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Things in Scots: Running the Asset Edition – Wummin

Swatch

It’s the first TiS of May, so I thought I’d ease us in with a nice easy one.

Here’s the snippet… (unedited first draft)

Adam reappeared, holstering his weapon. “It’s all clear.” He scowled at Elle. “What’s wrong now?”

“I can’t imagine. Maybe it’s that ever since you showed up in my life, everything has turned to shit. And now I’m stuck with you in my home.”

“Grab the chair.” He pointed at the antique library chair, completely ignoring her comments.

Elle carried the chair over to him only because she was intrigued to see what he was doing.

He hopped onto the chair, not bothering to transform it into steps, and stuck a tiny box above the door.

“What is that? What are you doing?”

Gies a break, wummin. Since I met you, all you’ve done is bombard me with non-stop questions. Maybe if you’d directed some of that inquisitiveness at your boss, you wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“You’re right. I’d be dead already, and so would Dani.”

Running the Asset (Deniable Unit )

If you didn’t get the meaning for wummin from the snippet, it means woman. I’ve heard that using ‘woman’ in a sentence like the one above comes across as derogatory or sexist in English. In Scots, it’s not usually meant or taken that way. (Though, there are times when it is used exactly that way–the tone is normally the decider.)

That’s it for this week

I hope you enjoyed this post. I’d love to hear your comments on how easy or difficult it was to get the gist of wummin as it appeared in the quote.

Interested in some Scots words from Running the Asset that are a wee bit too hot for the site? (The first spicy snippet is hitting inboxes in the next few weeks!) Sign up for my newsletter and get them straight to your inbox.

If you find yourself inspired by the Scots words I share, add the tag or #ThingsinScots to your writing/art/photo post and drop your link in the comments.

If you want to see more Scots posts, check out the original series, Things in Scots.

Thanks for reading. Take care, and I hope to see you next week for more Scots on Manuscript Mondays!

Author: Susan T. Braithwaite

Royal Navy veteran from Scotland. My journey into writing started with a screenwriting certificate program at UCLA Ext. Since then, I've worked as a freelance content writer, erotica author, proofreader, professional beta reader, and content editor. I'm now working hard on my dream writing career: romantic suspense author. When I'm not writing, I can be found drinking too much coffee, obsessing over yarn, and planning world domination with my husband, jezbraithwaite.blog, and our squirrel army.​

11 thoughts on “Things in Scots: Running the Asset Edition – Wummin

  1. Yep. Got that one straight away. Not a appellation that would be generally well-received south of the border, although possibly in jest or lust!

    1. Thanks for the feedback, Chris! I agree, I don’t think it would be that well received down south, but hopefully in the context of the book readers would pick up on him not meaning it in a misogynistic way. 🤞
      Oh, thank you for another new English word! I’ve never seen appellation before, but it’s a beautiful way of saying name or title 🤩

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