Tigh an Truish - House of the Trousers

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

... with cocking a snook at the Law ...

Great pictures, and I will have to remember the above local comment for my trip. I have no idea what it means, but it would be very fun to say in conversation!

[mrpharr]

Great photos. my favorite is the fourth picture with the kegs piled up in the back of the pub...
steve

[McClef]

Great pictures, and I will have to remember the above local comment for my trip. I have no idea what it means, but it would be very fun to say in conversation!

I found one explanation through a google search:

"The truth is, we have no idea at all where this phrase comes from. The gesture of derision it encapsulates is that of putting one’s thumb to one’s nose and extending the fingers. Waggling them is optional but greatly improves the effectiveness of the insult. The gesture is widespread but names for it vary: cocking a snook is mainly the British name for what Americans, I think, sometimes describe as a five-fingered salute. Heaven knows what the notably blunt Australians call it.

Cock here is a verb with the sense of sticking something out stiffly in an attitude of defiance, as the cockerel’s neck, crest or tail is erect when he crows. So we have expressions like to cock the nose, to turn one’s nose up in contempt or indifference. A cocked hat is one whose brim has been turned up; a cocked gun is one whose hammer has been raised, ready for firing. And so on.

So far so good. But snook is not so easily explainable, since the word turns up only in this phrase. There’s an example known from 1791, but the phrase doesn’t become widely recorded until the last years of the nineteenth century. There is some suggestion that it is a variant form of snout, which would make sense.

Because snook isn’t known now, folk etymology often turns the phrase in cock a snoot, since snoot is known as a slang name for the nose. (It’s another variant of snout.)"

So it means something defiant as it would be to wear a kilt during the proscription of highland dress.

So now you know

[cessna152towser]

Mmmmmmm, Oban! Did you go by the distillery?

Yes the bus passes the Oban distillery.
The kegs in the fourth picture down are piled up outside the brewery on Seil Island.
I also passed the Dalwhinnie distillery but breweries and distilleries are no longer on my list of places to visit as I gave up drinking alcohol a couple of years ago; yes it is good for you in moderation but I've already drank more than my lifetime ration of whisky and wine in the course of my earlier excesses.

[Ialtog]

This was all very interesting. I'd never heard of a "kilt sanctuary" before. I especially liked the sign where the buses parked: "Polite Notice". That is just so cool.