test

[Nick]

I got a good grounding in the Doric when I first met SWMBO. Her Dad used to sing all the bothy ballads, including this one - do you know all the words in it?

A Pair o' Nicky Tams

Fan I was only ten year auld, I left the pairish schweel.
My faither he fee'd me tae the Mains tae chaw his milk and meal.
I first pit on my narrow breeks tae hap my spinnel trams,
Syne buckled roon my knappin' knees, a pair o' Nicky Tams.
It's first I gaed for baillie loon and syne I gaed on for third,
An' syne, of course, I had tae get the horseman's grippin' wird,
A loaf o' breed tae be my piece, a bottle for drinkin' drams,
Bit ye canna gyang thro' the caffhouse door without yer Nicky Tams.

The fairmer I am wi' eynoo he's wealthy, bit he's mean,
Though corn's cheap, his horse is thin, his harness fairly deen.
He gars us load oor cairts owre fou, his conscience has nae qualms,
Bit fan briest-straps brak there's naething like a pair o' Nicky Tams.

I'm coortin' Bonnie Annie noo, Rob Tamson's kitchie deem,
She is five-and-forty an' I am siventeen,
She clorts a muckle piece tae me, wi' different kinds o'jam,
An' tells me ilka nicht that she admires my Nicky Tams.

I startit oot, ae Sunday, tae the kirkie for tae gyang,
My collar it wis unco ticht, my breeks were nane owre lang.
I had my Bible in my pooch, likewise my Book o' Psalms,
Fan Annie roared, 'Ye muckle gype, tak' af yer Nicky Tams!'

Though unco sweir, I took them aff, the lassie for tae please,
But aye my breeks they lirkit up, a' roon aboot my knees.
A wasp gaed crawlin' up my leg, in the middle o' the Psalms,
So niver again will I enter the kirk without my Nicky Tams.

I've often thocht I'd like tae be a bobby on the Force,
Or maybe I'll get on the cars, tae drive a pair o' horse.
Bit fativer it's my lot tae be, the bobbies or the trams,
I'll ne'er forget the happy days I wore my Nicky Tams.

[jim.r]

I could be wrang, but I suspect a lot of scots words have their origins in Dutch. There was a lot of integration and cooperation between Holland and Scotland, indeed much of Scots Lawi based on the Dutch civil Law with Stair et al being educated in Leyden

[puddock]

A lot of the Scots words do indeed originate from the Dutch language. Also from Norway etc ( Broon Coo (Norwegian) for example means ......... Brown Cow

[DaveS]

7 out of 10 and Yorkshire is my first language. There's some Ulster-Scots in these parts and so picked up some. But then, who knows what this is (clue: job title): Eeksie Peeksie Hei Headyin?

Would these be counting words as used by a shepherd?

[Telo]

Something from everybody I suppose. Some also from France eg ashet, a serving plate. Also I'd guess the origin of faucet, a tap, is French as well.

Bits of French influenced Latin in Gaelic too, eg eaglais for church.

[DaveS]

A lot of the Scots words do indeed originate from the Dutch language. Also from Norway etc ( Broon Coo (Norwegian) for example means ......... Brown Cow

Friends of ours spent a few years in France, which had the great advantage that both kids became fluent French speakers. One day in class the teacher asked the younger one, then about 8, to sing a song from Scotland. She duly obliged with:

The big broon coo went * against the wa,
* against the wa,
* against the wa.
The big broon coo went * against the wa,
And ye couldna see the wa fur *, *, *!


This became a class favourite because it works in French too:

La grande veche brun...

(*, I should perhaps explain, is a sound effect rather than a word...)

[philiph]

OK "Eeeksie Peeksie Hei Headyin" as appeared on a job advertisement in the Belfast Telegraph is .................

an Equal Opportunities Manager.

Advertised by the Child Support Agency.

[moresteamcphail]

10 oot o' 10 but they spelt "tottie" wrang.

[claymore]

Asm I suppose you would expect, there are plenty of Danish words that seem to have contributed to the Scots language - and English - e.g. Parkering
Means parking

altogether different from the Welsh of course, Parcio

aye, well........

[sam]

Here's a test for you all to do on the Scots language. I got 9/10.

http://www.scotland.org/celebrate-scotl ... uage-quiz/

[Nick]

.
This has got to be a whole different class of LakeSailoring, where the original post is repeated three pages into the thread by someone else

[sam]

Opps sorry. That's what happens when you only read the last page!

[Telo]

I got 9/10.

http://www.scotland.org/celebrate-scotl ... uage-quiz/

Very good. I got;

You scored
10 oot o’ 10

How you rate:
1–3 In the name of the wee man! Ye dunderheid!
4–7 Aye, nae bad!
8–10 That wis braw! Ye ken yer neaps frae yer tatties!

But then, I had the advantage of being born in Glasgow and partly brought up in Ayrshire.

[claymore]

You scored

9 oot o’ 10


How you rate:

1–3 In the name of the wee man! Ye dunderheid!
4–7 Aye, nae bad!
8–10 That wis braw! Ye ken yer neaps frae yer tatties!

I would beg to suggest that Mingin is hardly a traditional scottish word
- that wisnae the wan ah got wrang, bye the way

[ParaHandy]

You scored

och aye ... nae doobt ... !

i got jalouse right which is better than most ....

yer tub's landed at cochin .. youse got a bonus placing fer some reason