Category: Scots

Today’s word is birl. Birl means to spin, whirl, dance, whirring or rattling noise; to move fast, bustling. You may remember seeing the word birl before in earlier entries: Dreich and Stramash.

Just a wee aside: A well-meaning person had informed me that I was incorrect in how I spelt the word fuck in Scots. He told me it was feck (I think this might be Irish), but that never sat well with me as it’s not how I say it. I say and spell it with a hard K (fuk). Anyway, I decided to look up the way I say it and think it’s spelt, and guess what? On Dictionaries of the Scots Language’s site, feck means something entirely different. And the site also confirmed that my spelling (fuk) was correct. So, from now on, I’m going with what my gut always told me. I thought I’d share that as I use fuck a lot, a lot, a lot, in my writing, and I don’t want to cause any confusion.

And on to the response to the prompt (taken from Running The Asset):

Trevor birlt bak tae Haas, wha’d gilravaged a hail server o caviar i less nor twa meenits, an wis noo stertin in the partan. Trevor nairrad heez een it the mannie ower heez gless. “They’re stull screengin the causey claen o the harins o the laist bodie wha ettled tae fuk iz ower.”

Haas choakit oan the partan he hid stappit I heez mou.

And now in English.

Trevor turned back to Haas, who’d devoured an entire salver of caviar in less than two minutes, and was now starting on the crab. Trevor narrowed his eyes at the man over his glass. “They’re still scrubbing the street clean of the brains of the last person who tried to fuck me over.”

Haas choked on the crab claw he’d stuffed in his mouth.

Today’s word is stour. Stour, as a noun, is a layer of dust or any fine powder; it’s also a fuss, disturbance, strife, conflict. As a verb, it means to run, rush, swirl, rise up in a cloud. And, for weather, it means storm, tempest, wild, blizzard, snowstorm. We have a ton of words in Scots for the weather, which is fantastic if you’re a meteorological geek like Jez and me)

Here’s another quick wee response to the prompt (taken from Running The Asset):

Elle apent hir een, the smeekie-blae deepths cleekin wi Adam’s. He hud ainly ivver seen at colour it sea, richt afore a deidlie stour. An hit ainly mint ane thing, tribble.

And now in English.

Elle opened her eyes, the smokey-blue depths locking with Adam’s. He had only ever seen that colour at sea, right before a deadly storm. And it meant only one thing, trouble.

I can’t resist adding what jumps into my head whenever I say or hear the word stour–or see actual stour, which we’ll pretend I don’t see too often. 😉

Today’s word is gype. As a verb, gype means to stare foolishly or open-mouthed, to play the fool, to make a fool of. As a noun, it means foolish, an awkward person.

Here’s a quick wee response to the prompt (another wee snippet taken from Running The Asset):

A thoosan een wechtit doon in Elle’s shouders. Okay, at wis a whid, thir wir ainly sax in richt than. The een belanged tae Ward, the gype wi the sniper rifle she wis truistin tae relieve hir gin hit aa wint tae shite. Hir traicherous maister, Trevor. An Dekker, the hairtless ersehole wha hid harlt hir intae is hail nicht-mare.

And now in English.

A thousand eyes weighed down on Elle’s shoulders. Okay, that was an exaggeration, there were only six eyes on her right then. The eyes belonged Ward, to the awkward guy with the sniper rifle she was trusting would save her if it all went to shit. Her trecherous boss, Trevor. And Dekker, the heartless arsehole who had dragged her into this whole nightmare.

Sorry for going AWOL on Scotstober yesterday. I was having a wee bit of a bad day CRPS wise and just need to have a rest after getting my work on the manuscript done.

But, I managed to do a post today that covered both words!

Today’s words are lowp and grue. Lowp means leap, jump; spring to attention; a long springing step; throb; and a place to cross a river. Grue as a verb means to feel horror, terror, or to shudder; to run cold with fear; to shiver from cold, to make a grimace of horror or disgust. It also means melting snow and ice found on rivers in early spring.

Here’s my response to the prompts (another wee snippet taken from Running The Asset):

Melts o flams proggit fae the chaumer door-cheek, slaikin it the ruif abuin Adam’s heid. Spreedin fest. Panatick cleukit it heez thrapple.

He benseld oot a sair braith. Is wisnae heez nicht-mare; is wis rael. He wisnae the ane gruein, alane in the bleeze wi a corp. Elle wis. An gin he hid ony howp o makin hir help him, he hid tae muve. Noo.

He shueit in heez feet i a hauf forkin lik he wis a wean gittin olite fur heez go i a gem o Tommy Had a Gun. Three. Twa. Ane. Adam lowpt throu the flams an amaistd drappit fae the haet. Militar lowe upbring wi fearnought suits wur ane thing, bit a hailly unalik in civvies.

And now in English.

Tongues of flame poked from the bedroom doorway, licking at the ceiling above Adam’s head. Spreading fast. Panic clawed at his throat.

He forced out a harsh breath. This wasn’t his nightmare; it was real. He wasn’t the one trembling in fear, alone in the blaze with a corpse. Elle Maguire was. And if he had any hope of making her an asset, he had to move. Now.

Adam rocked on his feet in a half crouch like he was a kid getting ready for his turn in a game of Tommy had a gun. Three. Two. One. He leapt through the flames and almost dropped from the heat. Military fire training drills with fearnought suits were one thing, but a completely different thing in civvies.

Today’s word is stookie.

Stookie generally refers to plaster of Paris. In Scots, it means a plaster cast for broken bones. In the non-medical world, it means statues made of plaster, but I’ve heard it to mean pretty much all statues.

Sticking with the statues definition, this leads into descriptors of people standing stock still–think deer in the headlights. Stookie can also apply to anyone who’s a wee bit slow on the uptake. And, it’s also a game played by kids where they have to stand still like statues and the first to move is out. (I remember playing the game, and, honestly, it was way more fun than it sounds.)

The last version isn’t in any of the Scots dictionaries, I looked, and it’s not in them. This is more of a regional definition, specifically Glasgow. Stookie meaning headbutt. Growing up, I’d hear the phrase, “I’m goan tae stick the stookie oan him.” (I’m going to headbutt him.)

Here a cupple stookies it Glesga Botanic Gairdens
(Here’s a couple of statues at Glasgow Botanic Gardens)

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It’s a picture post for today and probably tomorrow, but I’ll be back with some screivin (writing) on Friday.

Today’s word is dour. I use dour on a fairly regular basis. Not only is it a great descriptor of the weather, or someone’s mood, it’s also a great insult (I’ll share that after the definition 😉). Dour means humourless, sullen; stern, severe; slow, reluctant; for weather, it means bleak, gloomy; and of the land, it means barren.

The insult comes in many forms, one of which can be: She’s a dour-faced wee shite. I don’t think I need to translate that. 😂

Today’s word is stramash, and it’s a beauty! Stramash uproar, commotion; crash, accident, argument, rage, fury, shatter (and so many more words, if you’d like to check them out yourself, head on over to https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/stramash.

A Wee Explainer Before Diving In

When translating Scots into English, I’ve found—especially in this piece—that one word in Scots equals a string of two or more words in English to attain the same meaning. 

Here’s a couple of examples of what I mean (note that these words have way more meanings than I share here, the definitions below relate to how I’ve used them in the text below):

Hap(pit) means to cover over in order to conceal.

Clap(t) means to pet/caress affectionately. He clapit her shouder means he affectionately caressed her shoulder.

Diving In

Here’s my response to today’s prompt (another wee snippet taken from Running The Asset):

Dekker happit Rosa wae the duvet. Aw Elle cuid think wis thit Rosa wuidnae be caul onymair. But for the fit powkin oot.

“A need tae ca iss in.” Dekker clapt Elle’s shouders, than birled hir awa fae the bouk. “Cruik yer hochs in the living room, ye dinnae need tae be seein hir lik is.”

Elle hoverit. Puir Rosa. Will she no git affa caul wae hir fit powkin oot fae unner the duvet? She dooblet back an coort Rosa’s fit.

Dekker wis in the door-cheek, speakin oan the phone, waukin Elle lik she wis gonnae stramash it ony mament. 

And now in English.

Dekker covered over Rosa with the duvet. All Elle could think was that Rosa wouldn’t be cold anymore. Except for the foot poking out.

“I need to call this in.” Dekker affectionately patted Elle’s shoulders, then turned her away from the body. “Sit down in the living room. You shouldn’t see her like this.”

Elle hesitated. Poor Rosa. Won’t she get cold with her foot poking out from under the duvet? She doubled back and covered Rosa’s foot.

Dekker was in the doorway, talking on the phone, keeping an eye on Elle like she was going to shatter at any moment.