This appeared on a gardening list I subscribe to, at the tail end of an off-topic thread on 'Scots' versus 'Scotch'. I thought it would both interest and amuse a few people on this list, so with the author's permission, I've attached his comments below: Karen in Cheshire UK **************** To add to the confusion (and hence the fun!), in the Gaelic-speaking areas of Donegal in western Ireland at about the turn of the last century when the ability to speak English was seen as a mark of being "worldly and sophisticated", an individual who had learned a bit of English (mainly from working as a casual agricultural labourer in southern Scotland) would proudly declare to anyone prepared to listen that he "had picked up the Scotch". Ron Payne/Raghnall de Paeghne St.John's, Newfoundland, Canada (The only city in North America that was ever predominantly Gaelic-speaking)