One of the real perils of living this side of the border is that the Scottish have taken it upon themselves to have, and flagrantly make use of, various words that catch the unsuspecting Sassenach entirely and utterly off guard.
After at least five years, I thought I’d got to the bottom of most of these words thanks to both a patient fiancee, and her quietly amused but generally understanding family.
But yesterday, my accountant of all people dropped a new one on me. This time it’s “outwith”, which - it transpires via a great entry and discussion - is simply the antonym of “within”, ie. the opposite (literally and orderly, you might note). It is also, many seem to profess, widely used up here in formal writing, but doesn’t feature in formal dictionaries.
A few others if you’re curious that have led to hand-flapping, furrowed brows and general frustration on the part of my Scottish better half including:
- Chuckies, aka Gravel. Basically, small stones on the driveway. Might not be Scottish specific per se, but it’s widely used up here.
- Skelf - A splinter.
- Ooss (Oose?) - dust or fluff.
- Ken - Understand…
- Lots more here
At this point, I’ll tut quietly to myself, shake my head in despair and walk away to be by myself. I think the Scots who read this will laugh quietly to themselves (possibly pointing at me if they get the opportunity), and the rest of the world will just furrow there brow and not believe me. But it’s true, I tell you! Ya Ken?
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July 5th, 2006 at 11:05 am
[...] That said, you may not like Radiohead (eh?), or - as with Frances - “likes their earlier stuff”, or somesuch. Eh? Radiohead are, in my view, one of those deliciously rare things where they keep getting better (Creep is a classic of it’s time, but one I actually don’t like that much now). They’re currently outside of a recording contract (I’ll resist the temptation to use that Scottish-ism “outwith“, which I’ve come to quite like, for the sake of the majority of my friends), and touring (how I wish I could go see them), and hopefully concocting new and interesting music. However, there’s a pang of worry of course that if Thom hits it big with this, there may be some new strains. Where have Blur gone since Gorillaz? [...]