SCOTTISH WORD FOR TODAY January 10, 2016 Expressions: Whit’s fur ye’ll no’ go by ye. --- What’s meant to happen will happen. (My Piskie friend would assign this saying to John Calvin (Predestination!) and by extension John Knox and the Presbies.) (It’s the title for one of the series in the Assassin’s Creed: Assassin's Creed is an historical science fiction action-adventure open world stealth video game series.) (Go to Google for more information.) The following are typical Glesga sayings: (Though Nivard Ovington, if you say those expressions are used in Cornwall, it could very well be that some transplanted Glaswegians brought them with them!) a.. Gonnae no’ dae that so ahmurny. --- Going to not do that so I am not b.. C’moan, get aff. --- Come on, get off. c.. Is the cat deid? --- Has the cat died? A ‘subtle’ way of telling a person his trouser legs are too short, like a fag flying at half-mast. The expression “C’moan get aff” is a standard joke in Glasgow when clippies collected fares and controlled the number of passengers on the bus, with a maximum number allowed standing downstairs. There was absolutely no standing allowed upstairs or other jookery-pookery such as more than one to a seat! The clippies ran the buses with an iron fist and Glasgow Corporation Transport never had to worry about the clippies falling down on the job. (Clippies --- conductresses...when you used to be able to put ess at the end of a description for a female!) In the Glasgow patter when the clippie ordered(!) you to C’moan, get aff, that meant that the bus was overcrowded and you’d better get off. If there was no compliance from perhaps a heavily bevvied imbiber, the clippie would ring the bell, the bus would stop, and the bus driver would appear to offer reinforcement. Of course, for the foreigner, this positive, negative order to come on, get off, was totally confusing. Now the bus systems are universal, with no clippie to collect fares, only the money box with the exact change allowed beside the driver No chance for chit-chat with the conductor(ress) to talk about different fare stages (so many bus stops to a stage with a different ticket colour that cost more). The bus inspector would make periodic checks to make sure the passenger wasn’t cheating by staying on past the paid stage, and that the clippie was on top of her job. Even the Glasgow Transport System has gone through many name changes to metamorphose to First Glasgow. It’s jist no’ the same, so it isnae! Maisie