Elizabeth Queen of Scots

[Peter Crowe]

Thank You Trefor,

I don't wish to stray so far off-topic but.....

To be honest, I can't remember where I first read or heard the term Wee Eck, which I have seen used by several journalists and commentators on Scottish politics since at least 2007 when Mr. Salmond became First Minister. Eck is sometimes used as a diminutive of both the name Alexander (my own son's name) and less commonly Eric in Scots and/or Scottish Standard English. It struck me as a typically Scottish way of poking gentle fun at the man's rise to high office and I took it in the same spirit as the commonly heard "I kent his faither" said of someone who has become successful just to ground them, nothing more, nothing less.

However, using such a term is not/was not a smear or a politically partisan statement. I am very conscious that this is not the forum for that, and I try when discussing Scotland's history, culture, and contemporary society (which are subjects I happen to know just a little about, having studied them at University level and lived there until 2003) to leave my political opinions out. As I have been out of the country for a few years I merely asked a question and referenced the FM as I have described, not for one minute suspecting that anyone would read anything more into it than I intended.