If a person is described as being glaikit, it means that they are stupid or stupid looking.
They generally have a sort of vacant expression on their face.
Nowadays I suppose we would say that “The lights are on but there’s nobody home.”
Scottish words – glaikit
28 August 2010 00:01
Scottish words: crabbit
12 August 2010 00:38
I suppose crabbit is just a Scottish version of the English word “crabbed”, but you never really here people using that word. But crabbit is a favourite descriptive word in Scotland and it just means bad tempered or grumpy.
When I was young it always seemed to be old people who were crabbit, or should I say – people of a certain age – and no I don’t think I’ve quite reached the crabbit stage yet.
“Crabbit auld bugger” is a well known phrase, but sometimes it’s hard to figure out who is the most crabbit between the describer and the described!
Scottish words: wersh
19 July 2010 00:22
You might have noticed in an earlier blogpost that I described some white wine as being wersh.
Wersh means – very sour and at the same time dry. So drinking something which is wersh has the opposite effect from what you would want.
It draws your mouth in and generally makes you screw your face up; not nice. It certainly does nothing for a thirst.
Apparently, some people use the word wersh to mean something which is edible but has no taste. I’ve never heard it used in that way, but it might be a regional difference.
Scottish words – drookit
4 July 2010 23:49
Drookit is what we were today. We visited my sister and it started to rain during the drive back home. It was absolutely torrential, just about the heaviest rain that I have ever seen. It was very windy too so I think we must have been getting the tail end of a hurricane, which happens quite often in this area.
In the 5 second dash from the car into the house we were absolutely soaked, drowned, or as we say in Scotland – drookit.
Bidey-in revisited
30 June 2010 22:55
I had a comment on my Scottish words post, bidey-in, from someone called Mickey. He commented, “a rose by any other name is still the same–whether it is a bidey in or a partner–it still is a relationship without commitment and one that each one uses the other…for whatever purpose –how can one love purely in a relationship that is adulterous?”
Frankly, I was a bit worried about approving the comment in case I was deluged by weird Christian sect messages. However, I do want to say that I know several very committed and close couples who for some reason known to themselves have never thought it necessary to have a piece of official paper to seal their happiness.
Two of our friends have been living together for nearly 40 years and are completely devoted to each other. As it happens, they never had any children. I suppose children might be upset if their parents aren’t married and according to all the research, children are better off in all sorts of ways if the parents are married.
I’m more than a wee bit puzzled as to why Mickey is assuming that couples who are living together are committing adultery though. Surely one of the bidey-ins has to be married for that to be the case.
Nowadays most people who are living together have never been married to anyone before, so adultery just isn’t an issue at all.
I say, live and let live, as long as no-one is being hurt by the situation, surely it shouldn’t be a problem.
Ya Dancer (well, nearly)
13 June 2010 00:00
England versus U.S.A. in the World Cup ended up being a 1 each draw (or tie as they say in the US.) As the U.S.A. were the underdogs I was supporting them and really hoping that they could pull off a win, but I suppose it could have been worse.
I didn’t watch the match as I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand it, for all sorts of reasons, but my husband said that it took only 8 seconds for the commentators to mention the 1966 World Cup.
I had really been hoping to be able to title this post:
YA DANCER! – that lovely Scottish shout of joy, but it wasn’t to be.
Scottish words – boak
30 May 2010 09:20
Boak is a word which rhymes with poke and was used a few times in the Kate Atkinson book Not the End of the World, which I reviewed yesterday.
It is a verb meaning to be sick, as in vomit. So it isn’t very pleasant but is used often, for instance:-
I drank so much Irn Bru (insert your own choice of poison) that I boaked.
He scunnered me that much, I boaked all over him.
Wid that no’ gie you the dry boak.
The last phrase is generally used to signify that something absolutely disgusts you.
The dry boak is what happens when you just retch and nothing comes up because your stomach has been emptied.
So, boak is a useful but not exactly charming word.
I hope I haven’t given you the boak at the thought of it, or even the dry boak.
Scottish words: shouglie
1 May 2010 16:47
Shouglie means shaky, unsteady, something that feels a bit precarious and likely not to stand up to much weight, if you’re talking about a shelf for instance. This word is usually pronounced shoogilly.
A phrase that is often heard is, “Your coat is on a shouglie hook,” something that a bidey- in might say to their other half, – meaning if you don’t mend your ways and start behaving yourself, you will be getting thrown out, you’ll have to find another billet.
Gordon Brown’s coat in 10 Downing Street seems to be on a very shouglie hook. Unless miracles do happen he will definitely be looking for another London home on Friday.
Scots words – stramash
24 April 2010 10:49
A stramash is a disturbance, an uproar, commotion, a bit of a row or fight. It is more serious than a stooshie and generally more bad tempered.
The great football commentator Arthur Montford was well known for using the phrase “What a stramash,” – whenever there was a bit of a rumpus around the goal-mouth.
Scottish words: It’s a sair fecht
19 April 2010 14:09
A straight translation of “It’s a sair fecht” is – “It’s a sore fight.”
When people use this phrase they mean – “It’s a hard life.”
People usually say it when they are just a bit fed up with things, not seriously despondent or depressed.
As we are now coming to the end of the Easter holidays it’s a fair bet that my husband will be saying – it’s a sair fecht – sometime soon, at the thought of going back to teaching on Monday.