Scottish Accents/ Dialects

[IrishBhoy]

10 minutes ago, Cosmic Joe said:

Nothing is as batshit as that north-east nonsense of replacing words beginning with "wh" with "f". 

Who started that? 

You even hear it as far south as Arbroath. 

One of my first interactions when I worked in the north east was a guy from Fraserburgh, after asking him where something was, he replied ‘Ben eh hoose’ (good chance that’s not the correct spelling). I stood there utterly bemused and oblivious to what the f**k he was talking about. I came to learn that it means ‘through there’, or something similar. 

[Jacksgranda]

On 02/02/2020 at 20:34, H Wragg said:

That's common for those of an Irish Catholic descent, if she fits that bill?

This isn't all to do with Scottish accents, but worth a wee listen. I've been in Stonehaven a few times en route to Pittodrie, but this was the the first time I learnt that's it's known as 'Steenhive'.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07rgybq

My father used to refer to it as Steenhive

[Jacksgranda]

6 hours ago, deadasdillinger said:

Fair comment. It wouldn't have been my choice. 

We followed it by having an absolutely fantastic lunch in Mitchell's in St Andrews, so it wasn't all bad.

I take it your lunch was "cozy"?

[velo army]

Anyone referring to South Lanarkshire as a ken free zone hasn't engaged with the good people of Larkhall and surrounding areas (blackwood, lesmahagae etc). 

[Hedgecutter]

14 hours ago, IrishBhoy said:

One of my first interactions when I worked in the north east was a guy from Fraserburgh, after asking him where something was, he replied ‘Ben eh hoose’ (good chance that’s not the correct spelling). I stood there utterly bemused and oblivious to what the f**k he was talking about. I came to learn that it means ‘through there’, or something similar. 

"It'll be in the house", so basically "through the house".  I'm presuming that the latter is widespread through Scotland?

Working with a lot of English people over the years, it's surprised me just how many Scottish things I've said that I've presumed are UK-wide.  The words 'outwith', and 'mind' instead of remember, seemed to blow a few minds.

Eta: FWIW, once saw a Brocher (somebody from Fraserburgh) give a talk about Krakatoa (or Krock-aw-toa).  His attempts at changing to standard English lasted a few minutes before drifting into the mother tongue:

".... and thawt jist caased the hale 'hing tae bla' up and kill a'bdy like"

Edited July 5, 2021 by Hedgecutter

[TheScarf]

The Western isles accent is the worst in the country by miles.  It's disgusting.

[invergowrie arab]

8 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said:

"It'll be in the house", so basically "through the house".  I'm presuming that the latter is widespread through Scotland?

Working with a lot of English people over the years, it's surprised me just how many Scottish things I've said that I've presumed are UK-wide.  The words 'outwith', and 'mind' instead of remember, seemed to blow a few minds.

It's not be in. Ben is a stand alone preposition in its own right meaning through or inside 

[TheScarf]

2 minutes ago, TAFKAM said:

That's no way to speak about the good people of Surrey and Hertfordshire

This reminds me of when i used to live at home and watching the STV news there would be a report from somewhere like Orkney or Shetland and anyone they interviewed would have a Home Counties accent and my mum would say 'Ah they must be from the English part of the island'.

[Guest TheJTS98]

14 hours ago, Cosmic Joe said:

Nothing is as batshit as that north-east nonsense of replacing words beginning with "wh" with "f". 

Who started that? 

You even hear it as far south as Arbroath. 

This is probably a hangover from the more Germanic phase of the development of English.

German, for example, has a /v/ pronunciation of the letter 'W' in words like 'warum', 'wo', or 'was', and this isn't far from the 'wh' sound. /V/ is just the voiced version of the sound /f/ and the north-east Scottish version of English has just clung on to this a bit more than the rest of the country.

[velo army]

47 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

The Western isles accent is the worst in the country by miles.  It's disgusting.

Utter nonsense take. It's fuckin mellifluous. 

[topcat(The most tip top)]

52 minutes ago, TheJTS98 said:

This is probably a hangover from the more Germanic phase of the development of English.

German, for example, has a /v/ pronunciation of the letter 'W' in words like 'warum', 'wo', or 'was', and this isn't far from the 'wh' sound. /V/ is just the voiced version of the sound /f/ and the north-east Scottish version of English has just clung on to this a bit more than the rest of the country.

Norwegian Question words start "Hv..." so it  may be  from Norse

Similarly the  norwegian "Barn" exists as "Bairn" on the North Sea side of Scotland and down to Tyneside but loses out to "Wean" as you  move closer to Belfast

[Guest TheJTS98]

4 minutes ago, topcat(The most tip top) said:

Norwegian Question words start "Hv..." so it  may be  from Norse

Similarly the  norwegian "Barn" exists as "Bairn" on the North Sea side of Scotland and down to Tyneside but loses out to "Wean" as you  move closer to Belfast

Aye. Norse is Germanic too, so the same pattern would apply.

English sensibly did away with a lot of the shitey bits of these languages, but I find the old hangovers in different areas fascinating.

[DiegoDiego]

Aye. Norse is Germanic too, so the same pattern would apply.
English sensibly did away with a lot of the shitey bits of these languages, but I find the old hangovers in different areas fascinating.

My favourite Scandinavian influence on Scots is the -t ending for simple past. With some verbs in English you can use either -ed or -t and in Scotland we use the -t ending much more frequently: spilt, dreamt, burnt. Sometimes we perhaps take it too far, like telt or feart.

[Guest TheJTS98]

2 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said:

11 minutes ago, TheJTS98 said:

Aye. Norse is Germanic too, so the same pattern would apply.
English sensibly did away with a lot of the shitey bits of these languages, but I find the old hangovers in different areas fascinating.

My favourite Scandinavian influence on Scots is the -t ending for simple past. With some verbs in English you can use either -ed or -t and in Scotland we use the -t ending much more frequently: spilt, dreamt, burnt. Sometimes we perhaps take it too far, like telt or feart.

Before I got to the end of that paragraph, my already-formed response was going to be; 'Aye, they got us telt'.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

The term "Doric" for the pattern or speech  in the North East is taken from the Dorian People of ancient Greece. Whose speech sounded rustic and uncultured to the more civilized people of Athens. 

As Edinburgh  is the "Athens of the  North" our speech would therefore be "Attic"

 

 

[johnnydun]

17 hours ago, IrishBhoy said:

One of my first interactions when I worked in the north east was a guy from Fraserburgh, after asking him where something was, he replied ‘Ben eh hoose’ (good chance that’s not the correct spelling). I stood there utterly bemused and oblivious to what the f**k he was talking about. I came to learn that it means ‘through there’, or something similar. 

 

3 hours ago, Hedgecutter said:

"It'll be in the house", so basically "through the house".  I'm presuming that the latter is widespread through Scotland?

Working with a lot of English people over the years, it's surprised me just how many Scottish things I've said that I've presumed are UK-wide.  The words 'outwith', and 'mind' instead of remember, seemed to blow a few minds.

Eta: FWIW, once saw a Brocher (somebody from Fraserburgh) give a talk about Krakatoa (or Krock-aw-toa).  His attempts at changing to standard English lasted a few minutes before drifting into the mother tongue:

".... and thawt jist caased the hale 'hing tae bla' up and kill a'bdy like"

 

2 hours ago, invergowrie arab said:

It's not be in. Ben is a stand alone preposition in its own right meaning through or inside 

I have always pronounced it 'Bain' and say it regularly.

I will tell the kids to

'Tak eh supper dishes bain'

'Get bain air and tidy yer mess'

'It's bain eh hoose min' 

 

[hk blues]

3 hours ago, invergowrie arab said:

It's not be in. Ben is a stand alone preposition in its own right meaning through or inside 

 

3 minutes ago, johnnydun said:

 

 

I have always pronounced it 'Bain' and say it regularly.

I will tell the kids to

'Tak eh supper dishes bain'

'Get bain air and tidy yer mess'

'It's bain eh hoose min' 

 

My folks used the expression "ben the hoose" and it meant in another room in the house i.e. if we were in the kitchen my mother would say "Your father's ben the hoose" meaning in the living room.

[invergowrie arab]

1 hour ago, DiegoDiego said:

1 hour ago, TheJTS98 said:

Aye. Norse is Germanic too, so the same pattern would apply.
English sensibly did away with a lot of the shitey bits of these languages, but I find the old hangovers in different areas fascinating.

My favourite Scandinavian influence on Scots is the -t ending for simple past. With some verbs in English you can use either -ed or -t and in Scotland we use the -t ending much more frequently: spilt, dreamt, burnt. Sometimes we perhaps take it too far, like telt or feart.

Have you got anywhere I could read about that? Not disagreeing but would be interested to find out more.

[DiegoDiego]

It's largely my own thesis, having grown up in Scotland, learnt Danish and taught Oxford English. So potential bollocks is being spoken.

A wee tinker with the excellent Google ngram viewer shows than in British English, the -t ending was often more common but during the 20th century the -ed forms became dominant. Although the opposite is true with lit/lighted.

I definitely favour the -t endings, even in formal writing where I know it's technically incorrect, such as my stubborn use of "earnt".

[Arabdownunder]

My folks used the expression "ben the hoose" and it meant in another room in the house i.e. if we were in the kitchen my mother would say "Your father's ben the hoose" meaning in the living room.

The Broons holiday house, the but'n'ben, was a two room cottage. The but was the front room, the ben was the back room