Post a cultural anecdote or reminiscence for Sparkling

[danny la rouge]

There’s a legendary Doric exchange between a shopkeeper and customer:

Customer (Inquiring of the material) : Oo? (Wool? )
Shopkeeper : Ay oo (Yes, it's made of wool )
Customer : A' oo? (All wool? )
Shopkeeper : Ay, a' oo (Yes, all wool )
Customer : A' ae oo? (All the same wool )
Shopkeeper : Ay a' ae oo (Yes all the same wool).

 

[Sue]

Spent part of my 17th birthday on Vatersay, a small island off Barra, it was supposed to have 50 inhabitants, didn't see any of them, just a load of rusting abandoned cars.

Interesting Vatersay thing:

https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/land-and-freedom-vatersay-raiders-2463786

I've been to see Partick Thistle at a few matches , but never seen the other Glasgow clubs.

Not sure about up in the NE but if you're asked which football team you support, 'Partick Thistle' is a neutral answer. (Well except everyone will think you don't like football, are a hipster or are going for the neutral answer. Maybe choosing someone like Annan Athletic is a better option. )

 

[spitfire]

Inverness Clach till I die.

(my grandad played for them)

Spartkling you can have that one as well.

 

[geminisnake]

No wonder it takes us so long to order a beer at the pub!

twa pints please is all you need to say, unless there's mair than twa o' ye

 

[WouldBe]

Having lived and worked with someone from Glasgow for a year I still get frae and afte mixed up. No idea why.

 

[equationgirl]

Interesting about the racism. Unfortunately there is racism everywhere and I particularly noticed it when I lived in a small (chocolate box, thatched roof type) village in Hertfordshire. We had to navigate our way around it, gently rejecting it whilst at the same time trying not to alienate too many neighbours and still able to drink the local pub. We found that using this approach, while never going to gain us a 'brave activist of the year badge', we did gain for ourselves the title of local socialists (which was kind of funny really and never a title we could have claimed for ourselves however much we may have wanted to).
What we did discover was that similarly like minded people came and joined us, or even sought us out and we made friends with the most unlikely of people such as the anti brexit landowning farmer and the local vicar.

I am always interested in what makes people have their philosophy, where did their views come from? Was it life's hard experiences or the Daily Mail?

But the weather - yes we've had the four season in one hour let alone in one day, but yesterday while most of England was grey and wet, we had brilliant, crisp, bright sunshine.

You will tune into the Doric accent after a few weeks - I worked in Aberdeen for three years and struggled for the first month or so, then could understand what people were saying. I have lived in Scotland all my adult life, near enough, and am more used the central belt accents.

Scotland is a beautiful place, dessiato , yes winters can be hard at first but the summers make up for it. Make sure you are taking high strength vitamin D, which really helps when there's no sunshine. Please try to stay for at least one summer and see other places in Scotland.

 

[HoratioCuthbert]

unless Inverness counts.

OF COURSE IT COUNTS!

 

[HoratioCuthbert]

Been right up to Durness and Tongue on the mainland, Orkney and sevaral of the Western Isles. Only Glasgow and Edinburgh of the big cities unless Inverness counts. Galloway too.

Durness/Tongue, love that whole area

 

[HoratioCuthbert]

Inverness Clach till I die.

(my grandad played for them)

Spartkling you can have that one

My granny, and great granny for that matter grew up around Merkinch near where the grounds are! They likely bumped into each other at some point.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

I’ve only ever been to Scotland once. Edinburgh, for a fash confrontation. My favourite pie is Scotch Pie and my favourite drink is Scotch single malt and since learning they sell ciggies in chippies I think I was born on the wrong side of the border!

 

[WouldBe]

and since learning they sell ciggies in chippies I think I was born on the wrong side of the border!

Who wants deep fried ciggies?

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Who wants deep fried ciggies?

You’re on a roll today fella!

 

[Voley]

Furthest North I've been is Aberdeen (got drunk there several times when a mate was living there). Have 'done' Glasgow and Edinburgh as well.

Furthest North I've been anywhere on the planet is at the tip of Papa Westray, Orkney. About the same latitude as Stavanger, I'm told. Absolutely beautiful and still light at midnight when I was there. Fucking brilliant place.



Top tip. Orkney chips are cooked in beef dripping. You can decide yourself whether this a good thing or not. (I thought they were delicious )

 

[souljacker]

My mum is from Inverness (black isle) and my dad is from Thurso so I've spent a lot of time in the far north. The best description I can give for that area is it's bleek. It can be spectacularly beautiful but it's fucking bleek.

 

[Voley]

My mum is from Inverness (black isle) and my dad is from Thurso so I've spent a lot of time in the far north. The best description I can give for that area is it's bleek. It can be spectacularly beautiful but it's fucking bleek.

Is Thurso the place with great surf if you can brave the temperature?

 

[souljacker]

Is Thurso the place with great surf if you can brave the temperature?

Amazing surf on Thurso beach but you need a full body suit. If anything is exposed, your fucked.

We used to swim at sandyside bay near Reay and it was freezing in the summer. I never braved it in the winter.

Beach is closed now though. Contaminated by radiation from dounreay.

 

[Voley]

Amazing surf on Thurso beach but you need a full body suit. If anything is exposed, your fucked.

We used to swim at sandyside bay near Reay and it was freezing in the summer. I never braved it in the winter.

Beach is closed now though. Contaminated by radiation from dounreay.

I thought I'd heard of Thurso before, ta. It was spoken of in hushed tones in surf magazines in the 80s.

 

[sparkling]

I thought I'd heard of Thurso before, ta. It was spoken of in hushed tones in surf magazines in the 80s.

Thurso featured on the new fly on the wall (or cop car) series, Highland Cops. BBC Scotland - Highland Cops, Series 1, Episode 1
We visited Thurso one rainy September afternoon and bleak and miserable it was although I am sure, it must have its brighter moments. ...bit like Fraserburgh in that the miserable weather did nothing to enhance the place.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Amazing surf on Thurso beach but you need a full body suit. If anything is exposed, your fucked.

We used to swim at sandyside bay near Reay and it was freezing in the summer. I never braved it in the winter.

Beach is closed now though. Contaminated by radiation from dounreay.

Surely that means you can swim there in winter without a body suit? Come out with that nice ready brek glow.

 

[Sue]

I've a friend in London from Wick. People down here don't really seem to get how far away it is. (They also seem to think we have the same accent when we really, really don't. )

 

[farmerbarleymow]

It's a bit weird to think that everyone in Scotland would have the same accent given that definitely (and obviously) not the case for England.

 

[sparkling]

I greatly admired my daughter in law and her ability to recognise the different accents in Scotland, but I am pleased to say that I can now pin point certain accents myself now.
My training was further enhanced by Friday evening pub visits and hearing lots of Doric accompanied with thousands of 'Aye'.

 

[Sue]

I greatly admired my daughter in law and her ability to recognise the different accents in Scotland, but I am pleased to say that I can now pin point certain accents myself now.
My training was further enhanced by Friday evening pub visits and hearing lots of Doric accompanied with thousands of 'Aye'.

But it's no different to you being able to tell a Mancunian accent from a West Country accent or whatever.

 

[danny la rouge]

It's a bit weird to think that everyone in Scotland would have the same accent given that definitely (and obviously) not the case for England.

Exposure, isn’t it. In Scotland we hear different English accents all the time on TV, but I don’t think the general English person is exposed the same way to the variety of Scottish accents.

I remember when Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) was on Doctor Who, someone on the boards said she didn’t have “a very Scottish accent”. She has an Inverness accent. She isn’t from Glasgow.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Exposure, isn’t it. In Scotland we hear different English accents all the time on TV, but I don’t think the general English person is exposed the same way to the variety of Scottish accents.

I remember when Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) was on Doctor Who, someone on the boards said she didn’t have “a very Scottish accent”. She has an Inverness accent. She isn’t from Glasgow.

Yeah, that's probably true - I haven't watched telly for years, but don't remember that many Scottish accents when I did. Do wonder whether it's a southern English thing that attitude, as the accent down there can be more homogenous than in other parts of the country.

 

[Sue]

Exposure, isn’t it. In Scotland we hear different English accents all the time on TV, but I don’t think the general English person is exposed the same way to the variety of Scottish accents.

I remember when Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) was on Doctor Who, someone on the boards said she didn’t have “a very Scottish accent”. She has an Inverness accent. She isn’t from Glasgow.

Yes, folk seem to equate Scottish with being from Glasgow. And sure, it's the biggest place but other places also exist...

I was introduced to someone recently and told he was from Glasgow. He was actually from Edinburgh and had a pretty strong Edinburgh accent. The friend who introduced us literally couldn't hear that it sounded very different to mine (SW but reasonably neutral) and different again to another mutual friend who's from Glasgow. V strange

 

[souljacker]

The Thurso accent is completely incomprehensible. My mum was only from 100 miles down the road and she couldn't understand my dads family when they all get together.

 

[danny la rouge]

Yes, folk seem to equate Scottish with being from Glasgow. And sure, it's the biggest place but other places also exist...

I was introduced to someone recently and told he was from Glasgow. He was actually from Edinburgh and had a pretty strong Edinburgh accent. The friend who introduced us literally couldn't hear that it sounded very different to mine (SW but reasonably neutral) and different again to another mutual friend who's from Glasgow. V strange

Whereas I remember going to the old Third Eye Centre in Sauchiehall Street as part of a school art day trip. Ordering my lunch at the canteen, the woman said “are you a Teuchter?” I’m from north of the Highland boundary fault, but I don’t have a West Highland or Hebridean accent (which is what I’d typically think of as the Teuchter accent. Incidentally our own poster teuchter almost certainly does not speak that way; probably more like Karen Gillan).

 

[teuchter]

English people often say I don't sound Scottish. I'm frequently taken for Irish (including northern irish) or West Country. I was asked if I was from Bristol a few weeks ago. In Scotland (especially in the central belt) sometimes people think I'm English.

My standard explanation: Highland accents (including Inverness) just aren't as strong as central belt accents. This I believe is partly because (unlike the lowlands) English has only been widely spoken in the highlands for a relatively short time (a few generations) so there's not been time for strong accents/dialects to develop.

As has been discussed previously here, people from the Inverness area speak the best English in the world. This assertion is based on a selective interpretation of a single academic study, if I remember right.

The other thing I've heard said about the Inverness accent is that it's influenced by Cockney due to English soldiers being posted there at some time in history. Or something. Never sure if there's any truth in that. I think I can see there are a few similarities though.

I don't even have a strong Inverness area accent anyway, possibly partly due to parents' accents and also due to going over to the dark side and living in London for two decades now. I am actually back in the Highlands just now for an extended period and am watching to see if my accent changes; I am conscious of various aspects of how I speak reverting to previous habits whenever I'm here.

My sister who grew up in identical conditions to me would be immediately identifiable to most people as Scottish though. She's lived her entire adult life in Scotland including in Glasgow so hasn't been polluted with defective speech like I have.

danny la rouge why don't you have a west highland accent then?

quimcunx has an excellent accent (don't tell her I said this or she will get a big head), a bit of a teuchterish tinge to it but I think immediately recognisable as Scottish.

(someone will tell me off for mixing up accents and dialects which are technically different things I think)

 

[danny la rouge]

@danny la rouge why don't you have a west highland accent then?

Because I’m not from the West Highlands. I’m from West Perthshire.