Scotched !

[Bugbear]

there is an extremely hot chili pepper called the "Scotch Bonnet." It's closely related to the habanero pepper.

I've tried to track down exactly why it is called this, but I'm still not sure.

I suppose it might look like a wrinkly, beat -up green bonnet...

[Pleater]

That is it exactly, the pepper looks like a Scotch bonnet.

When it is fully grown and without any twists or damage then it is rather smoother than when young, though the ribs still show slightly, just like the lines of decreases in a knitted bonnet will do if it is not 'dressed', when they get stretched out.

I just checked in my 4th edition (1947) of the Pocket Oxford, and there Scotch is used for people too - though it points out that Scots is used more in Scotland, and Scottish is used in dignified situations.

If someone was educated - for instance - in the South of England in the 1950s or 60s I suspect that getting upset over the use of Scotch for a Scottish person would cause some surprise - it is so recent an alteration in usage that some folks will simply not have noticed, or think it of little consequence until someone gets rattled by it.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Bugbear]

Thanks, Pleater.

[O'Callaghan]

My Uncle Archie from Glasgow (really a cousin) always objected to being called Scotch rather than Scottish, and did indeed tell people that "Scotch is a drink". He explained in detail that Scotch only refers to inanimate objects.

I don't think anyone has called me 'Scotch' for wearing a kilt, but certainly Scottish, which I'm not. It's amusing to hear that someone who is a Scot gets called Irish, which no-one around here calls me, even though I am of Irish descent.

Americans not only refer to Ulster Scots as Scotch-Irish, but they seem to think they are just a mixture of Scottish and Irish, which of course is not exactly right.

[McClef]

There is a place in the North East of England on the A1 called Scotch Corner.

[Hamish]

........... and London is peppered with 'Scotch Steak House' restaurants!

Take care,
Ham.

[SteveB]

Many years ago, in Suffolk, I did frequent an establishment named : "Scotch and Hound". It was a pub and sold very nice single malt from North of the Border.

Slainte

[WClarkB]

I've been called Scotch but wasn't prepared when someone asked if I was Swedish!

We live in a time when the world has gotten smaller.....
and people are more lost than ever!

[KiltedCapt]

I think I would prefer "Swedish" to what I was asked the other week in down town Little Rock at a Christmas party, when a guest picked up on my accent...

"Wow, you're a long way from home aren't you...you are Russian, right?"

Russian????? That's a new one to the list...usually it's "Are you Irish or Scottish?" and maybe the odd "Are you Scotch?" thrown in...but Russian?!?!?!

[Lachlan09]

When I was a kid living in Musselburgh (near Edinburgh), Scotland, a woman asked me if I was Irish, because my name is Lachlan. Unbelievabubble !

Lachlan isn't a well-known name in the South East of Scotland, though in the West (eg Glasgow) and the Highlands it's pretty common.

It seems pretty well known in Australia though !