SUSAN TIPPETT BRAITHWAITE

A few months ago, I used the Scots word shoogle in one of the Genre Fiction challenge posts. In that post, I quickly explained that it’s sometimes challenging to go from thinking in Scots (one of Scotland’s three indigenous languages—the others being Scottish English and Gaelic) to putting those thoughts onto the page in English. Well, Scottish English for me.

Since that time, I’ve been making a real effort to up my knowledge of my mither tongue—reading books on its history, grammar, and taking an OpenLearn course on the language. It may sound odd that as an adult, I have to learn how to write in my ain leid, and you’d be right. We were never taught Scots at school. Now, I’m not going to whine about how Scots was actively discouraged by teachers and others in authority. That’s just how it was when I was growing up—fortunately, it’s a bit different now. Instead, I’m going to embrace my growing knowledge and share the occasional post in Scots (with English translation).

I’ve wanted to do this for a couple of months now but was a bit wary because, well, grammar. But, if I wait until I’ve got it all perfect in my head, I’ll never get around to it. As it’s November—St. Andrews Day is on the 30th—I’m going to suck it up, accept that I’ll make mistakes, and just go for it now.

I’m not the only one posting in Scots; check out my wonderful husband’s blog for a wheen o animals and beasties in Scots. Behold the grumphie.

One note: My Scots is a mix of Central and Doric dialects. I was brought up by a Central speaking mother and a Doric speaking father. I also went to school in both regions. Therefore, I mix both dialects in my speech and writings.

Ah aim to post something short in Scots a couple of times a week. Dinna fash, the English translation will be at the end of each post. Thanks for reading. Click through to my first post in Scots.

Hae a guid day!