Diana and listers I love the expression "we hae nane the noo". What an economy of words! (translates as "We do not have any at the moment" - not nearly as expressive) My husband born 1948 in Cumnock Ayrshire often tells me he got a foonerin while out in the cold. I hope we do not lose these rich expressions. Using Scots when I was at school was looked down upon as being a bit common. Now there is a backlash and it is being promoted in schools and by the Scottish government. I moved to Ayrshire from Glasgow and although the accent is not much different there are different words: baffies for slippers, pawkies for mitts, the puggies for slot machines so it is not the same. What is spoken though is basically English (not Gaelic) with a lot of words from Norse and German eg kirk, bairn. There are some sound clips here http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/ They may not word outside of the UK though. Kay McMeekin Ayrshire

Hi Kay, Many thanks for introducing that BBC web site. It does work just fine in the USA too, so not as restrictive as much BBC stuff. It is worth listening to some of these clips, as it is clearly very difficult indeed to get a feel for today's language when you have never lived in a place, or at least don't have close family members or friends who have. I grew up in Yorkshire in England, but my Dad's Scotticisms even after 60 years living as a professional in England, strongly reflected Ayrshire where he grew up. I have placed a link to the site on the "links" page of the "Wigtownshire Pages" http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~leighann/index.html Crawford. On Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 10:02 AM, Kay McMeekin <[email protected]> wrote: > Diana and listers > I love the expression "we hae nane the noo".  What an economy of > words! (translates as "We do not have any at the moment" - not nearly > as expressive) > > My husband born 1948 in Cumnock Ayrshire often tells me he got a > foonerin while out in the cold. > I hope we do not lose these rich expressions. Using Scots when I was > at school was looked down upon as being a bit common. Now there is a > backlash and it is being promoted in schools and by the Scottish > government. > > I moved to Ayrshire from Glasgow and although the accent is not much > different there are different words: baffies for slippers, pawkies for > mitts, the puggies for slot machines so it is not the same. > > What is spoken though is basically English (not Gaelic) with a lot of > words from Norse and German eg kirk, bairn. > > There are some sound clips here http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/ > They may not word outside of the UK though. > > Kay McMeekin > Ayrshire > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Thanks! That's probably what ancestral McKinstry's sounded like. Maybe a tad more reserved. Grin. Yours, Villandra Thorsdottir Austin, Texas ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kay McMeekin" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2011 9:02 AM Subject: Re: [WIG LIST] Scottish words 'foonerin ' > > There are some sound clips here http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/ > They may not word outside of the UK though. > > Kay McMeekin > Ayrshire > >