I had intended doing a book post tonight but if I want to get any actual reading done – which I do – it’ll just have to be a quick Scottish words post.
While I was painting the other day I had the TV on in the background, just for the company, if you can call it that. It was an old episode of the original Upstairs Downstairs and World War I was just about to be declared. Young men were worried that they might miss the whole ‘show’ if they didn’t join up.
Good old Mr Hudson, the Scottish butler was exasperated by everything and he said “Everything’s tapsalteerie today,” meaning everything’s upside down. I don’t know if it was because I was just listening to it but it came to me that the word must derive from topsail and so it originally meant that the topsail was at the bottom or certainly not where it should be on a ship if all is well.
Nobody else seems to have put this forward as a possibility of the derivation. What do you think? Do you have any other theories?
Sounds a bit like topsy-turvey. I love Hudson, always liked listening to his Scottish accent. I think if I could have any accent in the world, it would be Scottish.
Karen K,
It does sound a bit like topsy turvy, same meaning anyway. The Scottish accent seems to be very popular although of course there are quite a few different varieties. I would describe Hudson’s accent as refined Glaswegian.
Topsail! What an excellent suggestion! I’d never have thought of that in a million years! So logical! I love that word tapsalteerie! Widdershins is another I like!
Evee,
I like widdershins too. We use it quite a lot and when Jack said it in front of an Englishman he said it was used in astronomy but he hadn’t realised that it is a Scottish word.