#scots

Assoc for Scottish Literature @scotlit@mastodon.scot

My latest #Scottish word weekly #illustration showing a typical #Scots seaside scene minus the rain. More and more I find Pratchett influences in what I draw.

Seashore scene, seen from the edge of the dunes looking out to sea where a wizard, with a huge ear trumpet to his ear, lies prone alongside a colleague taking notes amongst the dune grasses. The trumpet is pointed at a witch on a broomstick talking to a crescent moon, with a face, just above the horizon.

In English: "That witch won't care that it's just your old hearing aid.

If we're caught she'll go just as hard on us for using that as she would if we'd used devilish spying contraptions.

Anyway I think we should run, I think that crab's semaphoring to the cat."

**Assoc for Scottish Literature** @scotlit@mastodon.scot · Mar 27

Mar 27

I wad ha’e gi’en him my lips tae kiss,
Had I been his, had I been his…

—Marion Angus, “Mary’s Song”
published in THE TINKER’S ROAD & Other Verses (1924)

Marion Angus (1865–1946) was born #OTD, 27 March

“She has an authentic voice straight out of the ballad tradition, an eerie shimmer to her best poems”
—Kathleen Jamie

Mary’s Song
Marion Angus

I wad ha’e gi’en him my lips tae kiss,
Had I been his, had I been his;
Barley breid and elder wine,
Had I been his as he is mine.

The wanderin’ bee it seeks the rose;
Tae the lochan’s bosom the burnie goes;
The grey bird cries at evenin’s fa’,
“My luve, my fair one, come awa’.”

My beloved sall ha’e this he’rt tae break,
Reid, reid wine and the barley cake,
A he’rt tae break, and a mou’ tae kiss,
Tho’ he be nae mine, as I am his.

#Scottish #literature #poem

**Dianora (Diane Bruce)** @Dianora@ottawa.place · Mar 22

Mar 22

Dianora (Diane Bruce) @Dianora@ottawa.place

https://www.scotslanguage.com/pages/view/id/10

Absolutely fascinating stuff!

www.scotslanguage.comScotslanguage.com - DialectsScots is the collective name for Scottishdialects known also as Doric, Lallans and Scotch or by more local names such as Buchan, Dundonian, Glesca or Shetland.There are four main dialect regionssub divided into 10 sub dialects;Insular (Orkney & Shetland)Northern (Caithness, North East, …

#Linguistics #Scots

**Stooryduster** @stooryduster@mastodon.scot · Mar 16

Mar 16

My latest #Scottish word a week #illustration gam. Cleaning the teeth of Kong's bairns, Not on the list of Ellon's workers' decimation.
#Scots #language #art #cartoon #ape #IllustrationArt

Two men with a trolley holding a giant tube of toothpaste on top of a huge wall are cleaning the teeth of an ape the size of King Kong. While below another manicures its nails.

In Scots: "Cleanin the gams o Kong's Bairns aw day every day.

Is this really the best job on this island you could've got us?

An what happened tae the previous folk on the job?"

In English: "Cleaning the ungainly teeth of Kong's offspring all day every day.

Is this really the best job on the island you could have got us?

And what happened to the previous people on this job?"

**Stooryduster** @stooryduster@mastodon.scot · Mar 13

Mar 13

Scottish Lass @scottishlass@mastodon.scot

My latest #Scottish word weekly #illustration. Sometimes I lift a #drawing out of my pad of #doodles and find a word to fit. My subconscious supplies the #image for any #doodle so don't ask me the meaning or the reason for any of them. They just come in quiet moments. #Scots #language

A naked man in a cyclists crash helmet is sitting on a flying device that looks just like a giant paper aeroplane and which is driven by a rear propeller. It is flying above a desert dotted with cactus. Below three foreshortened individuals can be seen discussing the event.

In Scots: "He's no feart but dinni ask me as tae why he's nakit. Ah dinni ken, ah've nivir asked, 'n nivir will, an he kens it's cactus country as far as the ee can see.

As tae control. Fur tae effeck up an doon flicht he slidders back an fore on his wee seat an tae effeck a turn he pou's up the wing or putts it doon."

In English: "He has no fear but do not ask me as to why he's naked. I don't know, I've never asked, never will, and he knows it's cactus country as far as the eye can see.

As to control. To effect up and down flight he slips back and forwards on his little seat and to effect a turn he pulls up the wing or pushes it gently down."

**Scottish Lass** @scottishlass@mastodon.scot · Mar 7

Mar 7

Scots word I think should make a comeback....blunk.

BLUNK, Blink, v. Also blonk. “To spoil a thing, to mismanage any business”

https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/blunk_v

dsl.ac.ukDictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: blunk v

#Scots #Blunk

**Steven Lawson Photography** @stevenlawson@photog.social · Mar 6

Mar 6

Steven Lawson Photography @stevenlawson@photog.social

A Plea for Help.

Do we have any #Scots #Gaelic speakers on Mastodon?
I need some help with the title of photography project I am working on and so far a search online has not been very helpful.
If you are able to help then please contact me directly. Thanks in advance

**Charles Harper** @ChaHarper@mastodon.scot · Feb 26

Feb 26

Charles Harper @ChaHarper@mastodon.scot

Here’s the link to the whole poem in my last post:

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/heres-weather/

I realise most of the words will be unknown to most of you. Scots is a separate language from English and the sound of them highlights our wide range of weather and weather related words. I hope you can enjoy the poem anyway…

Scottish Poetry LibraryHere's the WeatherFae stooshie tae fankle tae bouroch tae dreck / we're steeped in the downpour of dialect. / ...

#scots #weather #words

Continued thread

**Assoc for Scottish Literature** @scotlit@mastodon.scot · Feb 22

Feb 22

Assoc for Scottish Literature @scotlit@mastodon.scot

A video of William Neill from “Poets of the South-West”, created for Dumfries & Galloway Education Department in the 1980s & available online via Hugh McMillan. Neill reads some of his poetry & discusses his use of Gaelic & Scots

3/3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opff3zwIAek

YouTubeWillie NeillBy hugh mcmillan

#Scottish #literature #poetry

Continued thread

**Assoc for Scottish Literature** @scotlit@mastodon.scot · Feb 22

Feb 22

Assoc for Scottish Literature @scotlit@mastodon.scot

Yirdins are no for me, I was never ane
tae wear a tile hat and a claw-hemmer coat;
I was never ane
tae staund aboot a cauld and clartie grave
wi een like a wannert stot…

—William Neill, “A Lament for Alba Moroon”

2/3

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/volumes/a-kist-o-skinlan-things/

William Neill
A Lament for Alba Moroon

Yirdins are no for me, I was never ane
tae wear a tile hat and a claw-hemmer coat;
I was never ane
tae staund aboot a cauld and clartie grave
wi een like a wannert stot.
For I canna equate a timmer kist like the lave
wi ane that was dear tae me.

I canna staund greetin and girnin.

But I wad gang tae the yirdin o Alba Moroon
wad thole the souchin o hypocrites and the blether o fules;
the kistit deid ablo, and the ee-dichtin-corbies abune;
begrutten, gey fashed with the loss but dreamin o wills …
for the muckle warld’s aye birlin.

She maun be an auld wumman nou.

Och, I canna mind hou auld, but auld and dear tae the herts
O her last wooers … lang deid the jo’s o her youth.
There’s juist us few; the rest hae skailt tae foreign pairts.
There’s juist us few that can see wi the een o truth …
nou, when we’re greetin fou.

O she was thrawn, thrawn.

Mony the gentry that cam a coortin she wadna hae;
gentry frae ither airts, no her kind at aa …
she wasna ane tae be woo’t wi siller, prood ye micht say
in her young days; she gaed doun a wee when her hair was touched wi snaw.

But no in the days o her youth, afore she was mairrit.

#Scottish #literature #poem

**Assoc for Scottish Literature** @scotlit@mastodon.scot · Feb 22

Feb 22

Assoc for Scottish Literature @scotlit@mastodon.scot

Escape to the tailored suit,
the pan-loaf speech,
the benefits of higher education…

—“Kailyard and After”, by William Neill (1922–2010) – born #OTD, 22 Feb. He was a prolific poet in all three of Scotland’s languages & an active campaigner for #Scots & #Gaelic in education. A

1/3

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/volumes/a-kist-o-skinlan-things/

William Neill
Kailyard and After

When I wes wee I hud tae dae ma share
mulkan the kye wi the weemin in the byre;
I mind hou I wad scoosh lang streeman jaups
that loupit in the luggie makkin froth
rise oot frae yon rich deeps.

The douce kye skelpit roon thaim wi their tails
tae dicht the flees aff; whiles they’d cotch yir lug
a fair bit ding: ye’d sweir ablo yir braith.
An whiles the wilder yins wad try tae pit
their fit intil the luggie an caa ye oot
on tae the settles, luggie, stuil an aa …
an gin ye didna sett in ticht eneuch
there ye wad be, rubbin a sair hainch
a loch o mulk aboot ye in the grup,
the auld dug barkan an the weemin lauchan
tae see yir breeks aa smoort wi mulk an sharn.
Man, whit a contrast tae ma life-style nou …
nae dungarees, nae luggie and nae kye.

Escape to the tailored suit,
the pan-loaf speech,
the benefits of higher education,
the dull rewards of strict conformity.

O what a fall was there, my countrymen.

#Scottish #literature #poem

**Stooryduster** @stooryduster@mastodon.scot · Feb 21

Feb 21

Fedi.Garden @FediGarden@social.growyourown.services

My one a week #Scottish word #illustration - having your very own personal #extinctionrebellion protester - joy.

I hate how they and their superglue tactic for the #environment got up to 6yrs jail time and yet none of the farmers and their tractors against tax change even got arrested for the same road blocking stunt.
#Scots #cartoon #language #planet

Man in kilt waiting holding a poop bag as his dog on a lead strains to do its business. He is shouting at his daughter who looks grim and is sullenly holding a loudhailer and a placard saying there is no planet B.

In Scots: "Stop threapin at me aw the time, there's only so much ah can dae for the planet aw at once.

So no anither teet frae ye til I'm done or yer no comin on oor dog walk again.

Mind, ah DO tak yer point that no fightin Fascism spells certain doom fur the environment."

In English: "Stop protest at me all the time, there's only so much I can do for the planet all at once.

So not another cheep from you until I'm finished or you are not coming on our dog walk again.

In consideration though, I DO take your point that not fighting Fascism spells certain doom for the environment."

**Fedi.Garden** @FediGarden@social.growyourown.services · Feb 15 *

Feb 15 *

Mastodon.scot is a Mastodon server mainly intended for people in Scotland or those who identify as Scottish:

https://mastodon.scot

You can find out more at https://mastodon.scot/about or contact the admin @trumpet

Mastodon hosted on mastodon.scotmastodon.scotA server intended for (but not limited to) users in Scotland or who identify as Scottish.

#FeaturedServer #Scotland #Scottish

Continued thread

**Assoc for Scottish Literature** @scotlit@mastodon.scot · Feb 13

Assoc for Scottish Literature @scotlit@mastodon.scot

The International Companion to Lewis Grassic Gibbon
ed. Scott Lyall

The best contemporary guide to Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s/James Leslie Mitchell’s literature, politics, life, & work – available in print or online via Project MUSE

9/9

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/companions/ic1/

Book cover:

The International Companion to Lewis Grassic Gibbon

Edited by Scott Lyall

The cover image shows a linocut print of an older man and a young woman, standing on a ploughed field. A line of First World War soldiers, blinded by a gas attack, are silhouetted on the horizon behind them.

Continued thread

**Assoc for Scottish Literature** @scotlit@mastodon.scot · Feb 13

Assoc for Scottish Literature @scotlit@mastodon.scot

Prof Scott Lyall discusses SUNSET SONG – a talk given at our Schools Conference in 2015

8/9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84NMdO47oy4&list=PLEP9HxY4X7WYcu-9sTwjGIqkJDYOImwgK

YouTubeLewis Grassic Gibbon’s Sunset SongBy ASL

Continued thread

**Assoc for Scottish Literature** @scotlit@mastodon.scot · Feb 13

Assoc for Scottish Literature @scotlit@mastodon.scot

SUNSET SONG

Currently on the iPlayer: the digitally restored 1971 BBC adaptation of the first part of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s SCOTS QUAIR trilogy about a young girl’s intellectual & sexual development in rural north-east Scotland just before WW1

7/9

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m001bm9l/sunset-song

BBC iPlayerSunset SongThe first part of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Scots Quair trilogy about a young girl's intellectual and sexual development within a repressive peasant community in Scotland just before the First World War.

Assoc for Scottish Literature @scotlit@mastodon.scot

Continued thread

**Assoc for Scottish Literature** @scotlit@mastodon.scot · Feb 13 *

Feb 13 *

Why Everybody Needs Smeddum

“The heroine, Meg Menzies, is Gibbon’s answer to Austen’s Mrs Bennet. In fact, she works as a kind of anti-Mrs Bennet.”

—Graeme Trousdale on Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s classic short story “Smeddum”

6/9

https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2007/05/why-everybody-needs-smeddum/

Book cover:

SMEDDUM
A Lewis Grassic Gibbon Anthology

The cover image is a black-and-white photo of the author, a young man, seated and reading a book

Continued thread

**Assoc for Scottish Literature** @scotlit@mastodon.scot · Feb 13

Assoc for Scottish Literature @scotlit@mastodon.scot

“Not only did he invent a sentence structure that works like breath through the body of the reader, and a kind of Scottish English that’s simultaneously rich and spare, but [A SCOTS QUAIR is] a formally stunning and cunning work of art”

—Ali Smith in 2019, on James Leslie Mitchell / Lewis Grassic Gibbon

3/9

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/29/ali-smith-books-that-made-me

The Guardian · Jun 29, 2019Ali Smith: ‘Toni Morrison’s writing changes my life every time I read it’By Ali Smith