Scotched !

[NewGuise]

Here's the full historical note from the OED:

Down to the middle of the 16th c. the only form used in southern English was Scottish; but in the dialect of Scotland (and in that of the north of England in the 14th and 15th c.) the form was Scottis (cf. Inglis = English), subsequently contracted to Scots. So far as our quotations show, the contraction of Scottish into Scotch is not recorded before 1570 (in the compound Scotchman), though the colloquial pronunciation which it represents may well be much older; instances of Scotch cap, Scotch jig occur in 1591-99, but the adj. did not become common in literature until the second half of the 17th c. From that time until the 19th c. Scotch has been the prevailing form in England, though Scottish has always been in use as a more formal synonym. In Scotland, the authors who wrote in dialect (down to Ramsay and Fergusson early in the 18th c.) used Scots, while those who anglicized adopted the form Scottish. But before the end of the 18th c. Scotch had been adopted into the northern vernacular; it is used regularly by Burns, and subsequently by Scott; still later, it appears even in official language in the title of the ‘Scotch Education Office’. Since the mid 19th c. there has been in Scotland a growing tendency to discard this form altogether, Scottish, or less frequently Scots, being substituted. At the beginning of the 20th c., while in England Scotch was the ordinary colloquial word, the literary usage prefered Scottish in applications relating to the nation or the country at large or its institutions or characteristics. Thus it was usual to speak of ‘Scottish literature’, ‘Scottish history’, ‘the Scottish character’, ‘a Scottish lawyer’, ‘the Scottish border’. On the other hand, it would have sounded affected to say ‘a Scottish girl’, ‘a Scottish gardener.’ Although ‘the Scottish dialect’ is now the usual designation, it is seldom that Scottish is used as a n. instead of Scotch. Recent usage favours Scots in ‘Scots law’, and it is now almost universal in historical references to money, as ‘a pound Scots’.
In the 20th c. the word Scotch has been falling into disuse in England as well as in Scotland, out of deference to the Scotsman's supposed dislike of it; except for certain fixed collocations, (such as ‘Scotch mist’, ‘Scotch whisky’) Scottish (less frequently Scots) is now the usual adjective, and to designate the inhabitants of Scotland the pl. n. Scots is preferred (see Gowers/Fowler Mod. Eng. Usage (1965)).]

[skauwt]

i may be wrong here but isn't "scotach" the gael way of saying the name Scott?
for example i`d be " Scotach Siosal"
to folk from around the world the scotach almost sounds like scotch

[WClarkB]

Usual response to : "Are you Scotch"
"aye, I have a wee dram of Scotch in me, Glenlivet, actually. But could it be you're asking me whether I am Scots?"

[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