The Guardian reported on some new words which have been added into the Oxford English dictionary recently and quite a few of them are Scottish. You can read the article here.
Apparently members of the public were asked to send in words to the OED that they thought deserved to be included in the new edition. I knew nothing about this but luckily some of my favourite Scots words now appear – such as fantoosh, bidie-in and sitooterie.
I’m happy that Scots words are being taken up by people living elsewhere, it’s far better than them dying out which was a possibility back in the days when children used to be told off by teachers for using Scots words and phrases.
Those are definitely new words for me, but I’m so glad that more of your Scottish words are being included. What an incredible and interesting language we share. One of my daughters who is a student of language and literature reminds me sometimes of the living nature of languages.
Paula,
I find language fascinating and I really like that we often have foreign language series and films which are subtitled as I can hear so many links with English and particularly Scots in them.
These words are probably suggested by my generation, born in the fifties who learned them from our parents. They will ultimately die out regardless of how coothie they may feel to us.
While my children may understand the words my wife and I used in the playground (but never the classroom), they rarely, if ever use them in any context.
As a minor aside, what scunners me is modern authors or their editors using Americanisms to sell to our US friends in the belief that the latter are incapable of looking up strange words. I have seen UK authors refer to trailers, trunks, sidewalks et. al. Will two generations down the line not know what a caravan, boot or pavement is?
H,
I’m not as pessimistic as you. Signs for a sitooterie are often seen in Edinburgh cafes and restaurants and my sons still use Scots words.
I know exactly what you mean about Americanisms. So many American readers enjoy the differences in British based writing so it seems daft to change them into American. My husband is particularly incensed that the British Chemical Society has changed the spelling of sulphur to the American sulfur.