OFF: Re: 'Scots'/'Scotch'

[J Strobridge]

Ted Jackson jr. EL 84 writes:

> >         `Genuine' Scots is not English with a thick brogue, but Gaelic,

not quite - actually genuine 'Scots' is Lallans (a lowland language that
many folk say should be given language status in its own right but
others say is just a mixture of Northumbrian, English, and Gaelic).
Gaelic is otherwise known as Erse and is a genuine independent (Celtic)
language along with Breton, Cornish, Welsh and British (now defunct).  I
guess Gaelic could be considered 'Scots' in that the original speakers
were the Irish who were known as the "Scotti" tribe when they first
moved into SW Scotland and settled there in the 4th or 5th centuries AD.
At that time, of course, Scotland was speaking Pictish.


> Maybe the UK folk on the list can explain this:  Why is it 'Scots' in
> the UK, but in the US it's 'Scotch' or Scotish?  For instance, we

Scotch is probably the original form of everything Scots but there was a
god-awful period in the 60s when the word Scotch came to denote the
worst of kitch tartan trews, Harry Lauder, and White Heather Club
Highland Dancing and whisky.   So there was a kind of backlash where
"Scots" became the true person who lived and worked and was part of the
country of Scotland and "Scotch" was the whisky and the quasi-culture
portrayed for tourists.


> Americs. refer to the species of tree as Scotch Pine wheras in the UK
> it's called Scots Pine.  Also, more importanly, what do you call the
> spirit, Scotch or Scots, and why do we spell whiskey different than
> you do?
> theo

American whiskey is NOT repeat NOT Scottish whisky and ever will remain
so - differentiated in spelling to prove the fact!  It's a copyright
thing now as much as anything else but then the word whisky is derived
from Gaelic Usquebaugh (unspellable!) and when first translated didn't
need the extra 'e' to carry the sound through to English.

Oidhche mhar!

jill

 ==========================================================================
J.D.Strobridge at ed.ac.uk                         eset08 at tattoo.ed.ac.uk
                                                ELIJSA at srv0.arts.ed.ac.uk

---------------------------------------------------------------------------