Where else would you like to go in Scotland?
Parliamo Scots?
- Insults
Here are a surprisingly large number of insults about people's faces!
- A face like the back o' a bus.
- A face like the back o' the lum (chimney).
- A face like a bashed thripny (an "old" money threepence coin was 12-sided).
- A face like a burst settee (couch).
- A face like a burst melodeon (a kind of accordion).
- A face like a flittin (a house removal).
- A face like a bag o' bruised fruit.
- A face like a hen layin razors.
- A face like a saft tattie (soft potato).
- A face like a skittery hippen (a soiled nappy/diaper).
- A face like a torn scone.
- A face like a wet washing.
- A face like a weel-kickit ba (a well kicked ball).
- A face like a wet nicht lookin' for a dry mornin'.
- A face like a skelpit erse (a smacked bottom).
Scottish National Heritage suggested that we should to stop using "bog" in a derogatory sense as in the countryside these wetlands are an important part of the environment. So here are some alternative, derogatory words (and avoiding "bog-stalker") to describe an idle person!
- "Aff pitten" - evasive.
- "Clarty" or "dilly-daw" or "draigled" all mean a dirty or untidy person. "Mrs McClarty" is a slovenly housewife.
- "Glaikit" - stupid, silly or thoughtless. It is thought to derive from an old Scots word "glaiks" which meant tricks or deception.
- "Haiver" or "Haver" - dawdle and potter about. "Dinna haiver man" is said to someone who is talking rubbish (in the view of the listener, at least). "Don't give me your havers" is an alternative way of expressing this.
- "Hither and yon" - untidy and careless.
- "Horn idle" - nothing to do and completely unemployed.
- "Midden" - dirty and slovenly. The same word is used for the communal refuse storage area, prior to collection (by the "scaffie").
Some words of aggression
- "Bampot" - an idiot.
- "Bauchle" - a worthless person.
- "A Bessie" - an ill-mannered or bad-tempered female (apologies to all you Elizabeths!).
- "Carnaptious" - irritable or quarrelsome as in "He was right carnaptious old devil!". The word comes from "knap" meaning to bite.
- "Clype" - a tell-tale.
- "Cuddie" - a donkey
- "Fecht wi' ones' ain taes" - excessively quarrelsome and a variation on "He would fight with his own shadow"
- "Gomeril" - a fool.
- "Nippit" - bad tempered
- "Play the loun" - act mischieviously. "Loun" (pronounced 'loon') is the word for a boy in north-east Scotland.
- "Puddock" - a term of abuse or contempt as in "The Scotland football team were a load of puddocks". A puddock is a frog.
- "Ramgunshoch" - a word for rude and boorish found in south-east Scotland.
- "Sair on" - treat harshly as in "Dinna be sair on the lad, he was trying his best."
- "Targe" - a domineering person, usually a woman!
Where else would you like to go in Scotland?