06:07 | |
are slightly slimmer than mine. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:10 | |
She's got more sports... I've got dancers' legs. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:12 | |
And finally, the family resemblance you will have noticed | 0:06:12 | 0:06:16 | |
between Maigaret and myself, the behouchie, the behind. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:22 | |
We have both have the same lovely behouchie. | 0:06:22 | 0:06:26 | |
So, another brilliantly descriptive Scots word I love using. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:30 | |
Anyway, thanks for watching, everyone. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:34 | |
I've been Susan Calman. Good night! | 0:06:34 | 0:06:35 | |
# Booking tactics | 0:06:43 | 0:06:45 | |
# Getting out the fact sheets | 0:06:45 | 0:06:47 | |
# Love them statistics | 0:06:47 | 0:06:49 | |
# Blink...and you'll miss it. # | 0:06:49 | 0:06:52 | |
As a broadcaster and football pundit, | 0:06:53 | 0:06:55 | |
Stuart Cosgrove has a very wide-ranging Scots vocabulary. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:59 | |
One of my favourite Scots words of all time | 0:06:59 | 0:07:02 | |
is actually the word "baw"... | 0:07:02 | 0:07:05 | |
which can be used in a number of different ways. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:10 | |
Especially, for example, with the word "bag" - so you have the word | 0:07:10 | 0:07:14 | |
-"bawbag". -I beg your pardon?! | 0:07:14 | 0:07:16 | |
Now, "baw" is simply the Scots word for a ball. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:20 | |
A "bag" is simply the bag into which a ball might go. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:24 | |
That could be a snooker table, | 0:07:24 | 0:07:26 | |
it could be football, when the ball goes into the net, | 0:07:26 | 0:07:29 | |
but, of course, in Scots language, | 0:07:29 | 0:07:31 | |
and particularly through football, it's been reclaimed | 0:07:31 | 0:07:34 | |
as a Scottish word that kind of means an idiot or a fool, | 0:07:34 | 0:07:37 | |
or someone of disrepute, or someone you can't stand - | 0:07:37 | 0:07:40 | |
they're a bawbag. | 0:07:40 | 0:07:42 | |
ALARM | 0:07:42 | 0:07:43 | |
Now, there are some people, I must admit this, folks, | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
there are some people out there with filthy minds | 0:07:46 | 0:07:49 | |
that think it might mean something else, but it doesn't. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
It means a fool or an idiot. | 0:07:52 | 0:07:53 | |
A great Scottish word - bawbag. | 0:07:53 | 0:07:56 | |
Working on the radio show Off The Ball, I think, in lots of ways | 0:08:04 | 0:08:08 | |
allows the Scots language to be spoken publicly. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:11 | |
And of course, Scottish football itself is actually populated | 0:08:12 | 0:08:16 | |
over the years with Scots language. | 0:08:16 | 0:08:17 | |
So a really, really poor centre-half is a tumshie. A turnip. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:22 | |
Of course, many Scottish teams take their nicknames from Scots language. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:25 | |
An obvious one would be Arbroath, the Red Lichties from the red light off the coast of Arbroath. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:30 | |
By far and away my favourites is Wick Academy in the north-east of Scotland. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:35 | |
And Wick Academy's nickname is the Scorries. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
And Scorries, as I understand it, in the north-east of Scotland, | 0:08:38 | 0:08:41 | |
is the word that they would use linguistically for a seagull. | 0:08:41 | 0:08:45 | |
Scorries. It's just a great word. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:48 | |
It almost has that sense of gutturalness about it | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
that all great Scots words should have. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:53 | |
My granny used to have this phrase, "Monie a mickle maks a muckle." | 0:08:53 | 0:08:56 | |
Now, that's a real classic, that one. It's about saving up, isn't it? | 0:08:56 | 0:09:01 | |
"Monie a mickle maks a muckle, son." If you keep wee bits of money and you keep them all together, | 0:09:01 | 0:09:06 | |
it'll grow into big money and you'll become rich. | 0:09:06 | 0:09:08 | |
In the 1950s when Stuart was at school, | 0:09:10 | 0:09:13 | |
talking Scots wisnae the done thing. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:15 | |
As a kid growing up, I was aware that | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
I actually spoke two languages, one in the playground and one in the classroom. | 0:09:17 | 0:09:22 | |
Scots language had actually been something | 0:09:22 | 0:09:24 | |
that had almost been criminalised within the culture. | 0:09:24 | 0:09:27 | |
It was something that you could speak to your friends about or in, | 0:09:27 | 0:09:31 | |
or maybe an older relative, like a granny or whatever, | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
and you could do it in the playground, | 0:09:34 | 0:09:36 | |
but as soon as you went into the classroom, | 0:09:36 | 0:09:38 | |
it was almost beaten out of you | 0:09:38 | 0:09:39 | |
and you had to speak RP proper English, as it were. | 0:09:39 | 0:09:42 | |
Thankfully, these days attitudes towards speaking Scots are very different. | 0:09:44 | 0:09:49 | |
The time is ripe in Scottish society now for us to reclaim, | 0:09:52 | 0:09:55 | |
rediscover and fall back in love again with our own language. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:58 | |
Now, it's really important, | 0:09:58 | 0:10:00 | |
I think, in a modern global society that you understand English, | 0:10:00 | 0:10:03 | |
because it's one of the great global languages, but if you're a Scot | 0:10:03 | 0:10:07 | |
and you feel Scottish and you want to speak in the Scots language, | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
it's an amazingly proud language with centuries of history. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:14 | |
Rediscover it from the playground, don't whisper it. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:17 | |
Be proud of the words, say the words because they're our words | 0:10:17 | 0:10:20 | |
and you've every right to speak your language. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:22 | |
Our favourite Scots words are... | 0:10:24 | 0:10:26 | |
Neep. | 0:10:26 | 0:10:27 | |
Coo. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:29 | |
Gie. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:32 | |
Michty. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:34 | |
Foos yer doos! | 0:10:35 | 0:10:36 | |
Tattie. | 0:10:38 | 0:10:39 | |
Fit like. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:40 | |
Our favourite Scottish words! | 0:10:42 | 0:10:44 | |
For these Aberdonian schoolchildren, speaking, | 0:10:46 | 0:10:49 | |
writing and reading in Scots is very important. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:52 | |
They've even got a magic bus to help them. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:54 | |
I'm a muckle fearsome pirate wi' a beard like a hairy dug | 0:10:54 | 0:10:58 | |
A bunnet wi' twa fight-crossed banes and a gold ring in my lug | 0:10:58 | 0:11:02 | |
But my pirate days are numbered as the joiner can confirm | 0:11:02 | 0:11:06 | |
He's diagnosed my wooden leg has terminal woodworm. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
Down the road in Dundee, poet Mark Thomson lives and breathes Scots. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:15 | |
He's particularly passionate about his native dialect. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:18 | |
It's the tartans, it's the pipes, it's using words like glaikit | 0:11:18 | 0:11:21 | |
Halkit, barkit, crabbit, clype | 0:11:21 | 0:11:23 | |
Potted hough, haggis, stovies, cybies, tripe. | 0:11:23 | 0:11:26 | |
It's the hills, it's the heathers, it's the lochs, it's the glens | 0:11:26 | 0:11:29 | |
It's aboot the Highland games | 0:11:29 | 0:11:30 | |
Tossin' the caber, throwin' the hammer | 0:11:30 | 0:11:32 | |
And being 500 miles awa fae the Thames | 0:11:32 | 0:11:35 | |
Hairy coos and hardy bits | 0:11:35 | 0:11:37 | |
Highland dancin', bonny views | 0:11:37 | 0:11:39 | |
Eagles, ospreys, red grouse, capercaillies | 0:11:39 | 0:11:42 | |
Ceilidhs, clansmen, kilts and claymores | 0:11:42 | 0:11:45 | |
Blended single malts, whiskies galore | 0:11:45 | 0:11:47 | |
It's the highlands, the islands, stags, nooks, crannies and crags | 0:11:47 | 0:11:51 | |
It's a' that and mair | 0:11:51 | 0:11:52 | |
It's just bein' Scots withoot the red hair | 0:11:52 | 0:11:55 | |
But it's much bigger than that... | 0:11:55 | 0:11:57 | |
It's just bein' Scottish and it's as simple as that. | 0:11:57 | 0:12:01 | |
When I write, I've got a choice of Scottish words, English words | 0:12:06 | 0:12:11 | |
and Dundonian words, as well. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:13 | |
So when I'm looking for a word, I'm no stuck. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:16 | |
I can play aboot with the three of them, like. | 0:12:16 | 0:12:19 | |
And for me when I'm writing stuff it's aboot...it's aboot usin' sounds. | 0:12:19 | 0:12:23 | |
No necessarily words, it's the sound for me | 0:12:23 | 0:12:27 | |
that creates the meaning | 0:12:27 | 0:12:29 | |
and the flow and the rhythm of what I'm actually kinda writing about. | 0:12:29 | 0:12:32 | |
It's just like when Burns was livin' 250 years ago, | 0:12:32 | 0:12:35 | |
Burns used his ain dialect and it's great to hear. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:40 | |
Back in the 1780s, many literate, | 0:12:40 | 0:12:43 | |
educated people were moving away from Scots, | 0:12:43 | 0:12:45 | |
but Rabbie Burns published his first collection of poems | 0:12:45 | 0:12:49 | |
chiefly in the mither tongue. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:51 | |
For me, Burns is very important. | 0:12:51 | 0:12:54 | |
He's very important to the Scottish language to have kept it alive. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:58 | |
If Burns hadnae of been writing in his ain dialect as well | 0:12:58 | 0:13:01 | |
we wouldnae be talking aboot him the day. | 0:13:01 | 0:13:03 | |
Up In The Morning Early by Robert Burns. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:05 | |
Cauld blaws the wind frae east to west | 0:13:05 | 0:13:08 | |
The drift is driving sairly | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
Sae loud and shrill's I hear the blast - I'm sure it's winter fairly! | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
Up in the morning's no for me, Up in the morning early | 0:13:14 | 0:13:18 | |
When a' the hills are cover'd wi' snaw | 0:13:18 | 0:13:20 | |
I'm sure it's winter fairly. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:22 | |
It's about where you're fae. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:24 | |
And your accent and your dialect is where you're fae, | 0:13:24 | 0:13:27 | |
so dinnae change it. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:29 | |
Keep it the way it is. | 0:13:29 | 0:13:30 | |
It's important, and let's keep it alive. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
My favourite word in Scots is "bumfle". | 0:13:35 | 0:13:39 | |
John Lowrie Morrison, aka Jolomo, | 0:13:42 | 0:13:44 | |
is one of Scotland's best-loved artists. | 0:13:44 | 0:13:48 | |
Bumfle means to fold or crease | 0:13:48 | 0:13:52 | |
or tousle up a piece of paper | 0:13:52 | 0:13:55 | |
or a sheet, or clothing, or you might even say | 0:13:55 | 0:13:58 | |
you bumfle somebody's hair. | 0:13:58 | 0:13:59 | |
But it's a kind of soft messiness. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:03 | |
And, of course, if you do that, | 0:14:03 | 0:14:05 | |
I'm bumfling up the word. | 0:14:05 | 0:14:09 | |
Bumfle is a really nice expressive word, | 0:14:09 | 0:14:12 | |
and I just use it all the time, and all the family use it. | 0:14:12 | 0:14:15 | |
The time of day I love painting most is the gloaming. | 0:14:15 | 0:14:19 | |
It's just wonderful, because | 0:14:19 | 0:14:22 | |
it takes away a lot of the detail you can get caught up in, | 0:14:22 | 0:14:27 | |
and as an expressive painter, I'm not really interested in too much detail. | 0:14:27 | 0:14:32 | |
I prefer just expressing the colour | 0:14:32 | 0:14:35 | |
and the textures in a very expressionistic way. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:38 | |
The braw and bonny west coast of Scotland | 0:14:39 | 0:14:42 | |
has always been his inspiration. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:44 | |
This is where, for forty years, I've had | 0:14:44 | 0:14:49 | |
my inspiration for most of what I paint, | 0:14:49 | 0:14:53 | |
and in Scots parlance, | 0:14:53 | 0:14:56 | |
this is a glourin', lourin' day. | 0:14:56 | 0:14:59 | |
At its best, or worst, whatever way you want to do it. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:03 | |
There's everything here that a painter would want. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:06 | |
In contrast to his present surroundings, | 0:15:08 | 0:15:10 | |
John's family hail fae Glasgow. As a wee lad, | 0:15:10 | 0:15:13 | |
he remembers visiting his aunt in Maryhill. | 0:15:13 | 0:15:15 | |
I can remember the first time hearing my aunt Ruby saying, | 0:15:15 | 0:15:18 | |
"Oh, the cludgie's out the back." | 0:15:18 | 0:15:20 | |
And I went, "Cludgie? What's a cludgie?" And, of course, | 0:15:20 | 0:15:23 | |
a cludgie's a toilet. | 0:15:23 | 0:15:24 | |
TOILET FLUSHES | 0:15:24 | 0:15:27 | |
The close she stayed in was on the ground floor. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:32 | |
There was a gas lamp at the beginning of the close, but at the back, | 0:15:32 | 0:15:35 | |
where the cludgie was, there was no light at all, | 0:15:35 | 0:15:38 | |
and you had to feel your way and make sure | 0:15:38 | 0:15:40 | |
you got the right spot to perform in. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:43 | |
But cludgie is just a wonderful word, | 0:15:43 | 0:15:45 | |
and to add "clarty" to that is even better. | 0:15:45 | 0:15:48 | |
Clarty cludgie! | 0:15:48 | 0:15:49 | |
My favourite Scots word is a wonderful word. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:55 | |
It's "dreich". | 0:15:55 | 0:15:58 | |
It's got all those brilliant sounds in it. | 0:15:58 | 0:16:00 | |
This is how it's spelt - | 0:16:00 | 0:16:01 | |
d-r-e-i-c-h. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:06 | |
Well, that's how I spell it! I hope that is the way it's spelt. | 0:16:06 | 0:16:09 | |
Sadly, in Scotland, we get a lot of dreich days, | 0:16:11 | 0:16:14 | |
and dreich just describes how low the sky is, | 0:16:14 | 0:16:19 | |
invokes a sort of misery. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:22 | |
The rain is a bit smirry, | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
another great Scots word, | 0:16:26 | 0:16:28 | |
which means a sort of light rain | 0:16:28 | 0:16:30 | |
that cuts into your very soul, actually. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
And so, dark, overcast. | 0:16:34 | 0:16:37 | |
It feels like the light doesn't get through most of the day, | 0:16:37 | 0:16:40 | |
and it's just dreich. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:42 | |
It's a day you want to stay in front of the fire, really. | 0:16:42 | 0:16:45 | |
Comic actress Elaine C Smith performs all over Scotland, | 0:16:46 | 0:16:49 | |
and knows only too well the variety | 0:16:49 | 0:16:51 | |
of different dialects that the Scots language encompasses. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:54 | |
Within Scotland, in such a relatively small place, | 0:16:54 | 0:16:59 | |
the differences between the regions and the areas | 0:16:59 | 0:17:02 | |
from the borders to Aberdeen... | 0:17:02 | 0:17:05 | |
you know, I do panto in Aberdeen, | 0:17:05 | 0:17:07 | |
at the end I've learnt a whole new language! | 0:17:07 | 0:17:09 | |
The first time I went to Aberdeen, about 25 years ago, or something, | 0:17:09 | 0:17:13 | |
I thought they were speaking German, you know, that sort of Doric, | 0:17:13 | 0:17:16 | |
very down there sort of thing. | 0:17:16 | 0:17:19 | |
And I'd heard like, you know, "Foos yer doos," | 0:17:19 | 0:17:22 | |
which I was, "I beg your pardon?" | 0:17:22 | 0:17:24 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:17:24 | 0:17:26 | |
And foos yer doos I love, you know, and Glaswegians don't get it, | 0:17:26 | 0:17:29 | |
you know, I've got to explain to friends and family, you know, | 0:17:29 | 0:17:32 | |
that "foos yer doos?" means "how are your pigeons?" | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
And there's just something very funny about that as a greeting, | 0:17:35 | 0:17:39 | |
"Foos yer doos?", and the response has to be "Chavin awa," | 0:17:39 | 0:17:43 | |
which means "pecking away", which means they're eating. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:46 | |
So life is good! | 0:17:46 | 0:17:47 | |
In another life I was a high school teacher, and I taught in Edinburgh, | 0:17:49 | 0:17:54 | |
in a high school there, and I had to learn totally new words there. | 0:17:54 | 0:17:58 | |
Words like "barry". | 0:17:58 | 0:17:59 | |
"Barry" meant, "Oh, that's barry, miss" - that's great. | 0:17:59 | 0:18:03 | |
I had no... I thought they were talking about some guy that everybody knew, | 0:18:03 | 0:18:07 | |
but "barry" was another word for great or good. | 0:18:07 | 0:18:10 | |
I love, in Glaswegian, those words like, you know, "that's bowfin." | 0:18:12 | 0:18:17 | |
Bowfin is just, you can smell it, which is brilliant. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:21 | |
"Thae socks are bowfin" is just fantastic. | 0:18:21 | 0:18:24 | |
There are loads of words I love in Scots. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:31 | |
And actually, at times, I'm not really that aware | 0:18:31 | 0:18:37 | |
that they are Scots words, they just come into your, | 0:18:37 | 0:18:40 | |
you know, everyday usage, which is wonderful, cos it's alive. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:45 | |
My favourite Scots word is "guddle". | 0:18:54 | 0:18:56 | |
DRAMATIC MUSIC | 0:18:56 | 0:19:00 | |
Rhona Martin is an Olympic champion. | 0:19:05 | 0:19:07 | |
Hence the dramatic music. | 0:19:07 | 0:19:09 | |
Guddle. It means "messy", and when I was growing up, | 0:19:09 | 0:19:13 | |
my mum used the word a lot | 0:19:13 | 0:19:15 | |
when I was trying to cook or bake in the kitchen. | 0:19:15 | 0:19:17 | |
All I heard was, "This place is a guddle." | 0:19:17 | 0:19:20 | |
And guddle is a word that's actually used a lot in curling. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:25 | |
So this is a typical guddle. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:29 | |
In this situation, red would put up guard in the centre | 0:19:29 | 0:19:33 | |
so that they could get in behind the cover, | 0:19:33 | 0:19:35 | |
and yellow can't get to them. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:37 | |
So red want to steal only one shot. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:39 | |
They don't mind if they lose an eight. | 0:19:39 | 0:19:41 | |
Well, that clears that up. Thank you, Rhona. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:44 | |
Why is it called a guddle? Cos it's messy. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:48 | |
These days, Rhona is a curling coach, | 0:19:48 | 0:19:50 | |
but back in 2002, | 0:19:50 | 0:19:52 | |
she embarked on a roller-coaster ride to Olympic glory. | 0:19:52 | 0:19:55 | |
We knew we could reach the semifinals, | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
we'd beaten all the teams before, so we knew we played well. We had a good chance of a medal. | 0:19:58 | 0:20:03 | |
We'd two games left, and we only had to win one of them to reach the semifinal. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:06 | |
Quite easy, really. | 0:20:06 | 0:20:10 | |
But no, not for us. We lost them both. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:12 | |
There are two Scots words that would sum up how I was feeling that night - | 0:20:12 | 0:20:16 | |
"crabbit" and "scunnered". | 0:20:16 | 0:20:18 | |
We had just blown our chance of an Olympic medal. | 0:20:18 | 0:20:21 | |
But we did have a lifeline - | 0:20:21 | 0:20:23 | |
if Switzerland were to win their last game, we were in a play-off. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:29 | |
And, as luck would have it, Switzerland did win. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:32 | |
Come on, the Swiss! | 0:20:32 | 0:20:34 | |
We weren't going to blow it this time. | 0:20:35 | 0:20:37 | |
So with some Scottish true grit and determination, | 0:20:37 | 0:20:40 | |
we came through the two play-offs, came through the semifinal, | 0:20:40 | 0:20:44 | |
and won the final, and we were Olympic champions. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:47 | |
My favourite word in day-to-day working life, | 0:20:58 | 0:21:02 | |
working in the kitchen, is a word called "spoots". | 0:21:02 | 0:21:06 | |
Spoots being razor clams, you will have all seen these on the beach, | 0:21:08 | 0:21:12 | |
but here at the front of the spoot, they've got a little funnel, | 0:21:12 | 0:21:16 | |
and when it's in the sand, the little head comes up, | 0:21:16 | 0:21:20 | |
and it spoots the water out, hence the Scottish word for spoots. | 0:21:20 | 0:21:25 | |
The aptly named top Scots chef Tom Kitchin was just 29 years old | 0:21:25 | 0:21:29 | |
when he won a coveted Michelin star. | 0:21:29 | 0:21:31 | |
Mr Kitchin's kitchen is full of both Scots ingredients | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
and some very tasty Scots language. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:38 | |
When I write my menus, I'll add little Scots words in there. | 0:21:41 | 0:21:44 | |
We've got haggis, neeps and tatties, of course, | 0:21:44 | 0:21:46 | |
we've got cullen skink, we've got cranachan, clootie dumpling, cock-a-leekie soup... | 0:21:46 | 0:21:51 | |
I think the Scots words really do express what the word is, | 0:21:51 | 0:21:54 | |
the attributes to the actual product, | 0:21:54 | 0:21:58 | |
and it's a real talking point when you read the menu. | 0:21:58 | 0:22:01 | |
I speak French in the service, I speak Scottish in the service, | 0:22:03 | 0:22:06 | |
so if I say to the young boy who's on his first day, | 0:22:06 | 0:22:09 | |
"Quickly, I need the neeps," or "I need the spoots," | 0:22:09 | 0:22:11 | |
he has to quickly learn that, you know, because that's what it's all about for me. | 0:22:11 | 0:22:15 | |
It's like when I went to work in France, I didn't speak a word of French, | 0:22:15 | 0:22:19 | |
and they didn't change anything for me, you know? | 0:22:19 | 0:22:21 | |
It's all part of the culture of learning, really, isn't it? | 0:22:21 | 0:22:24 | |
I think there's a massive heritage of food in Scotland that people forget or don't even know exists. | 0:22:24 | 0:22:30 | |
I think now there's a real revolution of, you know, | 0:22:30 | 0:22:32 | |
people celebrating what's Scottish, and we should be really proud of it, | 0:22:32 | 0:22:36 | |
and I certainly am. | 0:22:36 | 0:22:38 | |
Probably my favourite Scots word or expression is "chanty wrasler". | 0:22:39 | 0:22:44 | |
A chanty is a chamber pot, | 0:22:44 | 0:22:49 | |
and a wrasler is literally a wrestler, | 0:22:49 | 0:22:55 | |
or someone who grapples or shakes something. | 0:22:55 | 0:23:00 | |
So as a term of abuse, you're basically saying, | 0:23:00 | 0:23:04 | |
"You would shake a chamber pot." | 0:23:04 | 0:23:07 | |
The star of stage and screen Denis Lawson grew up in rural Perthshire. | 0:23:08 | 0:23:13 | |
Back then, even the children had to work for their supper. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:16 | |
Tatties don't pick themselves, you know! | 0:23:16 | 0:23:18 | |
'Come on! Time to get up. We've work to do!' | 0:23:18 | 0:23:22 | |
Another phrase that's very tied up with my childhood is "tattie howking". | 0:23:22 | 0:23:29 | |
And you went tattie howking in the tattie holidays. | 0:23:29 | 0:23:32 | |
"Howking" is, as far as I know, lifting, pulling up, | 0:23:32 | 0:23:37 | |
and "tatties", obviously, potatoes, spuds. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:41 | |
Erm...tattie-howking was very hard work. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
The tractor went up the furrow and you're picking as fast as you can. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:49 | |
It's backbreaking and unrelenting | 0:23:49 | 0:23:51 | |
and you've got half an eye on the tractor | 0:23:51 | 0:23:54 | |
and it's at the end of the furrow | 0:23:54 | 0:23:55 | |
and it's starting to go back round the field | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
and you have to finish your bit and be at the next furrow before the tractor gets to you. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:02 | |
Here's a Scots word I'm fond of | 0:24:09 | 0:24:11 | |
that's still very much in circulation. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:13 | |
It's an old Scots word with Germanic roots. | 0:24:14 | 0:24:17 | |
"Boak" as in "dry boak" as in "the heaves", | 0:24:17 | 0:24:20 | |
as in, "That's giving me the dry boak." | 0:24:20 | 0:24:22 | |
HE RETCHES | 0:24:22 | 0:24:23 | |
Huh? | 0:24:23 | 0:24:25 | |
Here are three things that give me the dry boak. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:28 | |
A hair in my porridge. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:33 | |
HE RETCHES | 0:24:34 | 0:24:36 | |
A fried egg in my porridge. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:41 | |
HE RETCHES | 0:24:41 | 0:24:43 | |
Actually just porridge. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:48 | |
HE RETCHES | 0:24:48 | 0:24:49 | |
TOILET FLUSHES | 0:24:49 | 0:24:51 | |
I like "boak" because it's expressive. It's onomatopoeic. | 0:24:56 | 0:24:59 | |
It sounds like what it is. Go on. Try vomiting without going "boak". | 0:24:59 | 0:25:04 | |
See? | 0:25:06 | 0:25:07 | |
I like "giving me the dry boak" - there's a wonderful rhythm about it. | 0:25:08 | 0:25:12 | |
"You're giving me the dry boak, you're giving me the dry boak, you're giving me the dry boak." | 0:25:12 | 0:25:16 | |
In fact, many of my favourite Scots expressions have this wonderful rhythm about them. | 0:25:16 | 0:25:20 | |
For example, "I could eat the scabby heid aff a wean," | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
which means you're so hungry that you could eat the scarred head off a child. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:28 | |
"I could eat the scabby heid aff a wean" - it's practically hip-hop. | 0:25:28 | 0:25:31 | |
HE BEATBOXES | 0:25:36 | 0:25:38 | |
I could eat the scabby heid aff a wean | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
Eat the scabby heid aff a wean | 0:25:44 | 0:25:46 | |
Sca-sca-scabby | 0:25:46 | 0:25:47 | |
Heid aff a wean | 0:25:47 | 0:25:48 | |
Eat the scabby heid aff a wean. | 0:25:48 | 0:25:50 | |
It's not just the rhythm, though. | 0:25:55 | 0:25:57 | |
It's the succinctly presented, yet highly loaded visual images. | 0:25:57 | 0:26:00 | |
Here's a belter - "away and bile yer heid", | 0:26:00 | 0:26:03 | |
which means "go forth and boil your head". | 0:26:03 | 0:26:06 | |
That's pretty hardcore, isn't it? | 0:26:06 | 0:26:08 | |
They're not asking you simmer a finger or lightly saute your chin. | 0:26:08 | 0:26:12 | |
They're asking you to actually boil your entire dome. | 0:26:12 | 0:26:15 | |
And to do it yourself, to lower your own head into a large pan of salted, boiling water. | 0:26:15 | 0:26:21 | |
That is a pretty compelling image, is it not? | 0:26:21 | 0:26:24 | |
I'm sorry, I can't... I can't do it. | 0:26:28 | 0:26:30 | |
Can't do it. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:33 | |
And what about, "I could eat the scabby heid aff a wean"? | 0:26:33 | 0:26:36 | |
Imagine - you're so ravenous that you're poised there, | 0:26:36 | 0:26:39 | |
hovering with your fork and knife over a child's head. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
And not just a child's head, but one that's flecked with crusty scar tissue. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:47 | |
Well, no need to imagine. Here's a wean. | 0:26:47 | 0:26:50 | |
Here's "the heid aff a wean". | 0:26:54 | 0:26:56 | |
Here are all the scabs. | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
I've not eaten for three days so I'm about to eat the scabby heid | 0:26:59 | 0:27:04 | |
aff a wean. Here we go. | 0:27:04 | 0:27:07 | |
I think I'll start with a cheek. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
That was rare. Oh, scab. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:14 | |
Now, one of my very, very favourite Scots expressions is, | 0:27:14 | 0:27:17 | |
"Your coat's on a shoogly peg." | 0:27:17 | 0:27:19 | |
"Shoogly" - one of those great Scots words that sounds like what it means. | 0:27:19 | 0:27:23 | |
Shoogly, shaky. Precarious. Shoogly. | 0:27:23 | 0:27:27 | |
And if your coat's on a shoogly peg, well, you're on thin ice, pal. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:31 | |
Things are very, very finely balanced. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:34 | |
It could all come crashing down at any minute, | 0:27:34 | 0:27:36 | |
like a live action game of Buckeroo. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:38 | |
You got chocolate all over that lovely expensive jumper. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
It was your sister's jumper, but... | 0:27:50 | 0:27:52 | |
It was your sister's chocolate. | 0:27:56 | 0:27:58 | |
I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave now. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:08 | |
It would seem that consumption of a child's head was inappropriate, | 0:28:08 | 0:28:11 | |
even in the interests of illustrating the lovely Scots language. | 0:28:11 | 0:28:15 | |
Anyway, cheery-bye the noo and lang may your lum reek. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:19 | |
Oh. Lang may your lum reek. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:21 | |
Lang may your lum reek. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:24 | |
Lang may your lum reek. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:26 | |
I said lang may your lum reek! Awreet? | 0:28:26 | 0:28:29 | |
Awreet? Awreet? Awreet? Awreet? | 0:28:29 | 0:28:31 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:28:52 | 0:28:54 |