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Questions tagged [scottish-english]

Questions about Scottish English as used in Scotland, not to be confused with either the Scots language or which Scottish Gaelic.

There is a Scottish dialect called "Doric," for more information about definitions of words and phrases go to: http://www.doricdictionary.com/

38 questions
9
votes
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Scottish English: past participle instead of gerund or infinitive?

A few years ago I moved to North-eastern Scotland. I've noticed that people from all backgrounds and levels of education frequently use the past participle instead of the gerund or infinitive forms, both in written work and in conversation. For…
JamesS
  • 191
6
votes
1 answer

What does "Inahent the coonter she's no' near sic a nochtie, shilpit, wee thingie" mean?

About a month ago, I looked up the definition of thingy with a thought to answering this question. The following example sentence from 1947 appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary. It seems to be from a Scottish newspaper. I preface the sentence…
ab2
  • 26,253
4
votes
2 answers

Scottish English: "what-e-ver" (Literary Realism)

I’m reading a book, The Eagle Cliff, written in 1894, set in the western isles of Scotland. The author, R. M. Ballantyne, tends toward 19th century realism. Characters’ dialogue is written (and spelled) in such a way as to mimic their manner of…
mojo
  • 143
3
votes
1 answer

Playing duffie lassie?

I remember when I was in Edinburgh my English teacher taught me an expression that was supposed to be Scottish. It was something like play the duffie lassie which should mean "that a girl plays dumb". Anyway, I have Google around but cannot find…
Gyonder
  • 143
2
votes
1 answer

Glaswegian Scottish English: What does Limmy say at 01:01?

Binging on Limmy's sketches has given me quite an ear for Glaswegian, but I still can't make out what he says at 01:01 in the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH0hikcwjIA Kinda sounds to my ears like "n'chongn" or something like…
spiffles
  • 41
  • 2
1
vote
1 answer

How to pronounce "her", "hers" and "myrtle" with a Scottish accent?

In Scotland the words "fern", "fir" and "fur" have different vowels in them while in most other accents the vowels are the same (and "fir" and "fur" are therefore homophones in most English accents). Based on rules I've inferred from Scottish…
tija
  • 11
  • 1
-1
votes
1 answer

Which Michael do the Scots want to take?

In this clip of Dragon Den you can hear Duncan Bannatyne, a Scottish Torry Thatcherite, say You're taking the Michael, Anne Specifically what "Michael" is Duncan taking? I can't find any information about him and why Duncan would want to speak of…
Evan Carroll
  • 1,410