SCOTS
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Document 1429

BBC Voices Recording: Portree

Author(s): N/A

Copyright holder(s): BBC, SCOTS Project

Audio transcription

M1055 Ehm I suppose we could start ehm just by going around eh clockwise and asking who you are and a bit of your background. Ehm, no-no- not an awful lot of information eh just [inhale] ehm
M1007 Too much information. //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //Too much information, it's a need to know basis!// [inhale] Ehm, you can tell me who you are now.
F1009 Iona [CENSORED: surname] from Dunvegan originally in Skye.
M1055 How far away is Dunvegan from Portree?
F1009 About twenty-two miles as the car travels.
M1055 And tell me, when you went to school did you have two languages?
F1009 [inhale] Really I only had the one um or possibly a bare one and a half. [inhale] Eh we used English in the house because my father wasn't a Gaelic speaker, [inhale] though my mother and grandmother would speak in Gaelic of course and there was a lot of Gaelic around us. Ehm so I would have a lot of eh words in Gaelic and a few phrases, ehm, an a number of imperatives. [laugh] I would say "stop that", "sit down", etcetera. But really we were we were English speakers.
M1055 And eh in school you were taught English a- as a I think f- for some of the children it would be a foreign language, wouldn't it, at that stage?
F1009 Well strangely enough on my class er, when we entered primary one we were all er English speakers first, and Gaelic speakers second. Er, though just a a couple of years above me er there were quite a number of of people who had come into primary one with er the bare minimum of English, if, if any at all.
M1055 And moving round to your left there Iona,
M1007 Alastair [CENSORED: surname]. Born and brought up in Brogaig, in the north end of Skye. Ehm Gaelic with my first language, and went to school, I suppose, to learn English and try to learn some other things. [inhale] Didn't succeed at much of it and eh enjoyed myself nevertheless once I got out of school.
M1055 A-and when you went to school Alastair, were you immediately immersed in English, was it a totally English environment at the time?
M1007 Not really. We were fortunate in having two Gaelic-speaking teachers in day school, which I attended. And er, I think, ehm that that probably helped and it helped me ah develop Gaelic, because I was er quite fond of Gaelic and particularly when I went to Staffin junior secondary school, I was taken under the wing of a very good Gaelic teacher there. And she took an interest in me and I was er, it was something that I fancied and developed quite a bit.
M1055 And next to you is another Alister, Alister [CENSORED: surname] this time.
M1008 Yes, I was er brought up at Kingsburgh, which is about nine miles from Portree. Ehm, I was brought up in a Gaelic-speaking community and a Gaelic-speaking home, but oddly enough I don't remember ever learning English ehm er I suspect it happened during the war, when my Glasgow relations, my cousins were staying with us. So I acquired English painlessly without realising it. And eh when I went to school I was definitely bilingual. Eh, my first school was Glenhinnisdal. And I was there a few years till it closed, and then we transfered to Kensaleyre. [inhale] Both my primary teachers ehm would have had Gaelic because uh I think they actually both came fro-, well one came from Staffin and one came from Kilmaluag. But, we had no Gaelic at all. I've never had a Gaelic lesson in my life. And er my Gaelic has been, you know, the acquired variety, but eh I had never had any formal training in Gaelic. Eh interesting enough, Gaelic, was certainly the language, in Glenhinnisdal of the playground, and we played in Gaelic. And so we did in Kensaleyre. But before I left Kensaleyre, towards perhaps primary six, certainly primary seven, [inhale] we had people coming into the school who were English speakers only. And of course that resulted in English becoming the language of play. And ehm I think that's, I always personally regard that's a very good test of how successful Gaelic medium is, eh, if you hear children playing in Gaelic, definitely working. But if they come out of the classroom and they slip back into English [inhale] probably not as effective as it should be.
M1055 Now, you actually went on and did a degree in English, an ye taught English for many years. //Many [laugh] years.//
M1008 //Many, many many years.//
M1055 Ehm you'd be in a reasonably good position, Alister to tell us about the way in which English is used in the Isle of Skye generally.
M1008 Yes. Well I think the first thing to say is that eh most speakers of English in Skye, particularly those who also have a Gaelic background incidentally, ehm probably speak a very standard form of English without the inclusion of dialect words, or even in tho- in the early days, not too many slang words when they were speaking formally. But, ehm as time has gone on, and certainly even while I was still teaching one was aware of certain influences, television's a major influence, and eh people eh you know use things that they hear on television, whether they're catchphrases or [inhale] you know, little expressions that ehm [throat] appeal to their sense of humour or whatever. [inhale] And another thing [laugh] I have noticed in recent times, well there's two things. One thi- there's three things //[laugh] one is there,//
M1055 //[laugh]// //Tell me both the three things then! [laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //I was never that good at maths, I might say. [laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 As as you probably are aware I wasn't very good at //math.//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1008 The first one is the one I've just explained eh the influence of television, the second and I've noticed this funnily enough, quite recently eh is the influence of particularly the Glaswegian way of speaking, I was in a restaurant eh in a hotel last summer with some people and we were having a meal, and the waitress who I know was not Glaswegian came across, and she says "Are youse ready to order now?"
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 Now this plural of youse, which I call the George Galloway plural, //because you remember,//
F1009 //[cough]//
M1008 when he was speaking to Saddam Hussein he got into awful trouble for using "You". And he said if only he had used the Glasgow plural he would have been okay. //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //And that funnily enough has infiltrated into, into Skye.//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 And I've heard one or two people who are not much younger than myself eh using it, as a kind of convivial expression. Are youse all //doing well, you know that sort of thing, have you heard that Iona? Yes.//
F1009 //Mmhm oh yes.// //Yes I did. [laugh]//
M1008 //More of your generation.// And ehm the other thing, eh that ehm I, that I've noticed is not so much nowadays I might say but I noticed it perhaps with people who are more confident in Gaelic than in English, where perhaps they were thinking in Gaelic, and the English expression would sound odd to people's ears because what they were actually doing was transliterating the Gaelic into English. [inhale] You know one very good example, and this was actually used by a primary teacher who probably would have known, should have known better but ehm it came naturally to her the expression [exhale] eh building a house. Now in Gaelic as you know 'togail' can mean to build, and it can mean to lift. Now I heard this lady saying "I hear they're lifting a new house."
M1007 //Aye.//
F1009 //Mmhm.// //Yes, Yes.//
M1008 //Have you heard that before?//
M1007 //[inaudible]//
F1009 //And and lifting the dinner, yes togail an dinneir. Yes.//
M1055 Would that be common?
F1009 [inhale] I've, I've heard it from a, a number of people, not in Skye but er in a, a previous life I, I used to mix with o- people from a lot of the other islands and it there was a very Gaelic-based English. Anoth- another favourite eh that I that I heard was ehm, for the, the, act of being sick it was, eh 'putting out'. //[laugh] Cuir a-mach!//
M1008 //Cuir a-mach yes.//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 //And I think too, I remember being eh in the company of Maggie [CENSORED: surname] one night and//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 disputing that totally with me, I had been speaking to Tony [CENSORED: surname] in Inverness. And Maggie, I was saying to him how I thought quite often in in Gaelic before I said something. And Maggie came on the scene and said "Rubbish!" She said "Nobody thinks in another language and says it in in, in yet another language. And I said, "That's not right, Maggie," I said, "I often think in Gaelic especially if I'm writing." And eh it's quite interesting that some people, and she's a Gaelic speaker,
M1055 Course.
M1007 er that their perception of it is totally different from //what us three here are putting across.//
M1008 //Aye.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 An interesting phenomena as well I think and eh I'm aware of doing this occasionally myself and I'm sure you both are as well, ehm if you're talking in English, and you'll suddenly realise that you're s- groping for a word, and you'll think of a much more expressive Gaelic word //to use and you might use it.//
M1055 //Mmhm, yes.//
M1008 Now it's too bad if the person you are speaking to has no //idea [laugh] what you are talking about!//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 But particularly if the if the other person shares your ability to er, you know use, just jump from one to the other. And I eh I don't know how common this is in other situations in other languages, but certainly Gaelic-English speakers do this.
M1007 But who was better at putting that across than Norman MacLean?
M1008 Yes. //Yes.//
M1007 //Brilliant.// //He could use//
M1008 //Yes.//
M1007 Gaelic, English, Spanish, //Italian,//
M1008 //Absolutely.// //And Glaswegian.//
M1007 //and he could fit it in an// an everybody understood what he was talking about because he was, he was so brilliant at encapsulating the whole thing.
M1055 This is Norman MacLean the comedian?
M1007 Not Cailean MacLean. //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //No, no, no relation, no relation.// //No relation//
M1007 //No that's right.//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 Going back to ehm what you've just said there, Alister [CENSORED: surname] ehm an example of ehm of a Gaelic word you might use. eh a Gaelic word that might be more effective. //w- while you're speaking English than the English equivalent.//
M1008 //Yes.// Well uh, I'm trying to think of examples I've actually used. Ehm, tut. Eh You want to describe your n- not always very organised you see you say I'm [inhale] I'm in an awful bùrach today. //[inhale]//
M1007 //Mmhm.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 Now, interestingly enough, it's words like that which you can find Scots equivalents of as well. //The first//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 time I said that to somebody who didn't have Gaelic, [inhale] this person said "What does that mean?" Then I explained in English and he says "Oh I would say I'm in a guddle". //[inhale]//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 Which I hadn't heard of at the time funnily enough. Um things like that, ehm [tut] ehm. We, we sort of latch on we la-, we, we latch on to words occasionally, which we like the sound of. Ehm I remember when I was a wee boy, ehm [laugh] [laugh] it's jist a very strange example. Eh being given a poetry book at school, and I really liked the sound of erm some of the words in "Horatio at the Bridge", which starts "Lars Porsena of Clunium, To the nine gods he swore, Great house of Tarquin should suffer wrong no more! Now I had absolutely no idea who any of these people were! //[laugh] but//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 I loved the sound of the words!
M1007 Aye.
M1008 And I think it's sound is quite eh quite //important//
M1055 //Yeah.//
M1008 //in language terms.//
F1009 //Yeah.//
M1055 Ce-certainly bùrach is eh a very eh expressive word eh, could you say onomatopoeic? You're the English scholar.
M1008 Yes. Yes it is to a certain //extent onomato-//
M1055 //Yes.// //[cough]//
M1008 //where it kinda// it eh creates a visual effect as well as a sound effect. //I think yeah.//
M1055 //Yes.// Aye, there's another one that they often use in, in, English spoken in the Highlands which is a word that you probably hear yourself often, Alastair.
M1007 Well there's, y- you could reverse the the trend too and you could use the word, tha mi knackered. //That would be one that I would use! [laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// //[cough]//
M1007 //You know but,//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 which is a word that is quite often used in the Highlands,
M1008 //Lewis Gaelic.//
M1055 //[?]Yep[/?]// //[inaudible]//
M1007 //Lewis Gaelic!// //cause it's, it's always mixed up.//
M1008 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //They can never tell right from wrong so however.// //No disrespect to them [laugh]//
M1055 //I was, I was,// //I was thinking in this case of a of a Gaelic word which might//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 might be refer-, wh- which might be used, in your instance often bodach //[laugh]//
M1007 //Bodach? Oh yes.//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 My own instance yes. //I'm getting older right enough,//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 as the day go- days go by.
M1055 A, a bodach is an old man //in Gaelic and//
M1007 //I'm not an old man.//
M1055 often used people to talk about bod-bodach, //that old//
M1007 //That's right.//
M1055 bodach over there. //in [inaudible]//
M1008 //That's right.// //And quite often husbands//
M1007 //Yep.//
M1008 erm I can say this safely not being married //myself,//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //eh// husbands refer to their wives, she could only be twenty-nine but she would be the cailleach, //you know?//
F1009 //Yes.//
M1055 //Which means, which means?// //The old lady.//
M1008 //Old lady.// Now and likewise I'd I remember being intrigued by this actually I think I must have been still in primary school and we were at a sale of work in Kensaleyre, and a girl who was at school with me and her brother were looking through some ties. And she said, ehm in Gaelic er she said ehm "We'll er We'll er buy one of these for the bodach", right enough she was talking about her father who at that time would be perhaps //fifty? Something like that if, if//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //that, you know? And I thought// "That's funny, I never called my father //a bodach at that age." [laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 Galair would be one of my favourites, ehm I think galair er suffering from a
M1008 Yes.
F1009 a, a bug. //I suppose a virus whatever a galair is eh//
M1007 //Aye, galair [inaudible]//
F1009 it's much more expressive. //But eh yes.//
M1008 //Oh it sounds much more serious.// //[inaudible]//
F1009 //Oh it does yes, yes!//
M1055 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //You should be in your bed if you have a galair eh// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //I'm not crackin, I've got a touch of the cold! [laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //You'll get a doctor's line// //for that one probably. [laugh]//
F1009 //Yes that's right [laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// B- but would you use that in English as well?
F1009 Oh yes, yes, I would use it in English, I'd, in fact I don't think I knew what the English for galair //was, until I was probably about fifteen.//
M1055 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 W- would this, would this be something that other folk would do in Gaelic or is it just a personal thing with you?
F1009 It was certainly a family thing that that was how we described being unwell, suffering from whatever particular illness was going around was we had the galair, where, and that is how we describe it we had the galair, eh whichever one was, was going around at the time whether it was chickenpox or //a cold mmhm.//
M1008 //Mmhm yeah.//
M1055 //Mmhm.// That's G- Gaelic for disease isn't //it, aye?//
F1009 //Yes.//
M1055 G.A.L.A.I.R.?
F1009 A.I.R., yeah.
M1055 G.A.L.A.I.R. a a galair.
M1007 Two L's is it?
F1009 //One, one I think.//
M1055 //[laugh]// //Uh I think he was//
M1007 //I wanted to put that right.//
F1009 //Much worse with// //two L's!//
M1007 //[laugh]// //[laugh] Oh it is!//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //You're thinking, you're thinking,// //about something else Alastair.//
M1007 //Oh I was.// You're very sick with two //L's in it I would say.//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1008 //It's an epidemic proportion.//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //Oh I would say! [laugh]//
M1055 Mm. So ehm can you no think of any other, any other ehm words that come in, come in to Highland English, island English, from Gaelic?
F1009 I, I notice a lot of people putting at the bottom of their emails to me, 'slàinte', which you know the English 'cheers', um but to me a slàinte really doesn't go without a drink. //[laugh]//
M1007 //No, exactly.//
F1009 I think it's quite, quite inappropriate, I think that they think because I work in in Gaelic that they ought to put cheers in //in Gaelic as well.//
M1007 //Mmhm.//
F1009 and er I have to say it really just irritates me, [laugh] rather than anything else.
M1007 I think dùrachd is another one that's eh that's used quite qui- quite a lot now, particularly in emails, le deagh dùrachd.
M1008 Mmhm.
M1007 Ah and eh I see that, well I used to see that at lot at work, and even from people who who just picked it up as we managed to ehm er train them in, what eh was probably their first language anyway.
M1008 Mmhm.
M1007 So they started using le deagh dùrachd.
M1055 Which means, Alastair?
M1007 With good, with kind regards or, whatever. It's something like that, isn't it?
M1008 //Yes.//
M1055 //I, I think so yes. [cough]//
M1007 //Of that ilk//
F1009 //Yes, with good wishes.// //Yes//
M1008 //With good wishes.//
M1055 //With good wishes.// I know. [inhale]
M1008 It's very often little expressions like that, that eh you know, are not, almost as if they're incidental to the conversation,
M1055 Mmhm.
M1008 eh when you're talking to somebody and perhaps let's say I was talking to you and our conversation was coming to an end and I might say something like [inhale] Glè mhath.
M1007 Aye.
M1008 Which would, which literally means very good, but ehm the other person might not even understand what that means but it is a kind of punctuation mark that you're using, automatically //just uh//
M1007 //Mmhm.//
M1008 you know, as some people spray their conversation with you knows and things like that.
M1055 Mmhm
M1008 And it's a kind of er, it's a kind of means of showing that you've concluded what you're going to say, and eh that, that perhaps that segment of the conversation is at an end, [inhale] and you're quite pleased with the way it's gone.
M1007 Yes.
M1008 math dha rìreabh, //glé mhath.//
M1007 //Mmhm yes.//
M1008 Very good, they're both, they're very similar in meaning.
M1055 The other one of of th- that type of of eh expression that I I I'm increasingly hearing is 'ma tha'.
M1008 Ma tha.
F1009 I I was just about to mention that th- there's a particular BBC presenter who [laugh] who uses, uses the word a- a lot, erm I wouldn't say ad nauseum but er rather over uses the, the phrase and sometimes not always in the right eh place either. [inhale] er ma tha is fine when you are saying 'right ma tha', you once, just right, right that's it. //er let's go sort of thing.//
M1007 //Mmhm//
M1008 //Yeah.// //Yeah.//
F1009 //It's that, that's fine but// to, to pepper one's conversation with it is it's just a little excessive.
M1008 It's somethin that's used in that situation, I think by people who don't have Gaelic themselves, but have acquired //little phrases,//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 which gives their erm, I don't know, the credibility perhaps to their knowledge of Gaeldom.
M1007 Yeah.
M1008 Er I know who you mean.
F1009 Yes. [laugh]
M1055 B- but there are a lot of people living locally who would use ma tha in English.
F1009 Oh yes //but, but they would//
M1007 //Yes.//
F1009 tend to use it er just when, when required, rather than forcibly ehm put it into every second sentence.
M1055 And what does it mean actually?
F1009 Then, I I believe. 'Well then'. 'Right ma tha'. 'Right then'.
M1008 Mmhm.
M1007 Seo, seo is another word that is used a lot, er and you can use it to to, and, and in English conversation seo. That's giving something to somebody and //[inhale] it can,//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
M1007 people understand what you're doing. I think it's a very simple word an and one that eh that a lot of people use, if you're using it to them quite often.
M1055 Seo being? //Here, giving it, take?//
M1007 //Give, [inaudible].// //There you are, yeah.//
M1055 //Eh there, there you are, there you are.//
M1007 //That's right.//
M1008 //There you are.// It's funny I can think of one person, perhaps more than one person, who, [throat] frequently uses a little expression, ehm, uist,
F1009 Mmhm.
M1008 which literally means be quiet, hush. Not in a in the, not at all intended to be offensive or to be aggressive at all. Eh she might be offering you a biscuit and you say "Oh no I couldn't take one", "Uist! //You'll have one," you know, that sort of thing.//
M1007 //Aye right! [laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 //That's right yeah.//
M1008 //As if she, she// //she's dismissed your feeble protestations [laugh] so she has.//
M1007 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1008 //And er you know there are little phrases like that, 'uist'//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 //is one of them, well.//
M1055 //Aye.// Which is kind of equivalent to the 'wheest' in, in Scots.
M1008 //Yes I suppose so, or, or//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 'be quiet', and you don't take that literally. //They don't expect you to stop talking or anything.//
M1007 //Aye.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 It's eh sometimes an expression of //surprise, you would tell me something and say;//
F1009 //Yes.//
M1008 "Be quiet!" //You know,//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //Get away!// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh] Aye!//
M1008 //get away!//
M1055 [inhale] //Is uist, uist//
M1008 //Can't believe that.// //Uist.//
M1055 //uist ehm// and that would be, how would that be spelt in Gaelic?
F1009 I would spell it U.I.S.T. //er yes.//
M1008 //Uist.//
M1055 //Uist,// //uist yes,//
F1009 //Uist.//
M1055 yes. Ehm
M1007 Any [inaudible] will be looking at the dictionary when they get oot o here.
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 //Dwelly's is going to get a hammering.//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 today, some new words coming out here. //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// We're eh we've got a list of words that we're going to have a look at now, so, we'll do that now. Ma tha!
M1008 //The influences//
F1009 //[cough]//
M1008 ehm when I was teaching it was certainly perhaps more irritating than it is now. They're perhaps spreading, and that's what I meant by the Glaswegian influence, the spreading of the glottal stop.
M1055 Mmhm.
M1008 You know two areas like our own when really there is no place for it, somehow. The glottal stop is a kind of ehm curious sound that affects usually the letter T, or double T, a word like ehm water. and eh a Glaswegian would probably say 'wa'er'. So they do something to their wind pipe apparently, you're you're, you're closing the windpipe and bringing out another sound, and I understand in certain languages and Arabic is one of them eh it's quite important to be able to do that to get certain sounds. [inhale] But ehm I've found it always slightly irritating when, I don't mind people using the [laugh] glottal stop in //Glasgow, I mean they've//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 been doing it for centuries, //[laugh] but//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 er when eh you know they try to do it in Skye, eror when it sort of infiltrates into into the conversation and eh you're talking about 'burr' 'burr'
F1009 [laugh]
M1008 you know? //And,//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1007 Interesting you should say that about the Arabs because George Galloway seems to have gotten on very well with them. //[wheeze] [inaudible]//
M1008 //[inaudible]// //the glottal stop.//
M1007 //[wheeze] [laugh] Aye.// //wheeze//
M1055 //Ehm// //ehm the glottal stop ehm//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
M1055 in, in a normal Highland and island accent the- these Ts that are missed out with the glottal stop would nor- normally have been stressed, //so we, water.//
M1008 //Absolutely we would say water,// or butter
M1007 Aye.
M1008 or anything er I mean the, I think the effect o- of erm [tut] knowledge of Gaelic on the English speaker [inhale] is that you tend to speak every element of the word fairly fairly clearly as well.
M1007 Mmhm.
M1008 And eh you don't, you don't tend to you know cut off any part of it, and certainly the glottal stop wouldn't normally be ehm heard. Although with perhaps younger speakers //influenced by,//
M1055 //Mm.//
M1008 I don't know what, television, footballers, pop stars, you //name it eh,//
F1009 //Mm.//
M1055 //Yeah.//
M1008 perhaps mates from Glasgow, being in Glasgow on a holiday, ehm but eh interesting enough, Highland people who live in Glasgow, and who perhaps came out of a Gaelic background [throat] don't have the glottal stop, normally.
M1055 I've n- noticed that, yes.
M1008 Mmhm.
M1055 So ehm we'll just check eh since Iona's probably the youngest person among us here //eh [inaudible]//
M1008 //There is no doubt about that.//
F1009 By a long chalk! //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
M1055 //yeah mm.// //So//
M1007 //We're all three young.//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[throat] I'm just gonna check whether// //Iona has developed the glottal stop.//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 I can't accuse Iona //of it.//
F1009 //No, never.//
M1055 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[inaudible]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 Iona, we're we're working round clockwise, //eh eh which is//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 appropriate in the Gaelic Gaelic ehm //circles, deiseal,//
F1009 //deiseal [?]is gabh ri[/?]//
M1055 ehm from ehm child's soft shoes worn for P.E.?
F1009 Well I had sandshoes for that, eh but I also asked some of my colleagues what what they would say and er I had jimmies, plimsoles, trainers, and pumps. But sandshoes is what I, I would say and what we always wore for gym.
M1008 Would you find, would you find these others though in er in Skye. Have you ever heard them used in Skye?
F1009 Plimsoles, if, if we were going to the shop to buy //them we might ask for plimsoles.//
M1008 //Yes uh-huh.//
M1007 //Aye.//
F1009 //Yes but er// //Sandshoes would be more//
M1007 //Sand-//
M1008 Yes.
F1009 more likely.
M1007 Sandshoes for me too.
M1055 When did you buy your first pair of sandshoes? //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 I don't think I ever bought a pair of sandshoes [inhale] eh, probably because I wasn't eh hadn't a need to wear them, we hadn't got much sand in Staffin so //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh] Ehm// I will, go we'll move back from Alister's, trousers, Alister.
M1008 Right, well, I, I don't think I ever call them anything except trousers when I was young. Nowadays you might perhaps differentiate with different kinds of trousers like jeans or something like that because people wear them so often, apart from trousers and jeans I can't think of anything else.
M1007 Trousers or briogais that was all.
M1055 Briogais is Gaelic,
M1007 Yes.
M1055 which gives us the breeks of course.
M1007 //That's right.//
F1009 //Mmhm.// I had breeks as well but er a- another family word that we used at home er or my father would use was winners, [inhale] because he was Glaswegian and used er a type of Glaswegian rhyming slang, so winners and losers were yer troosers. [laugh] //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]// //No I'd never heard that one.//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[inaudible]//
M1007 //No neither had I!//
F1009 //Yes, I I used to be asked to//
M1055 //Ehm hm.//
F1009 press his winners //on occasion, yes. [laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// Ehm but that eh that, that would only be at the [CENSORED: surname] household in //Dunvegan.//
M1007 //Ah.//
F1009 Only in the [CENSORED: surname] household in Dunvegan but I'm sure in many many houses er in er in the Knightswood area. //[laugh]//
M1008 //[inaudible]//
M1055 //[laugh]// Ehm clothes in general, clothes?
F1009 Ooh clothes I, I didn't really have anything that eh that leapt to mind, but eh perhaps togs or threads if, if we were talking in slang about them. //Mmhm.//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
M1007 Yeah, that's about all we would use as //well.//
M1008 //Yeah, clothes.//
M1007 Yeah, clothes was,
M1055 Ehm pleased?
M1008 Well, degrees of being pleased I suppose, deli- delighted, very happy, over the moon,
M1055 Yeah.
M1008 if you're being slangy perhaps chuffed,
M1007 //Yeah.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 but that's about it.
M1055 Hm.
M1007 The same, yeah, pleased was what, delighted I would add. //[inaudible]//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
F1009 Yes all, all the ones that, that Alastair said and also 'made up'. I was made up //about it, but i- it's//
M1007 //Yeah, mmhm.//
M1008 //No.//
F1009 //not something I would necessarily// //use myself.//
M1008 //Yes.//
M1055 //Yes.//
M1008 Ah my father had a relation who lived down in Midlothian in Penicuik, and she used to come on holiday with us and I discovered she used the word very ordinary word to us, in a very different way from us, the word, high, //which equals,//
F1009 //Hm.//
M1007 //Yeah, yeah.//
M1008 //pleased, very pleased.// She's, she had been in Skye and she went back with a gift for her neighbour and says "She was awfae high about it".
M1007 Mmhm.
M1008 And to her 'high' equals pleased and it could also mean a bit snooty, //you know somebody being high and a nose in the air,//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 which were not forms of, well not parts of the meaning that we would normally use at all. [inhale] But the context as context tend to do ehm explained what she was trying to say. She was awfae high aboot it.
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //Awfy high.// But that [cough] that was a Midlothian word rather than a Skye //[laugh]//
M1008 //That wasn't a Skye word at all.//
M1007 //It could be cool could it?//
M1055 //It,//
M1008 Yes.
M1007 Cool could be
M1055 Och yer showing yer age Alastair. //[laugh]//
M1007 //Aye.//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 //Have ye got another one?//
M1055 //Th-th- there's//
M1007 [inaudible]
M1055 [pages turning] the-ther- there's a there's a word here, tired ehm presumably there'll be [pages turning] words that you'll [pages turning] you would have come up with.
M1008 Well again degrees of tiredness like exhausted, to worn out, you get people saying I'm worn out, I'm tired but eh we would used tired normally as the basic word, er yes.
M1007 I would use a favourite 'knackered'. //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //Alright I've got shattered but// a friend of mine from Helmsdale says [?]fiann[/?] which I think comes from the Gaelic //fann for//
M1007 //Gaelic yes.// //Fann, fann.//
M1008 //Fann yes.//
F1009 //for weak, tired.// //Yes.//
M1007 //Yeah.//
M1008 //Oh right that's interesting.//
M1055 //[?]Fiann[/?]//
M1007 //Och well.//
F1009 //But she, she didn't// realise she was speaking //Gaelic when when she used the word.//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
M1055 [?]Fiann[/?] hmm,
F1009 [?]Fiann[/?].
M1055 for er tired?
F1009 For tired.
M1055 But not Skye; that's ehm //that's a-//
F1009 //Well she lives in Skye.// //[laugh]//
M1055 //She lives in Skye? Yes, sorry.// Unwell, Iona?
F1009 Erm sick, eh got a b- got a galair, ehm somewhere between unwell and tired might be wabbit, which is a ehm word that my mother occasionally uses, //ehm.//
M1008 //Yes.//
F1009 //Wabbit.//
M1055 //I think that's a Scots word,// //Isn't it?//
F1009 //Probably.// //Yes//
M1007 //It is, yes.//
M1055 I m- my mother perhaps it's something that mothers talk eh use with regard to children. A wee bit ehm off-colour, //just listless,//
F1009 //Mmhm.// //Yeah.//
M1008 //Washed out.//
M1007 //[inaudible]//
M1055 //lacking in energy,// //wabbit, wabbit.//
F1009 //Wabbit mmhm.//
M1055 Alastair?
M1007 Poorly. Poorly would be a word we would use, //when, but, mm.//
M1055 //Mmhm//
M1007 mainly to describe anything like that we'd be talking in the Gaelic anyway when we were younger so. Now it would be poorly I would say //[inaudible]//
M1008 //[inaudible]//
M1055 //Wou- would that be// for yes, ehm unwell? //Yeah, I wrote that.//
M1007 //Yeah.//
M1055 Yeah. Alister?
M1008 Just eh what's been said, unwell, sick,
M1055 Uh-huh.
M1008 poorly you might, yes.
F1009 Under the weather.
M1008 Under the weather, yes. Mmhm.
M1055 Hot?
M1008 Hot? Well, again I find I'm sort of using words giving you degrees of hot, ehm tsk burning, sweltering, too warm.
F1009 Mmhm.
M1007 That would suit me too.
F1009 Roasting, melting,
M1008 Yeah.
F1009 but, //the-the- they're all as you said [laugh]//
M1007 //Degrees,// //it's all degrees, degrees of yes.//
F1009 //degrees of being hot yes.//
M1055 And cold.
F1009 Well funnily enough I didn't write anything down for cold and you would think there would be a million and one words in this part of the world. I suppose freezing uh-huh to be emphatic about it, //mmhm.//
M1055 //Yeah.//
M1007 Chilly, I would have for cold.
M1008 Aye, nippy.
M1007 Nippy yeah.
M1055 Mmhm.
M1008 Yes, they're all ones I would used too, yes.
M1055 Annoyed, Alister?
M1008 Annoyed. Ehm, well I would certainly use annoyed as the basic word,
M1007 Yeah.
M1008 ehm if you wanted again to emphasise it, probably colloquial you would say mad, was really mad about that. She hit the roof, ehm one I heard recently in fact [laugh] describing a mother giving, her boy had done something wrong an the other brother reported it to a friend that she went ballistic. //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //I wish more of them would go ballistic!//
M1008 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 Distressed, //probably would be another one.//
M1008 //Mmhm probably aye.//
M1007 //Might.//
F1009 //Eh ah// one that I had was, it's a Glasgow word ehm, I'm convinced it is, bilin. I was bilin about it but eh again, it's not something we would necessarily use //in the house unless we were being//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
F1009 //amusing.//
M1055 //Mmhm.// //Boiling.//
F1009 //[laugh]// Biling. //Is it boiling?//
M1055 //Aye.// //I should imagine it//
F1009 //Is that where it comes from?// //Boiling, mm yes.//
M1007 //[inaudible]//
M1008 //I'm sure it would [inaudible]// vocallex desc="mmhm" />.
M1055 Ehm [inhale] ehm and there's 'what you do'. What yous do. //Ehm//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 to throw?
F1009 To throw, er chuck, fling, fire. but generally I would, I would throw it. [laugh]
M1007 Cast. Cast, you could throw something out, //to cast//
M1008 //A fisherman.// //Mmhm.//
M1007 //Aye cast, yes so.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1007 That's another one I had.
M1008 I haven't got anything new, I would throw or chuck or, fling, yes.
M1055 Now being a, [cough] a retired school master er you might have something to offer us on this next one 'to play truant'?
M1008 To play truant, [inhale] erm dogging school I think is what people locally used to call it. Erm don't think I ever did it myself even as a teacher. //[laugh]//
M1007 //Would that be//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 another word for dodging school?
M1008 I think it might be yes. //Mmhm.//
M1007 //So dodging,//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 Dogging.
M1007 ehm run away, would be //playing truant//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
M1007 and I suppose you run away from school.
F1009 Mmhm.
M1007 So these that was the only thing I was thinking of.
M1008 We tended to use the expression truanting and eh
M1007 Yeah.
M1008 but eh kids in their own language I think would probably talk, did you hear that Iona [CENSORED: surname] dogged school //yesterday, you know? [laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// //[cough]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //She never did!// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh] Aw.//
M1055 //an-an- and when// //and when you were dogging school Iona, what was it you were doing?//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// Eh I would have been skiving, //had I ever//
M1007 //Skiving,//
M1008 //That's it.//
M1007 //yes.//
F1009 //yes, done anything like that.// //Erm//
M1008 //That's right.//
F1009 but yes dogging, //ehm bunking,//
M1008 //You liked skiving school?// //We both like that.//
F1009 //skiving school yes.//
M1055 //Mmhm//
F1009 Er th- certainly in the seventies one one would have skived. //[laugh] rather than dogged.//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 but bunking off as well, and another one I hadn't heard ehm until I mentioned it to to colleagues was wagging. Wagging school, //but.//
M1008 //Mmhm.// //I'd never heard that nope.//
F1009 //I'd never heard that before.//
M1008 Nope.
M1055 Sleeping. //To sleep.//
F1009 //[inaudible]// Mm sleep, //generally just ehm to sleep.//
M1055 //[throat]//
F1009 But out for the count, kip, doss, all of them, I think kip and doss are probably Scots. Scots origin.
M1007 Yes, snooze. With yer, between sleeping and wakening with yersel. Still resting //so it's//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1007 some form of sleep.
M1008 Yeah, I am sleep, dozing, having a nap, //That's the//
M1007 //Aye.//
M1008 only ones I can add to what's been said.
M1055 And to play a game, Alister. [cough]
M1008 Well you know this, I could only think of play.
F1009 Yes.
M1008 He plays football. She plays tennis.
M1007 Participate in a game? I'm thinking maybe that's too big a
M1008 //A bit formal for that.//
M1055 //Too highfaluting//
M1007 Too highfaluting, too formal //for Skye.//
M1008 //It's a bit formal.// //Yes for or- for ordinary conversa-//
M1007 //Aye it is yeah, yeah.// that's the only one I could think //of other than just like,//
M1008 //Yes.//
M1055 //S-s- so fo-// folk playing shinty is simply play shinty?
M1007 //Play shinty yes, aye play football.//
M1008 //Yes, yes.//
M1007 Mmhm yep.
F1009 Yes, I, I tried to think of another word for for playing as well and I couldn't //yeah.//
M1007 //No.//
M1008 //Mmhm,// //I think we just use the//
F1009 //Just play.//
M1008 standard word for that.
M1007 Yes mmhm.
M1055 And to hit hard.
F1009 To belt, to slap, to hammer, to ram, to knock.
M1007 Hammer was the only one I put down for that. But then I didn't have much time for this. //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// //You're a pacifist are you?//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh] Absolutely!//
M1008 //[laugh]//
M1007 [inhale] Yep!
M1008 The only two I can add to Iona's, to smash, to thump.
M1055 Did anyone? Did you ever hear the word skelp? Did you use that one in //Skye?//
M1007 //Oh yes.//
M1008 //Oh yes skelp.//
F1009 //Oh yes.// //That, that wouldn't have been to//
M1008 //Sgleoc.//
F1009 to hit hard though, //to skelp.//
M1007 //Yes.//
M1008 //Uh-huh.// //It would be a,//
F1009 //That would have been a,// a wee slap. //Yes.//
M1007 //Aye.//
M1008 //Yes.//
M1055 Y- you used the word there Alister [CENSORED: surname], eh sgleoc, //which is//
M1008 //Sgleoc.//
F1009 //[cough]//
M1055 which often you often hear that in //eh in English, yes.//
M1008 //In English, yes.// It is the Gaelic really for a, a skelp.
M1007 Yeah.
M1008 Yeah, a sgleoc. "Don't do that," you know, a mother might say "Don't do that or I may sgleoc [?]dhut[/?], I'll give you a [inhale] //[laugh] a sma-//
M1055 //mmhm//
M1008 a small [laugh] //discouraging pat on the head."//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 So is it not quite hitting //hard? But it's still//
M1007 //Aye.//
M1008 //Yes.//
M1055 //it still it//
M1008 Not too abusive.
F1009 //[cough]//
M1055 //eh a Gaelic word that's used// //often in English is sgleoc.//
M1007 //That's right, aye, that's right.//
F1009 [throat]
M1007 It's used quite often in English //now.//
M1008 //Sgleoc.// Mmhm.
M1007 And it's very effective in English too, and in Gaelic.
M1055 Yeah. //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1055 //Depends who is administering the// //the sgleoc.//
M1007 //[laugh]// Not so much, not so good on the receiving end. //[laugh]//
F1009 //Yes.//
M1055 //[laugh]// How would you spell that? //[throat]//
F1009 //[inhale]// I would spell it S.G.L.E.O.C. //Yes it's//
M1055 //Sgleoc?//
F1009 sgleoc but it sounds much sorer than a skelp //but I think, yes.//
M1007 //Yes.//
M1008 //Yes, yes it's// it's onomatopoeic //definitely that one.//
F1009 //Mm.//
M1055 //Mmhm.// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// [cough]
M1055 Ehm,
M1008 And possibly so is what //receiver will//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 //[cough]//
M1008 //yelp out.// //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh] Yes.// //[laugh]//
M1007 //Yeah.//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 Ehm 'left-handed', Alister?
M1008 [tut] That's the only expression I think I I've ever heard used in normal English anyway. [inhale] There are Scots words for left-handed
M1055 Yep.
M1008 but, n- not used in this part of the world I don't think.
F1009 Mmhm. //[throat]//
M1007 //No.//
F1009 Well, I had cearrach which of course is the Gaelic //for a, for a left-handed person.//
M1007 //Aye [inaudible]//
F1009 And I, I do tend to use that in English, but eh I've heard my sister quite often saying that her children are corrie-fisted, //they're, they're left-handed mm.//
M1007 //[inaudible]// Yeah, I've, I've heard that //but it's//
M1008 //Yes.//
M1007 but again that's Scotchs.
M1008 //That's Scots yes yes.//
F1009 //Scots word [inaudible] uh-huh//
M1055 A-alth- although I think corrie might have a relation, it might be //related to//
F1009 //Cearrach// //mmhm.//
M1055 //cearrach.//
M1008 Yes //yes it//
F1009 //Yes I think//
M1008 probably //is.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 Uh-huh.
M1055 The, the Kerrs apparently were tended to be left-handed the the people called Kerr tended //they did and//
F1009 //Oh really?//
M1055 eh Kerr of course //is it eh comes from ceàrr?//
M1008 //Yes.//
M1007 //Uh-huh.//
M1055 //Which is// for left, //for left-handed?//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 //And it means wrong.//
M1055 //Wrong.//
F1009 Mmhm.
M1008 //Yes, yes.//
M1055 //Yup.// //Sinister.//
M1008 //Yes. [inaudible]// //Sinister this one is//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh] Aye!//
M1008 //[?]ridiculous at it's best[/?] [laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 [laugh]
M1055 [inhale] Ehm unattractive?
F1009 Mm well I had, I had difficulty really with with unattractive because w- we don't have an awful lot of words for unattractive er here I don't think but I did manage to get, to get a couple, ugly, plain, ehm a face only a mother could love, but, but there wasn't really a a word that leapt to, leapt to mind as being //something I would//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
F1009 I would use for unattractive.
M1007 I just had ugly as well,
M1008 Mmhm.
M1007 seems to be quite universal round here.
M1008 Yeah, again I agree. Ugly is the only one really that I could think of that would [inhale] be normally used in formal //English anyway, there might be slang words//
F1009 //Mmhm mmhm.//
M1008 you know.
M1007 We would never be bold enough to use it.
M1008 I wouldn't dare //even//
F1009 //Yes.// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //suggest. [laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //But we might think it.//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
F1009 [laugh]
M1055 Ehm n- not eh not a phenone-, a phenomenon that you would recognise yourself Alastair, lacking money, but did you have a //word for it?//
F1009 //[cough]//
M1007 Oh yes, broke! //[wheeze] Aye. [laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 That's eh that's the only one I had down but ehm I think it describes it very well. If you're broke you've no money.
M1008 Yes the- they would use that here certainly and [inhale] they would probably also import the erm tsk I think it's a Scots word, skint,
M1007 //Aye.//
F1009 //Mm.//
M1008 and eh perhaps, the more formal English word short. //I'm short//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1007 //Caught short.//
M1008 //this month.// Well not quite.
F1009 Yes //I, I had//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 poor, skint, short, ehm strapped? Strapped //for cash yes.//
M1008 //Strapped for cash yes.//
F1009 And borassic, course again going back to the rhyming //s- slang.//
M1008 //Uh-huh.//
F1009 Borassic lint, skint. //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
M1055 That's from Glasgow is it? //Oh right.//
F1009 //That, that probably [laugh]//
M1007 It's going back a long way that one.
F1009 [laugh]
M1055 And eh again something you've we will not recognise in this company, drunk.
F1009 Oh I didn't have any words for that //at all. [laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// //Mm.//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //No I'm lying.// Erm eh tiddly, pissed, steaming, stotious, jaked, er, plastered, mortal, [laugh] eh I could go on. //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// //Why don't you? [laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //I didn't have room to write any more down actually.//
M1055 //[laugh]//
F1009 [laugh] //[laugh]//
M1055 //Alastair's draw- jaw's dropping further and further towards the floor!//
M1007 //Oh aye it's bringing back memories.//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1055 //Yeah.//
M1007 Well shot that's one that would be used in in the Highlands //that. You've heard that one?//
M1008 //Mmhm.// Yes
F1009 Mmhm.
M1007 //Well shot.//
M1008 //[inhale]// We- I've heard all the ones //that//
M1007 //Yes.//
M1008 Iona has recalled but ehm smashed I think is the only //other one.//
F1009 //Aye smashed.// //Smashed yeah.//
M1007 //Smashed yes.//
M1008 formally, under the influence //of course but that'd be very//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh] Aye that's right!//
M1008 //formal, probably in a court appearance!//
M1055 There, there, there's one that er I used to hear, I think possibly as a result of eh eh the influence of people like Billy Connolly and things like that eh m- miraculous.
M1007 //Oh aye.//
M1008 //Oh aye.//
F1009 //Oh yes.// //Yeah.//
M1055 //Did you use that?//
F1009 I, no but eh I, I like it. //[laugh]//
M1008 //Yes.//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 //Yes//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 I've heard it used.
M1055 Here?
M1007 Not here, in, actually in Ullapool I've heard it used. A few miraculous people around there. //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //Yeah.// //I can't honest say I've heard it here, but yes I would recognise it if somebody used//
M1007 //[wheeze]//
M1008 //it.//
M1055 //Yes.//
M1007 //Uh-huh.//
F1009 //Yes.//
M1055 [inhale] Ehm Drunk? Oh we- we've done that, //sorry.//
M1008 //That was it.//
M1055 S- sorry [inaudible] sorry. Er pregnant?
M1008 Pregnant? Well, pregnant itself obviously, expecting.
M1055 Mmhm.
M1008 That's about the only two I can think of.
M1007 On the way, would be another description. That's the one I've got here.
M1055 Mmhm.
F1009 Yes, expecting is probably what I would //use but//
M1007 //Yeah.//
F1009 also in the club or bun in the oven.
M1007 Mmhm.
F1009 Up the duff was [laugh] a rather coarse term for it. //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh] Aye that's right, yeah.//
M1055 //[laugh]// In Skye?
F1009 Oh yes! Even in //Skye, yes.//
M1007 //[inaudible]// //[inaudible]//
F1009 //I've I've heard it in// //in Skye.//
M1008 //Probably// //acquired from other areas//
F1009 //Yes// //of course.//
M1007 //Of course.//
M1008 //of course.// //[laugh]//
F1009 //It's come in// //[laugh]//
M1007 //Billy Connolly again.//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// Ow, and attractive, Alister?
M1008 [microphone taps] Bonny? Tsk attractive itself, nice looking, ehm glamorous even, something like that, yeah.
M1007 //Yep.//
M1055 //Alastair [CENSORED: surname]?//
M1007 I would use these as well, and good-looking would be just the ones, and the ones that Alister has used already.
M1055 And we'll now talk to the most //attractive [inaudible] [laugh]//
M1007 //Absolutely!//
F1009 //[laugh]// Well I'll just describe myself, cracker aye. //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 [inhale] But again my my sister also has a a term that she uses for, uses for an attractive male which is a T.M., which is a tricky man.
M1007 Mmhm. //Ooh aye tricky never heard of that.//
F1009 //Tricky man, yes.// Which she's she's used since her days in university in Glasgow, [laugh]. //[laugh] which//
M1007 //Oh aye.//
F1009 probably the last time she saw //one. [laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 [laugh]
F1009 [laugh] //[inhale]//
M1055 //A T.M.//
F1009 A T.M. //Yes.//
M1008 //I, I, I// I don't know that one //obviously but eh//
M1007 //Mmhm.//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 can't say I've ever heard that one.
M1007 Nope.
M1055 It's certainly not been applied to me //anyway. [laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1008 //[inaudible]//
M1055 //Erm.// I eh one, one I used to hear ehm in the eh further west was a bramair.
M1007 //Yeah, Bramair aye.//
M1008 //Yeah, bramair.//
F1009 //Mmhm yes.//
M1055 //Did you// have you c- come across that?
F1009 Yes I I thought that was a Glasgow word particularly a bramair.
M1008 I thought that was a Lewis word actually the, the Lewis talk, Lewis people use it. //[inaudible]//
M1007 //Yes.//
F1009 //Ah.//
M1008 Bramair.
M1007 Aye. Is it not from the Gaelic?
M1055 [laugh] What Gaelic? //[laugh]//
M1007 //I think that's a Gaelic word!// //The Leòdhas' have used.//
M1055 //Mm.//
M1008 And it u- it's used, //you sound surprised that they occasionally use a Gaelic word.//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 Ehm eh [laugh]
M1007 I hope this doesn't go out. //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1008 The erm tha- it could only be used of a woman though, //bramair.//
M1007 //Mmhm.// //Yes.//
M1008 //Yes.// I don't know is, there is no male equivalent is there? [inaudible].
M1007 //Coinneach Mhor.//
F1009 //[laugh]// I'm too young.
M1007 //Aye//
M1008 //Aye.//
M1007 Morag, Morag calls Coinneach Mhor a bramair sometimes. //Mmhm aye.//
M1008 //Does she?// Oh I didn't know that //aye.//
M1007 //Aye//
F1009 I I always thought the the erm Gaelic word meant more of a, a boyfriend, girlfriend, erm rather than just a an, an attractive person that it was somebody with with whom you would be having a a relationship.
M1007 Not necessarily.
F1009 No? //Right.//
M1007 //No not necessarily.// //[inaudible] Lewis//
M1008 //I, I wouldn't have thought// so I, I would have eh I think ehm I would recognise being used just as a general term "oh look at //the bramair [inaudible]//
M1007 //Aye that's right.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 look at these very nice looking young females". //Do you know?//
M1007 //Yes.//
F1009 //mmhm.//
M1007 That's right.
M1055 But would you, would you hear it in Eng- in English ever? Would people use //it?//
M1008 //Bramair.//
M1055 Yeah.
M1008 They might insert it into an English //sentence if//
M1055 //yes, Mm.//
M1008 two Gaelic speakers were talking, you know, they might say oh
M1007 But they certainly use it in Lewis.
M1008 yes.
F1009 Mmhm.
M1007 Yeah, and in English, speaking in English they would use bramair.
M1008 Bramair.
M1007 Aye.
M1055 But not, but not Skye? That's not
M1008 Not normally.
M1055 not Skye. [inhale] Insane?
F1009 Eh again I had a number er, for this one, er there was mad, nuts, looby, cuckoo, crackers, and eh an expression I heard from again one of my colleagues which was 'there's wiser eating grass'. //Which I, [laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 //Is that an imported one?//
F1009 //I quite like,// //yes! [laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh] He's from Inverness originally.//
M1055 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 [laugh]
M1008 //Oh dear.//
F1009 //[cough]// I thought it was quite a nice //expression.//
M1008 //[cough]//
M1007 //Oh yes.//
F1009 //Uh uh-huh.//
M1007 Good one, off yer head. It's a it's another one, another way to put it. I'm glad I didn't do much work here //because you two seem to have done//
M1055 //Mmhm, mmhm.//
M1007 an awful //lot. [laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1008 Ehm, well all the ones eh Iona used right enough, plus another Glaswegian one I think is 'not the full shilling'.
M1007 //Aye.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 And I heard a it's a longer expression but it's the same idea that the lift doesn't go all the way //to the top floor! [laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh] Aye that's right!//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 Which is a very unkind //statement.//
M1007 //Och I know.//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1008 The full, the full shilling is, is //you know, oh aye,//
F1009 //Mmhm yes.//
M1007 //Yes.//
M1008 //oh well,// you've got to make allowances he's not the full shilling. //you know?//
M1007 //Aye.//
F1009 //[laugh]// //Well//
M1055 //Yeah.//
F1009 working in traditional music as I, as I //do//
M1008 //Yes.//
F1009 somebody came up with the expression, one song short of a cèilidh. //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// //Mmhm.//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //Quite nice. [laugh]//
M1055 One I, I really liked was the eh there's a gentleman ehm in the west of Skye who lives in a, a big building eh ehma big edifice, ehm and he at one point was trying to sell a part of Skye for a lot of money,
M1008 Mmhm.
M1055 and he was described by local worthy here Tommy Mackenzie as being a a couple of turrets short of a castle. //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //Oh yes.//
M1055 //[inhale] [laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1008 //Good.//
M1007 //Aye.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 //But I think// I think, that, that was just a Tommyism I //I don't//
M1007 //Hi-hi- highlanders are//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1007 pretty quick at //writing things.//
F1009 //Yes.//
M1055 //[laugh]// //ehm//
M1008 //Yeah, that one's pretty good.//
F1009 //[cough]//
M1055 [click] Moody?
F1009 [Um] I had gurney and having a boose on but again I think that's a //a Scoticism.//
M1008 //definitely Gaelic, mmhm.//
M1007 //Aye.//
F1009 //Really? Is it// //more, more Gaelic?//
M1007 //Gaelic.//
M1008 //Gaelic.//
M1007 //Oh yeah.//
F1009 //Mmhm 'bus'.// bus, of //course, yes,//
M1007 //Mmhm.//
F1009 yes. //And I-//
M1055 //These are things you would use though?//
F1009 yes, oh yes eh I, I would use them in English yeah. //[inaudible]//
M1055 //And people would understand you quite, quite easily?//
F1009 I hope so. //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 They've never said //that they didn't [inaudible].//
M1055 //[laugh]//
F1009 [laugh]
M1007 I suppose droll maybe that would be strange rather than moody, //but eh.//
M1008 //Yeah.//
M1055 That's what's the one we often hear in, in, in English //in in in in, eh//
M1007 //Yes.//
M1055 in, in the, in the islands, droll. //Yes?//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
M1055 Eh bu- but, but more unusual, more strange, //isn't it?//
M1007 //That's// right, yeah, but eh moody, I suppose you could call it deep, somebody's not communicative erm that's the only thing I could think of.
M1008 Well the only other one I can think of is up and down, you know somebody whose [inhale] moods are unpredictable really. //You'd say "Oh//
M1007 //Uh-huh.//
M1008 he's up and //down".//
M1007 //Yeah.//
F1009 //Mmhm mm.// //Mm.//
M1055 //Yeah.// Eh and to, to rain lightly
M1008 Drizzle? Ehm, spitting sometimes, that's about it mmhm.
M1007 Yes, that's all I've got as well. Drizzle is all I've got.
F1009 Mmhm well I had damp //I suppose mm//
M1055 //mm//
F1009 just eh describing the sort of day we normally have //in//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
F1009 Skye. It would still be raining lightly not as heavily as it might. //Mmhm.//
M1055 //Mmhm.// I [laugh] remember eh coming off the, the ferry ateh Tarbert it was, and it was one of these days [inhale] eh rain was coming horizontally being //eh//
F1009 //[cough]//
M1055 propelled by a force ten gale from the north west and this fellow whose coat was just black //with,//
M1007 //Uh-huh.//
M1055 it had been turned black because of the rain, he sort of nodded a a sort of a a friendly greeting at me and said "Tha damp". //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh] Aye.//
M1055 //It's damp. [laugh]// [inhale] That was an //understatement.//
M1007 //That's a favourite!//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //But eh I think that Gaels// would use damp,
M1008 Yes.
M1055 for something more than eh they what, the-the-the- wha-wha- what the word means in English.
M1008 //Mmhm.//
F1009 //Yes.//
M1007 They use it in a sarcastic way too,
M1055 Yes.
M1007 //you know?//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
F1009 //Mmhm.// //[laugh]//
M1007 //Oh it's when it's chuckin it down they say "[?]he[/?] damp",// //when you//
M1008 //Uh-huh.//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// //Mmhm.//
M1007 //Aye yes.//
M1008 //And that's your friend in [?]Tarbet[/?]?// //Yes, yes.//
M1007 //That's right.//
F1009 //Yes, yes.//
M1007 They're laughing at the weather in fact.
F1009 What else can you do? //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1055 //That's right.// There a number of ehm English words that are used in Gaelic that have a slightly different, slightly different meaning ehm what do they say? English words used in Gaelic which have a slightly different word from the English usage. You know for example if you described a a man, a com- a comic //you know, he's//
M1007 //Uh-huh.//
M1008 //Mm.//
M1055 he's not he is not comic //he's something else isn't it?//
M1007 //[laugh] Aye.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 //Alastair?// Wha- what
M1007 Well he could be he could be quite a comedian, he could be somebody who walks funny, //he could be//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
M1007 somebody who is ehm [click] quick witted, //there's many ways you could describe//
M1008 //Mmhm mmhm.//
M1007 somebody like that being comic.
M1008 Yes I think I know what Cailean means though he, you mean, he, he has all these things //are absolutely true,//
M1007 //Yes.//
M1008 but er slight extension of meaning that he's sort of, not abnormal but //unusual in some way,//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 //Mmhm.// //Eccentric, eccentric, yes eh.//
M1008 //eh comic, eccentric yes.//
F1009 //Mmhm mmhm.//
M1055 And fancy //is another word eh you would see you'd r- well I've//
M1008 //Word yes.//
M1055 heard people saying //in using it in, Eng- in Gaelic//
M1008 //Yeah.// //Mmhm.//
M1007 //Yes.//
M1055 //Yeah, I fancy// //Aye, it's just//
M1007 //That's right//
M1008 //Mmhm.// //Mmhm.//
M1055 //kind of unusual.// And the other one which is eh what we're talking about, English words being used in //Gaelic is eh//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
M1055 clever.
F1009 Mmhm.
M1055 You know the the the word ehm you would say 'tha clever'. Eh you know it's it's quick rather than being clever,
M1007 Yes.
M1055 but apparently, Alister you'll know this, eh the original, originally, clever was used
M1008 Mmhm.
M1055 ehm for something that was quick
M1008 Mmhm.
M1055 rather than something that was //br- bright.//
M1008 //that was// //that's right yes.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 Oh yes it's always interesting to, to go back to the origin of words an try and find out why you know take an example like ehm let me think silly, which nowadays has this eh idea of not being wise
M1055 Mmhm.
M1008 but if you, if you think about it why would they, why would they have called the Scilly Isles, the Scilly Isles? They wouldn't have called them the Scilly Isles for being daft and silly originally meant happy, //blessed,//
M1007 //Uh-huh// //yes.//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 and eh the way the meaning has changed is that somebody who was perhaps not the full shilling as we //were talking about earlier,//
F1009 //[cough]//
M1055 //Uh-huh.//
M1008 might be going around unnaturally happy. //We can all think of people in//
M1007 //Mmhm yes, yes.//
M1008 //our own environment who//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1007 Yeah.
M1008 //might that,//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 erm could be described like that.
M1055 Mmhm.
M1008 So gradually silly acquired happy but not quite, you know fully, normal, being slightly short of one or two cells, //[inhale]//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 And it then be- silly moved from being happy to being foolish.
M1055 Mmhm.
M1008 And eh the modern version has, has stuck at that. Another good example is the word villain, //which today//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 we know villain means somebody who is capable of doing pretty awful things. And yet the original meaning of villain was quite a neutral word meaning a farm labourer.
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 And the reason that word took on a slightly more sinister meaning was that at the time of the agricultural revolution lots of people lost the ability to work on the land, they've came into the city in hordes and were looked on as suspicious, liable to the way perhaps some people might look on gypsies //nowadays, liable to//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 either threaten them, or steal some of their possessions so grad- villain from being simply a ehm person who worked on the land, became a person who had to be watched //because he was capable of doing something.//
M1007 //Mmhm.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 So the way words change their meaning //is really very interesting.//
F1009 //Yes.//
M1055 //Mmhm.// Mmhm. So er getting back //to [laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //Getting back to what we're supposed to be doing!//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[cough]//
M1055 //[throat] what's a guy who// any, any words for digression? //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 Somebody once asked, D.R. you know proving that of course modern Gaelic doesn't have a lot of good words for, ter- technical terms. I remember er somebody asking D.R. in the staffroom, "D.R. what's the Gaelic for television?" //And D.R.//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1008 said "What's the English for //television?" [laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 And he was right //Aye absolutely.//
M1008 //He was right!//
F1009 //Right.//
M1055 Ehm some- somebody, somebody gave me a good Gaelic for television but ah this is another digression, it was dealbh oisean.
M1008 //Dealbh oisean.//
F1009 //Dealbh oisean.//
M1008 //Yes, yes,//
M1055 //Not bad, not bad aye.//
M1008 box in the corner.
M1055 Yes, the the picture the picture's in the corner. Ehm the main room of the house with a T.V.
M1008 [inhale] Well I suppose the living room, the lounge some people would say, I think I would still say living room, lounge has a slightly more ehm //[inhale]//
M1007 //Upmarket.//
M1008 yes a slightly sn- hmm posher sound to it somehow.
M1055 Do you, have a livi-a lounge up in Bowmore, do you, Alastair?
M1007 No. Jist a guddle. //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 Sitting room we would call it.
M1055 Mmhm.
M1007 Sitting room and eh in the old days we didn't have a sitting room we just had the kitchen where everybody //sat//
M1008 //Where everybody// //[inaudible]//
M1007 //round the fire, round the open fire so// its changed from a sit- from a kitchen to a sitting room.
M1055 Mmhm.
M1007 That's what you used to //call it?//
F1009 //Yes.// Sitting room w- I would say as well. That's what //that's what we would have at home.//
M1007 //Uh-huh yeah.//
M1008 We had, when I was a boy we had a exactly the same as yourselves, the kitchen and everything happened in the kitchen. But there was 'the room' which nobody ever used, of course, expect the minister when he came for tea, and when I was a wee boy I I simply called it 'Rium a' Mhinistear', //'the minister's room' [laugh] it didn't belong to us we never used [laugh] it.//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 We didn't have that luxury though. //We had eh//
M1008 //[snigger]// This sounds like the Monty Python //sketch about the wooden boxes [laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 We had a thatched house //and there was only two rooms, three rooms in it, in total,//
M1008 //That's right, that's right.// //That's//
M1007 //and the// kitchen was used //for everything,//
M1008 //Of course.//
M1007 for for eating an relaxing in, and //eh//
M1008 //Yes. That's right.//
M1007 and warming yerself at the fire.
M1008 The hub of the house.
M1007 The hub of the house! [paper rustling] //Yeah.//
F1009 //Yes.// //Mmhm.//
M1007 //Mmhm.//
M1055 Alastair, you're making a hell of a noise with that paper! [laugh] //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //That's because you're not going fast enough!//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 //I've got all my words written down and you haven't done a thing about it!//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// Anything to, to add on, on the lounge thing, did you have a lounge? [laugh]
F1009 No we didn't have a lounge, eh I, I've never had a lounge, always a always a sitting room. My grandmother had a front room again where
M1055 Mmhm.
F1009 where one would entertain and it was opened at New Year and that sort of thing but the television was in the kitchen, //yes.//
M1008 //Did it smell of// furniture polish?
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //Yes// //yes that's right and and damp,//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //and geraniums.// //[laugh]//
M1007 //Aye.//
M1055 Er running water smaller than a river.
F1009 Stream, burn, erm are the, the two words I would normally use, yeah.
M1007 I just use the one, burn.
M1055 Burn? You wouldn't use a stream?
M1007 No.
M1008 Yes, burn I've got and stream I would agree with too, yes, yes.
M1007 I would use the same but burn more I think.
M1055 So, so burn seems to be the one that's //used here.//
M1008 //Burn yes.//
M1055 Ehm, eh a long, the long soft seat in the main room?
M1008 Sofa, coach, but, couch perhaps, but sofa is the one I would use //yeah.//
M1055 //Mm.//
M1007 Bench? //That's//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
M1007 another one that used to be the old style, //a bench.//
M1008 //That would be the wooden one.//
M1007 Wooden bench yeah. A seise as we called it.
M1008 //Seise aye.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1007 Aye.
M1055 That wouldn't be necessarily soft would it? Or
M1008 Soft an
M1007 No but then we were ehm quite well padded
F1009 [laugh]
M1007 so we were quite comfortable on it.
M1008 Hm. //Brought your own cushions to the//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 //Absolutely [laugh]//
M1008 //cèilidh.//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
F1009 I, I would say a couch, er but my grandmother certainly had a seise that probably went back, back to the nineteen-thirties yes.
M1055 A- and describe the seise.
F1009 Oh a seise, a seise to me was actually a couch er because it did have padding er not a great deal and I think the horse that was originally used to ehm to pack it was [laugh] //still very much in evidence.//
M1055 //[exhale] [laugh].// //Mm. [inhale]//
F1009 //[laugh].//
M1055 But that, that wouldn't be a word that's used in, colloquially nowadays, seise.
F1009 Seise, erm well it it would be amongst my own family and er I think any Gaelic speaker would would probably think of a a seise before they thought of a couch or a sofa mmhm.
M1007 Interesting where that word came from now, the seise, would that have come from the chaise longue?
M1008 //Could be actually,//
F1009 //Oh yes.// //Mmhm.//
M1007 //I, I don't know I jist//
M1008 //I hadn't thought about that.//
M1055 //[?]Do you think it is?[/?]//
M1007 //I was wondering because eh//
M1008 //hadn't thought about that, yes seise.//
M1007 it is, it is a word that was very common in the Highlands at that //time and I just wondered was it related to the,//
M1008 //Yes, yes.//
M1007 cause that's French, isn't it?
M1008 //Mmhm.//
F1009 //Yes.//
M1008 The longue,
M1007 Yeah.
M1008 //literally the long//
F1009 //Mmhm yes.//
M1007 //Long//
M1008 //chair.// //[inaudible]//
M1007 //chair, yeah.// So the the the one we had was eh a wooden //bench//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
M1007 with two ends on it //and eh.//
M1008 //Yes.// //We had one of those too.//
M1007 //you could sit there//
M1008 //Yeah.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 //Mmhm.// Was it the the bengie? Was that the way you called it //at home? No?//
M1008 //No.// //Seise.//
M1007 //Seise.//
F1009 //Seise.//
M1055 Do you call a seise //th- the//
M1007 //Seise.//
M1055 the the wooden bench?
M1007 //I've been trying to tell you that for the last five//
M1008 //Yes.//
M1007 //minutes.//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[throat]//
M1007 [laugh] //[laugh] yes.//
M1008 //Yes, well I agree with him about that,//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1008 perhaps that was the North Skye way of //doing it. [laugh]//
M1007 //Probably was [laugh] aye!// //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// Anyway you don't use s- often in English it's //it's a it's a Gaelic word yeah.//
M1007 //Mmhm ah.//
M1008 It would be a bench in English.
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 //Like a bench.//
F1009 A settle. //Wooden, a wooden one yes,//
M1007 //Yep, another word yes.//
M1008 //A settle?// //Yes exactly.//
F1009 //a wooden one// //[inaudible] mmhm.//
M1008 //Nowadays you'd only find it as// garden furniture or somethin.
M1007 //Yes.//
M1055 //Mmhm.// Mmhm. The narrow walkway between or alongside buildings?
M1008 Wasn't quite sure what that meant er pavement, path, something like that.
M1007 I put lane in, I don't know if that's relevant or not. //In//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1007 between two //buildings you could have a lane.//
M1008 //Yeah, I wasn't// //quite sure what was being asked//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1007 //No.//
M1008 //for that to be perfectly honest.//
F1009 I had alley, and that was what I was thinking of. //The//
M1007 //Yeah.//
F1009 narrow
M1007 Mmhm.
F1009 it whi-which is a na- narrow walkway or //drive in between.//
M1055 //Yeah,// th-th- the one that I thought about immediately there was close. Did you did you did you use close //at all?//
F1009 //I// I had thought of close but to me a a close would be covered and I I didn't get the impression that this was a a covered walkway at all //I thought it was just a an open one.//
M1008 //That goes back to your Edinburgh days?//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //Then you could you could use gangway as well,//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 as something going between two buildings.
M1055 A gangway?
M1007 Yes you could do.
M1008 Mm.
M1007 Eh although it's used more in er airports an shipping terminals you could use the, //you could use gangway as well.//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 W-w- was that the original?
M1007 I don't know but eh it is a word that you could use here. Eh depending on what context this is in, //aye.//
M1055 //Yeah.// But er not often heard in Skye, gangway? For that? In fact there aren't too many narrow walkways between //buildings anyway.//
M1007 //No// //but you could use it in the likes of a, of a harbour.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 Mmhm.
M1007 You could have a gangway going between two buildings if it was over water. But you can have it.
M1055 Alister er [CENSORED: surname], ehm toilet?
M1008 Yeah, I was thinking about this, toilet I think is probably the commonest one in use today, but in earlier years going back to my own boyhood they would probably talk about the lavatory, which I believe is the the U way //if you were eh//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 if i-, if it was very important for to you use the correct //terms, you know, if you were the duke of//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 Devonshire or something like that, you would never talk about the toilet. That's very common, //not that you would say common!//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //Ehm// well I'd have to be use bathroom I //suppose.//
M1007 //Uh-huh.// //Closet?//
M1008 //People//
F1009 Mmhm.
M1008 a clòsaid!
M1007 //Aye!//
M1055 //Mmhm// //Mm. [laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh] Aye taigh beag, aye!//
M1008 //Taigh beag,//
M1055 Mmhm.
F1009 [inhale]
M1007 Yeah. But the closet was a word that was //used//
M1008 //Perfect.// //The water//
M1007 //yeah.// //Water//
M1008 //closet.// //Yes, yeah.//
M1007 //closet yeah.//
M1055 In in in, in English? //Eh erm//
M1007 //In English yes.//
M1008 //[inaudible]//
M1055 the closet?
M1008 The closet. [inhale] Although I think that would be perhaps a bit dated even in, in my own day.
M1055 Mmhm.
M1008 Ehm but eh you then go into the field of slang //of course which Iona's//
M1007 //Yeah.//
F1009 //Yes.//
M1055 //Yeah.//
M1008 the expert on. //[laugh] You talk, you//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //about important things like, mm [laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 the bog, //the cludge [laugh]//
M1007 //[?]Why not![/?]// //Aye! [laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 Like the winners. //[laugh]//
F1009 //Winners.//
M1055 //The winners yes,// //Okay,//
F1009 //Yes// //[laugh]//
M1055 //given that cue, let's move over to Iona.//
F1009 Well I do have eh loo, eh bog, john, dunny, ehm it's a number of my colleagues are from, from outwith the area. Loo would probably be what I'd //normally say myself but,//
M1008 //Mmhm mmhm.// //That seems to have taken//
F1009 //bathroom.//
M1008 over from the others actually, you know, loo is becoming universal //now and I think that's the influence of T.V.//
M1007 //Yeah.// //Yeah.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 I wonder why that is? Is it Waterloo?
M1008 //It's, yes, yes,//
F1009 //It comes from the Fre- yes from the French// //Yes.//
M1008 //Yeah.//
M1055 //Is it?// Right.
F1009 Gardyloo.
M1055 Oh right, right yes. //Gardyloo.//
M1008 //It's the water connection.//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //The water connection yes.// //Ehm//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 //You//
M1055 //there's something// //so, [laugh]//
M1007 //made that one up very quickly.//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh] so// something that we, we're not too used to in in Skye, raining heavily.
M1008 Pouring? Lashing down, that's the only two I could think.
M1007 Oh aye, indeed, that's enough to suggest it's coming down quite heavily I would say, //yeah.//
F1009 //Mmhm.// I've bucketing, torrential, stair-rods
M1008 Mmhm
F1009 mm er cats and dogs, //it's raining cats and dogs.//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1007 //Aye [inaudible].//
F1009 //Bucketing [?]when we were out.[/?]//
M1007 I've got a weather station, and when it rains heavily a ticker tape comes across the bottom, "it's now raining cats and dogs".
F1009 [laugh]
M1007 And when the wind comes up it starts saying [laugh] "hold on to your hats!" //[laugh] Aye!//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 //That's enough//
M1008 //Is that right?//
M1007 oh a proper weather station //yeah,//
M1008 //Yes, yes//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //comes up with this message [laugh]// so there you go.
M1008 //I used to//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 //Aye.//
M1008 use that expression teaching metaphor, raining cats and //dogs yeah.//
M1007 //Aye.//
F1009 [laugh] //[laugh]//
M1007 //Yeah.//
M1055 Baby?
F1009 Ehm wee one, bab, nipper, sprog, wean, bairn, wee one, ehm [throat], baby, baby is the most common one //that I would use.//
M1008 //Yes.//
M1007 Baby is one we would use as well because I think it's the correct correct way to describe a wee one, and a bit more respectful //than all these//
M1055 //But//
M1007 //eh fancy//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1007 words that are being used. [laugh]
M1055 [laugh]
M1008 Child? Mmhm. //[inhale]//
M1007 //Yeah.//
M1008 Interestin enough I think wee one is another good example of a direct translation from Gaelic.
M1007 Mmhm maybe. //[?]Tè bheag, tè bheag air[/?].//
M1008 //Tè bheag.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 They were, aye. I hea-, I heard quite recently in fact,er just I overheard a conversation between two men, and obviously one asked do you know how's the family and he, he said. And they were talking English and they said "Oh Joan and the wee ones are away,
M1055 Mmhm.
M1007 //Yes.//
M1008 //they're in// Glasgow at her mother's" or something //like that,//
M1007 //Aye.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 and eh but that's definitely one we do use ehm I don't know how much that's used in other parts of the country, wee ones for children.
M1055 Uh-huh. I suppose weans is wee ones.
M1007 //Same I think yes.//
F1009 //Weans, yes, yes.// Weans, I I would think of a Glaswegian //English for//
M1008 //Pretty much.//
M1007 //[?]Yes.[/?]//
F1009 //for wean// certainly but eh eh aga- it's something I would, I would use again in in jest really, //I wouldn't//
M1008 //mm [inaudible].//
F1009 I wouldn't use it in a serious conversation, but wee ones would be my one of my //favourites.//
M1008 //[inaudible]//
F1009 Mmhm.
M1055 Yeah. And eh [cough] a young person in cheap trendy clothes and jewellery. Cheap trendy clothes?
F1009 I hadn't a clue what to write down for that ehm I was never a eh I never wore cheap trendy clothes or jewellery. [laugh] [inhale] I was never a teenager erm but I, I had to ask a friend of mine who does have teenagers [inhale] and she had ned and scaff and I've a, a ned to me wouldn't //be//
M1008 //No.//
F1009 necessarily a young person //eh//
M1007 //A bit of a villain, eh?// //Yeah.//
M1008 //Could be yes, yes.//
F1009 //in that sort of style ehm// a, a ned would be a, mm probably a young person just on the slightly on the wrong side of the law //ehm.//
M1008 //Yes.//
M1055 And a scaff?
F1009 Scaff, I have no idea where that comes from. Scaff?
M1055 Wo-wo- is that used in //Skye?//
F1009 //Mmhm [inhale]// Well apparently it's used in Portree High School. Yes. [laugh] Now it certainly wasn't in in my day //[?]we never[/?]//
M1008 //Mmhm.// //Mmhm.//
F1009 //not in in Alister's but//
M1007 Completely at a loss with this one.
M1008 Well, if I were [throat] I can't think of a noun at all, young person in cheap, trendy,
M1007 Yeah.
M1008 I mean, I can think of adjectives like trendy or wee phrases like, f- in the fashion, fashionable or something but I cannot honestly think of a word which eh
F1009 Mmhm.
M1008 equates to, to Iona's scaff, that's new on me too, you know.
M1055 Female partner?
M1008 Female partner? Eh well, wife. Partner, Woman, lady, other half, better half, girlfriend, all these I've heard.
M1007 Yep, I've heard them all but I don't know which one would be right, my own case it was just the wife.
M1008 The wife, yes.
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //Mm.//
M1007 //Or the old, the old lady.//
M1008 //Or as Terry Wo-// //or as Terry Wogan would say, the present Mrs [CENSORED: surname].//
M1007 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 That's [?]it[/?], when asked! [laugh] //why does he always talk about the present Mrs Wogan, he says//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 to keep her on her //toes! [laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]Aye!//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh] Yeah.//
M1055 Ehm, And you you ju- just call the wife? The wife.
M1007 The wife or the old lady, //I suppose if you're//
M1008 //Yes.//
M1007 speaking to somebody else about her, yeah. [laugh]
M1055 Was it
M1007 He's a lot younger than I am. //[laugh]//
M1055 //Good.// //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// I, I would tend to use wife whether or not they were actually married, it doesn't say that they're you know they're necessarily living together.
M1055 True.
F1009 This, this female partner that ehm one I've heard a lot again from er my Glasgow friends is bidie in.
M1008 Oh aye? //That's a very special close match.//
F1009 //That's where somebody who he lives in the// //Yes. [laugh]//
M1007 //Yes.//
M1008 Precise. //[inaudible]//
M1007 //[inaudible] bidie.//
F1009 //[laugh]// b-b-b- [laugh] //[laugh]//
M1055 //Hm.//
F1009 [inhale] b- before eh you know, //living//
M1008 //Mmhm//
F1009 together was an acceptable
M1008 Yes.
F1009 erm social custom //er it was the bidie//
M1008 //The bidie in.//
F1009 in's quite a derogatory term
M1007 That's right.
F1009 for er for the partner living in the house with somebody else.
M1055 Is that a word that you'd hear in Skye and would be understood in Skye?
M1008 Oh yeah, I think it would be understood in Skye, I doubt if it would be heard in Skye, it wouldn't be used in that sense in Skye. Ehm. I don't think there is an equivalent one in Skye that eh
M1055 It never happened.
F1009 No. [laugh] //[laugh]//
M1055 //I, I heard it for the first time in Aberdeen actually,// //bidie in//
M1008 //Uh-huh bidie in.//
M1055 and well, they certainly used bide for living
M1008 //Yes.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 so it did, it did make //yeah,//
M1008 //Bide a while.// //Bide a wee they would say.//
M1055 //makes sense.// //bide a wee.//
M1007 //Aye it was// well known in Ayrshire anyway //cause Helen//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
M1007 uses it quite freely.
M1008 Mmhm.
M1007 cause that's eh she was down in Ayrshire for a while so that's where she picked it up.
M1008 Mmhm.
M1007 Yeah.
M1055 Bidie in //for partner.//
M1007 //Bidie in.//
M1008 Quite a handy term //actually if//
M1007 //Oh// //if you've got to//
M1008 //if you're, if you're// yes, yes it is.
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //If you're not quite sure what the relationship// //is.[laugh]//
M1007 //Aye! [laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1055 //A kit of tools.//
M1007 Tool kit that's [cough] that's all I //Tool bag.//
M1008 //Absolutely,// tool kit is the only thing I've //got here.//
M1007 //Yeah.//
M1008 Tool bag, tool kit nothing else.
F1009 Yes, I've got tool bag and work box as well, that's //all I could think of.//
M1008 //[inaudible]//
F1009 //Yeah.//
M1055 //[inaudible]//
F1009 Work box to me sounds a bit more feminine perhaps than than a kit of tools that a //a builder might use.//
M1007 //It's what you put the pieces in.//
F1009 Yes. //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //Your briefcase?// //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 You put the Beano in that by the way. //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// //That was all I could think of for//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 for kit of //tools. Mm.//
M1055 //Mmhm.// So a word for something whose name you've forgotten.
F1009 Well I I do have a a fairly dodgy memory these days and I came up with thingummy, thingummyjug, jig, er what-d'ya-ma-call-it, a do-da and a who-d'ya-come-flip.
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 [laugh] //Well//
M1008 //And the last one?//
F1009 who-d'ya-come-flip, //who-d'ya-come-flip//
M1008 //Oh right.//
F1009 //I//
M1055 //Is that word// //[laugh]//
F1009 //I didn't know how to spell any of them. [laugh]//
M1055 Tell me the who-d'ya-come-flip, is that something that came came through your father's line? [laugh]
F1009 I seem to think it was more my mother that came up with the who-d'ya-come-flip, //yes.//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1007 I think that more than exhausts my //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 my thingummyjigs. //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 Yes, I, I agree the, the what-d'ya-call it thing and the thingummyjig I've got and ehm what's it's name. //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// Yes.
M1055 Grandfather?
F1009 Ah I never met any of my own grandfathers but ehm grandad, seanair jen my Barra friends call their grandfather, j-e-n, eh papa, gammy, granpie, that was all I could.
M1055 Seanair, why seanair?
F1009 Seanair, grandfather for er, eh Gaelic for grandfather, and jen of course is er contraction of of that as well.
M1007 Yep, that's again adequate and grandpa would be and seanair would be the ones that we would use as well.
M1055 Sean- seanair seems to be quite common eh in quite common usage, it's the Gaelic for //grandfather.//
M1008 //I think it has//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 found a sort of acceptability among non-Gaelic speakers as well. //They//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 they've heard it and liked the sound of //it and eh//
M1007 //Yes.//
F1009 //Yes.//
M1008 ah sometimes use it, yes, seanair. Mmhm.
M1055 How, how is it how is that spelt Alister?
M1008 Oh I've no idea S.E.A.N. //two N's?//
F1009 //A.I.R.?// //One N.//
M1008 //Yeah.// //One N?//
M1007 //One N.// //Seanair.//
M1008 //A.I.R.// //Yes.//
M1007 //A.I.R. yes.//
M1055 //Seanair.//
F1009 Seanair.
M1055 S.E.A.N.A.I.R. //for gr-//
M1008 //Mmhm seanair.//
F1009 //[inaudible]//
M1055 //for gr grandfather// //Certainly.//
M1008 //Seanair.// An old man really.
M1007 //That's right.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 You're not a grandfather yet Alastair, no?
M1007 Not yet, and I don't want to be for a while.
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //Mm.// Ehm certainly my my own father he he was by his eh grandchildren he's always called seanair.
M1008 Yes //mmhm//
M1055 //And eh// ehm he and also some of my bro- mother's brothers, they're all, they're all called seanair.
M1008 Mmhm mmhm.
M1055 Ah hmm. Aye.
M1008 There seem to be fewer words you see I think this is one of the reasons, fewer words for a grandpa.
F1009 Mmhm.
M1008 Plenty words for a grandma, //like eh//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 nana, //and various other//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 versions, //grandma and things.//
M1007 //Yeah.//
M1008 There would seem to be fewer words for grandpas or seanair possibly //as//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 a useful addition to the
F1009 //Mm.//
M1055 //Uh-huh//
M1008 to the possibilities.
M1007 Mmhm.
M1055 I- interestingly enough the female equivalent of seanair is rarely if ever used in English.
M1008 Mmhm.
M1055 Would you agree, Alister? //Se-//
M1008 //Ehm//
M1055 seanmhair?
M1008 Seanmhair?
M1055 Mmhm.
M1008 I think so, I don't think I've ever heard it used by non-Gaelic //people, no, seanmhair.//
F1009 //No.//
M1055 //Nope, no.//
F1009 Mmhm.
M1055 Friend? Alister, Alister [CENSORED: surname].
M1008 Right ehm, well, friend mostly, pal, mate, ehm these are the ones I would would think of from my own younger days.
M1007 Yes very much the same. Ehm I think friend would be the one that we use //much as, much as any, yeah.//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
F1009 Mmhm, pal I would tend to use myself but also mate, chum, cronie I think is a word that my father would have used and er mucker and buddy are probably imports from //elsewhere mm.//
M1008 //Yes, yes.// It's interesting actually ehm, you know, looking at my younger relatives, cousins, children, things like that, say student age, that sort of thing, ehm they have a nice dis- they make a nice distinction between, you know, boys who have girlfriends, and boys who have female friends who are not romantically //attached to them at all.//
M1007 //Uh-huh.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 They they distinguish between ehm a girlfriend and a mate
M1007 //Yeah.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1008 and er you can have female mates, //you know, might be a flatmate or something//
M1055 //Mmhm.// //Mmhm.//
M1008 //like that,// who ehm with whom you have no romantic entanglements, but is a good friend.
M1055 Mmhm.
M1008 And whereas the the girlfriend is a //different breed altogether, you know, that sort of thing, you know.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 //Mmhm.// Mmhm.
M1008 But I I find that interesting that they make that distinction //because somebody,//
F1009 //Yes.//
M1008 I I actually heard one of them saying somebody, in fact it was mother more or less asking me you know is sh- is Sheila your girlfriend? No, no she's just a mate.
M1007 //Aye.//
F1009 //Mm Mmhm.//
M1007 Not as hot-blooded as we were.
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //Mmhm.// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]// They were all girlfriends? //[laugh]//
M1007 //Oh absolutely! [laugh]// //[laugh] No mates.//
M1008 //There were no mates. [laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1008 But mate of course also normally means erm you know traditionally meant somebody that you were linked with. //You'd say here you go this is my mate. Mmhm.//
M1007 //Yes. that's right.//
M1055 I I would always assume a mate to be masculine. //Yeah.//
M1007 //Mmhm.//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
M1007 //But I noticed that with my, with my own//
F1009 //Mm.//
M1008 Yes.
M1007 kids, they're they're not kids now but they're //[?]got[/?] referred to them as mates.//
M1008 //Mmhm.// //Yes that's right either sex.//
M1007 //Yeah?//
F1009 //Yes.// //Yes.//
M1007 //Either sex yeah, very much//
M1008 //Uh-huh.//
M1055 That's right.
M1007 and they share flats with them //and they don't care.//
M1008 //Yes, that's right, that's right.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1007 //Whereas,//
M1055 //Without being bidie-ins?// //[laugh]//
M1007 //Oh absolutely!//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 //Absolutely, that's the wonderful thing about it.//
M1008 //Absolutely yes.// Yes.
M1007 It takes, took a while for me to //[?]put the wrenches away[/?]//
M1008 //Get your head round it.// //[laugh]//
M1007 //absolutely, great!//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1007 [laugh] Which is that Cailean?
M1055 That's it. Ehm grandmother? Alister?
M1008 Well grandmother, eh granny, gran, nana, which is not one I used when I was at that age myself, eh but gran I think is a, well I don't remember calling my grandma anything because she was very elderly when I was very young. Eh and I never met my other grandma, but I think I'd just refer to her as grandma. //Seanmhair in Gaelic,//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
F1009 Mmhm.
M1008 I really can't remember.
M1007 Granny we always, we were very young too when my granny died, both grannies. So it was always granny.
F1009 I'd certainly refer to both my grannies as granny, and er my nieces, some of them call their other granny, er nana,
M1008 Yes.
F1009 but eh it's //mm, it's not as common.//
M1008 //I think, I think// no but I think wha- what happens I know from one family of my own cousins, that ehm one grandma is called nana, //and the other one is called gran.//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 //So that they know who they're talking about.//
F1009 //Mmhm.// //Yes.//
M1007 //Yes, yes.//
M1008 And eh this is quite a convenient way //of doing it actually.//
M1007 //Yes, uh-huh.//
M1008 I don't know if there's any [inhale] eh seniority //than, the, nomenclature at all or//
M1007 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1008 you know?
M1007 //Depends on how much they give out.//
M1055 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //How how you achieve the status of gran or nana,//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 who is more affectionately called I don't know. //I wo- wouldn't dare look into that.//
F1009 //Yes.// My my other n- nieces, well niece and two nephews call their respective erm grandmothers eh Granny Morag and Granny Claris //so they get equal//
M1008 //Yes mmhm yes.//
M1055 //Mmhm yes.//
M1007 //Yes.//
F1009 //er equal shouts// //yes. [laugh]//
M1008 //That's sounds a good way of doing it.//
M1007 //That's right.//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 And mother?
F1009 Mum ehm is what I call my own mother, ehm mummy when I was younger, mm.
M1007 Yeah. Very much the same and ehm màthair in Gaelic obviously er but that would be all, it would be mum or mammy.
M1055 Mammy?
M1007 Yeah, mammy.
M1008 Mmhm. I think, I yeah I agree entirely, I think when I remember saying mummy when I was very //young,//
M1007 //Yeah.//
M1008 but then as you sort of got older you felt a bit ehm tsk you know this sounds //a bit childish,//
M1007 //Embarrassed,//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1007 //aye that's right.//
M1008 //so you then// [inaudible] probably again the influence of
M1007 Mmhm.
M1008 well in my case radio rather than anything else or perhaps other people using the word mum.
F1009 Mmhm.
M1008 But, oh yes I like the sound of that //and and it became//
M1055 //Aye.//
M1008 mum.
M1007 Mmhm.
M1008 Ehm,
M1055 [?]See there[/?], one one w-w- word that eh I often heard in, where I was brought up in South Uist, they they they they wouldn't say mummy they'd say mammy. //Mammy.//
M1008 //Mammy yes.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1007 That's what we would use too. //And you would say tha mi//
M1008 //Uh-huh.//
M1007 [?]doill-se air[/?] er tha mi [?]doicheall bha[/?] mammy, I'm going to tell my mammy about //you,//
M1008 //That's right.//
M1007 if you were getting somebody who is giving you a hiding.
M1008 Yes.
M1055 A- and that would, in English it would be mammy as well.
M1007 //Mammy yes//
M1008 //Yes.//
M1007 yeah, very much so.
M1008 I think that's probably the case with myself as well, it was mam, mammy.
M1007 //Mmhm.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1007 Yeah.
F1009 Mm I I remember the day I changed from calling my mother mummy to the day I decided to try mum for a change. And i- it went erm, well unremarked, I don't know if it went unnoticed. //But I//
M1008 //Mmhm.//
F1009 felt it was a bit of a a rite of passage. //[laugh] I'd suddenly become//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
F1009 a a teenager. //Uh yes.//
M1008 //How old were you then?//
F1009 //Mm I think I was twelve,//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 //Were ye aye, yeah.//
F1009 //yes, yes.// //I thought I would I would risk it. [laugh]//
M1008 //Yes. [inaudible]//
M1055 I think that's us gone through through all the words that were there. Erm.
F1009 There's male.
M1055 It's just been pointed out to me that we didn't do male partner. Iona?
F1009 I would tend to use husband er again whether or not eh there was an actual marriage, eh, boyfriend I suppose.
M1007 Bodach grànnda maybe? //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//
M1007 Yes, husband or partner would would suffice for me as well.
M1055 Bodach grànnda is never used. //It means//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1055 a horrible old man. //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 //[laugh]//
M1008 Yes I agreed eh man, partner possibly if it was such, boyfriend, which sometimes equals partner as well. Ehm man, partner, boyfriend, yes that's it.
M1007 In Dwelly it was that the the emphasis has always been on, on good English and where it was taught it was good plain English that we were taught. And it very much carried on throughout our lifetimes.
M1008 Mmhm.
M1007 Took a while to teach us the English but then when they did teach us the English we [inhale]we seemed to have grasped it and eh the accent has always been quite quite straightforward and I think when you've, when I find that particularly [inhale] eh pointed is when you meet some foreigners [inhale] and you start talking to them they say that our our ehm speech is much slower than that of people in the central belt and they can understand us a lot eh more clearly than they can
M1008 Mmhm.
M1007 eh in the rest of Scotland. An I, an I've often found that quite interesting.
M1008 Mm.
M1007 An I've spoken to many people from all over the [inhale] all over Europe, and when you're starting to when you're trying to discuss something with them and they haven't got a lot of English it's very easy I think for them to understand what we're saying, because we tend to speak rather slowly.
F1009 Mmhm.
M1008 Yes. Yes I agree entirely with that, I've had the same experience with [inhale] you know, you might give a, hitch-hikers a lift or something like that [inhale] and eh they often make that point that eh they find you much easier to understand than eh eh people either in England or in anywhere else in the rest of Scotland. [inhale] And ah I think it is for the reasons that that Alastair eh stated that ehm tsk er particularly the older generation among [laugh] whom I class myself of course, ehm you know we had fewer influences to to influence our //pronunciation,//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
M1008 and eh the only influence I can think of that influenced my pronunciation if it did, would be radio, we didn't even have a television. I mean I was about twelve I think when we got our first radio set, eleven or twelve.
M1055 Uh-huh.
M1008 And you didn't hear any voices except those within your own community, and eh the main English speakers you heard were either in school,
M1055 Mmhm.
M1008 or in church.
M1007 Yeah.
M1008 And ehm both these would be speaking standard English
M1055 Mmhm.
M1008 and ehm for that reason I suppose we, we we have fewer non-standard expressions you might get in other parts of the world. But I think the influences now eh on young people, on young people in this part of the world, and the other thing you have to remember of course is that erm there's been a huge ehm tsk number of er people from other areas of the UK coming into //like.//
F1009 //Mmhm.//
M1055 Okay this is a story from Falkirk apparently
F1009 [inhale] Well it's a story from Dunvegan really, but eh we used to have some friends from the Falkirk area who used to come up and stay with us, every year er in the summertime and they had a very very strong accent, very strong central Scots accent and Sandy had been playing outside and came running in, very windy day, came running in and he said to my mother "Yer streetchers fa'in doon - yer claes in the grun." And we all looked at the poor boy blankly, and he repeated himself again //"Yer streetchers fa'in doon - yer claes in the grun."//
M1055 //Mmhm.//
F1009 [inhale] And we were still making absolutely nothing of it we had to say, right slow it down Sandy and "Yer, streetchers fa'in doon, an yer claes are on the grun." Oh right we've got it now, it meant your clothes pole has fallen down and your clothes //are on the ground. [laugh] And he just//
M1008 //[laugh]//
F1009 stomped his foot and looked so put out and said "Youse are aw too polite." //[laugh]//
M1007 //[laugh]//
M1008 //[laugh]//
M1055 //[laugh]//

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BBC Voices Recording: Portree. 2024. In The Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow. Retrieved 29 March 2024, from http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/document/?documentid=1429.

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"BBC Voices Recording: Portree." The Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2024. Web. 29 March 2024. http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/document/?documentid=1429.

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Information about Document 1429

BBC Voices Recording: Portree

Audio

Audio audience

Adults (18+)
General public
Informed lay people
Specialists
For gender Mixed
Audience size 1000+

Audio awareness & spontaneity

Speaker awareness Aware
Degree of spontaneity Spontaneous
Special circumstances surrounding speech Spontaneous but discussing a list of words they had thought about previously.

Audio footage information

Year of recording 2005
Recording person id 1060
Size (min) 76
Size (mb) 293

Audio footage series/collection information

Part of series
Contained in BBC Voices Recordings - www.bbc.co.uk/voices

Audio medium

Radio/audio
Web (e.g. audio webcast)

Audio setting

Education
Journalism
Recording venue Radio Studie
Geographic location of speech Portree

Audio relationship between recorder/interviewer and speakers

Not previously acquainted
Speakers knew each other Yes

Audio speaker relationships

Friend

Audio transcription information

Transcriber id 689
Year of transcription 2006
Year material recorded 2005
Word count 14267

Audio type

Conversation
General description Conversation centred around a pre-prepared list of words for discussion

Participant

Participant details

Participant id 1007
Gender Male
Decade of birth 1940
Educational attainment None
Upbringing/religious beliefs Protestantism
Place of birth Staffin
Country of birth Scotland
Place of residence Portree
Country of residence Scotland
Father's occupation Seaman
Father's place of birth Staffin
Father's country of birth Scotland
Mother's occupation Housewife
Mother's place of birth Staffin
Mother's country of birth Scotland

Languages

Language Speak Read Write Understand Circumstances
English Yes Yes Yes Yes At home
Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic Yes Yes Yes Yes With friends

Participant

Participant details

Participant id 1008
Gender Male
Decade of birth 1930
Educational attainment University
Age left school 18
Upbringing/religious beliefs Protestantism
Occupation Teacher (retired)
Place of birth Uig
Place of residence Portree
Father's occupation Crofter (also tram conductor, driver, Post Office linesman)
Father's place of birth Kilmuir
Mother's occupation Domestic worker
Mother's place of birth Aird Bernisdale

Languages

Language Speak Read Write Understand Circumstances
English Yes Yes Yes Yes
Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic Yes Yes No Yes In Gaelic-speaking community
Scots No Yes No Yes

Participant

Participant details

Participant id 1009
Gender Female
Decade of birth 1960
Educational attainment University
Age left school 17
Upbringing/religious beliefs Protestantism
Occupation Training officer - voluntary arts
Place of birth Glasgow
Region of birth Glasgow
Birthplace CSD dialect area Gsw
Country of birth Scotland
Place of residence Portree
Country of residence Scotland
Father's occupation Musician / joiner
Father's place of birth Glasgow
Father's region of birth Glasgow
Father's birthplace CSD dialect area Gsw
Father's country of birth Scotland
Mother's occupation Nursing sister / midwife
Mother's place of birth Dunvegan
Mother's country of birth Scotland

Languages

Language Speak Read Write Understand Circumstances
English Yes Yes Yes Yes All
Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic Yes Yes Yes Yes All
Scots No Yes No Yes Leisure

Participant

Participant details

Participant id 1055

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