Things in Scots #13: Cleuk

Welcome to day thirteen of Things in Scots!—a fun collaboration with my husband, Jez (Mind an gie Jez’s post a keek.)

Jez and I were lucky enough to have yesterday off. So, after we posted to our blogs and did our civic duty by voting in the UK General Election, we vegged in front of the TV watching funny videos on YouTube.

As you’d expect, there were a lot of animal videos–the cat ones inspired this post.

Today’s Things in Scots is: Cleuk.

Cleuk (also spelled cleuck, cluick, and clook) means a claw, a hand, in the grip of or clutches. It also means scratching, claws digging in, to seize roughly.

Here’s an example of cleuk in use while talking to a kitten:

Ooyah! Ya cleuky wee beastie.

It’s tricky to come up with a snappy, direct Inglis translation, but here goes: Ouch! You claw-y little animal.

If you want to ken the Scots for anything, just ask in the comments section.

Thenks fur stoapin by, and hae a wunnerfu day.

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3 responses to “Things in Scots #13: Cleuk

  1. […] and welcome to December’s project: Things in Scots. This month I am collaborating with my wife, Susan (? follow this link to see and hear her post), and we’ll be posting mostly daily — […]

  2. Chris Hall Avatar

    That’s a new one! I love the vocal version… just needs the sound of the rasping claws 😉 My cat would be most happy to supply.

    1. Susan T. Braithwaite Avatar

      We haven’t had cats for about 15 year and I can still remember the sound–and the pain. ?

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