Scottish Word for Today December 3, 2015 Expressions: A friend who hails from Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire, sometimes changes the word order around in a sentence, as an example: “Weeks they have been there.” Some areas in this part of Southwest Scotland were once (Irish) Gaelic speaking. As there was a lot of traffic between Ireland and Scotland, one wonders if the English speech pattern was influenced by Scottish Gaelic, Erse, or if this is just regional. (Take note, Glaswegians, Erse is herein used with a capital E, and is not in reference to one’s bahoochey!) In Glasgow, word order was also changed around as in “What like is it?” Again, as Glasgow, during and after the Irish famine in the mid-1800s, was inundated with thousands of Irish ‘refugees,’ bringing their own manner of speech and Erse, it is a question of who influenced whom in sentence structure with words sometimes used backside foremost. Personally, I was somewhat taken aback when I came to this side of the world and was questioned/corrected as to why I would ask, “What like is it?” instead of “What’s it like?” Another difference in word order is the expression “Ye’re a lang time deid. ” which would be more likely expressed elsewhere as “You‘re dead a long time.” in Standard English. It’s not quite the same as the Scottish version which is a caution to get on with whatever you are doing now for there’s no time left. Note: More on rammy from Lanark lister cmchouston: tramash (stramash) and stooshie. Maisie