Scotched !

[Pleater]

I remember teasing someone - when in my persona for the English Civil War reenactors, saying that he was a Scotch-man and he corrected me to the modern 'Scots', by pretending to think that he was telling me he was 'Scous' that is, from Liverpool.

My father's mother, source of much of my 17th century 'sound', was an unschooled woman from the wilds of Derbyshire, used Scotch and Welch, as well as other older forms of speech, shuen, hosen, housen as plurals of shoe, hose and house for instance, and calf pronounced couahf. She was born in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, but was uncannily right, according to better scholars than myself, for over 200 years earlier.

In modern English as I was taught, a person or creature with origins in Scotland is a Scot - or perhaps Scottie, being 'little Scot'. Anything inanimate is Scotch - as in shortbread and distilled alcohol.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Chas]

Taken from the title page of

"The Fifteenth (Scottish) Division
1914 - 1919"

by Lieut.-Colonel J. Stewart, D.S.O.
and John Buchan




The Divisional Sign
The sign of the Fifteenth (Scottish) Division, consisted of the letter "O", the "fifteenth" letter of the alphabet, enclosing a "scotch" (i.e., a wedge for jamming wheels). This sign was the distinguishing mark of the Division throughout the war.

Regards

Chas

[macwilkin]

Taken from the title page of

"The Fifteenth (Scottish) Division
1914 - 1919"

by Lieut.-Colonel J. Stewart, D.S.O.
and John Buchan




The Divisional Sign
The sign of the Fifteenth (Scottish) Division, consisted of the letter "O", the "fifteenth" letter of the alphabet, enclosing a "scotch" (i.e., a wedge for jamming wheels). This sign was the distinguishing mark of the Division throughout the war.

Regards

Chas

Well done, Chas -- I had completely forgotten about the 15th Division's unique formation sign when I read this read this morning.

T.

[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 !

[Bugbear]

I seem to remember a few threads last year about "scotch eggs" or something like that.

So, which term is worse, "scotch eggs," or "celtic eggs?"

I prefer peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...

[Arlen]

You know, I was taught in linguistics that 'Scotch' was a term originally used by Scotsmen in the 1500-1800 sort of time period and that the use of 'Scots' and subsequent issues with the term 'Scotch' came thereafter.
so, really, I don't feel much of an issue with it. It's just an older term that's fallen out of use.

And, to be honest, I'm just thrilled any time someone doesn't assume that I'm Irish.

[McClef]

Archaic usages are not meant to be insulting in themselves but as far as I am aware there are very few usages that are considered appropriate in these modern times:

Scotch Drink (whisky)
Scotch Pancakes
Butterscotch

So food or drink related things and indeed they would look strange to us if they were changed!

I wonder if Edward I was ever called the "Hammer of the Scotch"?

[Sammac]

I just thought it was just a lingustic perversion much like calling tartan fabric plaid.