Scotticism

A Scotticism is a phrase or word which is characteristic of dialects of the Scots language.

Overview

Scotticisms are generally divided into two types: covert Scotticisms, which generally go unnoticed as being particularly Scottish by those using them, and overt Scotticisms, usually used for stylistic effect, with those using them aware of their Scottish nature.
Perhaps the most common covert Scotticism is the use of ''wee'' (meaning small or unimportant) as in "''I'll just have a wee drink...''". This adjective is used frequently in speech at all levels of society.

An archetypal example of an overt Scotticism is "'", which translates as "Oh yes, just now". This phrase is often used in parody by non-Scots and although the phrases "'" and "'" are in common use by Scots separately, they are rarely used together. Other phrases of this sort include:

* '' Hoots mon!''
* ' (a phrase popularised by the music hall entertainer Harry Lauder)
* ' literally translates to "Long may your chimney smoke!", signifying "may you live long"
* ' (well known from the comic strip character Oor Wullie)
Many leading figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, particularly David Hume, strove to excise Scotticisms from their writing in an attempt to make their work more accessible to an English and wider European audience. In the following passage, Hume's contemporary James Boswell pondered upon the reasons why the Scots and the English were not always mutually intelligible:

It is thus that has arisen the greatest difference between English and Scots. Half the words are changed only a little, but the result of that is that a Scot is often not understood in England. I do not know the reason for it, but it is a matter of observation